Our passage from the Word of God today is 1 Chronicles 29:29 which reads: "Now the acts of David the king, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of Samuel the seer, and in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the book of Gad the seer."
Our quote today is from F. Scott Fitzgerald. He said: "That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you're not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong."
In this podcast, we are using as our texts: "Literature and Spirituality" by Yaw Adu-Gyamfi and Mark Ray Schmidt, and "Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing" by X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. If you enjoy this podcast, please feel free to purchase any one of these books from our website.
Our first topic for today is "Spirituality as Quest, Part 9" from the book, "Literature and Spirituality" by Yaw Adu-Gyamfi and Mark Ray Schmidt.
We are continuing our selection from Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha:
The Ferryman (Part 2)
Vasudeva listened with great attention. Listening carefully, he let everything enter his mind, birthplace and childhood, all that learning, all that searching, all joy, all distress. This was among the ferryman's virtues one of the greatest: like only a few, he knew how to listen. Without him having spoken a word, the speaker sensed how Vasudeva let his words enter his mind, quiet, open, waiting, how he did not lose a single one, awaited not a single one with impatience, did not add his praise or rebuke, was just listening. Siddhartha felt, what a happy fortune it is, to confess to such a listener, to burry in his heart his own life, his own search, his own suffering.
But in the end of Siddhartha's tale, when he spoke of the tree by the river, and of his deep fall, of the holy Om, and how he had felt such a love for the river after his slumber, the ferryman listened with twice the attention, entirely and completely absorbed by it, with his eyes closed.
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Our second topic for today is "Reading a Story, Part 13" from the book, "Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing" by X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia.
The Short Story
The teller of tales relies heavily on the method of summary: terse, general narration. In a short story, a form more realistic than the tale and of modern origin, the writer usually presents the main events in greater fullness. Fine writers of short stories, although they may use summary at times (often to give some portion of a story less emphasis), are skilled in rendering a scene: a vivid or dramatic moment described in enough detail to create the illusion that the reader is practically there. Avoiding long summary, they try to show rather than simply to tell, as if following Mark Twain's advice to authors: "Don't say, 'The old lady screamed.' Bring her one and let her scream."
A short story is more than just a sequence of happenings. A finely wrought short story has the richness and conciseness of an excellent lyric poem. Spontaneous and natural as the finished story may seem, the writer has crafted it so artfully that there is meaning in even seemingly casual speeches and apparently trivial details. If we skim it hastily, skipping the descriptive passages, we miss significant parts.
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Our passage from the Word of God today is 2 Kings 12:19 which reads: "Now the rest of the acts of Joash and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?"
Our quote today is from Gabriel Garcia Marquez. He said: "Ultimately, literature is nothing but carpentry. With both you are working with reality, a material just as hard as wood."
In this podcast, we are using as our texts: "Literature and Spirituality" by Yaw Adu-Gyamfi and Mark Ray Schmidt, and "Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing" by X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. If you enjoy this podcast, please feel free to purchase any one of these books from our website.
Our first topic for today is "Spirituality as Quest, Part 8" from the book, "Literature and Spirituality" by Yaw Adu-Gyamfi and Mark Ray Schmidt.
Here is a selection from Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha:
The Ferryman (Part 1)
By this river I want to stay, thought Siddhartha, it is the same which I have crossed a long time ago on my way to the childlike people, a friendly ferryman had guided me then, he is the one I want to go to, starting out from his hut, my path had led me at that time into a new life, which had now grown old and is dead--my present path, my present new life, shall also take its start there!
Tenderly, he looked into the rushing water, into the transparent green, into the crystal lines of its drawing, so rich in secrets. Bright pearls he saw rising from the deep, quiet bubbles of air floating on the reflecting surface, the blue of the sky being depicted in it. With a thousand eyes, the river looked at him, with green ones, with white ones, with crystal ones, with sky-blue ones. How did he love this water, how did it delight him, how grateful was he to it! In his heart he heard the voice talking, which was newly awaking, and it told him: Love this water! Stay near it! Learn from it! Oh yes, he wanted to learn from it, he wanted to listen to it. He who would understand this water and its secrets, so it seemed to him, would also understand many other things, many secrets, all secrets.
But out of all secrets of the river, he today only saw one, this one touched his soul. He saw: this water ran and ran, incessantly it ran, and was nevertheless always there, was always an at all times the same and yet new in every moment! Great be he who would grasp this, understand this! He understood and grasped it not, only felt some idea of it stirring, a distant memory, divine voices.
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Our second topic for today is "Reading a Story, Part 12" from the book, "Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing" by X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia.
