Theological, Cultural and Educational Reflections

Primo Levi, If This is a Man, Trans. Stuart Woolf;  Introduction, Frederic Raphael; Etchings  by Jane Joseph, h/b, 7London, The Folio Society, 2000 (1947) 

Of the vast number of documents and stories about the horrific German death camps of the Second World War, the sparing simplicity and matter of fact horror of Italian Primo Levi’s account must rank with the most important and certainly one of the earliest detailed accounts of the Jewish horror. Other survivors have spent much longer in the death camps whereas Levi was interred in Auschwitz in the final year of World War 11 and lived through both the horror and also the exit of the camp and the eventual Russian rescue. Nevertheless Levi has left us a stern and clear description, not avoiding the horror but relentlessly depicting the endless freezing grind, the viciousness of the treatment, the short lifespan of virtually all the inmates, and the various techniques used by each interred man to seek survival. 

Levi was not a practising Jew and his outstanding knowledge of chemistry (top mark in the quantitative analysis examination at the Chemical Institute)  resulted in his eventual selection to work in the  Camp’s laboratories rather than continuing the heavy lifting work of most men working outside in freezing conditions over long days with minimal food and water.

The strengths of this Folio Society account  include Levi’s Afterword: The Author’s Answers to his Reader’s Questions. These include why he has no expressions of hate for his German oppressors and no desire for revenge; Did the Germans themselves know what was happening; and Why were there no large-scale revolts? Levi provides extensive and thoughtful answers to these and other key questions which are particularly helpful. In addition the extensive introduction by Frederick Raphael is very useful and the remarkable and chilling etchings by Jane Joseph leave a lasting impression on the reader.  As Frederick Raphael notes importantly, Hitler’s goal to destroy the Jews had nothing to do with the Second World War and it makes the existence of the events and the horror of the holocaust an experience beyond normal human comprehension.

Not many folk these days want to be reminded of the Holocaust and yet in an age of the Gaza and Ukraine wars perhaps it is the right time for this story to be told again and often. 

Review of David Nicholls: One Day, p/b, London, Hodder & Stoughton, 2024 (2009)

David Nicholls has written a remarkable and hugely popular novel of modern Western life. University graduates Emma and Dexter are good friends who never quite make it together until their mid thirties. Along the way their lives take very different turns with Emma finally reaching her goal of becoming a successful writer and Dexter’s life swinging between wild success and uncomfortable defeat. There is a great deal of alcohol and sex with other partners in between and as reviewer Nick Hornby accurately writes in his review, the novel is brilliant on the details of the last couple of decades of British cultural and political life.

Just when the reader thinks the couple are sorting things out and they are both about to live happily ever after a major crisis occurs which this reviewer will not spoil. Nicholls writes with assurance, energy and flair and with what appears to be a complete knowledge of the London nightlife scene.  The novel holds both characters firmly in the reader’s grasp and there is a sense in which you cannot put down the novel and must read on which I have not felt for a long time. The reader loves and hates both characters at various times and the reader also yearns for different outcomes.

There is more than a touch of the Thomas Hardy in this novel and indeed Hardy does get a mention at one point, but then so do many other authors. One Day simply forces the reader to go looking for books you haven’t read for a while or indeed have on your shelf but have never read!  As with Hardy’s books the reader inevitably gets deeply involved in the lives of both Dexter and Emma and also finds oneself reconsidering some decisions in one’s own life. I can think of very few novels which chain the reader to the book and refuse to let him or her put it down. I myself got up at 4.00am in the morning to finish reading this story because the book belonged to someone else and I was required to return. I have never read a book that cost me so much sleep!

Why am I reviewing this book for a Christian magazine?  I think I can honestly say that there is no better book for a clergy person or youth worker to read if they want to really come to grips with the pressures, desires, goals and lifestyle of the “average” young adult today. If, like me, you have been sheltered by a Christian upbringing, this book will shake your comfortable view of the world and force you to take seriously the true reality of the lifestyle of today’s 20’s to 35’s in Britain at least!

Herman Wouk: The Caine Mutiny: A Novel of World War 11,  p/b, New York, Back Bay Books, 2002 (1951).

Pulitzer Prize winning author Herman Wouk wrote twelve novels, three plays and two works of non-fiction in his long life (died 2019, age 103). He received the Pulitzer Prize for the The Caine Mutiny. The story was in turn made into a popular movie in 1954, produced by Stanley Kramer and starring such luminaries as Henry Bogart, Fred MacMurray and Van Johnson. The Caine Mutiny is a large novel, the paperback version running to 537 pages of relatively small print. 

The story thread line is based around reluctant World War 11 recruit Willie Keith and his on again off again night club singing girl friend Mae Wynn. After training Willie is signed up to the USS  Caine, a repainted WW1 mine-sweeper that has seen much better days. Added to this challenge the new Captain aboard was Captain Queeg, a stickler for detail and precision, but with a tendency to be so wrapped up in small detail that the important events and necessary actions tended to be overlooked.

As a result and inevitably, relations between Captain Queeg and the rest of the crew deteriorated fairly quickly. Queeg made some serious errors of judgment in his leadership which made senior officers doubt his ability under pressure and at  the same time Queeg spent an inordinate amount of time endeavouring to solve misdemeanours by crew members which were relatively insignificant and which were never finally solved at the time anyway.

The end result of this awkward leadership was that when a real disaster occurred, in this case a gale force typhoon, the Captain appeared to freeze under the pressure and was told by the Executive Officer Stephen Maryk to stand down. Captain Queeg did eventually and unwillingly stand down telling the leaders they would all be court-martialed.  Under Maryk’s leadership the ship was saved and also was able to rescue sailors from another ship which had been destroyed in the typhoon.

The final section of the book covers the official court-martial trial of Executive Officer Stephen Maryk. This was a complex argument and makes for fascinating reading with a clever lawyer able to prevent Maryk from the disgrace of a court martial.  The novel closes with the war over and Willie Keith still attempting to persuade Mae Wynn to marry him!

The Caine Mutiny is a powerfully written novel which maintains interest in spite of its length. Although fictional, the novel paints a powerful picture of the realities, challenges, fears and disasters of World War 11 sea warfare. Wouk’s knowledge of sea warfare is accurate and far-reaching.  This novel has stood the test of time and still attracts interest.  5 stars.

Stephen McAlpine: Being the Bad Guys: How to Live for Jesus in a World That Says You Shouldn’t, p/b, UK, The Good Book Company, 2023 (2021)

Stephen McAlpine has pastored a number of churches in Western Australia, blogs online regularly and has written two books on Christianity and culture including this one. In this book McAlpine analyses the trend in Australian and Western society media for Christians not just to be disregarded and generally ignored  but more directly to be regarded with hostility. He takes his introductory cue from the 1993 film Falling Down,  which stars  Michael Douglas  as William Foster, an average law-abiding guy who ends up unwittingly on the wrong side of the law.

McAlpine regards Christians in the West today as being in this very situation. Christianity, he argues, is no longer an option; it’s a problem! He notes that the number of those who reject the faith they held until their late teens has risen dramatically. In addition Christians can no longer assume a seat at the cultural table, that place having been given to others. McAlpine notes that we should not ignore society’s calling out of Christians. Our first question should be are they right to call us out?  On the other hand Jesus himself predicted that in the last days Christians will be condemned as evil. 

