行萬裏路,讀萬卷書-野心的雜感。雜談

Dynamic Life Under My Heel

‘Babe, give me your best memory,
But it doesn’t equal pale ink.’
Song ‘Pale Ink’ by the Jimmy X band

When asked by anonchiya to write a recommendation towards English books through my own experience, the request was not only an honour, but also a chance to search back the rolling memories between then and now, them and us. Introducing my views with Chinese proverb adapted for lyrics in song ‘Pale Ink’ by the Jimmy X band (Harlam, 2003) with mixed feelings toward books - a nourishing, contradictory trajectory, just like what life is, seeded in these scenes, from which I breath, struggle, reflect, growth, and march on. I hope that you might be prepared to relax into the lines of possibility of who and how I might be-come, with them, with you.

A massive my fellow men’ complaints - English has been stealing our ancestors’ show and glory in our history since 1066, a smiling date in England in which a victory in battle by Alferd saved the English language (British History, 2002). Imagine being reluctant to speak with alien tongues by shutting our inherited mother tongue up. Yes, feel that pain. So do I.

Just as Ben Okri reminds us: ‘We began before words and we will end beyond them’ (Okri, 1996) May China overwhelm, suppress other ‘invaders’, take over our past harvest, amazing the entire world once again, provided that victory can only be secured by understanding our opponents, language would lie at the heart of this conquest.

Making a defeat needs some necessity of survival, “no pain, no gainJ there is an immediate solution i.e. to start with novels, savouring its fun along bitterness. After putting into your heart, head and soul into the others, yours vision will crack wide open.

There are two main thrusts to good books, at least from my point of view, known not only containing the penetrating insights into the authors’ scenario, but for the beautiful language they demonstrate for a audience equipped with a flavour of fun-loving spirits on top with which they expressed their souls too. Many books I recommended includes both of these features, some contributes mainly to one.
Historical fiction, The Lord of Rings (Tolkien, J), The Queen’s Fool (Philippa Gregory), and Absolute Friends (John Le Carré) are highly appreciated.
The Lord of Rings a wonderful epic with wonderful characters!
Philippa’s profound linguistic background gave a series of strikingly successful history events of the reign of Mary Tudor, daughter of King Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon on The Queen’s Fool. To the extent that there is a central message in this book to deliver that Hannah is becoming happier at risk amidst the political and religious turmoil of the time. She has there a new world to create, and an ardent faith in accordance with which to create it. At this point, it contains coincidental hidden values in the film Gang of New York.
“It is winter, 1553. Pursued by the Inquisition, Hannah Green, a fourteen-year-old Jewish girl, is forced to flee Spain with her father. But Hannah is no ordinary refugee. Her gift of "Sight," the ability to foresee the future, is priceless in the troubled times of the Tudor court. Hannah is adopted by the glamorous Robert Dudley, the charismatic son of King Edward's protector, who brings her to court as a "holy fool" for Queen Mary and, ultimately, Queen Elizabeth. Hired as a fool but working as a spy; promised in wedlock but in love with her master; endangered by the laws against heresy, treason, and witchcraft, Hannah must choose between the safe life of a commoner and the dangerous intrigues of the royal family that are inextricably bound up in her own yearnings and desires.” (Book Description)

Absolute friends, a classic narrative story of tragic-cosmic writing about ‘the two men meet first as students in riot-torn war Berlin of the late sixties again in the Cold War, and most terribly, in today’s unipolar world of terror, counter-terror and the war of lies…’ (Relevant information could be viewed from http://www.hha.com.au). Full of wisewarnings come to his political insights in our contemporary world, war and its disaster is part of his warning about our Today and Tomorrow…



The Making of Modern Japan (Jansen, Marius R), The East and West (Patten, Chris) serve as useful resources about today world events attached with Asia…. Written with grace and wit, interwoven with touching and struggle moments in his work and life in Hong Kong before the handover in 1997… As Oxford Chancellor, Patten shows off his mastery academy of professional English in the East and West, even tough he downplayed his political role (my prior supervisor’s opinionJ)

Classics literature, A la recherche du temps perdu, In search of lost time (Proust, M), and Persuasion (Jane, Austen, 1811) The surprise and suspense with
Jane AustenPersuasion Miss Austen maturest works was written in 1812-1816 such as Persuasion and Northanger Abby rather than her well-known first novels, i. e. Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. In Persuasion, her ironic record of everyday fact flowing in and out the shocking events would have attached with her ‘sensational’ sense: ‘sudden death, accidents, discoveries of unfaithfulness’ which shatter our presumption towards life that life could have been peaceful and wonderful, but very large was not; which echoes Russell (Russell, 1996) claims that human existence was a miserable business.
‘Anne Elliot, the heroine is reserved, elegant and reflective ..she had fallen in love with a very desirable young man, went worth, but his connections and moreso his position in society made it not all desirable for anne's beloved friend, lady l to allow her to continue her relationship.
now 7 years later they meet again to renew their love and affection; he being a captain now and possessing a large enough fortune. though at first he receives the attentions of louisa musgrove and anne the attentions of her cousin, mr. elliot, the heir to her father, they soon come to realise that what felt from the heart is the truest meaning of love. with the help of her many friends anne soon returns the affections she once held for captain wentworth.(Book description)’

