With his fastidious habits, he would not have fit in his native Belgium. In London, a city accommodating (but not indifferent to) eccentrics, he is accepted, with his peculiarities dismissed as foreign quirks. Rearing his thoughts in discipline, he expects exacting discipline from the world that he inhabits. When such discipline is found lacking, it is introduced by interference (e.g., adjusting items on a mantelpiece) or inference (e.g., discovering the necessary in what initially seemed to be arbitrary). His unique ability to bring order---the ability that is the defining characteristic of being alive---is what makes others consider Poirot a hero.
In the "Sad Cypress," Poirot says that to wish a murder is not the same as to commit a murder. The difference is qualitative, not quantitative. To wish for something is to evaluate the prospect of attaining it. Someone who wishes for something may eventually conclude its undesirability, whereas someone who refrains from wishing may do so only because he anticipates his inability to resist the temptation of committing whatever he wishes for.
21 June 2009
15 June 2009
"Mythologies" by Roland Barthes (1957)
Science is a belief informed by evidence; ideology is a belief in spite of evidence; myth is a belief in the absence of evidence. Culture is a system of malleable beliefs; civilization is a system of all beliefs, malleable or not. Thus, for instance, the primitive fear of height is not a part of culture, whereas the belief that this fear can be overcome is. Roland Barthes explores myths.
Whatever M. Barthes aims to achieve with the abstract discourse at the end of the volume either fails or poses the questions that do not merit answers. Confused, but grammatically correct, the discourse is uninformative. Nearly by accident, however, the author describes the myth well by observing that "Mythical speech is made of a material which has already been worked on so as to make it suitable for communication." (The emphasis is in the original.) Indeed, the beliefs forming a myth must be infectious, and therefore altered in order to be suited for easy transmission across individuals.
M. Barthes is at his best when he is least didactic, merely a reporter. In his essay "Operation Margarine," he alerts the reader to the perils of every-day marketing: "A little 'confessed' evil saves one from acknowledging a lot of hidden evil." In "The Iconography of the Abbe Pierre," he warns that looking at the images of saints can crowd out, rather than inspire, charitable acts. The crowding-out occurs either subconsciously, when the charitable feeling is enjoyed without committing any charity (a sensation analogous to viewing pornography), or through misinformation, when the prevalence of charitable images is mistaken for the prevalence of justice in the world. In "Toys," the author points out that the children's toys that are replicas of the objects used by adults encourage a child to accept the world as it is, thereby nurturing a consumer, not a producer.
The petite bourgeoisie, whom M. Barthes both criticises and pities, are portrayed as a class who measure their worth in the consumption of objects, are vulnerable to the manipulation by the advertising industry (commercial and political), and are keen to emulate the outward symptoms of the others' perceived happiness.
Whatever M. Barthes aims to achieve with the abstract discourse at the end of the volume either fails or poses the questions that do not merit answers. Confused, but grammatically correct, the discourse is uninformative. Nearly by accident, however, the author describes the myth well by observing that "Mythical speech is made of a material which has already been worked on so as to make it suitable for communication." (The emphasis is in the original.) Indeed, the beliefs forming a myth must be infectious, and therefore altered in order to be suited for easy transmission across individuals.
M. Barthes is at his best when he is least didactic, merely a reporter. In his essay "Operation Margarine," he alerts the reader to the perils of every-day marketing: "A little 'confessed' evil saves one from acknowledging a lot of hidden evil." In "The Iconography of the Abbe Pierre," he warns that looking at the images of saints can crowd out, rather than inspire, charitable acts. The crowding-out occurs either subconsciously, when the charitable feeling is enjoyed without committing any charity (a sensation analogous to viewing pornography), or through misinformation, when the prevalence of charitable images is mistaken for the prevalence of justice in the world. In "Toys," the author points out that the children's toys that are replicas of the objects used by adults encourage a child to accept the world as it is, thereby nurturing a consumer, not a producer.
The petite bourgeoisie, whom M. Barthes both criticises and pities, are portrayed as a class who measure their worth in the consumption of objects, are vulnerable to the manipulation by the advertising industry (commercial and political), and are keen to emulate the outward symptoms of the others' perceived happiness.
12 June 2009
Spider's Web
(Cambridge Arts Theatre, 11 June 2009)
Much of the enjoyment of this mystery story is derived from suspense. Indeed, most kinds of enjoyment are rooted in suspense. One can listen to an ocean for hours, but not to a clock, because one never knows when the next ocean wave breaks, whereas the timing of the ticking clock is no mystery. Similarly, the enjoyment of memories is the enjoyment of the unexpected during sequential recall.
