Bookish

Today I finished Derrida's The Gift of Death. Although its title is less misleading than that of Gogol's Dead Souls (which is in fact quite funny), the book is not as dark as might be imagined.

Here is a passage I found particularly interesting (go on, it's only three sentences):

On the other hand, the smooth functioning of such a society ((which would prosecute Abraham for intending to kill Isaac)), the monotonous complacency [ronronnement*] of its discourses on morality, politics, and the law, and the very exercise of its rights (whether public, private, national, or international), are in no way perturbed by the fact that, because of the structure of the laws of the market that society has instituted and controls, because of the mechanisms of external debt and other comparable inequities, that same "society" puts to death or (but failing to help someone in distress accounts for only a minor difference) allows to die of hunger and disease tens of millions of children (those relatives or fellow humans that ethics or the discourse of the rights of man refer to) without any moral or legal tribunal ever being considered competent to judge such a sacrifice, the sacrifice of the other to avoid being sacrificed oneself. Not only does such a society participate in this incalculable sacrifice, it actually organizes it. The smooth functioning of its moral discourse and good conscience, presuppose the permanent operation of this sacrifice. (pp. 85-86)

Potent, eh?

You may recall that Derrida did not used to be my favorite. I still don't pick him up for a light read, but appreciate him much more than I used to. In fact, I had the odd experience last semester, after reading his contemporary Paul Ricoeur, of not only really enjoying the former's Memoirs of the Blind, but actually finding it alarmingly clear, straightforward, and even entertaining. If you ever find yourself hankering for some Derrida, I'd suggest that one--although carrying around a book called The Gift of Death does lend one a certain gravity.

Speaking of gravity, tonight my parents and I watched The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. I thought it was skillfully, even startlingly done, in a way that was both entirely absorbing and made me as a viewer very aware of my own gaze and the camera's gaze (per Mulvey), as well as the limited gaze of the protagonist. I had read the book about a decade ago and had been very impressed; the film struck me as true to its content, tone, and hopefulness. The director's background was also evident in the carefully composed, painterly visuals, making it a very beautiful film as well. Highest marks.

Now, back to this book for a bit before bed.

*Isn't that amazingly onomatopoetic?

Books of 2007

So someone in the blogosphere posted a list of Books Read in 2007, and I wish I could find it, because that list was far more impressive than mine will be, even though it inspired me to post my own. Anyway, for posterity, here are as many as I can remember of the books I read in 2007, including ones for school, but only those I read in their entirety or at least 75% thereof:

1. Terry Pratchett, Monstrous Regiment
2. Terry Pratchett, Going Postal
3. Roger Caillois, Man and the Sacred
4. Giorgio Agamben, Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life
5. Michael Camille, Image on the Edge: The Margins of Medieval Art
6. Leo Steinberg, Leonardo's Incessant Last Supper
7. Howard Hibbard, Caravaggio
8. Maria Lugones, Pilgrimages/Peregrinajes
9. Henri Hubert and Marcel Mauss, Sacrifice: Its Nature and Functions
10. Joy Kogawa, Obasan
11. Joy Kogawa, Itsuka
12. James Ramsey Ullman, Banner in the Sky
13. Virginia M. Axline, Dibs in Search of Self
14. Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle
15. Louise Erdrich, Love Medicine
16. Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
17. John Grisham, The Partner
18. George Elliot, Silas Marner
19. Charlie Gere, Digital Culture
20. Christiane Paul, Digital Art
21. Chris Meigh-Andrews, A History of Video Art: The Development of Form and Function
23. Roselee Goldberg, Performance Art: From Futurism to the Present
24. J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
25. J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
26. J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
27. J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
28. J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
29. J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
30. J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
31. Rebecca Solnit, A Field Guide to Getting Lost

In progress:
Henry James, The Wings of the Dove
Umberto Eco, The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana

I think there are more, but as I'm away from my bookshelves right now, and have Vacation Brain, this list will have to suffice. I also read a whole bunch of children's books for my summer job, and though they were wonderful, I haven't included them here.

I think that this year it would be nice to post the books I'm currently reading, and archive the ones I've finished, but I'm not sure there's an easy way to do this, and I'm a slacker. Thoughts?

Fifteen hours

Things done instead of grading the 80 term papers I received last night:

1. Baked lemon bars for Anna's birthday.

2. Ran out of sugar during the process, so hit the sketchy "Quality Grocery" on Nicollet; man behind the counter talked on his phone the entire time I was in the store, including ringing up my purchase.

