Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts by Christopher de Hamel

5 Stars

Amazing. Full stop.

I realize that the audience for this is extremely limited, but if you are interested in medieval history, manuscripts, historical importance and the art, then this is a great resource. De Hamel does more than show pretty pictures; he is the eyes and hands turning the pages that we cannot--okay, maybe there's a dozen people in the world that would be allowed to handle these manuscripts, but I'm never going to be one. He tells us things that we can't see from images: texture, application of pigment, the smell, the binding, sewing of the folios, etc. I learned more about manuscript creation from skin to gilding than anywhere else and it was all explained while perusing these incredible books. That they still exist fills me with awe.

Provenance (ownership history) obviously plays into the discussions of each of the works. These were the cherished belongings of the highest echelons of European society. War booty plays a role in most pasts, and through this the reader begins to understand the tug-of-war across Europe through the centuries as you follow the manuscripts from one library to the next.

I can't possibly summarize all the works, but I've included the list and some quotes and thoughts.

Gospels of Saint Augustine

The parchment leaves of the manuscript, as we saw earlier, are extremely fine and of tissue thinness, and they pick up the vibration and hummed and fluttered in time with the music. At the moment, it was if the sixth-century manuscript on its cushion had come to life and was taking part in the service. It occurred to me that maybe ancient Christian manuscripts always did that, for their parchment is generally much finer than in later books, and perhaps one for carrying early Gospel Books in processions at all was because this effect is astonishingly powerful and moving. -- about Gospels of Saint Augustine, 7th c. brought to England by Saint Gregory

Codex Amiatinus

Book of Kells - So famous that any comments are superfluous.

Leiden Aratea

Morgan Beatus

The tone discussing it was very fond. De Hamel's affection bled through with his discussion. Never sure why, but it is uniquely syncretic artwork no doubt plays a part as does the symbolism. Perhaps Beatus, the illustrator and scribe becoming one of the first named instead of as a group appealed. Whatever the reason, de Hamel made it seem charming. The shady provenance and high-flying ownership certainly added to the salaciousness of dirty world of black/gray market art trade.

Hugo Pictorus - Stunning

Copenhagen Psalter

The colors are magnificent, rich and exquisite in bejeweled extravagance. Yes, actually gems have/had been glued to the images.

Carmina Burana

Great example of the shift to use of vernacular. It is a great piece of German poem and song compiliation that brings to mind the later Grimm brothers' endeavor.

Jeanne de Navarre Book of Hours

Lovely, but more importantly to me and my curious mind is that de Hamel brings up a very interesting point that Book of Hours as a genre were almost exclusively made for woman. Wealthy women, who while educated, were not given tutelage in Latin; therefore, the books are often vernacular with the Bible verses in Latin, which anyone attending service would have a firm knowledge. When you combine this with the Carmina Burana that was German vernacular you see a trend that women because they were denied formal access were instrumental in knowledge disseminating through the this transition. This is noted in this book as being true in Europe, but it is also true in Asia. The Tale of Genji authored by a Japanese noblewoman and lady-in-waiting was not written in Chinese, but rather hiragana. And this was happening in the eleventh-twelfth century.

It is absolutely fascinating and frankly, I'd love to read a book or dissertation on the language shift driven by women's use and democratization. IF, anyone knows of one PLEASE let me know either in the comments or via PM--Thank you.

Hengwrt Chaucer
Visconti Semideus

This, like the Hengwrt Chaucer and Carmina Burana, is not a religious text. It is more of a princely affairs' trio of works bound together. Think along the lines of Machiavelli's The Prince. It includes a section on warfare that I found enormously entertaining, because war machines and strategies always fascinate me. The vases filled with poisoned vipers as a ship to ship volley is great, see them below.



Spinola Hours

Like all of the others before, this manuscript is exquisite, but the mystery of its genesis is probably the most interesting. It also plays a very special role in de Hamel's career as being the individual to bring a previously lost and at the time unknown work back into the public eye. And it is decadent in its illustrations.

