The Great Gatsby

Just finished re-reading Gatsby and getting ready for classes.... I am interested in a few points. Naturally the philosophical components interest me. I especially noticed how Kant is mentioned, and how Gatsby was driven by a 'Platonic conception' of himself. I need to probe the Kantian connection further, as Fitzgerald refers to an anecdote on Kant that I don't recognize.
I liked this book, I found very moving and sad and I love the final line. I worry that my students may find it a bit difficult, but we'll see. Having said that, it is interesting to see how American literature seems to see the American experience as unique and like it is somehow a metaphysical reality of its own. I was really annoyed by the notion expressed towards the end that the Dutch who saw America for the first time somehow were the last humans to face something magnificent raw and wonderful - I think we still do everyday, and of course America was not by any means raw or new - magnificent and wonderful thought it was and remains so.
Another weird element is a hint of anti-Semitism, and the extreme oddness of Wolfshiem's company being called 'the Swastika....' ... and now I sail on.

Whales

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I have for many years been against whaling. This debate has been going on for a long time and it seems to me that it draws out many interesting aspects of how public opinion is formed, internationally and nationally. Icelanders generally are very pro-whaling and claim to base their opinion on firm science, accusing foreign environmentalists of being sentimental in their attitudes, and hypocritical seeing how the consumption of meat and industrial agriculture are very strong in the West where most of the opposition to whaling comes from. The 'science' in question is that
a) the whales are not endangered
b) the whales are 'eating all the fish'
When probed on their sources most people sort of cave in, but do not change their minds. Of course, the main reason for our (general) pro-whaling stance, just as the main reason for anti-whaling (in all fairness) is sentimental. The sentiment in question is nationalism, an idea that 'we shall not be bullied into not killing whales'. When I suggest that the general picture painted in the Icelandic media might not be entirely fair I'm considered to be borderline insane (by my colleagues and students). Recently Paul Manger was flown in to Iceland to convince us that whales are basically dumb, the Icelandic assumption would be that hence killing them is ok. This sentimental attachment to killing large animals is very understandable, but in a way it is also ironic because whaling is not an old Icelandic tradition. Foreign whalers were stationed in Iceland in the past, but whaling only became an Icelandic industry in the twentieth century.

My opposition to whaling is, just as most of my fellow Icelanders' support for it, based on a feeling. Fistly, I guess, it is because I am very wary of any practice that stirs this kind of nationalistic fervor anywhere. Secondly I see the ban on whaling as a symbolic triumph for environmentalism. Even if the science is not conclusive, and we could kill X whales without risking their extinction, I believe that respecting this ban is a step in the direction of increased environmental awareness, and this is badly needed in Iceland as it is everywhere. Thirdly, and this is my least sentimental reason, I am confident that abiding by the ban on whaling makes much more economic sense than carrying on with hunting them. Tourism is an important industry for us, and Iceland is very attractive to tourists who would typically want to go whale watching and abhor the killing of whales. Iceland should, in my opinion, try to move in the direction of the sustainable and the green, not in the direction of blood drenched whaling stations and large scale polluting industries.... but then again, I'm just a sentimental old softy. Mind you, sentimental softies are preferable to the hard kind of sentimentalist... (again, in my humble opinion)

(yeah, and by the way, this 'eating all the fish' argument is completely bogus, the question of the risk of extinction is much more open)

Drumming

I love drumming. I was (am?) the drummer of Uncle Moss, but I've hardly touched a drum kit outside of the context of the band. Last year I tried out being in a drum ring with Karl Ágúst Úlfsson and I found this to be a very rewarding experience. I even bought a djembe, which I rarely play .... so now I need to figure out a way to drum, philosophize and fantasize .... and it's there.....

Elric the Eternal Champion

I have just finished the almost seven hundred pages chronicling the adventures of Elric, the creation of Michael Moorcock. Two things attracted me to Moorcock; well more actually; primarily the fact that China Mieville is a fan and has described Moorcock as 'such a generous writer' (not quite sure what he means by that...  secondly that Moorcock is a self-proclaimed anarchist - like Ursula le Guin... and these two things having multiplied by themselves his extremely negative commentary on Tolkien (having a very ambivalent relationship with that guy myself!).... And the tale of Elric is indeed nothing like Tolkien in any way. However, I also find it very different from Miévilles work and also le Guin's... In a way I found this to be shallower, it hmead more a feel of a Role Playing Game - Elric, always melancholy and brooding (this becomes almost comical in places), gets into a spot of trouble, calls on Arioch from the realm of chaos and, what do you know, he's home free. There is one tale, the one where Elric enters the dream realm of a sleeping girl which is really powerful.... The whole idea of the struggle of law and chaos and the idea of the the Multiverse is wonderful.... Also maybe my yearning for consistency and plot reveals as more of a Tolkienite than I might care to recognize; probably the rather messy multitude of books and confusing lines hither and thither make him more medieval and postmodern at the same time than many other writers.... yeah, and one more thing I absoloutely love is his involvement with various rock bands. Fittingly his home on the Web is very messy and confusing.... (and what a cool URL too... )