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A Christmas Carol - Dickens.

It occurred to me about halfway through this beautiful novel that it is wildly anti Semitic. I have been doing a 10km walk every day, so I was half reading it and half listening to it on tape. Anyway, I kept walking past a church with the name Ebenezer plastered all over it, which seemed odd. Something didn't sit right with me about it. But, I kept walking and listening. I kept reading. And then it struck me. Ebenezer is a word from the Bible. It is in the Old Testament. It is part of the Hebrew Bible, the book of Prophets (Nevi'im).

I don't know how many adaptations I've seen and read of A Christmas Carol. It is one of the most recycled narratives in all of Western literature. But, beyond that, you have all the film and TV stuff including Bill Murray's wickedly underrated "Scrooged"... and I've seriously seen two televised Ducktales adaptations.

So why is it significant that Ebenezer is a Hebrew word?

Well, let's break it down.

Ebenezer Scrooge is a banker, who is obsessed with money (like good old Uncle Scrooge in Ducktales). Dickens describes his nose as long and pointy. He is a joyless, Godless man. He is driven by the almighty dollar... and he hates Christmas. The surname, Scrooge, is fictional. It's not a Jewish name. But his ghostly partner - Jacob Marley - also sports a Jewish name. Jacob means follower (or to follow) and Marley means high tower. Marley lived his life as a ruthless banker, indifferent to the people beneath him. The ghost of Marley is forced to roam the earth as a ghost, damned to purgatory. He visits Scrooge (who is "indistinguishable" from him) and warns him of his wicked ways.

It is not until Scrooge - the pointy nosed, materialistic banker who hates Christmas - embraces Christ that he is redeemed.

I've gone on this journey so many times with Dickens and I've never noticed the incredibly blatant anti Semitic tone. Granted, it's probably easier to distance myself from it when Scrooge is played by Bill Murray and his name is Frank Cross... or when the story revolves around an animated Scottish duck.

But, why haven't I heard of this before?
I studied literature, for fucks sake!

After discovering it - and Googling it - it appears as if practically nobody has put the pieces together. Either that or we have Michael Jackson syndrome. The novel is so great - it actually made me cry - that we don't care if it's wildly anti Semitic. Numerous Jewish scholars have defended Dickens.

I must say, I'm a little torn.

I love the book, but maybe that makes me a Nazi?
 
^ that's interesting, I've never seen anyone draw an antisemitic connection to that particular story (or Dickens in general) before. Out of curiosity, I went to the Christmas Carol wiki page and searched for the key words "jew" and "antisemitism" and got nada.

You should flesh it out a bit more, it sounds like a potentially groundbreaking interpretation!
 
allen ginsberg collected poems

i love me some howl, and just the random poems about sucking cock
 
The Art of Hunting Humans by Sidney Mazzi Great book and I agree with much of its content and love how it was presented.

Disinformation by Ion Mihai Pacepa Really revealing

Dark Teritory by Fred Kaplan Great book well written, really informative and also scary
Ohhh, I have my copy of The art of hunting humans always laying around somewhere handy. I read and reread it a lot. Very good in my opinion.

Have started and stopped Disinformation so many times. I will get around to it eventually!

I am currently reading

Jon Ronson’s The psychopathy test. A journey through the madness industry.
Have to say it took me a while to enjoy the humour but I am loving it now.
 
Reading "Drug use for Grown-Ups" by Dr Carl Hart atm - well dipping in and out of it would be a better description.

Disappointing for me. Am not at all enamoured with his writing style and find his cultural observations quite dull and his drug glorification quite inane. I imagine it might be interesting for someone who has only recently begun to consider the topic, perhaps.
 
A song of Ice and Fire by George R R Martin
I finished all 5 books that are out to date in 1 month. Most epic book series i have ever read.
you don't even have to like fantasy to enjoy

Haven't read those yet. I loved the TV series though !!! Gonna read em all one day!! :)
 
Reading "Drug use for Grown-Ups" by Dr Carl Hart atm - well dipping in and out of it would be a better description.

