The Culture Enthusiast

We are all writers here, right? Even if we don't consider ourselves starving artists we still write blog posts or college papers.

With that in mind, I'm introducing a new monthly feature called "Writer's corner". On the last Wednesday of the month I'll post tips on how to write better, interviews with authors, my personal experiences with writing and so on.

For the first Writer's corner, I'd like to begin with a great piece of advice given by author Ira Glass. I read this a couple of months ago and think it is one of the best things an aspiring writer could do (the highlights are mine):

What did you think about Glass' advice? Have you ever tried writing on a deadline?

Incredulity of Saint Thomas by Caravaggio

Source

Later on, Jesus appears once more in the middle of the Apostles and this time Saint Thomas is present. Christ tells him to touch His side as he said he would. Embarassed, Saint Thomas refused. Jesus then takes Thomas' hand and puts in His side. In the end, Jesus says "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." Saint Thomas answers: "My Lord and my God!"

A little bit of technique

Caravaggio might have had an infamous reputation as a bar brawler, but he sure knew his Bible. Notice Christ's expression. He is not angry or impatient. He looks compassionately at Thomas. 

Saint Thomas, on the other hand, has an expression of utter surprise and shock. I absolutely love this interpretation: "It could also be surprise at the realization that he, too, is also pierced. Indeed, St. Thomas appears to clutch his side as if he becomes aware of a wound at his side as well. And we who wince at this gritty depiction feel a wound at our side as well."1 

All the Apostles head's form a circle, giving movement to the painting: we look at one, then to the other, until we reach Christ's wounded chest.

Isn't the presence and expression of the other Apostles amazing? I mean, they had already seen Christ Ressurected, but it's like they took this opportunity to observe more. Human beings are naturally curious and the Apostles were facing Jesus - the one whose actions, if written down, could fill the whole world with books.2

A little bit of enthusiasm

I always felt sorry for Saint Thomas in this episode. At the same time, I feared I might have done the same thing if I were in his situation. Isn't his attitude even praised nowadays? 

But through Caravaggio's painting, we are reminded that Christ loves and cares about Thomas despite his incredulity. He even came back and made another apparition for his sake and for the sake of all doubting Thomas out there. 

Sources: 

1 Art in the Christian Tradition

2 John 21:25

Here's my acceptance speech (just kidding, these are the award rules).

1. Add the award to your blog. ok

2. Thank the blogger who gave it to you. ok

3. Mention 7 random things about yourself. (see the last part of this post)

4. List the rules. ok

5. Award 15 other bloggers (check below!)

6. Inform each of those 15 by leaving a comment on their blog. (ok)

I'm so happy I have a chance to talk about some of my favorite bloggers. Here they are:

Pennsylvania 6-5000: This is my auntie's blog. (hello, nepotism). She's the only person in my family who has a blog so we can always discuss about that.

Dizzy Tea: It was through Dizzy Tea that I discovered Lost Letters, and, because of it, many sweet penpals, so I'll always be thankful to her! Ipek lives in Turkey and I'm always drooling at her fabulous pictures.

The Stone and the Star: When I first came to Clarissa's blog, I saw a tag Louis MacNeice and a post about one of my favorite poems "Archaic Torso of Apollo". Immediatelly I thought "kindred spirits". If you want to read and talk about poetry this is the blog for you. 

Novel Days: Britta's was one of the first book blogs I discovered and I love her book recomendations and her Top Ten lists. I'm only able to make Top five lists... ;( 

Quicker than a Kiss: This blog has versatile written all over it. Devyn manages to successfully mix life style posts with culture posts. Great sense of humour and energy.

My Spare Oom: I am Grace's number one fan! I've been following style blogs for over a year now, and never found one that focused on modesty. In her blog, she also shares bits and pieces of her life and faith. 

Rhyme and Reason: Like me, Isabelle talks about more than one cultural subject: music and literature. She posts great reviews about the musical scene. (I felt so cool typing "musical scene") 

I wish I were British: Well, I wish I were British too. And I wish I were a glamorous archeologist like Méloe. In her blog, you can read about many subjects like books and her cool archeological work.

Pixy: Talking about Englanders, as in people who live in England (how come this is not a real word? we have londoner, right?), there's Robyn and her super cool blog. She blogs about all things culture and is another keen list maker.