McAlpine notes that some key factors in this change include a global persecution of Christians across the world, the preferencing  of LGBTQI rights over religious freedom, the removal of Christian education in some Australian States and the fact that Christians were not active in the defence of cruel treatment toward homosexuals in earlier years. McAlpine quotes Mark Sayers: Our progressive culture seeks “the kingdom without the king!” McAlpine also notes that the individual is now enthroned in this new kingdom instead of family relationships of obligation. (p20)

Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor calls this “the age of authenticity” and it is fast tracked by massive technological progress including instant digital technologies alongside an army of instagram influencers. New ideas are conceived, birthed and implemented at breathtaking speed. (p.22) Christian culture in the West has been eclipsed and attempts to be clever like the pub church and early missional leaders like Rob Bell have simply faded away. The result is that many were left feeling burnt out, seeing little return for their labours and church attendees in many places left for good. Individual autonomy and personal authenticity at any cost now provide the ultimate meaning in the self. 

Of course the Bible has prepared us to expect hostility as Christians. In Australia we have had a relatively peaceful time but no longer! The Apostle Peter taught us that there is a right way to suffer. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith …may result in praise.  (p.42) We must learn to expect cultural, legal and political pressure where only certain ideas are permitted. We need to learn that secularism is not neutral (p47) and that our culture now actively suppresses dissent. (p.55). McAlpine notes that it is not just Christians who are targeted, citing JK Rowling as an example. (p50). 

On the other hand McAlpine argues that playing the victim narrative is a dangerous game for Christians. We have freedom to worship, gather in public spaces and run vast Christian institutions. If anything, McAlpine argues, the church gained power in the West and then abused it. (p,68) He asks the question: has the church been aligned to power too closely?  (p.69). The answer seems to be ‘yes.  He suggests we should admit the reality of our failures and we often failed to speak up for the voiceless, powerless minorities. (p71). We should expect persecution since we follow a crucified Messiah (p72)…our hope is not in winning a culture war. Our hope is the One who has defeated our true enemies…Satan, sin and death. We have so much to offer our uncertain and confused inheritors of this age with their lack of meaning and purpose, loss of identity and the risk of never being forgiven.  (p75)  We need to decide not to be afraid (p76) for as St Paul writes: My grace is sufficient for you. (p.75)

McAlpine argues that it is self-denial not self-fulfilment that is the path to life..our true life is about finding life after this life ends! (P81)  Self-fulfilment by getting what we want now is the source of sin, Adam and Eve being the best examples! (p82) McAlpine suggests there is an absence of humble, godly churches, and that many harsh shepherds run the danger of being in love with this present age, quoting 2 Timothy 4:10. (p84) We must say no to both secular and sacred self-fulfilment. (p85) and Christians can mask their self-promotion as self-denial, (p86) McAlpine reminds us. He also suggests that Western culture is obsessed with sexuality because it has declared that our deepest truest most honest authentic self is discovered there but is it so? Living a life of self-denial is preferable and life-giving. (p90).  Cancel culture can be overcome by forgiveness. (p91) McAlpine reminds us that there is actually no such as atheism or not worshipping; the only choice we get is what to worship!  (p97) Expressive individualism says “You do you”! Christians must learn to do the opposite. (p99) McAlpine encourages us to commit to your church and fellowship; don’t keep looking for a better upgrade. (p100) Let everyday praise make its way into our everyday conversation. (p104). The church is a community of promised resurrection hope in a society terrified by death. (p105).  We can serve a world that scorns and rejects us. (106) Preference God’s people; proclaim God’s praises; promote God’s promises.(p108).

McAlpine writes we are citizens of another country (p126). There is little to be said for an angry fist-shaking Christianity that creates a gated community. (p128) Many a life, many a family, has been destroyed by a futile search for the authentic self. (p135) We gather as citizens of another city to serve others. (p135) We are called to live in both cities..we must ensure our own “city” is in order.(p136)

This is a book to read and re-read, perhaps in a study group. I warmly commend it.

Nicholas Shakespeare: Secrets of the Sea:

Nicholas Shakespeare is a World renowned English biographer, historian, writer and Fellow of the Royal Society for Literature. He has written a major history of Tasmania and in addition has published this non-historical Tasmanian love story, Secrets of the Sea. It tells the story of the relationship and eventual marriage between young Tasmanian farmer Alex and newcomer from Sydney, Merridy. The setting is the fictional Tasmanian village of Wellington Point. The marriage struggles due to the couples’ inability to have a baby alongside the significant differences in their character and attitudes..Alex the dedicated hardworking farmer and Merridy caught between a quiet Tasmanian village and the good life of Sydney along with a University degree. This complex relationships produces plenty of challenges including the entry of a former criminal trying to make a new start.

Shakespeare keeps the reader guessing to the very end which is dramatic indeed. Our book club uniformly disliked this novel, finding the story unlikely and awkwardly written. I quite enjoyed reading the novel but it is fair to say that Shakespeare is a better biographer and historian than a novelist.

Dante Aligerhi: The Divine Comedy, Trans. Clive James, London, Picador, 2013 (1308-1321).

Multi Talented Clive James (died 2019) has been the master of many literary skills. He was a newspaper critic, essayist, poet, song writer, memoirist, historian, travel writer and novelist, to name a few of his talents. Dante’s translation of Dante’s Divine Comedy in 2013 is surely his finest achievement.

The Divine Comedy, written by Dante in C14th Italy is a vast poetic panoply of the writer’s “history” of  Hell, Purgatory and Heaven in three extensive chapters and written in quatrains rather than Dante’s Italian terza rima style, (aba bcb cdc).  Attempting to re-create this rhyming style in English has proved very difficult for any poet and James’ version written in quatrains (stanzas of four lines) suits the English version far easier than other English attempts and has brought a whole new readership to The Divine Comedy. 

Of course when we read The Divine Comedy with its remarkable collection of Inhabitants in each of Hell, Purgatory and Heaven, we are only getting Dante’s version of who should end up in each section of Dante’s version of the future life.  In addition, of course, Dante’s account finishes in the C14th. I am sure we could all think of persons from The C15th to the C21st who should be firmly placed in Hell including Hitler, Stalin and Mao Zedong.

I read Kenneth Mackenzie’s very fine 1978 Folio Version of The Divine Comedy on a long distance flight from Melbourne to London.  That was not a very good idea as I am sure most readers would agree.  I remember very little of that version!  Clive James’ exceptional achievement is, on the other hand, very readable and I am sure I will dip into again.  One thing I was surprised to see this time around was how little a distinction Dante made between historical figures and clearly non-historical figures.  I was not expecting such a combination. In addition of course, I realised how Italy and Greece centred Dante’s story is in spite of his various attempts to refer to folk from the further reaches of Europe.

What do we get by reading The Divine Comedy apart from feeling proud of ourselves? This time around I felt the genuine tension between good and evil; I felt far more deeply the intense love affair between Dante and Beatrice; the intricate friendship offered by the poet Virgil to Dante’s journey surprised me; and the inevitably strong referrals to events in Florence should not have surprised me but it did.

I recommend readers to The Divine Comedy in Clive James’ exceptional version. It will surprise and tantalise you and will make you think about your own version of what a glimpse of Heaven might be like, let alone a glimpse of Hell! 5 stars and rising.

Anton Chekhov: Uncle Vanya, Trans. Constance Garnett; Intro. A.B.McMillin, h/b, Geneva, Heron Books, 1899 (1969).  

A play in four acts which centres on a love triangle with no resolution and a climax leading very close to murder. The play builds from a peaceful set of relationships and close friends and moves with gradual then rapid steps to a very dangerous crisis which very nearly results in murder. 

