miscellaneous factZ

Tacitus Annals, Book VI, XXII:

[Tacitus has just related how Tiberius consulted astrologers at his villa and had those whose competence or honesty was doubtful thrown off the cliffs into the sea below. He had then related how one astrologer, Thrasyllus, had avoided this fate by correctly foretelling it.]

For myself, when I listen to this and similar narratives, my judgement wavers. Is the revolution of human things governed by fate and changeless necessity, or by accident? You will find the wisest of the ancients, and their disciples attached to their tenets, at complete variance; in many of them [The Epicureans] a fixed belief that Heaven concerns itself neither with our origins, nor with our ending, nor, in fine, with mankind, and that so adversity continually assails the good, while prosperity dwells among the evil. Others [The Stoics] hold, on the contrary, that, though there is certainly a fate in harmony with events, it does not emanate from wandering stars, but must be sought in the principles and processes of natural causation. Still, they leave us free to choose our life: that choice made, however, the order of the future is certain. Nor, they maintain, are evil and good what the crowd imagines: many who appear to be the sport of adverse circumstances are happy; numbers are wholly wretched though in the midst of great possessions — provided only that former endure the strokes of fortunes with firmness, while the latter employ her favours with unwisdom. With most men, however, the faith is ineradicable that the future of an individual is ordained at the moment of his entry into life; …

Source: Tacitus, Annals Books IV-VI, XI-XII, Loeb Edition [Harvard 1937] translated by John Jackson.

8/10. Voices of the Old Sea by Norman Lewis [Carrol and Graf 2006, first published 1984] Sharply observed, and well-written — like all of Norman Lewis’ wonderful writing.

The Fishermen’s Prose Poetry

From pp. 7-8:

Ayer los chubascos me agarraron pero hoy … [a murmur of ‘Sigue, sigue’]
Yesterday the storms clawed at me, but today
La suerte me corrio
Luck ran at my side
Al amanacer visite la marea
At dawn I visited the tide
Y viendo que el dia no llevaba malicia –
And seeing that the day bore no malice –
Cogi la barca y me fui –
I took the boat and went out
Pa’ dentro del mar, donde las grandes olas se movian. (’Sigue, sigue’)
Into the deep sea, where the great waves moved.
Y alli en la claridad del agua, solo, aislado,
There in the clarity of water, alone, alone,
Vi tantos fantasmas vivaces,
I saw many lively ghosts,
No de los sin habla, que comen las almas,
Not of the kind without tongues, eaters of souls,
Pero de los que cantan con voces dulces del alba.
But those that sing with the sweet voices of the dawn

The reaction of the villagers to a party organized by Muga for the benefit of the newly arrived tourists

Even if there were no desperate shortages in Farol at that time, some people still went hungry, and it upset them to see large quantities of food of the kind they could never in any case afford being surrendered to scrounging cats, and even more tipped into trash cans at the end of the feast. [p. 181]

The Old-Guard resisting Muga

Don Ignacio had never forgiven Muga for insisting on rigidity in the matter of the hours set for the celebration of Mass, which deprived him of his weekend archaeological trips. He agreed, too, with Don Alberto that the foreign influence was on the whole pernicious. In a matter of weeks, as he had pointed out to me, money values had become wholly distorted, so that women scrubbing floors and washing bed-linen for Muga gained far more than skilful and dedicated fishermen who had spent their best years at an exacting trade. Don Ignacio believed that the democracy of foreigners was misunderstood by a people who had never encountered it before and were encouraged by it to presumption and lack of respect. [p.190]

8.5. Another brilliant novel though not quite reaching the perfection of Middlemarch. Its only defects to my mind, were a tendency to over-idealize rural life and becoming a little sententious when putting together the `happy ending’ post Hetty’s transportation.

8/10. Reread this classic. Sparse prose and elegant treatment of an ancient theme, viz the corrupting nature of power and the fear of death, combine to make a wonderful book far above the average of this genre.