The Emissary by Yōko Tawada

3.5 Stars

This story is either a premonition or the bogeyman; you decide.

A month before, someone had put up a poster on the wall outside the elementary school: NO ONE SPEAKS OF THE WEATHER ANYMORE OR REVOLUTION EITHER. In bold fancy lettering, it was a take on the famous quotation, WHILE PEOPLE SPEAK ONLY OF THE WEATHER I SPEAK OF REVOLUTION -- but the very next day someone took it down.

Disturbing, yet engrossing, Tawada has created this post-apocalyptic tale that is so understated, but drowning in pathos. You feel swallowed by it as you read, frozen and helpless as Mumei and Yoshiro's lives play out.

"Grown-ups can live if children die," Mumei replied in a singsong voice, "but if grown-ups die, children can't live." Yoshiro fell silent. 

This is an excellent time capsule. It was much different than I expected from reading the blurb, but I enjoyed it more than my imagined storyline. It may be short, but it packs a powerful punch.

Children without parents had long since ceased to be called "orphans"; they were now referred to as doku ritsu jido, "independent children". Because the Chinese character doku looks like a dog separated from the pack who survives by attaching itself to a human being and never leaving its side, Yoshiro had never felt comfortable with the phrase.

Beautiful Days by Joyce Carol Oates

4 Stars

The title is a trap, which is very representative of the story themes. 

The writing is very good. It is worth experiencing Oates craftsmanship, but that said, this is not easy reading. The themes are heavy, disappointment-filled, and agitative. The quality is higher than my rating implies, and I want to read more Oates--after a spell. 

Once upon a time, a man and a woman had as many children as God sent them. That is, the woman had as many children as God directed the husband to afflict upon her.

Oates holds up a mirror of middle-age, suburban white women. Often times they appear neurotic, but is that them or the choices life has made them make? There's a focus on the schism of womanhood between modern and traditional roles and how it tears. Educated, becoming more frantic, and set in their patterns. Women troubled by relationships with men. Obsessive.

Lovemaking. The Making-of-love.
As if love does not generate itself, but has to be made--by the effort of two.

Water, symbolic of sex features prominently in several of the first stories. I'm always drawn to interactions people have with water, how they approach it, and their underlying relationship with it. Here, water is troubled and unsettling, reflecting the characters' lives.

Like swimmers drowning together, but gripping hands. Tight.

There is always a foreign element or a sense of "other" present, shading the interaction. Eastern European males, French-Canadian setting, black versus white; nothing is comfortable. A bizarre sense of exoticism and threat. Even pleasant interludes have ominous undertones that envelope the characters. 

The man was her lover, but not her friend.

It is hard to live in a body, we have learned. The body betrays the pretty doll-face and makes of its prettiness a mockery.

Oh, this strange panic-sensation! She had left him behind in his own dull bell-jar life, to suffocate.

Time plays a major theme in a couple works: disorientation, the past, lost. 

They were not that sort of parents. Not that sort of people. Not ever.
But words too can lash. Words too can sting.

The last story is the only one that doesn't contain women. While the first half is strongly focused, the stories begin to evanesce away in the second half to themes of time and political issues, war and abuse. After writing this review I realized that I liked this book more than I thought. Intellectually, at least.

A Rose in Winter by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss

5 Stars

Fast paced story of Erienne Fleming, impoverished daughter of Mawbry's mayor. She bears a resemblance to Catherine from Taming of the Shrew at the start, but very quickly it becomes obvious with the cards she's been dealt in life that it really isn't surprising.

Swords, fire, murder, mayhem, auctioned female, Georgian extravagance and true love. *sigh* Good stuff.

I have found my rose in winter. You are my own precious love, promised to me evermore.

Woodiwiss had a good command of language and used it very well. The descriptives are lovely and the sentiment, passionate to treacle sweet.