Chekhov plays with the ennui which descends on a busy farm estate when the original and ageing well regarded professor and owner, Serebrayakov now remarried with a beautiful young wife (Yelena Andreyevna) descends on the estate to see out his dying days.The family life is complicated by the regular presence of Astrov, a doctor friend of the family who stays so often he has his own room and falls in love with the new bride.  the  Family members, especially Voynitsky, the son of the owner’s first wife,  who have been labouring for many years without any increase in their salary or conditions are outraged when the owner announces his intention to sell the property and use the income to go and live his last days in Finland. 

At this point the quietly moving narrative explodes into angry and climactic chaos before subsiding to a quiet and subdued finale.  This is vintage Chekhov where relationships can go in any direction and there is always a surprise.   5 stars. 

Anton Chekhov, The Sea-Gull, A “Comedy” in four acts, Trans Constance Garnett, Intro: A.B. McMilen

The Sea-gull is an entertaining play based on the excitement and challenges of drama and acting. The dominant figure of famous actress Irina Nikolayevna Arkadin  (Madame Tripley), deliberately dominates the stage and frequently and loudly proclaims her abilities and fame.

Her son Konstantin Treplev is a budding playwright and actor who is dominated noisily by his mother.  He has fallen in love with Nina,  the daughter of a wealthy land-owner who also likes to act and the two of them produce a play for performance in the family garden.  The play comes to an abrupt end due to loud and unhelpful comments from Madame Treplev.

The story wanders between the Madame Trepley’s amorous intentions with “a literary man” (Trigorin)  and Nina’s desire to be herself a great actress.  Nina’s career and her relationship with Treplev reach a dramatic climax with the sea-gull as a continuing omen throughout the play.

I would call this play a tragedy! In any case as always Chekhov holds our attention to the end. 5 stars. 

Review of Michael F. Bird: Religious Freedom in a Secular Age: A Christian Case for Liberty, Equality and Secular Government,  p/b, Grand Rapids, Zondervan Reflective, 2022.  

Australian Michael Bird is the Vice-Principal and a Lecturer at Ridley College Melbourne and the author and editor of over thirty books.  I venture to suggest that Religious Freedom in a Secular Age, may well be the most important of all of them.

No person of religious faith of whatever variety could fail to notice the eroding of religious freedoms in Australian life and especially in Victoria where the immediate past Premier, Daniel Andrews, was publicly and frequently scathing about Christian faith in particular. It is significant that Bird dedicates his book to agnostic politician Tim Wilson who has been an advocate for both religious liberty and LGBTQI rights in Australian politics. 

Michael Bird’s book of almost 200 pages  is a demanding read, punctuated as it is on every page with scholarly references to writers of many faiths and none. His work covers three main areas, the rise of Militant Secularism, the Defence of Religious Freedom against its Critics, and the important task of Christian apologetics based on the model of Paul’s Letters to the Thessalonians. The book also has a useful afterword by American theologian Bruce Riley Ashford.

Michael Bird’s analysis will annoy some readers who believe he gives away too much to the critics of religion and equally he will annoy others who will argue that he fights for too much freedom for religious authors to put their case. Bird’s suggestions about what Christians should do about presenting the Gospel to the world are also demanding, not to say scary. Indeed Bird makes it very clear indeed that just turning up for church on Sunday followed by a quick chat and a coffee does not really cut it if we are serious about maintaining the importance of Christian faith in a secular Australia. 

I do not believe anyone could complete all of the assignments and suggestions Bird puts before us but if you read this book I can guarantee that your approach to communicating the importance of Christian faith in our largely non-Christian Australian environment will be permanently changed for the better.  I would have appreciated an index of topics and issues as Bird covers a large playing field. 5 stars and rising.  

Anto Chekhov. The Cherry Orchard

Anton Chekhov: The Cherry Orchard, Translated, Constance Garnett; Intro. A.B. McMillin,

h/b, Geneva, Heron Books, original frontispiece by Went Strauchmann, 1969 (1903).

Russian playwright  Anton Chekhov’s most popular play has a gay and happy feel which covers the sadness of the key figure in the narrative, Madame Ranevsky (Lyubov Andreyevna), the owner of the Cherry Orchard.  Lyubov has just returned from France to her failing estate in Russia, having  spent many years in a flawed relationship following her husband’s death through alcohol abuse. Lyubov had originally escaped from the Cherry Orchard property after the drowning of her son in the deep river alongside the Cherry Orchard. The merchant Lopahin, a friend of the family, works very hard to persuade Lyubov to sell the orchard to pay off their serious debts. 

Whilst all this sadness and negotiation takes place a whole happy merry go round of light hearted love affairs and romance dances across the stage with Lyubov’s 17 year old daughter Anya, her 24 year old adopted daughter Varya, Dunyasha the maid and Charlotta the Governess mixing things up with the eternal student Trofimov and Epiphodon a clerk. 

The pray draws to a climax with the selling of the Cherry Orchard for a vast sum thanks to the skills of Lopahin the merchant and we are left in the dark about the future of the romances. Chekhov’s skill in challenging the reader to worry about who should love who and what should be done with the cherry orchard keeps the audience alert and awake and highlights the skilled uncertainties and doubts that emerge from his earlier classic plays Uncle Vanya and The Seagull. 

Chekhov remains a star… his gifts lie in the play of uncertainties leaving the reader always on edge to find the usually uncertain finale. How will this outcome be received?  We will never know! 5 stars and rising.

Review of Albert Hourani: A History of the Arab Peoples: Intro and Afterword by Malise Ruthven, London, The Folio Society, 2009.

Hourani  went to Magdalen College, Oxford where he studied philosophy, politics and economics and he became more and more absorbed in History, particularly the history of the Middle East. He travelled to Beirut, taught himself Arabic and studied under Qustantyn Zurich, a lecturer in Islamic History.  During the second World War Hourani worked as an analyst in these British Foreign Office’s Research Department and eventually followed Hamilton Gibb at the new Centre for Middle Eastern Studies Gibb had established after the war at St Antony’s College Oxford. 

In 1942 Hourani was offered a position in the office of the British minister in Cairo where he remained until 1945. He met some of the leading personalities of the day including Glubb Pasha, the British Officer who commanded the Bedouin Arab Legion in Transjordan and David Ben Gurion the Zionist leader who would become Israel’s first Prime Minister. Hourani eventually published books on Syria and Lebanon, Great Britain and the Arab World and Minorities in the Arab World.

Later Hourani joined the Arab Office in Jerusalem, an organisation aimed at countering Zionist propaganda by explaining the Arab case. Hourani returned to Oxford during the Arab-Israeli war where he remained until his retirement in 1984. Hourani’s earlier works include his History of the Arab Peoples and Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age 1798-1939. This current work was also influenced by French historian André Raymond and American Quaker historian Marshall Hodgson as well as the Arab savant and philosopher of history Ibn Khaaldin (1332-1406).

Hourani’s magnificent work covers vast tracts of Arab and Islamic issues including early Arabic life and learning, Muhammad’s call of Arabs in the early seventh century to a religious movement from Mecca, the impact on the Byzantines and Sasanians, the actual appearance of Islam, the hijra, Medina, The formation of an Islamic Empire and the formation of a vast Islamic society, the articulation of Islam,  Arab Muslim societies in the (C11th-C15th), the Arab Muslim world..states and dynasties, The land, countryside  and its use, the life of Arabic cities, their rulers, clients and dynasties, the ways of Islam, the culture of the ‘Ulama (religious scholars), divergent paths of thought..Islamic philosophers, the development of Shi’ism, the cultures of courts and people, the Ottoman Empire and its limits, Ottoman societies, the changing balance of power in the C18th, European power and reforming governments (1800-1860), European empires and dominant elites, the culture of Imperialism and Reform, The Climax of European power (1914-1939), life in the new cities, The end of the Empires (1939-1962), The second world war, Changing societies 1940s and 1950s, the climax of Arabism (1950s and 1960s), Arab Unity and Disunity since 1967, A Disturbance of Spirits since 1967.