Proust, one of the proudest figures in Classics literature of the past century, was crowned in Western world on the literature scenes which displayed his unique Proustian prose; the prose was to glory in the course of twentieth century, but surely the influence of Proust could get a foot on the literature ladder further on.
In search of lost time It is a book of more than four thousand pages, written in the early twentieth century. The beauty of this book has a twofold function. It offers us not only his enjoyable adventure with a series of interesting spectacles, surprising experiences, and his friends, lovers, and his fellow travellers from different social class with whom he established along the course of his journey in his living language; but the thought-provoking from trivial events of our everyday lives to let us mirror, mediate, and introspect our own days.
He starts off with his bright and tidy introduction, introduces us a circle of people in his trips in a manner that entertains us, makes all his characters play their parts in his plots, and is unerring in his ‘curtains’. In a general way, he recorded faithfully society how it is rather than with how it should be …these trips take him his lifetime, but they brought him into a new world and outlook, too.



‘What we call our thoughts seem to depend upon the organization of tracks in the brain in the same sort of way in which journeys depend upon roads and railways’ (Russell, 1996).

Coming back from England this summer I put Jack Kerouac's On The Road under my heel. On the Road was becoming the icon of Beat Generation…Beat Mususmit would be a bloody and bitter signs that stream into American culture and history, which was still evolving since 1957. On The Road, inspired by Jack’s gift for rhyme, propel forward lines in print that ran through its meaning with music notation. Its words sung in the fields, alive on the streets and flickering into manuscripts, its influence would not be denied. Along the line of On The Road, stories are carried by …trips – it worked in the same way that Proust did in the Search of Lost Time


There is the best figure to claim in all the readings that I had, Russell Betrand, the British philosopher, logician, essayist, and social critic, best known for his work in mathematical logic and analytic philosophy.
‘ Over the course of his long career, Russell made significant contributions, not just to logic and philosophy, but to a broad range of other subjects including education, history, political theory and religious studies. In addition, many of his writings on a wide variety of topics in both the sciences and the humanities have influenced generations of general readers.’ (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

The purpose what I stressed here is that reading Russell’ works is a journey of mental delight, not only enrich our knowledge, but also should set as a model eassyist, fully language honed for the expression of the finest emotions and tuned to perfect pitch for feelings, strung to the heart. Russesll’s works took it along that way. Russell books

It is time to mention some popular novels, such as Trading Up (Candace Bushnell), author of sex and the city, Best of Friends (Cathy Kelly) and so forth.

Admittedly, there is a gap between masterpieces and popular ones...it is hard but not impossible to copy the linguistic masters’ style for the everyday expressions, in particular, English serves as a second language instead of a first language. A witty solution is to develop strategic competence that may be called into action to compensate for breakdowns in communication… one way is to interact with today’s novels and magazines with simplified beautiful, up-to-date codes which could work at their self-help best for us to improve more expressive and energetic language. British edition Cosmopolition and Glamour are recommended. Two ebooks library are attached.

Comprehensible input of language is indeed a useful skill but not enough, an individual’s frequently initial output could render to language revolution, as understanding language and producing language are different skills, and that the second can only be developed by pushing the learner to produce output – actually to say and write things.

What I wrote now was to accept and absorb English as a layering, not as a replacement but as an enricher to our lives.

It was drafted out one time when I just finished an 8,000 words progress report to my supervisor, there could be some typos, slips between lines and insufficient description under the conditions of my stained body and brainJ. Most books I read before I entered into my current research, now I live with seemingly endless academic reading and writing rather than the books which I really desire to read and the researchers who are really fascinated to me. What a bliss it is if I could read what I love…
Last but not least, I am grateful to all those around 70 who give me support, inspiration, joy in the course of my study journey.

May books lighten our road forever!

With much love,
wild@heart
2004-09-06



Harlam C (2003) Just One Book
The Oxford Companion to British History (2002)
Okri, B (1996) Birds of Heaven, Phoenix

Russell B (1996) What I believe, Routledge
Austen J (1811) Persuasion, In the Complete Novels of Jane Austen (1928)



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• 寫的好！ -可惜我的英文不好－- ♀ (0 bytes) () 09/07/2004 postreply 01:19:15

• It is indeed a 雜感 & 雜談 -heart123- ♀ (1508 bytes) () 09/07/2004 postreply 02:04:18

• 這個是布局和TYPO修改過的.我還奇怪了誰又幫我轉過去的,好 -像不是這個壇子的風格- ♀ (15253 bytes) () 09/07/2004 postreply 03:03:26

• 文如其人? -professorU- ♂ (368 bytes) () 09/07/2004 postreply 09:37:26

• 教授還用文如其人,以貌取人來衡量 -≠paleink- ♀ (420 bytes) () 09/08/2004 postreply 02:40:37

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