Tom's Two Cents : American Pastoral by Philip Roth

 

 

The Pulitzer Prize winner for 1997, American Pastoral belongs in that distinguished category with "Great Gatsby" and "Death of A Salesman" of works that both extol and condemn American materialistic values. As a character, the Swede, Seymour Levov, stands right up there with Willy Loman and Jay Gatsby as a man more sinned against than sinning.  That said, this book is light years away from the others in terms of style and presentation.  It is harsh, at times didactic--at least through its characters-- and quite possibly the most disturbingly pessimistic work I've ever read by an American novelist.  It also raises a highly perplexing question: what in these days is a novel really for?

 In the 19th century the English/American novel was perceived as a source of upper and middle class entertainment, but in the later 20th not so much.  Admittedly, the nature of entertainment fiction has changed dramatically since my generation grew up.  Dickens straddled the fence beautifully between being an entertainer and a moralist at the same time, but nowadays with no holds barred in fiction authors seem less likely to walk the Dickensian line. I won't go so far as to say emphatically that shock value has replaced entertainment value in fiction, but I will say that shock (and I'm not talking about horror fiction, which has always been with us) is very high on the entertainment list today.  Thus the insensitivity to shock gets higher and higher.  What's left today to shock us?  Not much, if anything. 

What does all this have to do with American Pastoral? In my opinion, a lot.  It is a shocking novel about a shocking subject: a violent crime (a bombing) committed in the 60s by a fifteen year old girl from a prominent New Jersey family, and no, we aren't talking about the Sopranos here.  We are talking about a respectable, hardworking, law abiding upper middle class Jewish family, who seemingly had it all.  Phillip Roth's central question in this work seems not so much to be where did this family go wrong as when and how did America go wrong in its dream of equality for all and making the world safe for democracy?  Perhaps it's inevitable in such a work that no conclusions are reached, though many possible answers are presented.

All of which brings me back to my earlier question of what's a novel for? The serious (and sometimes comic) literary novel has always been about enlightenment within the human condition, enlightenment and catharsis--what the Greeks meant by that was a purging of the emotions that involved  both understanding and empathy.  American Pastoral is big on crisis, but not on enlightenment or catharsis--it's a story that could well be on the national news this week or any week-- basically it takes the perspective that life makes no sense, and that's it--the Classical Greeks would not accept that or even understand it--they managed to render at least some order out of chaos-- of course they had their pagan gods to blame for all the bad stuff, and we don't!

 There's an old tenet in literature that every good novel, despite its subject, should have some "redeeming social value."  If American Pastoral has any, please do tell me what it is.  It is very successful in pointing out the social ills of our time, but not in offering any solutions.

Chance's Corner: Texas Traveler - Ross Perot Museum

It's been awhile since I've been out and about in the great state of Texas (library duty calls!), but I managed to sneak out for the weekend and visit the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas. Maybe you've seen it sitting amongst the iconic Dallas skyline. It's pretty much a work of modern art designed by world-renowned architect Thom Mayne.

 

 
Impressive, huh? That's just the outside! Inside the Perot Museum is a world of wonder. Stairs play music as you take each step, water molecules hanging overhead move as they detect your presence, and an entire wall lights up as you touch it. Those aren't even the main exhibits! Sorry for all the exclamation, but the Perot Museum is just a really exciting place.
 
The Perot Museum has 11 permanent exhibit halls. They are:
 

• The Moody Family Children's Museum
• This exhibit is reserved only for families with kids who are 5 years old or younger, and features a playground modeled after the Dallas skyline.

 

 

• Lamar Hunt Family Sports Hall
• You can test your reflexes, watch yourself move in slow motion or even race against a T-Rex in this exhibit dedicated to your body and motion.

 

• Discovering Life Hall
• Take a whiff of a Magnolia bloom, Texas mountain laurel, a skunk or coyote urine in this exhibit featuring the different type of animals that can be found in Texas.

Even the benches teach you something.

 

• Being Human Hall
• Check your pulse rate, look at your veins or find your hot and cold spots via a thermal scanner in this exhibit dedicated to your body.

 
 

• Texas Instruments Engineering and Innovation Hall
• Play with robots, use your brain waves to move ping pong balls, create music and much more in this exhibit featuring the ideas of tomorrow.

Wooden blocks mold to the shape of my body via a motion capture camera.

 

• The Rees-Jones Foundation Dynamic Earth Hall
• Here, you can experience the sensation of being caught in an earthquake or even stick your hand in the middle of a small tornado.

 

• Tom Hunt Energy Hall
• What other resources can we use to generate energy and gas? Solar? Wind? Hydro? Learn about it here!