"Honor you?" he breathed. "Sweetest Erienne, how could I not? You are ever in my thoughts bending me, twisting me, plucking at the fibers of my mind. The man inside me trembles whenever you're near, and I groan in agony for the touch of your hand laid upon me in a soft caress. I am beset with desire for you, and if I thought for one moment that you would not loathe me forever, I would ease my lusts this very night, be you willing or nay."

Just as wonderful as I remember. Liberal use of the term Yankee in this KEW story, but instead of Gray v. Blue as in my last one, this is England v. newly-minted America. Probably my favorite Woodiwiss novel, though I am planning to reread The Wolf and the Dove later this year with Andrea, so it could be a toss up.

Interaction of Color by Josef Albers

4.5 Stars

Excellent color theory reference. Highly recommended for anyone in graphic, applied, and fine arts. Much might seem intuitive to a sensitive and attuned individual, but there are exercises that clarify concepts that seem impossible and/or counterintuitive. Engaging and examples are provided to illustrate the concepts. 

"A strong challenge to a class is to work with 3 or 4 given colors selected by a teacher or student. This and a continued use of disliked colors will teach that preference and dislike--as in life so with color --usually result from prejudices, from lack of experience and insight."

Grendel by John Gardner

3.5 Stars

An existential crisis told from the monster's point of view. Grendel tells of everything before Beowulf, a prequel. This was far more abstract and philosophical then I expected incorporating Grendel's arc from fumbling child learning his environment to elder bored with existence.

"I understood the world was nothing: a mechanical chaos of casual, brute enmity on which we stupidly impose our hopes and fears."

"Then the wars began, and the war songs, and the weapon making. If the songs were true, as I suppose at least one or two of them were, there had always been wars, and what I'd seen was merely a period of mutual exhaustion."

"But they were doomed, I knew, and I was glad. No denying it. Let them wander the fogroads of Hell."

I enjoyed this a great deal, especially the interlude with the dragon.

"Pick an apocalypse, any apocalypse. A sea of black oil and dead things. No wind. No light. Nothing stirring, not even an ant, a spider. A silent universe. Such is the end of time, the brief, hot fuse of events and ideas set off, accidentally, and snuffed out, accidentally, by man. Not a real ending of course, nor even a beginning. Mere ripple in Time's stream."

Ashes in the Wind by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss

4 Stars

This was a reread after many, many years--and it held up to my memory.

I originally read this as a young teen and loved it. Rereading it as an adult I was wondering if it was going to be as good as I remembered, and while it wandered far afield, but at over 600 pages you have room for a story to stretch time and space, it was entertaining. I definitely understand why I liked it as a young woman. Alaina was so much of what I identified with at that age and aspired to from the metamorphosis from tomboy into beautiful young woman, the heroine--she's pulling the hero out of scrapes multiple times, not sitting back wilting and waiting, some fantastic friends, and some less than stellar family. I admired her fortitude and definitely had her smart mouth.

The Civil War is not a romantic period and this book spends more time dealing with the realities of shortages and renderings of medical care and issues (varnished), albeit far behind lines, but you get bone saw and various triage arguments. You get the wretched feelings of being torn apart by loyalties and ideas of decency and when they get sacrificed. You get the consequences of death and permanent injury and pain. All this in a bodice ripper? Yep.

"I have always been suspicious of this flaring thing that occurs on first glance," he muttered. He favored her with a quick glance and spoke with deliberate slowness. "How can I determine what love is? When a man and a woman begin to understand each other, love begins small and grows with the passage of time. It is that which a man holds within himself until it blooms to its fullest." 

Being a romance, you get to eat your cake and have it too. So while all these things are happening to the characters you don't leave them in a casket, which was nice. I read grim, we see grim every day on the news so having something that takes you through hell and back again with a happy ending is kinda nice, right now.

Two beings wrapped in the pure bliss of their union, proceeding in eager, uncaring haste, giving all to the other and in return finding everything and more. 

Grendel and 1000 Acres Wood

Really? While I enjoy both, I don't think these two books are even remotely similar. Wonky algorithm.