Malise Ruthven’s Afterword 2009 covers the 1990 Iraqui invasion of Kuwait, Desert Storm and the liberation of Kuwait, the fall of Saddam Husayn, the American invasion and false nuclear weapons, the unification of the two Yemens, creation of the Palestinian National Authority, Israeli occupation of the West Bank, the Assassination of Rabin by Jewish extremists, the Second Palestine intifada November 1995, Islamic attacks on New York  and Washington (over 3000 deaths) – Osama Bin Laden, the death of Arafat in 2004, Civil wars in Algeria in 1990s, new Shi’i strength in Iraq and Syria, and Lebanon.

It is difficult to comprehend the complexity of the Arabic peoples, the power of Islam,  and the interactions between the Arabic world and the West. Hourani’s work is an excellent place to start and his even, carefully selected analysis makes for straightforward reading and, as always, a desire for further information. This Folio presentation with its vast collection of coloured photographs is an absolute treat to read Of course while we read, we now also see the dreadful war between Hamas and Israel every day on our TV screens, reminding us that the tension between the West and the Arab/Islamist world is not going to go away in a hurry.  We will need a new Hourani to cover the next stage!  5 stars and rising. 

Salman Rushdie: The Satanic Verses: A Novel;  Henry Holt, New York, 1997 (1988). 

Complex high octane novel which almost cost Rushdie his life on three separate occasions and did cost the life of his Japanese translator. The attacks were due to the fatwa declared against Rushdie in February 1989 by the late Shia Muslim Iranian President the Ayaotollah Khomeini. The reason for the fatwa was that Khomeini believed that the novel contained blasphemous material about Islam and the prophet Muhammad. Although the President eventually distanced himself from the fatwa it has never been lifted.

Rushdie’s novel centres on two humans with angelic powers both of whom were the only survivors of a major aircraft explosion. The two characters were both Indian born but spent most of their lives after childhood as British citizens. Gibreel Farishta was an Indian superstar actor and allegedly the “good” angel. Saladin Chamcha also worked in the film industry in the technical area and was allegedly the “bad” angel. 

The novel centres on the lives and loves of these two characters including their personal interactions with each other. The novel paints a rather unhappy picture of the lives of Indian nationals trying to make a go of life in late C20th London alongside the historical material on Islam. 

Rushdie clearly has a wide grasp of Indian and British society and a far-reaching knowledge of English literature which he makes use of on a regular basis. There are passages in the novel which could almost be regarded as lists of things literary, social behaviour, gang behaviour and several other political, artistic and humorous happenings. These events are too numerous and complex for the reader to spend much time trying to sort out what is happening. I think Rushdie wants us to move on and generally just get the gist of each situation. Someone who has lived on the darker side of British Indian relations might have more clues about what is happening. 

I read and enjoyed Rushdie’s powerful prizewinning Midnight’s Children some years ago but I cannot recommend this novel. The high powered sexual imagery is, I believe, unnecessary for his purpose. Some of the complexity of his “lists” and crazy event images looks more like “see how much I know about literature, London’s underground and Indian behaviour in Britain”. The Islamic history is powerfully written and interesting in its own right but doesn’t seem to have any clear link with the rest of the narrative. There is an important story about religion hidden in this book but in my view Rushdie has wasted a good opportunity. 3 Stars. 

Review of A.J. Mackinnon: The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crowe, p/b, Melbourne, Black Inc.,  2009 

A.J. Mackinnon is a multi-talented school master, raconteur, world traveller, poet, mathematician , tin whistler, magician and courageous sailor.  The Jack de Crowe was a small dinghy Mackinnon sailed through most of the canals in England and then sailed single handed across the English Channel to France and on through Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Romania, the former Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and all the way to the Black Sea.  This novel is the story of his adventures and is a remarkable read.

Mackinnon tells of back-breaking rowing, literally hundreds of locks, near shipwrecks and collisions, storms and pirates, generous hosts, hunger and near starvation, beautiful sites and unpleasant and dangerous muddy boat traps.  That’s just to name a few of the adventures in this novel.

Assisting him in these heroics come along a vast array of generous folk unknown to him who supply warm beds where needed, copious amounts of food and wine, helpful repair work after much damage to his boat from time to time and many other folk who simply came into his life or offered sage advice.

Mackinnon’s story is written with deep humour, but also demonstrates the frequent challenges to life and limb he endured through his determination to take such a journey unaided. For readers who love boats and understand the rigours and mechanics of dinghy sailing this book will provide a feast of interest and ingenuity. For those of us who like a good yarn there are stretches in the book which are quite technical and at times test the reader’s patience.  Nevertheless Mackinnon’s achievement is so amazingly breathtaking that the book is hard to put down in spite of the occasional technicalities.  5 stars. 

BOOKS READ DECEMBER 2023

Geraldine Brooks: Nine Parts of Desire:The Hidden World of Islamic Women, p/b, Sydney, Doubleday/Anchor Books,1994.

Geraldine Brooks’ extraordinary analysis of women in Islam was based on her six years as a Western reporter, under the most challenging of circumstances and during events of considerable danger. Now thirty six years later, some things in some countries have changed but this amazing story still provides an exceptional and closely informed insight into the mystery and the challenge of Islam in many countries around the world. Reading this narrative in 2003 at, the height of the Israel-Hamas war simply underlines the horror and trauma of wars of faith and nationality.  

 

The distortion of Islamic teaching resulting in genital mutilation of women including clitoridectomy and pre-wedding hymen replacement is difficult to read about as is the hunting down of writers including Nawal Saadawi and Farag Foda.  In addition the inequality between the freedoms of men and those of women in Islam is equally disturbing. On the other hand there are many attractions in the teaching of Islam which appeal to people of many nations, making Islam one of the most popular of all religious faiths.

Geraldine Brooks covers a range of issues including the importance of women being veiled in public, wedding regulations, changes from Muhammad’s original teaching, the many converts to Islam, women as Jihadist warriors, the complexity of Jordan’s King Hussein and his marriage to an American woman – Queen Lisa Halaby, Islamic radicalism, the risk of refusing the veil, the rape and torture of nations like the Kurds, the challenge of Islamic female athletes competing for the Olympics, Islamic dancers, and many other issues.

This is a disturbing and deeply challenging work from a person who has spent six years in the front line of Islamic and Western debate. 5 stars and rising

Salman Rushdie: The Satanic Verses: A Novel;  Henry Holt, New York, 1997 (1988). 

Complex high octane novel which almost costRushdie his life on three separate occasions and did cost the life of his Japanese translator. The attacks were due to the fatwa declared against Rushdie in February 1989 by the late Shia Muslim Iranian President the Ayaotollah Khomeini. The reason for the fatwa was that Khomeini believed that the novel contained blasphemous material about Islam and the prophet Muhammad. Although the President eventually distanced himself from the fatwa it has never been lifted.

Rushdie’s novel centres on two humans with angelic powers both of whom were the only survivors of a major aircraft explosion. The two characters were both Indian born but spent most of their lives after childhood as British citizens. Gibreel Farishta was an Indian superstar actor and allegedly the “good” angel. Saladin Chamcha also worked in the film industry in the technical area and was allegedly the “bad” angel. 