Disappointing for me. Am not at all enamoured with his writing style and find his cultural observations quite dull and his drug glorification quite inane. I imagine it might be interesting for someone who has only recently begun to consider the topic, perhaps.
Ugh lord, I couldn’t even finish it. Dislike Dr Hart immensely!
 
I've been reading this book called "Hitler's Table-Talk" recently, for a research project.

Adolf Hitler wrote two books, the well known "Mein Kampf" and the less well known "Zweite Buch" ("Second Book"), which wasn't published during his lifetime. But there was also a compilation of talks, many of which were transcribed by Hitler's secretary and others, that forms the basis of "Hitler's Table-Talk" (there has been some controversy about the way the document was compiled and translated but it's generally considered to be authentic). In it, Hitler expounds on a variety of subjects...many of them are boring, long-winded monologues about niche topics that Hitler was interested in (he was a great public speaker and was really good at haranguing the masses & frothing the people up but he just never came across well on the printed page IMO)...a lot of content (from what I've read so far) about religion and foreign policy, plans related to the war etc...and of course there's some of Hitler's familiar preoccupations sprinkled in, an obsession with race, the Jews, etc.

I've been looking in it for commentary related to the early rise of the Nazi movement in Germany & Nazi economic theories (the topic I'm researching) and I've gotten a few good bits so far.

 
I've been reading this book called "Hitler's Table-Talk" recently, for a research project.

Adolf Hitler wrote two books, the well known "Mein Kampf" and the less well known "Zweite Buch" ("Second Book"), which wasn't published during his lifetime. But there was also a compilation of talks, many of which were transcribed by Hitler's secretary and others, that forms the basis of "Hitler's Table-Talk" (there has been some controversy about the way the document was compiled and translated but it's generally considered to be authentic). In it, Hitler expounds on a variety of subjects...many of them are boring, long-winded monologues about niche topics that Hitler was interested in (he was a great public speaker and was really good at haranguing the masses & frothing the people up but he just never came across well on the printed page IMO)...a lot of content (from what I've read so far) about religion and foreign policy, plans related to the war etc...and of course there's some of Hitler's familiar preoccupations sprinkled in, an obsession with race, the Jews, etc.

I've been looking in it for commentary related to the early rise of the Nazi movement in Germany & Nazi economic theories (the topic I'm researching) and I've gotten a few good bits so far.

Haha, don't remind me :D Hitler's writing was so bad, dunno about the translations, but the originals are fucking hilarious.

I think much of his "appeal" back then came from the Austrian accent(which sounds kinda cute to Germans, like a gay Bavarian), and the whole body language. Hitler is all voice and body language. Very interesting to watch the nuanced, strategic movements.

In order to not derail:
I'm reading Das Ich und das Es (1923) by Sigmund Freud
 
The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson

Loved it.. amazing use of quotation to deepen her take. Usually yawning at works driven buy sexually deviant perceived and real angst. but this bitch can think and write.
 
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Currently on:

21 lessons for the 21st century - Yuval Noah Harari

Ten lessons for a post pandemic world - Fareed Zakaria
 
I liked YNH's book "Sapiens", it was an enjoyable read I thought...I don't agree with all the conclusions he drew in that book but he has a real writing ability IMO. I'm glad that I gave the book a chance and didn't let myself get turned off from it by the praise it received from academic-types who I dislike, like Steven Pinker and Jared Diamond etc.
 
Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges. Bristling with surrealistic delight.
 
Stoner by John Williams. Perfect portrait of the insignificance that can be found in a life of cowardly servitude to safety and proper custom.
Its about what really ends up being important to a persons life.. and no one in the story has much a clue about what ends up being important. Everyone of them are clueless. That's part of what i heard. Great writing.
 
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I’ve never aspired to be more than a dreamer. I paid no attention to those who spoke to me of living. I’ve always belonged to what isn’t where I am and to what I could never be. Whatever isn’t mine, no matter how base, has always had poetry for me. The only thing I’ve loved is nothing at all. The only thing I’ve desired is what I couldn’t even imagine. All I asked of life is that it go on by without my feeling it. All I demanded of love is that it never stop being a distant dream.
 
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