Plot (Part 2)
Protagonist Versus Antagonist
Death's godson is the principal person who strives: the protagonist (a better term than hero, for it may apply equally well to a central character who is not especially brave or virtuous). The suspense, the pleasurable anxiety we feel that heightens our attention to the story, resides in our wondering how it will all turn out. Will the doctor triumph over Death? Even though we suspect, early in the story, that the doctor stands no chance against such a superhuman antagonist, we want to see for ourselves the outcome of his defiance.
Crisis and Climax
When the doctor defies his godfather for the first time - when he saves the king - we have a crisis, a moment of high tension. The tension is momentarily resolved when Death lets him off. Then an even greater crisis - the turning point in the action - occurs with the doctor's second defiance in restoring the princess to life. In the last section of the story, with the doctor in the underworld, events come to a climax, the moment of greatest tension at which the outcome is to be decided, when the terrified doctor begs for a new candle. Will Death grant him one? Will he live, become king, and marry the princess? The outcome or conclusion -- also called the resolution or denouement (French for "the untying of the knot") -- quickly follows as Death allows the little candle to go out.
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Our passage from the Word of God today is 1 Kings 11:41 which reads: "And the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon?"
Our quote today is from Ezra Pound. He said: "Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree."
In this podcast, we are using as our texts: "Literature and Spirituality" by Yaw Adu-Gyamfi and Mark Ray Schmidt, and "Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing" by X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. If you enjoy this podcast, please feel free to purchase any one of these books from our website.
Our first topic for today is "Spirituality as Quest, Part 7 - Hermann Hesse" from the book, "Literature and Spirituality" by Yaw Adu-Gyamfi and Mark Ray Schmidt.
Hermann Hesse (1877-1962) grew up in a German home that was very committed to Christianity. However, he left those roots and looked for other ways to understand the nature of spirituality. He often turned to the religious traditions of India for inspiration. In addition to his spiritual struggles, his life was filled with many personal, psychological, and marital problems.
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Our second topic for today is "Reading a Story, Part 11" from the book, "Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing" by X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia.
Plot: Like a fable, the Grimm brothers' "Godfather Death" tale seems stark in its lack of detail and in the swiftness of its telling. Compared with the fully portrayed characters of many modern stories, the characters of father, son, king, princess, and even Death himself seem hardly more than stick figures. It may have been that to draw ample characters would not have contributed to the storytellers' design; that, indeed, to have done so would have been inartistic. Yet "Godfather Death" is a compelling story. By what methods does it arouse and sustain our interest?
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Our passage from the Word of God today is 2 Kings 23:21 which reads: "And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto the Lord your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant."
Our quote today is from Samuel Butler. He said: "Every man's work, whether it be literature, or music or pictures or architecture or anything else, is always a portrait of himself."
Our first topic for today is "Spirituality as Quest, Part 6 - Lao-Tzu" from the book, "Literature and Spirituality" by Yaw Adu-Gyamfi and Mark Ray Schmidt.
Here are our last two selections from Tao Te Ching.
Chapter 15
The skillful masters (of the Tao) in old times, with a subtle and exquisite penetration, comprehended its mysteries, and were deep (also) so as to elude men's knowledge. As they were thus beyond men's knowledge, I will make an effort to describe of what sort they appeared to be.
Shrinking looked they like those who wade through a stream in winter; irresolute like those who are afraid of all around them; grave like a guest (in awe of his host); evanescent like ice that is melting away; unpretentious like wood that has not been fashioned into anything; vacant like a valley, and dull like muddy water.
Who can (make) the muddy water (clear)? Let it be still, and it will gradually become clear. Who can secure the condition of rest? Let movement go on, and the condition of rest will gradually arise.
They who preserve this method of the Tao do not wish to be full (of themselves). It is through their not being full of themselves that they can afford to seem worn and not appear new and complete.
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Our second topic for today is "Reading a Story, Part 10" from the book, "Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing" by X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia.
The Brothers Grimm - Jakob Grimm (1785-163) and Wilhelm Grimm (1786-1859), brothers and scholars, were born near Frankfurt am Main, Germany. For most of their lives they worked together - lived together, too, even when in 1825 Wilhelm married. In 1838, as librarians, they began toiling on their Deutsch Worterbuch, or German dictionary, a vast project that was to outlive them by a century. (It was completed only in 1960.) In 1840 King Friedrich Wilhelm IV appointed both brothers to the Royal Academy of Sciences, and both taught at the University of Berlin for the rest of their days.
The name Grimm is best known to us for that splendid collection of ancient German folk stories we call Grimm's Fairy Tales. This classic work spread German children's stories around the world. Many tales we hear early in life were collected by the Grimms including Hansel and Gretel, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Rapunzel, Tom Thumb, Little Red Riding Hood, and Rumpelstiltskin. Versions of some of these tales had been written down as early as the sixteenth century, but mainly the brothers relied on the memories of Hessian peasants who recited the stories aloud for them.
Now here is one of the stories from the Brothers Grimm called "Godfather Death."
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