I read Caesars Messiah about 10 years ago. The intervening years have somewhat diminished the power of Atwills argumentation for me; however the insight of his premise has grown. That power - and particularly the powerful machinations of empire - always act so as to maintain their power should be self evident, but Atwill helped me to see…
I read Caesars Messiah about 10 years ago. The intervening years have somewhat diminished the power of Atwills argumentation for me; however the insight of his premise has grown. That power - and particularly the powerful machinations of empire - always act so as to maintain their power should be self evident, but Atwill helped me to see that power/control is more effectively deployed against ones blind spots. Brute force works, but cognitive manipulation works better.
I appreciate the effort you put into your writing and the comment section seems to attract a generally thoughtful and inquiring crowd as well.
p.s - your nom de plume convinced me to stop avoiding the Barsoom books. Of their time no doubt but fun quick reads.
They're fun reads, but just as important, iconic. I was struck when reading them by just how many tropes they'd apparently given rise to. There's also an energy and freshness to the pulp literature of the time that is hard to come by these days.
I’ve attempted to compose several replies that start with “there’s an energy and freshness no doubt, but…’ the rest sounds whiny and nit-picky. The ‘but’ is the dead give away I suppose.
Let’s go with: I appreciate that John Carter loves living life. He is rarely beset by doubt and never fundamentally doubts his personal ethos or impulses. He unashamedly loves beautiful things. I think it is that clarity that carries the freshness and energy you mentioned.
Precisely. You see the same energy in the Conan stories by Robert E. Howard. It's the youthful outlook of the frontier given literary expression. For that reason I've always considered the pulp fiction of the early 20th century to be more representative of the American soul than the depressing, aimless introspection of the modernists one tends to find celebrated in the academy.
Thanks Harrison, I’ve skimmed through that book. Sort of moved on (sounds more pompous/arrogant/dismissive than I mean it) from that genre in general. I was interested in destroying my worldview (or at least, destroy is what happened) when I read Atwill/et al. More interested in cultivating a coherent, robust, life affirming worldview now, so reading that informs that end takes up the majority of my (never enough) time!
p.s enjoy your substack as well. Thank you for your work!
Why I find a book/essay/piece of writing coherent, robust and life affirming is often personally contextual.
For example I read a prayer for the blessing of food last week which moved me take up the practice for the first time. There is nothing obviously coherent about blessing food (not in a rational sense), and the food is still life affirming (in a literal, physical way) without the prayer.
Yet the prayer itself, the reflection it induces and the wider, deeper connections it helps me to make to life itself, have the net effect of increasing the coherence and robustness of my life and affirms that I want to live this life and experience as much of it as I can.
That being said, Gordon White’s Ani.Mystic is one book that overtly affirms life and the mutual flourishing of all. I recently re-read Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami and while I found it ultimately life affirming, I can see how some might see it depressing. As I mentioned in another comment, the Barsoom series is unashamedly about living life and the wonderful adventures that life will take you on when you live it.
Substacks such as From The Forests of Arduinna, Torchlight, The Wonderland Rules, Charles Eisenstein, John Carter (obvs!), Paul Kingsnorth, (and so many more!) have provided many moments which provoke deep thought and reflection and ultimately encourage me to keep on living life.
I read Caesars Messiah about 10 years ago. The intervening years have somewhat diminished the power of Atwills argumentation for me; however the insight of his premise has grown. That power - and particularly the powerful machinations of empire - always act so as to maintain their power should be self evident, but Atwill helped me to see that power/control is more effectively deployed against ones blind spots. Brute force works, but cognitive manipulation works better.
I appreciate the effort you put into your writing and the comment section seems to attract a generally thoughtful and inquiring crowd as well.
p.s - your nom de plume convinced me to stop avoiding the Barsoom books. Of their time no doubt but fun quick reads.
They're fun reads, but just as important, iconic. I was struck when reading them by just how many tropes they'd apparently given rise to. There's also an energy and freshness to the pulp literature of the time that is hard to come by these days.
I’ve attempted to compose several replies that start with “there’s an energy and freshness no doubt, but…’ the rest sounds whiny and nit-picky. The ‘but’ is the dead give away I suppose.
Let’s go with: I appreciate that John Carter loves living life. He is rarely beset by doubt and never fundamentally doubts his personal ethos or impulses. He unashamedly loves beautiful things. I think it is that clarity that carries the freshness and energy you mentioned.
Precisely. You see the same energy in the Conan stories by Robert E. Howard. It's the youthful outlook of the frontier given literary expression. For that reason I've always considered the pulp fiction of the early 20th century to be more representative of the American soul than the depressing, aimless introspection of the modernists one tends to find celebrated in the academy.
I've only read parts, but there's another Atwill-esque book out there offering a similar position with different and better (?) arguments: https://smile.amazon.com/Creating-Christ-Emperors-Invented-Christianity/dp/1949914615/ Been meaning to read all of it, but you might find it worth checking out!
Thanks Harrison, I’ve skimmed through that book. Sort of moved on (sounds more pompous/arrogant/dismissive than I mean it) from that genre in general. I was interested in destroying my worldview (or at least, destroy is what happened) when I read Atwill/et al. More interested in cultivating a coherent, robust, life affirming worldview now, so reading that informs that end takes up the majority of my (never enough) time!
p.s enjoy your substack as well. Thank you for your work!
Tough question!
Why I find a book/essay/piece of writing coherent, robust and life affirming is often personally contextual.
For example I read a prayer for the blessing of food last week which moved me take up the practice for the first time. There is nothing obviously coherent about blessing food (not in a rational sense), and the food is still life affirming (in a literal, physical way) without the prayer.
Yet the prayer itself, the reflection it induces and the wider, deeper connections it helps me to make to life itself, have the net effect of increasing the coherence and robustness of my life and affirms that I want to live this life and experience as much of it as I can.
That being said, Gordon White’s Ani.Mystic is one book that overtly affirms life and the mutual flourishing of all. I recently re-read Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami and while I found it ultimately life affirming, I can see how some might see it depressing. As I mentioned in another comment, the Barsoom series is unashamedly about living life and the wonderful adventures that life will take you on when you live it.
Substacks such as From The Forests of Arduinna, Torchlight, The Wonderland Rules, Charles Eisenstein, John Carter (obvs!), Paul Kingsnorth, (and so many more!) have provided many moments which provoke deep thought and reflection and ultimately encourage me to keep on living life.
Apologies for the long winded answer.