Fashion or Fiction: The name says it all. Kelly's blog features outfit and literature posts. How could we not love it?

Rie Reviews: Marie's book blog has lots of reviews, author interviews and all things connected with reading. Her series Bookish Wonders is great.

Sense and Sensibility: Just like my alter ego Marion Cotillard, Candie is French and therefore very chic. She blogs about culture and her life in... Paris!

Brighton Girl: What would we do without our beauty blogs? Catherine covers fashion, beauty products and recipes!

A Stash Addict: I'm learning how to knit and Danielle is a big pro. We can learn so much through her tutorials.

Sweetness itself: Erin's lifestyle blog is so inspirational. As she says, she wants to encourage women who want more out of life. She is very sweet herself and her blog is definitely encouraging many people towards Christian virtues.

And now,  my 7 random things:

1. I'm extremelly shy so sharing info about myself - like I'm doing right now - is a bit hard.

2. After seeing Indiana Jones I wanted to be an archeologist. Then after Apolo 11, I wanted to be an astronaut. Ironically, I never liked movies with teachers - except The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

3. When I was a child, I practiced judo for about a month. I stopped because my judo teacher broke his nose during a competition and I was afraid that could happen to me too.

4. I once saw an episode of Frasier where he said something like: "Niles, you hate Mahler! Besides Maris, who doesn't?" Somehow that called my attention, I decided to listen to Mahler and ended up loving it. You can watch the whole episode here - it's a pretty funny one.

6. We joke around at home that my sister is my CFO. Whenever I want her opinion about something in my blog, I use a line from the movie The Social Network: "Where are you? I need my CFO!". Usually,  after saying this, only my dog comes to the door.

7. I love writing letters. When I was a child I used to write a lot of letters to politicians or local authorities. It always made me feel good to receive a letter adressing  me as "Misses". 

Well, that's it. On Monday, we (me, my CFO and my dog) will resume normal programming. Have a nice weekend!

Othello is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays. An interesting topic for reflection is how can the audience side with Iago - the play's wicked villain - and dislike Othello.

I mean, think about it. Iago is not trustworthy. He makes Othello and Roderigo believe he is on their sides, when in reality he is manipulating both.

He doesn’t really act, he spends most of the time convincing people to act in a way that favors his objectives. He lies constantly. He is dubious in his answers and does not take full responsibility for his actions.

Even his motivations are not consistent. At one time it is because he wants Cassio’s position and because Othello has slept with his wife. Later on, it is because Cassio has also slept with his wife. 

Othello, on the other hand, has a high position in Venetian society due to his success in the army. When facing accusations, he seems very calm and in control. He manages to deliver a powerful and eloquent speech to convince the Duke and Brabantio about his fair play towards Desdemona. 

So, how is it possible for us to like Iago and dislike Othello? 

Firstly, on the universal sphere, encompassing viewers of any time or any place, the reason is that men are attracted to the devil. I subscribe to Martin Lings’ interpretation that Iago represents the devil and Othello represents the human soul. He says that “After Iago (…) there is no other single character of whom it can be said that allegorically he stands for the devil.” 

Lings comments on how Iago hates other people’s virtues and how his purpose is to separate him from Desdemona, who according to Lings, represents the Spirit. Not only does Othello refer to him as the devil when trying to kill him, but Iago’s only power is his lies. This is another characteristic of the devil - he has no real power over men, only the one of using lies to convince men to sin. 

As Martin Lings has put it “the devil is always at men’s elbow, bent on leading him astray.” We can see this is the way Iago interacts with all other characters of the play: he cunningly convinces Roderigo over and over to participate in his schemes, he lies to Othello and fabricate false evidence of Desdemona’s betrayal, he convinces Cassio to drink, Emilia to steal Desdemona’s handkerchief. 

So, Iago could be considered attractive in the same way that the devil could be considered attractive. Mankind, since the Original Sin, has felt drawn to the power of evil and to its own power of committing evil deeds. People even try to rationalize the wrong things they are doing the same way Iago does. We convince ourselves that our evil doings are correct.

On the documentary "Making Shakespeare", Germaine Greer states that “we could all be Iago”. Ok, but on a daily basis we are much closer to being Roderigo, the “fallen man as such, impotently and inescapably caught as he is in the devil’s clutches.” 

