Defending the 12th century since the 14th; blogging since the 21st.

Catholicism, Conservatism, the Middle Ages, Opera, and Historical and Literary Objets d'Art blogged by a suburban dad who teaches law and writes stuff.


"Very fun." -- J. Bottum, Editor, FIRST THINGS

"Too modest" -- Elinor Dashwood

"Perhaps the wisest man on the Web" -- Henry Dieterich

"Hat tip: me (but really Cacciaguida)" -- Diana Feygin, Editor, THE YALE FREE PRESS

"You are my sire. You give me confidence to speak. You raise my heart so high that I am no more I." -- Dante

"Fabulous!"-- Warlock D.J. Prod of Didsbury

Who was Cacciaguida? See Dante's PARADISO, Cantos XV, XVI, & XVII.


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Ms. Lionel Shriver, novelist, ponders a paradox:

In our private lives, we consider it our right to leave even long-term relationships if we're miserable; with imaginary people, we apply the stricter, fustier mores of the 1950s. So, deep down, might Americans still prize loyalty over the pursuit of happiness?

and concludes:

For the morally grounded, infidelity comes with built-in retribution: the anguish of reading your own story, and instinctively siding with someone else; the supreme discomfort of playing the part of a character who, in a book or movie, you would not like. Indeed, the novel proposes that for anyone with a heart, betraying and being betrayed may feel equally awful.

The money phrase: "atmosphere of exception." Exactly what is created by the battle scene in Act II of FRANCESCA DA RIMINI, and, somewhat more innocently, by the situation in Act I of DIE WALKÜRE.

Good belated Valentine's Day reading. (Wonder if her novels are as good.)

posted by Cacciaguida at 1:32 AM