8.5/10. A fascinating, brilliantly written book which despite its biographical nature is one of the best histories of the Vietnam War I have read.

6.5/10. Slight but pleasant diversion for an hour or two.

6.5. Not the best of Wodehouse but still full of his special charm and with a few wonderful moments (most notably Psmith’s appearance at Bickersmythe’s stump speech).

8/10. I have just finished the final volume of Taylor Branch’s monumental trilogy America in the King Years. A fitting end to an incredible effort — though to my mind the first volume remains the best. This work covers the more difficult years faced by King following the major successes of the Civil Rights movement culminating in the Selma March and the passage of the1965 Voting Rights Act (which occurs at the start of this volume). Venturing in to the more rocky waters of poverty and the Vietnam War, and caught between the increasing radicalisation and its corresponding conservative backlash, King stuck tenaciously to his non-violent principles only to be shot down outside his Memphis motel room on April 4 1968. It is perhaps for the very reason that these years were more troubled, with success more elusive and direction less sure, that it is this book which most increased for admiration for King as a man. Though contending with endless difficulties, self-doubt, persecution and perpetual internal dissension he struggled endlessly to retain his humility, his conscience and his commitment to nonviolent discipline. And it is his very humanity, evidenced, for example, by his incessant extra-marital affairs, that compels us to see in him some kind of latter-day saint.

Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman. 10/10. A very, very great novel, a work of genius, more than comparable to War and Peace or any other of the epics. Only a Russian novel, one feels, could both have such a title and live up to it — what it is about Russian culture that enables it bring forth such rich fruit, so epic in scope, so detailed in description and characterisation and contending with such vast themes of freedom and oppression, life and meaning, love and loss.

While the novel is anchored by the battle of Stalingrad its true preoccupation is freedom — what it is, its importance and the ways it is can be both asserted and destroyed. This is one of the greatest works about freedom. In particular Grossman shows, through the many interweaving stories, how oppression destroys not simply those directly in its path, whether via imprisonment, torture, extermination or war, but also all those who must deform themselves to the monstrosity of the system, who compromise their integrity in order to survive, or their humanity in order to succeed.

This point can be illustrated by two separate strands of the novel (the book is broken into a variety of separate stories joined more or less strongly by common characters and relationships). The first, in terms of space, is fairly minor and enters only once while the second, which revolves around the Shaposhnikov family, is one of the largest of the entire work.

This first ‘thema’, deals with Abarchuk a devout Bolshevik who has been sent to the Gulag. At the end of the secion he regains his moral self-respect by testifying against one of his fellow prisoners (a common criminal) who has been stealing materials even though this makes it practically certain he will be killed by the criminal gang who control the camp. At the very same time Abarchuk is confronted by an old Bolshevik friend who argues that the Bolshevik’s themselves have destroyed freedom (”No repentance can expiate what we have done. I have to say this … Secondly. We didn’t understand freedom. We crushed it. … Thirdly we go through the camp, we go through the taiga, and yet our faith is stronger than anything. But this faith of ours is our weakness — a means of self-preservation.” p.193) Abarchuk cannot accept this and literally runs away, his own reason, his own survival compromised to the need to find meaning and order in a world which is partly his own creation.

In another thema, Viktor Shtrum, a brilliant physicist, is victimized. He endures a titanic struggle to resist compromising himself (by giving a fake confession of errors) and is ostracized. Suddenly restored to favour (he is an export on nuclear physics and receives a personal telephone call from Stalin) he renders all of his prior efforts worthless by cravenly signing a letter provided by the authorities which supports the execution/imprisonment of various other Soviet Scientists (the letter is drafted in response to allegations in the UK and US press about lack of freedom and oppressive nature of the Soviet state). Able to resist when oppressed, once mollycoddled and comfortable he finds himself unable to save his integrity:

But then, no one had threatened him. It would have been all right if he had signed out of a feeling of animal fear. But he hadn’t signed out of fear. He had signed out of an obscure, almost nauseous, feeling of submissiveness. … [p.837]

…

He had refused to repent when they threw him out of the Institute. How happy, how full of light he had felt. And what joy he had felt in the people he loved! …. But what was he to say now to Marya Ivanovna? … As for his mother, he was afraid even to think of her. He had sinned against her too. He was afraid even to touch that last letter of hers. He realized with sorrow and horror how incapable he was of protecting his own soul. The power that had reduced him to slavery lay inside.

