Tag Archives: time travel

Time Travel

Posted on December 31, 2024 by Abigail

The past is never dead. It’s not even past. William Faulkner, Requiem for a Nun In present-day America, it is said that young people have little interest in their ancestry. They see their choice of life partner as a … Continue reading →

Posted in absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, agnosticism, alienation, anthropology, anti-semitism, appreciation, art, art of living, atheism, authenticity, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, ethnicity, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, fatherhood, female power, femininity, feminism, filial piety, films, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, Hegel, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, idealism, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, Industrial Revolution, institutional power, Jesus, Jews, journalism, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, motherhood, mysticism, Nihilism, nineteenth-century, non-violence, novels, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, power, power games, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, remembrance, repairing the culture, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, science, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, terror, terrorism, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, Truth, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged American youth, Amy Harmon's What the Wind Knows, ancestors' influence, Biblical origins, Biblical recollection, bodice busters, empathy for bygone cultures, empathy for earlier eras, Europe carrying its history, European difference in marriage choice, exogamous marriage, family karma, far memory, fashionable irony, fashionable opinions, fashionable skepticism, fashions in literary opinion, fashions in reading, finding one's true love, forebears' influence, foretelling the future, grandfathers, high brow literary criticism, historical romance, intermarriage, Ireland in the 1920's, Irish history, Irish memories, Karmic legacy, last wishes, losing one's true love, mixed marriage, modern opinions, Motherland, past-life memories, recollecting the past, return to Ireland, revisiting the past, revolutionary struggle, romance novels, romance novels and historical insight, romance novels as thought experiments, taking romance novels seriously, The Irish Troubles, the past never dies, the weight of history, the weight of the past, thwarted romance, time travel, true love and culture, true love and history, true love and truth, updating the Biblical country, William Faulkner's Requiem for a Nun, yearning recollections, young people and their ancestors | 2 Comments

A Writer’s Conscience

Posted on May 28, 2024 by Abigail

I just finished reading – actually skimming – what I’m tempted to name as the worst book in the history of the world. It’s a romance novel titled Forever Amber, set in seventeenth century England, which came out originally in … Continue reading →

Posted in absurdism, action, afterlife, agnosticism, alienation, anthropology, appreciation, art, art of living, authenticity, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, bigotry, book reviews, books, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, ethnicity, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, institutional power, journalism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, masculinity, master, memoir, memory, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, motherhood, novels, ontology, oppression, past and future, peace, philosophy, poetry, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, remembrance, repairing the culture, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, seventeenth century, sex appeal, sexuality, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged a Protestant sensibility, a writer's double-vision, a writer’s motives, a writer’s self-condemnation, ancients vs moderns, banned books, Barbara Taylor Bradford, bodice busters, denounced books, editing one’s experience, experience and authenticity, experience as grist for the writer’s mill, experience as the first draft, experience giving self-knowledge, fact/value coexistence, fact/value split, facts and values, female vulnerability, fiction and real life, fiction’s influence, filtered experience, heroine without conscience, historical fiction, historical panorama, honoring human experience, immoral heroine, Joan Didion’s On Keeping a Notebook, Joan Didion’s Slouching Toward Bethlehem, Kathleen Winsor’s Forever Amber, life without conscience, living as the first draft, living at second hand, modernity’s fact/value split, moral choice, novelist, predicaments of Restoration England, raw experience and interpreted experience, reign of Charles II, Restoration England, romance novels, self-awareness and ego, self-knowledge, seventeenth century England, social ambition, social panorama, society from bottom to top, the cost of being a writer, the cost of living one’s talent, the Great Plague of 1665, the writer’s vocation, time travel, time travel through fiction, time travel through novels, unedited life, values and the writer’s vocation, war of the sexes, writer’s conscience, writers and ego, writers using experience as material | 2 Comments

What a Woman Needs is Philosophy

Posted on October 4, 2022 by Abigail

What a Woman Needs is Philosophy Let’s say there is some connection between how you live and what you think. And let’s say philosophy, which in Greek means love of wisdom, gives you the chance to see how your own … Continue reading →

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, alienation, anthropology, art of living, autonomy, bad faith, bigotry, books, childhood, chivalry, conformism, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, institutional power, journalism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, ontology, oppression, past and future, peace, philosophy, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, roles, romance, romantic love, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged age of innocence, assessing world views, belief systems, biological differences, civilizational layers, cultural locales, culture and belief, deciphering one's culture, deciphering philosophy, evaluating beliefs, getting one's philosophic bearings, History of Philosophy, human culture, influential thinkers, intellectual strategies, learning to survive, life ambitions, life and thinking, life and thought, life problematic, lifemanship, loss of innocence, love of wisdom, male and female strength, paying for college, paying for higher ed, personal and philosophical, personal history, philosophic argument, Philosophy 101, philosophy and personal life, philosophy personified, philosophy's problematic, revising world views, revisiting childhood, self-assessment, self-liberation, social survival, strategic thinking, surviving youth, time travel, understanding people, women and philosophy, women's strategies, Women's Studies, you are what you think | 3 Comments

The Deep and the Shallow

Posted on January 23, 2018 by Abigail

The Deep and the Shallow A medley of book review weeklies and monthlies arrive here in a more or less continuous stream. I look through them, both to get an idea of what’s new – what is getting the attention … Continue reading →