3. Rode to school, with pan of lemon bars bungeed to bike rack.

4. First class, then ate lemon bars in the TA office (I don't think I've ever seen lemon bars go so fast!).

5. Ate soup and finished reading Derrida at the co-op.

6. Second class (seminar): Derrida.

7. Caught a ride home with my neighbors.

8. Ran three miles with my neighbor, even though it was cold and gray.

9. Ate lentils with my neighbor and her boyfriend; talked about Agamben, Foucault, Deleuze, and Spinoza. They did most of the talking; they're pretty brilliant.

10. Interneting. Blogging.

If you can't be cute...

"Ah, the fellow is clever. That's what I always think about when I read Agamben. Clever. Not deep: clever." --Hoon on Giorgio Agamben

Forty-two

"Beyond need, the object of desire is, humanly, the miracle; it is sovereign life, beyond the necessary that suffering defines. This miraculous element which delights us may be simply the brilliance of the sun, which on a spring morning transfigures a desolate street....

"What is the meaning of art, architecture, music, painting or poetry if not the anticipation of a suspended, wonder-struck moment, a miraculous moment?...

"To know is always to strive, to work; it is always a servile operation, indefinitely resumed, indefinitely repeated. Knowledge is never sovereign: to be sovereign it would have to occur in a moment. But the moment remains outside, short of or beyond, all knowledge. We know regular sequences in time, constants; we know nothing, absolutely, of what is not in the image of an operation, a servile modality of being, subordinate to the future, to its concatenation in time....

"But these moments, like the deeply rhythmed movements of poetry, of music, of love, of dance, have the power to capture and endlessly recapture the moment that counts, the moment of rupture, of fissure. As if we were trying to arrest the moment and freeze it in the constantly renewed gasps of our laughter or our sobs. The miraculous moment when anticipation dissolves into NOTHING, detaching us from the ground on which we were groveling, in the concatenation of useful activity."

--Georges Bataille, The Accursed Share (Robert Hurley, Trans., Zone, 1993), 201-203

Deserted: islanded

A new meme, courtesy of Leah, and more fun than outlining tomorrow's presentation on Roger Caillois.

Five albums and one alternate that I would want with me on a desert island:*

1. U2: The Best of 1980-1990
2. REM: Green (or Out of Time... or maybe The Best Of [which I don't own, but would consider buying to take onto the island])
3. Elaine Meyer: Promised Land
4. Death Cab For Cutie: Plans
5. Simon & Garfunkel: The Best of Simon and Garfunkel (I tragically don't own this album, and need it)
Alternate: Various: All the Hits Italia Autunno 2002

I'm getting a little sad thinking about leaving the rest of my music behind, although the odd thing is that I rarely listen to the CDs I own. There aren't all that many, for one thing. I also tend not to be able to concentrate when I listen to music, and my recent pursuits require rather a lot of concentration. I listened to a lot of music last year when I was running all the time, but all chopped up on my MP3 player.

I ended up listing the albums I did because they are the ones that, when I've listened the whole way through, I just want to start over again, and the only thing that might satisfy is one of the other albums on the list. I didn't go for a good overall mix or anything--just albums I want to play obsessively. There are some really good ones--the Smiths, Tori Amos, Depeche Mode, and the Shins, to name a very few--that I like a lot, but are a bit too tiring to listen to over and over.

My list is also not very creative. There's nothing too quirky on here. It's also not new; "Plans" is the closest, and it's two years old.

I am not precisely satisfied with it, but there it is. Now, post yours!


* No mixes (so goodbye to Ellen's several fabulous personalized mixes, including "CCD," "CCD2," and "Gettin' Outta Here Music"; Bryant's "Spring Break 2005!"; Austin's "Average Homeboy Party Mix"; Klaralynn's inimitable 80s Dance Music Volumes 1 and 2; and JM's "Given the Time," which is not exactly a mix but which I'm afraid I can't count in the regular list because it hasn't actually been published) and no singles; I hope I'm not out of line with the Best Of albums, which I'll admit are a bit of a cheat (though chosen for their virtue!).

This semester's classes...

...In the order in which I have them:

1. Philosophy and Feminist Theory (GWSS* 5122)
2. Baroque Art Seminar: The Art of Caravaggio (ARTH 8340) (I'm only auditing this one)
3. Ideas of the Sacred (ANTH 8810)
4. Directed Study: Close Reading of Early Modern Paintings (ARTH 5993)

You're salivating, aren't you? And you haven't even seen the syllabi!

Today in the anthropology class (which is really more philosophy, at least so far), we discussed Zupancic and Bataille's readings of Kant and Hegel respectively, and then watched a clip from Blade Runner. Some days I love grad school.