How about another (lesser known) Quote?
This week I cranked through the latest installment in the Dune cycle of (I hate even categorizing them this way) Sci-Fi books. Yes the genius author Herbert has been long gone from the planet for several years, but this sequel is said to come from the notes he left behind.
Works for me.
Anyway, since the begining of the cycle, every chapter began with some epigram, usually a quote from either a character of the Dune universe, or at least some observer who may or may not even had been a bit player in the narrative.
Damn, there were so many great observations, over the course of the (now is it?) 12 or so books?
So here is a nugget from the latest one:
Ok this is a good one (methinks) and has much broader sway than it's given context:
"In our arrogant assumption of superiority, we believe that our developed senses and abilities are the direct result of evoloution. We are convinced that our race has bettered itself through technological advancement. Therefore, we are shamed and embarassed when something we consider to be "primitive" has senses far superior to our own."
Nuanced, and pregnant with possibility, that one. Just change the bit about evolution to any other source of feelings of superiority, and just change the bit about tech with any other real or imagined "advantage," and change that last part about primitive's senses to . . well any quality, and you got a template for just about any possible human group folly.
No, I am not going back to POLITICS here. I am just making a sociological observation, ok??
Beyond that, Hey!! FUN ALERT!!
I stared rereading "The Satanic Verses" today. I forgot (almost) how lucid and funny, and as well, as deep and literary a writer Rushdie is.
Speaking of arrogant thoughts about superiority, I used to say that I was one of the very few people I knew, who not only read that famous book, but undersood it.
Yes, I can and have been an arrogant shit in this life. But how many folk do you know who even read that book once?
Anyway . . . even if I think my readership here is next to nil, happy and safe Labor Day to all.
Works for me.
Anyway, since the begining of the cycle, every chapter began with some epigram, usually a quote from either a character of the Dune universe, or at least some observer who may or may not even had been a bit player in the narrative.
Damn, there were so many great observations, over the course of the (now is it?) 12 or so books?
So here is a nugget from the latest one:
Ok this is a good one (methinks) and has much broader sway than it's given context:
"In our arrogant assumption of superiority, we believe that our developed senses and abilities are the direct result of evoloution. We are convinced that our race has bettered itself through technological advancement. Therefore, we are shamed and embarassed when something we consider to be "primitive" has senses far superior to our own."
Nuanced, and pregnant with possibility, that one. Just change the bit about evolution to any other source of feelings of superiority, and just change the bit about tech with any other real or imagined "advantage," and change that last part about primitive's senses to . . well any quality, and you got a template for just about any possible human group folly.
No, I am not going back to POLITICS here. I am just making a sociological observation, ok??
Beyond that, Hey!! FUN ALERT!!
I stared rereading "The Satanic Verses" today. I forgot (almost) how lucid and funny, and as well, as deep and literary a writer Rushdie is.
Speaking of arrogant thoughts about superiority, I used to say that I was one of the very few people I knew, who not only read that famous book, but undersood it.
Yes, I can and have been an arrogant shit in this life. But how many folk do you know who even read that book once?
Anyway . . . even if I think my readership here is next to nil, happy and safe Labor Day to all.
posted by Abstentus at 9:39 PM
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