tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15302273.post112444474261757341..comments2023-10-08T04:31:20.162-04:00Comments on The Secret Thread: Literature & Spiritual Life: Mutt's Book Review #1Duke Altumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17494561267128023739noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15302273.post-1124789590432217872005-08-23T05:33:00.000-04:002005-08-23T05:33:00.000-04:00Duke, thanks for your kind comments on the review....Duke, thanks for your kind comments on the review. I am in complete agreement about what you said regarding the value of a book like 'The Double' for readers of this blog, or for any Christian reading literature today. In my view you have to dip into as many other kinds of water as possible, in order to educate yourself and help clarify for you why you stick with your own beliefs and traditions. To me reading people who do not believe what I believe is stimulus, but only if they do it well, just as I think reading books with Christian themes are only valuable when done with clarity and creativity. In any case, it was fun to read the book, it obviously intrigued me, and writing that review is the kind of exercise that I enjoy taking on. Cheers! - MuttMutt Ploughmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07886850428991826645noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15302273.post-1124762823431134132005-08-22T22:07:00.000-04:002005-08-22T22:07:00.000-04:00Wow. Yet another OUTSTANDING, erudite (Montaigne -...Wow. Yet another OUTSTANDING, erudite (Montaigne -- nice!!!), insightful, fascinating review from Mutt/JJL (talk about "doubles"...). Seriously Mutt, this review is excellent. Not only did it totally pique my interest in the book, but it also provided some interesting insights into Saramago's unique brand of fiction, AND our society's scientific hubris, with its itchy finger on the trigger of the loaded gun of technology... Mutt's loyal fans know that he also wrote a scathing, but somehow still insightful, "mini-review" of Saramago's <I>The Gospel According to Jesus Christ</I> and posted it in the reviews section for the book on Amazon.com... if you dig deep there, you can still find it (and it's worth checking out). I don't know anyone who's read more of the Portugese Nobel laureate that Mutt has, and it shows in his post with his obvious familiarity with Saramago's unorthodox writing style. I myself have read his <I>Blindness</I> (a present from the Runnin' Bookworm, incidentally -- a shout out to you if you're reading this!) and <I>A History of the Siege of Lisbon</I>, both of which were very interesting books with a lot of human insight packed into them.<BR/><BR/>And this brings me to the real value of Mutt's review... please, TST readers, take note of his powerful last paragraph there. Mutt hits upon, once again, the whole reason for this blog in the first place: despite Saramago's perspective on the world which is obviously vastly different than that of the founders of this blog, his book can still provide for us some wisdom and insight about what it means to be human, which is to say, to be confused and lonely and yearning for something... and not quite knowing the what and the why. We are increasingly looking to answer these nagging questions through artificial and technological means, yet Saramago is enough of an artist to know (and this is ironic, because what he doesn't realize is that in his artistry he reflects the very Creator he denies the existence of -- see Pope John Paul the Great's <I>Letter to Artists</I>) that such means will never do. We'll never get to the heart of what really drives us with our own blunt instruments. We'll only make things worse. Good fiction may not provide the true answers to our conundrums, but it can help to eliminate some of the false ones. Saramago's certainly accomplishes this task in admirable fashion, and as Mutt has so eloquently argued, it ought to be read for this reason, and many others.Duke Altumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17494561267128023739noreply@blogger.com