…

Viktor had been so proud of his courage and uprightness; he had laughed at anyone who had shown signs of weakness and fear. And now he too had betrayed people. He was ashamed of himself; he despised himself. The house he lived in, its light and warmth, had crumbled away; nothing was left but dry quicksand. …

…

Why had he committed this terrible sin. Everything in the world was insignificant compared to what he had lost. Everything in the world is insignificant compared to the truth and purity of one small man — even the empire stretching from the Black Sea to the Pacific Ocean, even science itself. [p. 839-841]

Other Quotes

Madyarov at an Evening Gathering in Kazan

Our Russian humanism has always been cruel, intolerant, sectarian. From Avvakum to Lenin our conception of humanity and freedom has always been partisan and fanatical. It has always mercilessly sacrificed the individual to some abstract idea of humanity. Even Tolstoy, with his docrtine of non-resistance to Evil, is intolerant — and his point of departure is not man but God. He wants the idea of goodness to triumph. True believers always want to bring God to man by force; and in Russia they stop at nothing — even murder — to achieve this. [p. 283. It is interesting to see how close these ideas are to those expressed by Isaiah Berlin in relation to the dangers of ‘Monism’.]

The Survival of Freedom

Man innate’s yearning for freedom can be suppressed but never destroyed. Totalitarianism cannot renounce violence. If it does, it perishes. Eternal ceaseless violence, overt or covert, is the basis of totalitarianism. Man does not renounce freedom voluntarily. This conclusion holds out hope for our time, hope for the future. [p. 216]

Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. Read in 2000, summer vacation.

Notes

[71] Tricon Global Restaurants (corp) owner Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC.

Committee for Employment Opportunities: Lobby group for chain restaurants. Chief lobbyist is Bill Signer. Lobbied, for example, to continue tax credits and subsidies given by US govt for training of workers.

[73] Between 1968 and 1990 the real value of the US minimum wage fell by 40%. However the National Restaurant Association have vehemently opposed any rise in the minimum wage at federal, state or local level. In fact about 60 large food service companies have backed legislation that would effectively eliminate the minimum wage by allowing states to disregard it. In the meantime executive’s pay has gone on going up.

[74-75] In 1997 a jury in Washington State found that Taco Bell had systematically coerced crew workers into working off the clock in order to avoid paying them overtime. Similar cases are now pending in other states, notably Oregon and California.

Macdonalds and Unionisation: Fiercely oppose unionisation. Employs special teams of attorneys and top executives to go to any location where there is suspected unionisation. In 1973 there was a dispute in San Francisco where it turned out Macdonalds were administering polygraph tests to employees suspected of being union members. In 1993 in Montreal the employees of one restaurant attempted to unionise and were stuck in the court for a year. The owners of the restaurant brought in 15 attorneys and when the workers eventually won their battle, the restaurant was immediately closed and the same franchisees opened another one elsewhere in the city.

In the mid 90s the Occupational Safety and Health administration concerned at the level of violence, for example homicides and armed robberies, at fast food restaurants produced a set of guidelines which were strongly opposed by the industry. For example the National Restaurant Association and other groups lobbied more than a hundred congressman to oppose these guidelines.

[100-1] Franchisee abuse.

IFA - Independent Franchisee Association, associated to the fast food industry.

Fast food companies, e.g. burger king, have abused the SBA’s [?] small business administration’s loans for small businesses by using it to fund new franchises which appear to have had a higher than average default rate (it has been suggested that these loans were used particularly to fund the openings in more difficult or riskier areas.)