The company have attained the ultimate goal of most human endeavour: creating order, for which intelligence and good manners are indispensable. Clarissa Hailsham-Brown (Melanie Gutteridge)--- cheerful, not hysterical, happy, not content out of ignorance, kind out of wisdom, not out of duty or fear---would have met even Alfred Hitchcock's standards of understated glamour, perhaps.
Much of the enjoyment of this mystery story is derived from suspense. Indeed, most kinds of enjoyment are rooted in suspense. One can listen to an ocean for hours, but not to a clock, because one never knows when the next ocean wave breaks, whereas the timing of the ticking clock is no mystery. Similarly, the enjoyment of memories is the enjoyment of the unexpected during sequential recall.
The company have attained the ultimate goal of most human endeavour: creating order, for which intelligence and good manners are indispensable. Clarissa Hailsham-Brown (Melanie Gutteridge)--- cheerful, not hysterical, happy, not content out of ignorance, kind out of wisdom, not out of duty or fear---would have met even Alfred Hitchcock's standards of understated glamour, perhaps.
Arcadia
(Duke of York's Theatre, 12 June 2009)
"Arcadia" is as aesthetically close to mathematics as literature ever gets. The play is precise, elegant, and ends with a hope.
Generating knowledge, inspiring knowledge, and recovering lost knowledge lead to, if not immortality, then at least serenity. One finds it necessary to justify the dissemination of knowledge no more than one finds it necessary to justify other primitive instincts: eating or fighting for one's life. Yet, these other primitive instincts are the means for fulfilling the instinct for sharing knowledge, which benefits many, the union of whom is the ultimate organism, on the immortality of which one is wise to bet in one's conduct.
All useful knowledge must eventually be written in mathematics, which is defined to be any logically tight argument. A literary project is akin to one in pure mathematics in that either project is guided by its creator's good taste, even though the project's application may not be apparent at the time of its creation. Yet, good taste---an eye for simplicity---is the anticipation, even if unconscious, of future applications. Good taste is refined and tested by wisely chosen intellectual companions.
Superficially, science is about creations, whereas literature is about creators. Should not posterity care only about the creation, not the identity its creator, the trivia of his biography, and the circumstances of his labour? The biography is the manual to the creative process and fulfilling life, and in this the biography is valuable. When the biography merely exploits the cult of celebrity among the better educated, however, it has little value beyond entertainment.
Tom Stoppard's writing, David Leveaux's direction, and the company's performances are impeccable. Ed Stoppard's performance is definitive of character acting.
"Arcadia" is as aesthetically close to mathematics as literature ever gets. The play is precise, elegant, and ends with a hope.
Generating knowledge, inspiring knowledge, and recovering lost knowledge lead to, if not immortality, then at least serenity. One finds it necessary to justify the dissemination of knowledge no more than one finds it necessary to justify other primitive instincts: eating or fighting for one's life. Yet, these other primitive instincts are the means for fulfilling the instinct for sharing knowledge, which benefits many, the union of whom is the ultimate organism, on the immortality of which one is wise to bet in one's conduct.
All useful knowledge must eventually be written in mathematics, which is defined to be any logically tight argument. A literary project is akin to one in pure mathematics in that either project is guided by its creator's good taste, even though the project's application may not be apparent at the time of its creation. Yet, good taste---an eye for simplicity---is the anticipation, even if unconscious, of future applications. Good taste is refined and tested by wisely chosen intellectual companions.
Superficially, science is about creations, whereas literature is about creators. Should not posterity care only about the creation, not the identity its creator, the trivia of his biography, and the circumstances of his labour? The biography is the manual to the creative process and fulfilling life, and in this the biography is valuable. When the biography merely exploits the cult of celebrity among the better educated, however, it has little value beyond entertainment.
Tom Stoppard's writing, David Leveaux's direction, and the company's performances are impeccable. Ed Stoppard's performance is definitive of character acting.
29 May 2009
"Doctor Glas" by Hjalmar Söderberg (1905)
Typically, people are messengers for evil ideas, instead of being evil themselves. In such cases, one should focus one's efforts on fighting the attraction of these ideas, instead of eradicating the messengers. This is also why a murder is unlikely to be a satisfying experience. After the act, the murderer discovers that these were the ideas that he found repugnant, not the carrier of those ideas; those ideas survive, if only in the mind of the murderer.
23 May 2009
Sunset Boulevard
(Comedy Theatre, 23 May 2009)
A successful genius rarely operates alone. For instance, a successful picture requires skilful actors, a director with a vision, a team of script-writers, a producer with a taste and confidence necessary to halt the release of the picture in order to re-shoot some scenes---and also luck. Even the product of a seemingly lone writer is a story to which the intruders into the writer's life and the editor have contributed significantly. Finally, the public sifts through the creative works and appoints only few to immortality.
