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The Weekly Wrap: October 4-10

Reviewing Backlist Books

I do something atypical for a reviewer. While I read many new titles, I also read a number of backlist books–those that have been in publication anywhere from a year to several centuries or more. C.S. Lewis recommended we read one old book for every new one we read. I cannot say I do that. However, there are many older books that I want to read, as well as ones I learn of.

I am a reader first. Reviewing is something I began because others found the reviews I wrote helpful. My primary motive was just to remember the important things about the books I read and what I thought. But I discovered that at least some others valued what I wrote. And I was fortunate to persuade a number of publishers to send me books I was interested in. For free, no less!

But I will always be a reader first. That means I will keep discovering great old books as well as new ones. My hunch is that there are many others like me. They aren’t guided by the current book club books or the best-sellers. They simply pursue what they think of interest.

Perhaps it will be to read all of what an author writes. Or a book you are reading (or several) mention an influential book you’ve never read. Then there are those serendipitous finds at a library booksale or a secondhand bookstore. All those kinds of books will turn up in my reviews. Hopefully some will interest you. If nothing else, I hope it encourages you in the adventure of the reading life, discovering books new and old.

Five Articles Worth Reading

This year’s Nobel Prize in literature went to Canadian poet Anne Carson. If you are like me, you are new to Anne Carson. If so, “An Anne Carson Reader” is just the place to begin.

Carson is a classicist as well as a poet. “Anne Carson’s Seductive Strangeness” explores the intersection of those two worlds in her life and work.

In “Flowers for Frank,” Noah Swank reviews In the Realm of the Last Man, the new memoir by Francis Fukuyama. In particular, he explores why Fukuyama writes so much about his hobbies. For example: “The third chapter details Fukuyama’s lifelong experience woodworking, and the fifth gives us his thoughts on sports and music. The tenth is about art photography; the twelfth about woodworking again; the 25th about building computers.”

It seems we are endlessly fascinated with King Arthur and Arthurian legends. Angelica Frey explores “Why King Arthur Still Shapes Pop Culture.”

Finally, “Children of the Wasted Lands” explores why the stories we choose to read and heed are so important in shaping our lives.

Quote of the Week

Vaclav Havel was born on October 5, 1936. He observes the folly of thinking we can only lie once when he states,

“Lying can never save us from another lie.”

Miscellaneous Musings

The Cathedral of Theology is part of a new series published by IVP Academic, the “Pillars of Christian Dogmatics.” The metaphor of likening the framing of a theology to the building of a cathedral is arresting. I look forward to seeing if the book fulfills the promise of the title.

Elizabeth Strout continues to impress me with her depth of insight into the human condition. I’m midway through The Things We Never Say, a fascinating exploration of the secrets we keep and the lies we live to cover them.

Patrick Wensick’s The Great Black Swamp is a history/memoir of the northwest quadrant of Ohio, which was largely a swamp until drained, beginning in the late 1800’s, leaving some of the richest, and flattest farmland anywhere in the world. Wensick grew up in one of the small towns that sprang up there, Deshler. I lived for four years in Toledo, and drove all over this area, which is basically endless fields of corn and soybeans, with only a drainage ditch separating the road and the fields. Those drainage ditches and their ecological impact form a major part of this narrative.

Next Week’s Reviews

Monday: J. Warren Smith, Early Christian Theology

Tuesday: Agatha Christie, Sad Cypress

Wednesday: Jill Lepore, The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State

Thursday: Ericka Anderson, Freely Sober

Friday: Lynneth Miller Renberg and Adam R. Renberg, Candles in the Darkness

So, that’s The Weekly Wrap for October 4-10.

Find past editions of The Weekly Wrap under The Weekly Wrap heading on this page.

King Arthur, Christopher Hibbert. New Word City, 2014.

Summary: King Arthur and the myth of Camelot have fascinated generations and continues to capture the imagination of Britons as their once and future king. Hibbert’s book both narrates the fiction and delineates what may be known of the historical Arthur.

King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, Guinevere, Excalibur, Lancelot and more have captivated the imaginations of generations of readers of Malory’s le Morte d’Arthur and T. H. White’s Once and Future King. Indeed, many Britons look for the second coming of Arthur when the sceptered isle faces its greatest need.

Christopher Hibbert seeks to untangle the truth from the legends in this short history of Arthur and Arthurian studies. He begins with the various historical accounts of Arthur in chapter 1 and then proceeds to a summary of Malory’s narrative of Arthur’s life in chapter 2. Chapter 3 touches on the Grail Quest, added by Chrètian de Troyes in the twelfth century. Chapter 4 situates Arthur in the fifth century AD amidst the conflicts between Saxons and Britons. Chapter 5 explores the accounts suggesting that Arthur arose as a military commander leading the Britons against their Saxon enemies. Then chapter 6 focuses on the search for “Camelot” and considers the archaeological evidence found in Glastonbury at South Cadbury Castle.

Chapter 7 sums up what seem to be the “best guesses”. Hibbert plainly believes in the real existence of an Arthur, born around 475 AD, who became a military leader under King Ambrosius, uniting surrounding kingdoms under his leadership and winning a decisive victory at Mount Badon, near the Wansdyke, in 516. The victory ushers in a fifty year peace, broken only by civil war between him and his illegitimate son Mordred, leading to his burial in Avalon. Chapters 7 and 8 also explore the various literary treatments of Arthur from Tennyson to T. H. White.

While there are expensive hardbound versions, it appears this is primarily available in electronic format. A feature exploited to a greater degree than most e-books I have read is links to numerous Wikipedia articles throughout the work that provides helpful background on various figures, places, and other subjects.

I have to admit to finding the organization of this book a bit confusing, and in the end, I fail to find myself convinced that Arthur was more than legend, while yet appreciating the power of this legend, with swords in stone, Excalibur claimed from an upraised hand in a lake, the affair of Lancelot and Guinevere, and the tragedy of war between father and son. It seems that there are all the elements of Greek tragedy, of both nobility and hubris, of high aspiration and human fallibility. One understands how the Arthurian legend, as well as a Broadway musical, could captivate the imagination of the “best and the brightest” of the Kennedy administration that fostered its own “Camelot myth.” It makes me wonder at times whether there is something deep inside us longing for the reign of “the once and future king.”