The novel centres on the lives and loves of these two characters including their personal interactions with each other. The novel paints a rather unhappy picture of the lives of Indian nationals trying to make a go of life in late C20th London alongside the historical material on Islam. 

Rushdie clearly has a wide grasp of Indian and British society and a far-reaching knowledge of English literature which he makes use of on a regular basis. There are passages in the novel which could almost be regarded as lists of things literary, social behaviour, gang behaviour and several other political, artistic and humorous happenings. These events are too numerous and complex for the reader to spend much time trying to sort out what is happening. I think Rushdie wants us to move on and generally just get the gist of each situation. Someone who has lived on the darker side of British Indian relations might have more clues about what is happening. 

I read and enjoyed Rushdie’s powerful prizewinning Midnight’s Children some years ago but I cannot recommend this novel. The high powered sexual imagery is, I believe, unnecessary for his purpose. Some of the complexity of his “lists” and crazy event images looks more like “see how much I know about literature, London’s underground and Indian behaviour in Britain”. The Islamic history is powerfully written and interesting in its own right but doesn’t seem to have any clear link with the rest of the narrative. There is an important story about religion hidden in this book but in my view Rushdie has wasted a good opportunity. 3 Stars.  

Alister McGrath: Richard Dawkins, C.S. Lewis and the Meaning of Life, p/b, London, SPCK, 2019

Alister McGrath is the Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion at Oxford University and Director of the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion. He has written a vast array of outstanding books on Christian Theology, Church History and the relationship between Christian Faith and Science. His output includes his monumental three volume A Scientific Theology, his Doctoral Thesis A History of the Doctrine of Justification, his outstanding must read Christianity’s Dangerous Idea on the Reformation, and his very helpful The Christian Theology Reader in which he provides substantial readings from every major theologian from Justin Martyr to the present day along with a thorough analysis of their key ideas and useful questions for study. 

Alongside these massive  theological tomes McGrath’s little (70 page) paperback on Dawkins, Lewis and the Meaning of Life seemed to me a bit trivial after some years of crunching through his heavyweight thought. On the contrary I found the four chapters of this little book demanding, thought provoking and at times unsettling. At the outset a reader might assume that McGrath would be very critical of Dawkins’ outspoken critique of Christian faith and very praiseworthy of Lewis’s well known and very popular Christian books. This is not the case as McGrath puts some tough questions and criticisms to both these writers and challenges the reader to think deeply about what we really do believe about our lives, their future and purpose and what is the meaning of our existence on this tiny planet hidden in the maelstrom of billions of other stars and planets. 

McGrath demonstrates that both writers are men of faith holding committed positions that cannot be proved right, but which they clearly regard as justified and reasonable. (p.19) McGrath also points out that both psychology and philosophy show that human beings have  a tendency to believe more than the evidence actually warrants. (pp38-40). McGrath challenges us to think through just how we can show our beliefs to be justified. Don’t read this book if you don’t like your Christian faith being challenged. Read the book if you want to consider deeply the meaning of your life and faith. 5 stars. 

Colson Whitehead: Harlem Shuffle, p/b, London, Fleet, 2022

Colson Whitehead is a popular American writer especially well known for his story of The Underground Railway involving black Americans escaping from Southern USA before the American Civil War. 

  Harlem Shuffle is a rollicking story of crime and criminality in Harlem New York.  Family man Ray Carney runs a highly successful furniture shop in Harlem but was not immune from accepting the odd bits and pieces of stolen property and moving them on at a profit.  Whitehead’s novel is in some respects a difficult read as the terminology is unique to an urban underground of criminality. I did find this material difficult at first but the reader gradually gets used to the language and style. 

Harlem Shuffle does not hide the brutality and easy death involved in the Harlem underground but also manages to inject a degree of humour into the narrative. The reader soon identifies with Carney given that the behaviour of some of his contacts is completely ruthless and outrageous.  The book is a hefty read and not for the faint-hearted. It certainly shines a light on a whole underground most of us know exists but have little interest in interrogating too deeply. In many ways it is quite a disturbing read.  4 stars

E. M. Blaiklock: The Authority and Relevance of the Bible in the Modern World: The Olivier Beguin Memorial Lecture 1975, p/b. Bible Society, Melbourne, 1975

Edward Musgrave Blaiklock lectured in Latin, Greek and Biblical History for 42 years at the University of Auckland and for 21 of those years he held the Chair of Classics. Having emigrated to New Zealand with his family when he was six years old. Blaiklock was highly regarded as one of Auckland’s greatest sons and became the first Public Orator of Auckland, a post he held for ten years. Writing under the name of Grammaticus for the Weekly News, the Sunday Herald and the New Zealand Herald for over forty years without missing an edition. His list of academic publications is vast and his knowledge of Latin, Greek, Biblical History and Archaeology has few peers. Blaiklock died in 1983  but his many academic works are still widely sort after. 

Blaiklock’s major essay The Authority and Relevance of the Bible in the Modern World was given in 1975 but its cutting analysis is still frequently sought after as are many of his books and articles including his Commentary on Acts and his works on The Century of the New Testament , The Male Characters of Euripides and Biblical Archaeology are widely sort after, fifty years after his death. Blaiklock’s writing, on the surface silky smooth and easy to read, amazes the reader with his depth of knowledge and his ability to make quite difficult concepts very accessible to the reader. Anyone who in the C21st is thinking that the Bible is completely irrelevant to our daily pre-occupations would I believe be forced to think again if they were to read this extraordinary essay.

It is rare to find an academic with the communication skills to maintain a post in a national daily for forty years at the same time being quite at ease with ancient history, Greek and Latin authors and an exceptional understanding of New Testament Greek and Ancient History. This remarkable piece of historical analysis is readily available online and will richly repay anyone who takes the time to read it, especially if they were previously an atheist!  5 stars.

James Graham Ballard: Empire of the Sun, p/b, London, Harper Collins, 1993 (1984)  

J G Ballard (Jim)  was a young child living in Shanghai with his parents when the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour took place on 7 December 1941 (8 December 1941 in Shanghai because of the time difference across the Pacific Date Line). 

In the chaos of the Japanese entering the second world war on Germany’s side Jim was separated from his parents as all British citizens were immediately interned. Initially Jim survived by eating left over food and supplies from his family home and later by breaking into other homes in his area.  After various dangerous near misses and assaults Jim finally handed himself over to the Japanese and was interned for three years in the Lunghus Civilian Assembly Centre.

This compelling novel details his own privations almost starving to death alongside the chaos of the Japanese war machine mingled with China’s own internal battles led by tensions between Nationalist Chiang Kai Shek and the Chinese communist party. Ballard powerfully describes the starvation and methods of survival of those held in Japanese internment camps, the death marches, the profiteers and self sacrifice of missionaries and others who cared for others in the midst of their own misery and hunger. 

Ballard was eventually reunited with his parents and went on to become a copywriter and reporter before joining the RAF in Canada, later becoming a scientific journal editor and eventually a full time writer of over 22 books. Empire of the Sun was often set as a senior text in Australian secondary schools in the 1970s, introducing young Australians to the horrors of world war trauma.  It is a novel which leaves an indelible impression on the mind. 5 stars and rising.

Honore’ De Balzac: Lost Illusions: Trans & Intro Herbert J. Hunt, p/b, England, Penguin, 1987, (1837-43).