This tribute musical is a remake of the non-musical movie of the same title, but unlike that movie, the musical version will not gain immortality. Nonetheless, the musical has a value, as it signals historical continuity to those in the audience who find such continuity comforting. The audience, in turn, encourages such manifestations of continuity by thanking the actors in person for recreating and handing over to the audience the characters, which the audience is free to adopt and improve upon.
The play is about a writer and an actress who have lost the confidence in themselves and the belief in the industry to which they belong. They find temporary consolation in each other's company. It is harder, however, to agree on an imaginary world than on a real one.
The direction lacks Trevor Nunn, and music and libretto lack Cole Porter. Despite the conducive plot, the action never reaches the intensity at which a song would be a natural expression of one's emotion. The leads do good jobs, but mainly by approximating the performances of their counterparts in the motion picture.
The costumes were poor. Fedoras with the rims rolled up, the male lead's off-the-rack skinny trousers and his three-button jacket were accomplices in an unintended sartorial potpourri. The lead's polo t-shirt, blue on screen, is grey on stage---a gaffe that has robbed the character of much of his depth.
A successful genius rarely operates alone. For instance, a successful picture requires skilful actors, a director with a vision, a team of script-writers, a producer with a taste and confidence necessary to halt the release of the picture in order to re-shoot some scenes---and also luck. Even the product of a seemingly lone writer is a story to which the intruders into the writer's life and the editor have contributed significantly. Finally, the public sifts through the creative works and appoints only few to immortality.
This tribute musical is a remake of the non-musical movie of the same title, but unlike that movie, the musical version will not gain immortality. Nonetheless, the musical has a value, as it signals historical continuity to those in the audience who find such continuity comforting. The audience, in turn, encourages such manifestations of continuity by thanking the actors in person for recreating and handing over to the audience the characters, which the audience is free to adopt and improve upon.
The play is about a writer and an actress who have lost the confidence in themselves and the belief in the industry to which they belong. They find temporary consolation in each other's company. It is harder, however, to agree on an imaginary world than on a real one.
The direction lacks Trevor Nunn, and music and libretto lack Cole Porter. Despite the conducive plot, the action never reaches the intensity at which a song would be a natural expression of one's emotion. The leads do good jobs, but mainly by approximating the performances of their counterparts in the motion picture.
The costumes were poor. Fedoras with the rims rolled up, the male lead's off-the-rack skinny trousers and his three-button jacket were accomplices in an unintended sartorial potpourri. The lead's polo t-shirt, blue on screen, is grey on stage---a gaffe that has robbed the character of much of his depth.
17 May 2009
The 39 Steps
(Criterion Theatre, 15 May 2009)
Wit is in expressing more with less. A metaphor is in painting a picture in a phrase. A joke is in evoking an alternative story-line in a sentence. A formula is in encoding infinite content in a finite collection of symbols.
By shedding the superfluous, with four actors and minimal props, the play expresses the essence of the human mind's escape from boredom. Richard Hannay (Robert Portal), is of singular and, fortunately and yet inevitably, handsome constitution. All women are of the same essence (Tessa Churchard) and only vary in form; hence, Mr Hannay is wise just to wait for the right form to arrive. Other men are at most of two types (these types are sometimes carelessly borrowed by women)---slim or fat---and hence are portrayed by at most two actors (Nigel Betts and Alan Perrin). Suspense, romance, class, a little humour, and music successfully plot an escape from Mr Hannay's boredom, which is nothing but the absence of a structured thought, the absence that, if left unattended, spirals into despair.
Wit is in expressing more with less. A metaphor is in painting a picture in a phrase. A joke is in evoking an alternative story-line in a sentence. A formula is in encoding infinite content in a finite collection of symbols.
By shedding the superfluous, with four actors and minimal props, the play expresses the essence of the human mind's escape from boredom. Richard Hannay (Robert Portal), is of singular and, fortunately and yet inevitably, handsome constitution. All women are of the same essence (Tessa Churchard) and only vary in form; hence, Mr Hannay is wise just to wait for the right form to arrive. Other men are at most of two types (these types are sometimes carelessly borrowed by women)---slim or fat---and hence are portrayed by at most two actors (Nigel Betts and Alan Perrin). Suspense, romance, class, a little humour, and music successfully plot an escape from Mr Hannay's boredom, which is nothing but the absence of a structured thought, the absence that, if left unattended, spirals into despair.
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