 

• Lyda Hill Gems and Minerals Hall
• Gems and minerals sparkle and gleam in this exhibit, but the centerpiece is a HUGE purple geode.

 

• Expanding Universe Hall
• Travel through space!

 

• T. Boone Pickens Life Then and Now Hall
• Dinosaurs roam this hall. Watch out!

 

 
 

• Rose Hall of Birds
• Check out the different species of birds in Texas and create your very own species.

 

The reason I enjoyed the Perot Museum so much is because it's very interactive... very hand's on. You have so much fun that you almost forget that you're learning something. I hope you get to check it out for yourself one day!

 
 
 
 
 
 

Poet's Perch : The Arrow and the Song by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The Arrow and the Song

 

 

 

I shot an arrow into the air,

It fell to earth, I knew not where;

For, so swiftly it flew, the sight

Could not follow it in its flight.

 

I breathed a song into the air,

It fell to earth, I knew not where;

For who has sight so keen and strong,

That it can follow the flight of song?

 

Long, long, afterward, in an oak

I found the arrow, still unbroke;

And the song, from beginning to end,

I found again in the heart of a friend.

 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 

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Summer Time Fun!

This last week has been busy, busy, busy at the library!
 
First, we kicked off summer activities with Bubble Day.  Over 120 people attended.
 

 
Then, last Thursday, Blackland Prairie Raptors brought owls, hawks, falcons, and kestrels.  Everyone enjoyed seeing the birds up close.
 

 
Yesterday, in collaboration with MV Music, the kids were treated to a Summer Children's Concert, entitled "The Town Musicians."
 

 
Today is the first official day of Summer Reading.  Mrs. August and Kristin are reading to the kids and helping them make Superhero Masks. 

Be sure to check our website for a full listing of all our summer acitivies!  www.franklincolibrary.com

Adult Reading Challenge

In addition to our normal crazy summer schedule, this year we will be adding an Adult Reading Challenge! 

Participants will complete 12 challenges in order to be entered in a drawing for a prize.  The challenges will be things like "read a biography" and "Check out a DVD and  have a movie night."  All challenges must be completed with library books or materials and be marked complete by library staff. 

The Adult Reading Challenge will run concurrently to our children's reading program.  It will begin on June 16th, and all forms must be turned in by July 20th.  Prizes will be awarded at our Summer Reading closing party on July 21st!

Tom's Two Cents: The Razor's Edge by Somerset Maugham

 

The British author Somerset Maugham essentially made a name for himself in a series of novels and short stories written before the mid-20th century.  In literary circles he became known for "Of Human Bondage," but it is for his shorter novels, "Cakes and Ale," "The Moon and Sixpence," and especially "The Razor's Edge," that he is best remembered today.  The latter, published in 1943, seems every bit as relevant now as it did then.

A British writer's take on a group of Americans, first living in Chicago, then mostly in France, in Paris and on the Riviera, it is, like "The Great Gatsby," also about the American pursuit of materialism and social status, but unlike "Gatsby," it explores a subject of much greater depth, the search for a life of the spirit, outside the context of the conventional Catholic or Protestant Church.  No, it isn't about cults, either.  It's rather about one man's search for knowledge and meaning within the context of the cosmos and himself.

That man is Larry Darrell, a former youthful WWI pilot, whose life is forever changed by his war experiences and who comes back to America unable and/or unwilling to settle down, make money in the American tradition, and thus lead a "successful" life.  His refusal to do so upsets the applecart between himself and his fiancée, Isabel, whose young life up to then has been sheltered by money, security, and social position.  Isabel wants to marry Larry, but she also wants him on her terms, not his.

Their story is told largely from the point of view of an outside narrator, the author Maugham himself, and his friend Elliott Templeton, a snobbish but very amusing American ex-patriate, who is Isabel's uncle.  Elliott is the perfect foil for Larry, who couldn't possibly care what kind of china he's dining on, or even if it's china.  Elliott, on the other hand, wouldn't be caught dead outside a guru's hovel in India.  Larry's search for spirituality in that ancient country may strike us now as a cliche, but this story was written long before John Lennon ever went in search of a guru!  And it is not so much the destination as the search itself that remains still strikingly relevant today.

"The Razor's Edge" is a well-written, thought provoking, and entertaining book, one that I recommend highly, but be forewarned: it contains nothing shocking except its ideas!

Romantic Reads!

School is out which means Summer has officially started at Franklin County Library!  If you are a teacher, student, or other fortunate soul who gets to laze away a long summer, you might want a romantic read to while away a few hours. 

For a good romantic suspense read try:

Romance with a little magic?  Try:

Inspirational romance with a little suspense?  Try:

 

 

Romance from a local author?  Try:

 

Pick one or read them all!  Let us know which is your favorite!