Posted in absurdism, academe, action, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, beauty, bureaucracy, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, films, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, Hegel, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immortality, institutional power, literature, love, male power, masculinity, master, memoir, memory, mind control, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, mortality, mysticism, non-violence, novels, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, radicalism, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged avant garde writers, book review journals, book review weekly, calendar time, clock time, cultural fault lines, cutting edge trends, deep, depth, effects of marriage, emotional depth, escapism, established professionals, French dinner, Futurism, German Romantics, getting ahead of the story, getting out of the story, happy endings, in quest of lost time, intellectual depth, Les feuilles mortes, literary critics, literature of the absurd, living in the now, living one’s story, lost identity, lost time, Marriage, meaninglessness, meditation, modern day Buddhists, moral depth, new books, nihilism, nonfiction, nostalgia, opinion shapers, opinions of critics, philosophers, pointlessness, power in the world, praised books, Presentism, recommended books, search for identity, search for meaning, Sehnsucht, self-help gurus, shallow, significance, staying in the story, temporality, the butterfly, the center cannot hold, the flow of time, the specious present, threatened identity, time travel, time-bound life, TV gurus, vanishing instant, wedding anniversary, wounded souls, yearning, young couples | Leave a comment

“The Gang’s All Here”

Posted on April 19, 2016 by Abigail

“The Gang’s All Here” I’ve always liked to be in situations where the whole gang was here. In Hilltop, the summer place of my childhood (memories revived in “Kid Stuff”) we had a small but true-hearted band of playmates to … Continue reading →

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, beauty, childhood, chivalry, cities, class, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, culture, desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, heroes, hidden God, history, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, institutional power, journalism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, masculinity, memoir, memory, mind control, modernism, mortality, nineteenth-century, oppression, past and future, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, power, propaganda, psychology, public intellectual, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, romanticism, seduction, social conventions, sociobiology, spirituality, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, theism, theology, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged "the gang's all here", academe, academic firing, academic non-reappointment, academic politics, academic standing, Alfred Dreyfus, allies in combat, American students, analytic clarity, analytic philosophers, anonymity, assistant professor, blogs, book review, calls to arms, change of habitat, chiropractic, City of Lights, classy books, closeness, colleagues, collegial relations, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, controversy, cyberspace, dishonorable discharge, dismissals, distant drums, drawing appreciation, drawing fire, drumming out, editing, editorial changes, emotional nearness, expatriots, fighting the good fight, first rate philosophers, friendship's end, Fulbright scholars, fun, group defeat, group victory, Hemingway, Henry M. Rosenthal, hierarchy, intellectual friendships, intimacy, irreverent youth, Jerry L. Martin's "God: an Autobiography as Told to a Philosopher", job fight, Journalism, journalistic training, Jungle Book, junior colleagues, Kipling, lament for friendship, Lionel Trilling, literary friendships, moral sympathy, moving home, Mowgli Stories, nearness, neutral space, outranking, Paris, pecking order, plain style, polarized departments, professional assassination, Public Intellectual, romantic drama, safe distances, say it like it is, social survival, sporting chance, Sturm und Drang, the drumming out of Dreyfus, the God story, time travel, unfrocking of priests, unsettling events, writing, writing process, youth and innocence | Leave a comment

Nostalgia and Yearning

Posted on March 15, 2016 by Abigail

Nostalgia and Yearning For most of my life, I’ve lived under a low-hanging cloud of yearning. The Germans call it Sehnsucht. It’s romantic longing for a fog-enshrouded, mystery-enfolded, beckoning future. It’s the kind of longing depicted in the movie, “Wuthering … Continue reading →

Posted in action, afterlife, alienation, anthropology, art, art of living, autonomy, beauty, Bible, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, films, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, health, heroes, hidden God, history, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, idolatry, immortality, institutional power, Jews, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, medieval, memoir, memory, mind control, modernism, mortality, mysticism, nineteenth-century, non-violence, ontology, oppression, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, power, propaganda, psychology, public intellectual, reductionism, relationships, religion, Renaissance, roles, romanticism, seduction, sex appeal, sexuality, social conventions, sociobiology, spirituality, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, theism, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged acceptance, aestheticism, aesthetics, alchemy, ancient Egypt, ancient Israel, Anya Seton, Anya's Seton's Green Darkness, art as a cultural marker, beautiful art, being centered, belonging, bodice busters, Carnegie Museum, creativity, curators, curators' fads, daydreams, doomed lovers, Egyptian mummies, Egyptian tombs, Egyptian wall paintings, El Al flight, Emily Brontë, Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, equilibrium, estrangement, Fine art, Germany in the 1930s, girlhood, girlhood fancies, Goethe, Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther, gothic romance, Hollywood films, Holocaust, home sickness, homecoming, hypnotic regression, idealization, idealized future, idealized past, imagination, Lawrence Olivier, life balance, living in the now, Merle Oberon, Metropolitan Museum, modern Israel, museum goers, Native American art, Nazi period, nostalgia, Old Hollywood films, ordinary life, past life regressions, Peace, place in history, present world, projection, recognition, reincarnation, relics, repetition, retrospection, return, reunion, romantic suicide, Sehnsucht, Shoah, star-crossed lovers, stately homes, Stefan Zweig's "The World of Yesterday", suicide cult, the moors, The Romantic Movement, Thomas Mann's Joseph and His Brothers, time travel, Tudor times, Turner Classics, typee, world of tomorrow, yearning | Leave a comment

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