Balzac was a prolific C19th French author producing over ninety novels to which he gave the comprehensive term The Human Comedy. These extraordinary works included studies of French manners, philosophy, Parisian, military and country life in remarkable detail. 

Lost Illusions is a large novel in three parts consisting of the chaotic life of Lucien Chardon,  born of a plebeian father and an aristocratic mother, a poet who tries unsuccessfully  to make a name for himself in Paris. Lucien’s story is based to some extent on his knowledge of the writer Jules Sandeau. Alongside this hectic story Balzac includes Scenes of Parisian Life and Scenes of Provincial Life. The thread which ties this lengthy work together is the friendship between Lucien and provincial printer David Sechard.  Balzac wrote a second story about Lucien’s second attempt to make it in Parisian society encouraged by the mysterious Spanish ecclesiastic and diplomat ‘Carlos Herrera’.  This long sequel to Lost Illusions is entitled Splendour and Misery of Courtesans or in the Penguin translation, A Harlot High and Low. 

During my Year 12 French class many years ago I was supposed to have read Balzac’s Pere Goriot in French, which was not an achievement that went very well. As a result I have had a dread of reading Balzac ever since and I regret that I have not until now read Balzac in English. Herbert J. Hunt’s translation is superb and the trials, successes and deep trauma of Lucien’s life is indeed hard to put down. Lost Illusions is a genuine classic and in many turns one both feels for and hates the remarkable Lucien.  5 stars.

Christopher Marlowe: The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus: Ed. & Intro: Sylvan Barnet, p/b, New York, Signet Classic, 1969 (1616)

Christopher Marlowe tended to live on the wild side himself, Graduating from Cambridge,  working for the British Government in Europe intrigues and leading a lively life on the streets in Britain whilst producing some brilliant plays. He finally lost his life in a street fight at an eating house after a dispute over the bill. 

Editor Sylvan Barnet notes that The Historia von D. Iohan Fausten was published anonymously in German in 1587 and describes the career of a man who gave the devil his soul in exchange for twenty-four years of earthly power, and who at last after performing miraculous feats and low practical jokes, was carried of to Hell. She further notes that An English translation of this work was published in 1592 as The History of the damnable life, and deserured death of Doctor John Faustus, Newly imprinted, and in convenient places imperfect matter attended…and translated into English by P. F. Gent[leman]. Barnett considers that Marlowe based his play on this edition although an additional story from John Foxe’s Acts and Monuments has been added. Barnet’s 1969 edition contains additional essays on The Tragic Form by Richard B. Sewall, Five-Act Structure in Doctor Faustus by G.K. Hunter and other notes on whether or not Dr. Faustus is a Christian tragedy as well as the way the play was presented at Stratford-On-Avon in the early C17th.

Marlowe’s story is a rollicking yarn as Faustus gets tangled up in all sorts of outrageous events and actions including popes, emperors and anyone else who gets in his way.  He has 24 years to enjoy himself before Lucifer and his faithful sidekick Mephistopheles finally claim their victim. There are plenty of comic interludes in the play and indeed Dr Faustus causes significant havoc and fun wherever he travels.  Nevertheless the fateful ending is severe and grim indeed and one can imagine an early C17th audience feeling the horror of the sad and final act. 

Whilst Dr Faustus can be seen simply as a morality play it is also a real question whether Marlowe intended the play to challenge the stranglehold that Christian faith had in Europe until the gradual infusion of scientific investigations and translations of ancient texts  from the C13th onwards.  Thinkers like Roger Bacon and Robert Grosseteste and many others began to challenge the Christian world view. Such thinkers paved the way for the Renaissance and the genuine challenge to spiritual as opposed to scientific forms of analysis of human life, history and science.  There are certainly many direct anti-papal incidents on centre stage in Marlowe’s play. 

One thing is certain, the human mind will always be hungry to prolong life and to explore any possible golden key to the mystery of ongoing human life. 5 stars. 

Robert Shore: Andy Warhol, h/b, London, Laurence King Publishing, 2020

Journalist Robert Shore.

Andy Warhol

Journalist Robert Shore has produced a thorough and  masterful summary of the complex world of commercial artist, photographer and film maker Andy Warhol. Ward died in 1987 from complications after a successful gall bladder operation.

Warhol was born in Ruthenia in the Carpathian Mountains on the border of Russia and Ukraine. His family migrated to the USA and he grew up in Pittsburgh in a Central European ghetto, regularly attending St John Chrysostom Church where they listened to services in Old Slavonic. His father was a construction worker often away from home and his mother was of European peasant stock, eccentric and superstitious and wearing peasant dress but also a talented singer and floral artist.

Warhol was a sickly child eventually contracting St Vitus Dance, a disorder of the Central Nervous System which left him with problems of trembling and shaking as well as a skin condition which made him look pale and blotchy.

He was addicted to the cinema and his childhood bedroom was surrounded by autographed photographs of Hollywood stars, especially Shirley Temple. At school Warhol’s drawing skills were soon spotted, earning him a free Saturday art training at the Carnegie  Institute each Saturday. He eventually enrolled at the Carnegie Institute of Technology and his talents spread to dance and window dressing eventually obtaining part time work in Pittsburgh where he became a connoisseur of fashion magazines and the printed page. 

From these raw beginnings Warhol developed into perhaps the most well known and highly skilled commercial artist of all time creating a vast Factory space in New York which attracted the edgy, rock and roll stars, the edgy artistics, the wayout, the far way out and the wacky with a strong emphasis on the creation of a homosexual community laced with vast quantities of every kind of drug and amphetamine use.

It was in this centre that the famous paintings of Campbells’ tomato soup cans and other icons were made.  It was also in this centre that Valerie Solanas walked out of the sixth floor into the factory and pulled the trigger of a .32 calibre automatic pistol, firing it twice at Warhol, felling him to the floor. Warhol was pronounced dead at the Columbus hospital but somehow managed to pull through. 

Warhol eventually drifted from commercial art becoming known worldwide for his offbeat, outrageous and frequently pornographic film work and his  photography of the rich and famous all over the world including a session with Mao Tse Tung!

In his later years he lived more quietly in a large house with intimate friends but his photographic and artwork still dominated the edgy scene from Hollywood to New York and overseas.  He died in 1968 in hospital after a successful operation removing his gall bladder. Robert Shore’s concise and clear analysis of every aspect of Warhol’s complex oeuvre along with 22 hard to find photographs of Warhol with the rich and famous is thorough, concise and clear. This is a very fine biography of one of the modern art world’s most complex superstars. 

Books Read September 2023

Henry James: The Ambassadors: h/b, London, Heron Books, 1968. [1902].  

American Henry James (1843 -1916) was the brother of highly regarded psychologist William James and his many novels focus on the machinations of the human mind and how individuals make decisions and lead their lives.

The Ambassadors is a story told completely through the lens of retired 60 something American literary editor named Strether. Having lost his wife and only son earlier in life, Strether has developed a strong relationship with the Company’s Managing Director Mrs Newsome and has agreed to travel to France to locate her son to persuade him to return to the USA to take up the management of the company. Mrs Newsome had developed a view that her son Chad had been misbehaving in France and needed her firm hand.  At the same time Strether has persuaded old friend and retired stick in the mud and quite famous lawyer Mr Waymarsh of Connecticut to accompany him.