Secondly, if we look at modern audiences, the reason is that in our particular modern culture evil is considered attractive and it is portrayed in a good way. Many would see Iago as an ambitious character, a bold and courageous non conformist, who used creative methods to achieve what he set out to do. 

While analyzing nihilism in modern pop culture, Thomas Hibbs states that we consider evil “alluring and awesome” . Hollywood and the media cultivate “villains by raising them to the status of celebrities” and the media is fascinated with evil, creating “cult heroes out of murderers”. 

Modern audiences have grown accustomed to interesting evil villains and are suspicious of heroes and of any noble values. So, modern viewers can very easily like Iago and think Othello is a fool that fell prey to a smarter, superior man. 

In a universal sense, people are drawn to evil and characters that embody it. In modern culture, viewers are conditioned to seeing evil as attractive and glamorous and to regard good characters as morons.

Sources:
The Sacred Art of Shakespeare by Martin Lings. Vermont: Inner Traditions International, 1998. pp. 59
Shows about nothing.  Nihilism in Popular Culture from The Exorcist to Seinfeld. by Thomas Hibbs Dallas: Spence Publishing Company, 1999. pp. 110, 119-120


Have you read or watched Othello? What do you think Iago appeal is?

2. Despite painting so much, he still managed to create incredibly different portraits. His arch-rival, English painter Thomas Gainsborough, said of him: "Damn him! How various he is!"

4. He was one of the founders and the first president of the Royal Academy. In his last speech as president, in 1790, he dedicated his speech to his rival Thomas Gainsborough. You can read some of his discourses, where he advocates rigorous academic training and the study of old masters, here

5. He was an intellectual himself and had many friends who were writers and thinkers such as Edmund Burke, Dr. Samuel Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith and Horace Walpole.

Source (3) The Story of Art by E. H. Gombrich p. 355-356

All images via WikiPaintings

What's your favorite painting by Reynolds? Do you like portraits?

Now seriously, 84 Charing Cross Road is a favorite here in the Culture Enthusiast's household.  It is a movie adaptation of a book by the same name. This book consists mostly of letters, so it's amazing that the movie turned out to be so interesting. 

Helene Hanff, played by Anne Bancroft - one of my favorite actresses, is a freelance writer who loves reading, specially reading classics in beautiful old editions. She's pratically me.

The only differences between us are: a) her effortless vintage style  and b) her typewriter - with it she can be much angrier. As she writes, she sips water with lemon and smokes - and also talks to the camera.

After scavanging all New York's book stores for cheap editions of English books, she finds an ad of Marks and Co. - a British book store who specializes in out of print books. She sends them a letter filled with her humour and personality. When she receives her first order and realizes the books are not only incredibly charming but also, after the currency conversion, very cheap, she begins ordering books non-stop.

This is a great scene: she is late, so she is leaving her house in a hurry, she even politelly dismiss her friend over the phone, but when she sees that her parcel has arrived, she hurries back upstairs to open it. I just love her excitement. I also get this excited when I receive parcels or letters from my penpals. I used to think excitement was seeing that little (1) on my Gmail account. No, mail rush is the real deal.

Then she keeps ordering books and this turns into a friendship. The contrast between the funny Helene Hanff (I have a feeling that Anne Bancroft, being married to Mel Brooks and all, might be a little bit like Helene) and the dry and reserved Frank Doel (Anthony Hopkins) is very interesting.

It makes us wonder: how could these two have become friends? Can this happen between perfect strangers who never met? 

Unlike other movies about relationships (About a boy, I'm looking at you), 84 Charing Cross Road manages to be funny and charming but not cheesy or cliché - for starters there are almost no children involved and also no singing.

Let me just make a brief warning. I said this movie was funny. Lately, whenever I make a joke, my sister just politely laughs. When I ask if that's not funny, she answers: "Well, it's 'Paula' funny."

After showing this picture to my sister, she said: "Yeah, it's classic 'Paula' funny." 

Basically, 84 Charing Cross Road is not only for the letter-writing lover, but for the writing lover, the used-books lover, the English-literature lover, the London lover, and the vintage fashion lover. 

Plus, if you are looking for dynamite book recomendations, you can read anything Helene reads. 

Have you seen this movie or read the book? I've read on Imdb a lot of talk about platonic love - did you feel they were in love with each other?
For another movie on letter-writing you can check The Shop Around the Corner!