Still early
morning. But it's a weekend morning and
the day is already underway. Imperceptibly
we’ve passed the solstice and I allow myself to perceive that every day now
will get longer and longer. Perhaps I’m
a simpleton, but I’m really glad this is the case. And yes, I get just a little bit sad, when
they all start getting shorter again every June.
Christmas is coming.
Appropriately perhaps, I was reading the “Magicians Nephew” with my
younger one. This is the first of the
Narnia books. The one right before the
famous “Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.” (‘TLTWATWD’) C. L. Lewis wanted the series to be a
Christian parable and in the last few minutes we’ve gone through the creation
of the world with the little nephew, his friend and a host of others all cast
for the first time, into Narnia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._S._Lewis
I remember being enamored with the series as a kid and then
feeling cheated somehow, realizing that there was a subliminal Christian
message that ran throughout. The Lion
as Christ who sacrifices himself to a Witch that is Lucifer. It all feels a bit predictable when I watched
the movie version with my girls, eight or nine times in a row, a few years
back. They get emotional when the Lion
sacrifices himself and you try to explain the metaphor but it doesn’t work and
its all a bit of an intrusion on the narrative.
This first book I’m pretty sure I’d never read before. I think I’d launched in as a twelve year old
or so with the second book, ‘TLTWATWD.’
This first one is interesting, for me at least, until I feel
like I’ve wound up in the Book of Genesis.
Where Aslan 开天辟地[1] and
does six day creation myth in one swift morning. Early on there is a wonderful treatment
of Victorian England that is highly plausible and a cool way station he creates
between the worlds with endless pools of water you can enter and go to
different realities. It looks like we’ll
only get to see two or three explored in this book, but the concept is quite
captivating.
Apparently C. L. Lewis, and J. R. Tolkien and others all got
together and read bits of their work in those days. Tolkien the medievalist
apparently talked Lewis out of his Christianity only to have the later return to
the fold, later. I’m noticing how the
role of the “Friendly, Honest, Naïve, Irishman” seems to be a stock character
the both used, in as much as the Hobbits were supposedly inspired by the
Irish. In this book there is Cabbie who
fits the role: “Gawd isn’t it lovely”. I
suppose we should be glad their not drunken stereotypes. And they are period pieces, written when they
were when things were different. But
nonetheless, even as a “plastic paddy” fifth generation Irish American, it all feels
a bit patronizing.
I can remember being in England for the first time as a
twenty year old. It was my first time
overseas, en route to Ireland and I encountered these stereotypes that would
have been widespread in the U.S. that my grandmother grew up in but I’d never
experienced. I bought a ticket at window
in Paddington Station and I must have asked the young clerk if I’d be able to
clarify a question at the next window and what I recall him saying was “It’ll
be clear as day. It’s not like its
Oirish or something.” Petty, small
comment, delivered with a big, genuine smile.
But it stuck in my ear as an insult; a fresh one that I hadn’t heard
before. “That thing, “oirish” we can all
agree is clearly insane:” as a sort of default normalcy.
Anyhow I’ll try to enjoy the rest of the story and not ruin
it for my girl. They know enough about
Chinese narratives. There’s no more
important narrative to understand than the Old and New Testament, if your going
to confront Western Civilization.
Christmas parties today, two of them. One with dear old friends, who are back in
Beijing from Mongolia. It is good to
live in Beijing and speak with people from Ulan Bator, the “red hero.” They’re decompressing. They swiftly remind you that what you think
of as cold or even pollution in Beijing is really quite temperate and
workable. Then it’s off to a Christmas
dinner party with more old friends who we’ve shared fifteen years of Beijing
memories with. They do this yearly and
sing Christmas carols and play music. I’m
glad my kids can have some sense of this tradition extending beyond their own
living room.
My friend has sent me a link through Rdio insisting I listen
to “La Nuit Des Ephémères” by General Elektriks. The mix is somehow dainty and funky in equal
measure with startling production clarity.
This is apparently the work of the French producer Hervé Salters. I’m not sure if he is singing on the two
subsequent tracks I heard but they left me a bit cold. This however is a fine, disturbing soundtrack
to confront this first day of the year that waxing lighter, with all its
parties to attend.
I guess I’m old fashioned though. I’m back
to my Tina Brooks bebop set pretty quickly.
No comments:
Post a Comment