Early in the narrative in England Strether meets up with attractive single lady Maria Gastrey who is based in Paris and becomes a wise and trusted friend on his journey and task to meet Chad and bring him back to the US.  Once Strether gets to Paris and finds Chad he quickly realises that Mrs Newsome’s fears about Chad have been misplaced. Chad has in fact developed a very successful career and some firm and helpful friendships including especially aristocratic Madame de Viannet and her beautiful daughter Jeanne. Madame de Viannet has played a major role in reordering Chad’s life and behaviour and turning him into a first class operator as well as a very elegant and agreeable young man. 

Strether’s support of Chad does not impress Mrs Newsome or Mr Waymarsh who “wakes up” in Paris  and joins the anti-Chad lobby. Mrs Newsome sends reinforcements in the form of married family members the Pococks who remain unpersuaded that Chad is a reformed character. Thus the scene is set for a complex series of events which lie at the heart of the novel, all seen through the thought process of Strether. Many surprises are in store for the reader! 

Our Book club members uniformly disliked this book (except me) and only three of them completed the novel!

Review of Simon Schama: Rembrandt’s Eyes: p/b, London, Penguin, 2000.  

Simon Schama is an amazing polymath and historian of art and European culture. Born in Britain of Jewish parents Schama’s particular expertise is in the history of the Jews but his detailed knowledge of Dutch French, British and American history also has few peers. He is extraordinarily erudite and his detailed wisdom and research has at least one commentator calling him a walking thesaurus. 

Rembrandt’s Eyes is a lavishly produced and exceptionally detailed account of the lives of two artists, Rubens and Rembrandt. It is a massive read of well over 700 pages with beautifully reproduced reproductions of all the major works of these two exceptional artists. Alongside their stories is the traumatic and tragic outworking of the C17th thirty years warfare between Catholic Spain and Protestant Netherlands with other European nations including Britain playing intermittent roles on both sides depending on where national gains can be made.

The constant destructive horror of Protestant/Catholic warfare in C17th Europe makes for profoundly disturbing reading alongside the desperate search of European Jews for a safe haven which is rarely long lasting. It is difficult to read of Catholic/Protestant division on the one hand and of equally bitter and hard fought divisions between Protestant denominations of various traditions and leaders and especially the punishments handed out to losers on both sides.

The lives of Rubens and Rembrandt also make for thought provoking reading with their exceptional and brilliant successes and the difficult and demanding requirements of their masters. Rubens finally ended his life with considerable power and wealth while Rembrandt ended his life in poverty whilst history will record him as perhaps the finest artist of them all. The name “Rembrandt’s Eyes” refers to Rembrandt’s exceptional and extraordinary care that he takes with the eyes of the figures he paints.

I have been profoundly moved by Schama’s analysis of this tragic time in Christian internecine theological development and equally I have been stunned by the complexity and demanding nature of the artistic enterprise. The exceptional gifts that artists bring to our senses and our world has the capacity to change the way we look at things and there is no doubt in my mind that the study of Art can richly deepen our understanding of Christian faith.  5 stars!

Ann Patchett: Tom Lake: p/b, New York, Bloomsbury, 2023.  

Eighth novel by well regarded American novelist Ann Patchett. The novel traces the two speed life of Lara, her husband and three daughters. Lara’s first love was drama at school and this lead her to the stage and eventually to a key role in a major Hollywood movie. In her drama and movie career Lara meets and falls in love with budding actor Peter Juke. After a tennis accident and her own sense that she was somewhat of a one trick pony, Lara leaves the film world for a series of less demanding careers until she meets and eventually marries former director and cherry picker Sam Nelson.  Between them they raise three girls and during lulls in the cherry picking the girls persuade their mother to tell them the story of her stardom and her marriage.

I have to own that I was reluctant to read this novel, having found her previous novel The Dutch House somewhat static and uneventful.  I was pleasantly surprised by the pace and energy of this novel and the surprising twists and turns of Lara’s life. I became keen to find out the ongoing story  and the novel had many surprises without requiring too much energy or challenge to read. 4 stars.  

D.H. Lawrence: Lady Chatterley’s Lover: The unexpurgated 1928 Orioli Edition; Preface, Lawrence Durrell; Intro. Ronald Friesland. This edition includes Lawrence’s extended essay, A Propos of Lady Chatterley’s Lover. p/b, New York, Bantam Books,1982, (1928).  

I was too young and inexperienced when I read Lawrence’s The Rainbow in my first year of Melbourne Uni Arts, aged 17.  I understood little of the novel and was very critical of it. Later in life, married with two children, I read Sons and Lovers and Women in Love and found the latter especially to be one of the most powerful, sensuous and meaningful novels I have ever read and rate it certainly in my top five novels of all time. 

It has taken me to the ripe old age of 74 to read Lady Chatterley’s Lover, not because of any objection, but simply the vast catalogue of reading material that comes along with teaching for fifty years and so many new books to savour. 

I enjoyed Lady Chatterley very much and the key characters, Connie, Sir Clifford, Mrs Bolton and the magisterial game-keeper Mellors will stay with me for a long time. The famous naughty words, as Durrell’s essay notes, have lost much of their power to horrify since 1928.  This enables a reader to enjoy the gradual unfolding of the relationship between the keeper and the Lady of the House with its emergent romance, halting arguments, powerful passion, and thought provoking realism about their situation.

The novel is also an account of a struggling England after World War 1, with the coal industry exploding but also in trouble, the tension between aristocrat and the majority poor, and the gradual unfolding of a more modern world with sporty cars and new inventions daily. Some of this material, although historically interesting, tends to turn the novel in places into a cultural analysis.

The descriptive power of the summer holiday in Paris and Venice with its catalogue of  misbehaviour, ennui, torturous heat and languid nothingness is depicted with all Lawrence’s insight and picture writing. Lawrences’s extended essay about the book and its scandals and his view of the short comings of the English, makes interesting reading. Today’s modern England with cultures from all the world have no doubt done a lot to enlarge the emotional and romantic world of England in 2023.  I would give this novel 4 stars.

F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby: London,Vintage Books, 1910 (1925).  

Undoubtedly the best of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s four novels set in the nineteen twenties, Fitzgerald has left us a never to be forgotten masterpiece. I have read this book three times and watched Baz Lurman’s amazing movie the same number of times. 

The book is better than the movie with the powerful scene of Gatsby’s funeral,one of the triumphs of literature omitted from Lurman’s film.  

 In one sense the story is just about the fraught and uncertain wealth of the Anglo-American twenties, with its charleston, devil may care postwar freedom, money and eventually bust. In another sense it is a delicately sensuous love story.

The narrator Nick Caraway takes us on his own journey from the  relatively safe and secure West to the fast moving and chaotic reality of life in New York. The magical story of James Gatz from the West who became Jay Gatsby, arguably the richest man in the East based on cleverly marketed illegal bonds, becomes a strangely heroic tale of poor boy makes good and gets the girl of his dreams (almost!) 

Gatsby falls in love with upper class Daisy Duckman in his youth before being called to the war. When he returns with no money or prospects she turns to safer shores and marries the unfaithful Tom Buchanan. Nick Carraway, who happens to rent a small house right next door to Gatsby’s mansion, gets to know Gatsby and tells his story at the same time as (almost) falling in love with Daisy’s friend Jordan Baker. 

Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda lived this 1920’s life itself and and Fitzgerald creates the power and danger of it with imperious skill, joy and terror. The Great Gatsby is one of the truely great works of English Literature.  5 stars and rising.

James Baldwin: Go Tell it on the Mountain, p/b, London, Corgi, 1968 (1954).  

