New Voice

Is war a guaranteed consequence of humanity? I think most people would consider it is, given the planets consistent, and extremely long-term infatuation, with war – and all other forms of violence. But is it really in our nature to be violent? I read an article recently in which scientists examined the human propensity for war craft. Archaeologists have confirmed that civilization itself had only commenced before weaponry is known to have come into increasing use: archaeological remains seem to tie the strong arrival of warlike tendencies to movement of our ancestors from hunter gather status to farmers; which makes sense since farming forms a connection to the land, and hence there then exists something to fight to control. Though violence would have existed before this point, it seems not to have been more than individuals, as opposed to large numbers of organised participants. But apparently it does not stop there: it has been noted extensively in chimpanzees that some contain a violent disposition – say a member of one grouping clubbing to death a member of another grouping (2001: A Space Odyssey style), for no noticable gain. This illogical violent nature leads some to believe that war is part of our biological heritage. (continue reading…)

In my last post I mentioned Lars Von Triers, and the hostility his films provoke. Bryan Appleyard, in last week’s Sunday Times, went on at length about how provoked he was by Antichrist. What quite provoked Appleyard’s hostility was a little difficult to pinpoint – he didn’t like the explicit violence, the nastiness, and he wasn’t sure whether or not it should have been given its 18 uncut rating, as he isn’t quite sure about the whole rating thing. But it wasn’t that, it wasn’t the violence that left him “insensate with rage,” although he spent quite a bit of the article talking about the violence and nastiness. (continue reading…)

The End of the Road

At the turn of the twentieth century an eminent chemist announced his belief that physics, and to similar degree science as a whole, had concluded its most significant leaps of discovery. His thesis argued that little else could be contributed to the field of physics that could be as unique and peerless as those that had occurred in the previous three centuries. Indeed, the nineteenth century alone was an explosive era for scientific change. Most of the major branches of the sciences saw particular advancement; however, it was the introduction of whole new fields of study that proved the most celebrated events.

Scientific fields such as palaeontology and archaeology absorbed the most abundant intellects of the period, as intense new discoveries were formed and ever more expansive theories introduced. The period’s advancement was of such a revolutionary pace that some scientists began to envisage the potential for a complete understanding of the natural world, including the laws that govern its existence. It was in this transitional climate of ingenuity that voices became prominent with claims that extreme scientific discovery had come to an end. (continue reading…)

 Switching on the internet last Satuday morning I was delighted to see Martin Amis reviewing John Updike’s final collection of stories on The Guardian website.  Now, Amis is no ordinary, jobbing critic, and this piece of work did not disappoint.  What followed was a thorough, engaged and beautifully attentive delineation of the frequent lapses in Updike’s prose.    (continue reading…)

…on a Monday, this week. I thought, when I started to write, that I was done with work, and I am, for the moment, in a moment. I thought that I had done work to the death, but its relationship to literature is fertile ground for discussion – since I’ve started writing about it people have been mentioning books that deal with work, or writers known for their relationship with work, especially with means-to-end work. Someone mentioned Flann O’Brien, like myself a civil servant, and a man whose literary output would put one to shame. That he had time to squeeze in so much writing – the journalism and ficiton – between work and prodigious boozing (although he was a civil servant at a time when you could combine the working and the boozing, saving some time at least) is amazing and admirable. (continue reading…)