I read Go Tell it on the Mountain as a teenager and never forgot the mix of African American spirituality, vigorous worship and a degree of hypocrisy alongside commitment.The story is set against an American world which though freed from slavery was still mired in racial anger, disadvantage and division. Fifty six years later I wanted to read this powerful story again in 2023, still disturbed by racial divisions in both the USA and Australia. The book has lost none of its power. I was unaware of its semi-autobiographical nature until reading more about the author very recently. 

There are several strong characters in this novel, none more so than successful preacher Gabriel Grimes whose powerful message gained admiration but whose manic behaviour towards his own family brought only anger and disarray. Gabriel, in spite of his holy name, was brutally vicious with his male children and seems unable to find any genuine repentance at any point in the novel. His first wife, Deborah had been gang raped as a teenager and was unable to bear children, dying childless.

His marriage to Elizabeth was almost accidental. She had escaped the rigidity of her powerful aunt who had looked after her after the death of her mother. She travelled north to start a new life and fell in love with a young poverty stricken Richard. They lived happily together in unmarried poverty, until Richard was tangled up in a false accusation of robbery and imprisoned. Although found to be innocent the trauma destroyed him and he suicided before Elizabeth could tell him they were pregnant. Gabriel had also travelled north for a new start and they met through Gabriel’s sister Florence and soon after were married. 

 The basis of the novel is the story of their family life totally dominated by the church. The children consisted of John (who was of course Richard’s son and the key player in the narrative); Roy, a rebel, both loved and persecuted by his father and a sister who does not appear in the narrative. The tension between John and his father is the central story of the novel.

Baldwin writes with impressive power and vigour and the narrative remains in the mind after many years.  His writings have earned him many significant awards. He died in 1987.  5 stars.

Austin Farrer: Saving Belief: A Discussion of Essentials: h/b,London, Hodder & Stoughton,  1964 

Austin Farrer was a major C20th English theologian and philosopher in the high church Anglo-Catholic tradition, in spite of being the son of a Baptist Minister. He was for twenty five years the Warden of Keble College in Oxford and wrote a large number of philosophical and theological  works. His closest friend was C S Lewis and he ministered to Lewis at his death bed.  Saving Belief was his most accessible work but still demands hard thinking from his readers.  No longer in print, Saving Belief is readily accessible second hand on line.

Farrer suggests that Christian faith can only come from hearing about God underlying the importance of Christians reaching out to others about their Christian faith. Farrer suggests that  a virtuous and dutiful lifestyle,  thinking about faith and/or considering the beauty of creation and the universe might move a person towards faith but that the scandal of faith is that belief in God must be personal. “God” as an explanation or a hypothesis to be tested will not work. There needs to be an openness, acceptance and sympathy towards faith for belief to be formed in a person. 

Farrer argues that the basis of theology comes down to a belief that human existence demands a superhuman creator. Acknowledging God’s existence is not the faith that saves. It is not enough to believe in the existence of God. The Devil believes and trembles he argues, citing the Epistle of James.

Farrer’s helpful book has chapters on Providence and Evil (the world is not created perfect, p47), Creed and History,  Sin and Redemption, Law and Spirit and a very helpful final chapter on Heaven and Hell.  Saving Belief is a small, neat and thoroughly demanding read which will encourage and help believers, make seekers want to know more and might even challenge unbelievers to give faith a second thought.   5 stars.  

Barbara Kingsolver: Unsheltered,  p/b, 2018, London, Faber & Faber.

Clever partly historical novel which describes the lives of two couples and their families about 150 years apart.  Willa and her Greek science teacher husband Iano have two children and having moved house for employment find themselves the unlucky owners of a home which proves to be unredeemable. 

At the same time both their twenty something children find themselves in difficulty and need to return home to live. Along with their seriously ill grandfather on a breathing machine and a new baby of one of their children,  the couple struggle to make ends meet as their house gradually disintegrates.  

Meanwhile in the 1870’s  Science teacher Thatcher and his beautiful wife Rose are living in the same house 130 years earlier, along with his equally attractive teenage daughter Polly. At his school Thatcher is caught up in the scandal of Charles Darwin and his new theories of biological evolution which he passionately supports.

Thatcher’s convinced Darwinism is strongly opposed by  his Headmaster who becomes determined to destroy Thatcher’s name and career.  At the same time Thatcher meets the remarkable Dr. Mary Treat (1830-1923), a naturalist and a key contributor to Darwin’s work through her scientific collections, explorations and experiments.

The two scientists become soul mates as the marriage begins to fail. 

Double story novels with some connection seem to be a current fad with Geraldine Brooks’ novel Horse a typical example.   Kingsolver even commences each chapter of one family with the last sentence of the previous family’s story. These days I have trouble keeping up with all the characters in one novel let alone two novels side by side, so I found the structure difficult to cope with at first. 

As a sometime biologist myself I found the Treat/Darwin connection fascinating and well told. The opening story line with its lessons about twenty somethings having the answers to all the world’s problems felt more like a series of school lessons at times and became a bit tedious. I gave this novel 4 stars.  

Christopher Watkin: Biblical Critical Theory: How the Bible’s Unfolding Story Makes Sense of Modern Life and Culture, Foreword by Tim Keller, h/b, 648 pp including full bibliography and Index, Grand Rapids, Zondervan Academic, 2022.

Dr Christopher Watkin is Associate Professor in French Studies at Monash University in Melbourne and has an international reputation in the area of modern and contemporary European thought, Atheism and the relationship between the Bible and Philosophy.

A critical theory is any approach to political philosophy that focuses on society and culture to attempt to reveal, critique, and challenge power structures.  

Watkin has modelled this major work of Christian and philosophical thinking on Augustine’s magisterial The City of God in 426 C.E.  The City of God analyses C4th Roman culture alongside a grand sweep of Biblical literature from Genesis to Revelation.

Watkin’s work is equally monumental and demanding. In 28 dynamic chapters Watkin introduces his readers to a wide range of theological, philosophical and Biblical ideas including Trinity, Creation, Humanity, Sin and Society, The Cross, Resurrection, Eschatology, Identity, Culture, and a host of other topics which include all the major events of the Biblical story from Genesis to Revelation.

A major feature of this work is Watkin’s introduction to the fierce assault of philosophic thinking on to the Biblical narrative, challenging many of the assumptions which moderns have assumed to be taken for granted. 

His targets include Marx, Heidegger, Foucault, Russell, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Camus and many others.   

Watkin’s reply to the philosophical attack is well supported by an equally articulate collection of sympathetic and Christian thinkers including David Bentley Hart, Terry Eagletion, Colin Gunton, C S Lewis, Leslie Newbigin, Bonhoeffer, Pascal, Alvin Plantinga, Jaques Ellul, Chesterton, Midgely and many others too numerous to name. 

Each chapter finishes with a series of helpful Study Questions and suggestions for further thought and action so this monumental study would make an excellent small group study series.

A distinctive and helpful feature of Watkin’s approach is his use of diagrams. One very common example is the use of diagrams with two opposing ideas in their own squares, neither of which are capable of moving forward. Watkin then adds to the diagram a Biblical or Christian solution which diagonally cuts across both squares to provide a way forward.  These diagrams themselves would make excellent discussion starters. 

Biblical Critical Theory is an intimidating and challenging read and would not do for someone coming new to theological or philosophic discussion. Thoughtful Christians however will rejoice that here at last is a book which not only challenges but unpicks and defeats many of the controlling thought centres which dominate C21st Western thinkers. New attacks on Christian faith in this post-Christian era require equally valid and newly formulated Christian responses and here Watkin has delivered in Spades.  Watkin has written an amazing book which will be frequently referred to in theological training and conversation for many years to come. 5 stars and rising.