The Most of P.G. Wodehouse (etc.)

First, as an aside: Last night some friends and I watched Secondhand Lions, which is a hilarious film except for the attempt at moral values in the middle. One of the characters tells another character just to "Believe!" in something. "It doesn't matter if it's true or not! Just believe!" was the mantra. That moment reminded me of The Screwtape Letters, where Screwtape plumes himself on the fact that evil has been able to convince humans just to "believe" without any regard for the truth of belief. The essentially wonderful thing about the Christian Gospel is that it is true, C.S. Lewis seems to be saying. Otherwise, what would be the point?

(Though he seems to undercut this in The Silver Chair, where Puddleglum declares to the witch that he's going to live like a Narnian whether or not there is a Narnia. A point for discussion?)

Anyway, last night I finished The Most of P.G. Wodehouse, a collection of several of his short stories plus a novel. A delightful read. His style draws you in and addicts you to its sheer light-heartedness. His characters are all completely laughable. My favorites are Jeeves and Wooster, of course, but the members of the Drones Club could be Wooster's twin brothers. I love Wodehouse's gentle satire of British aristocratic life. I rather wish someone with the same sort of humor could write similar satires about today's culture. Though perhaps today we have the opposite problem. P.G. Wodehouse slags off his young aristocrats for refusing to do any useful work, but in our American culture we seem to have glorified work to an extreme.

Pontius Pilate

This book by Paul Maier is one I bought at the McFarlin book sale for two dollars, and is billed as a "biographical novel." It blends both Biblical, historical, and traditional sources to paint a probable portrait of Pilate's life. The notes explain that several orthodox churches have a tradition of Pilate's wife Procula being an early convert and celebrate her as a saint, and the Ethiopian Orthodox actually have St. Pilate and St. Procula's day, indicating a belief that Pilate also converted. The book does not take a stand on whether they ultimately did, but the book does offer a large amount of accurate historical data about the rules of Tiberius, Caligula, and Claudius and the governorship of Pilate. It was interesting to read this one right after the Anne Rice book, they were complements from different perspectives.

Pilate has short interactions in the book with several Biblical figures, including Paul, the Centurion Cornelius (who, Maier notes, Pilate almost certainly would have met, given how few Roman officers were in Judea at that time), and of course Jesus. It gives context to many of the occurrences of the Bible, including the identities of the "Herodians" who succeeded Herod the Great, their actions, and Pilate's authority with respect to Christ's prosecution.

It makes the interesting theological point, through Paul, in fact, that the presence of Pilate was to indicate the guilt of Gentiles in the death of Christ. Based on this and a reference in the preface, I feel that Maier was trying very hard not to write anything that could be construed as anti-semitic, but nonetheless I think it is a legitimate point and a true interpretation. Though I do wonder what all of you think about this point and the method of its presentation. Actually, having delved slightly into the genre of religious fiction set in Biblical times, I was wondering what your opinions might be on that type of writing.

Certainly this is a recommendable book, though there is a lot more darkness in it, what with the Roman politics, Caligula, Tiberius, and all, than in many of the others. It is intensely interesting if you have a interest in ancient history.

The Phantom Tollbooth

This came at the very enthusiastic recommendations of Asher and Katie, and a sale at Borders.

It is one of the best children's books, the kind that still holds legitimate appeal for adults.

A bored and dull young boy gains entrance to another world though the Phantom Tollbooth, and there he learns some lessons from a very interesting set of characters, through a series of harrowing adventures. It bears similarities to Narnia, then, but without Christian undertones.

With humor, wit, and an impressive (but not pompous) vocabulary, it pokes fun at some illogical human tendencies that suck the enjoyment out of life, and teaches us to live wisely and richly.

Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt

This is a book that Anne Rice, of vampire fame, wrote after reconverting to Catholicism. It is the story of Jesus and his family, when he was about seven years old, leaving Alexandria and traveling to Nazareth in the Holy Land after the death of Herod the Great. It draws on both Biblical, historical, and other sources, such as one reference to Christ creating birds out of clay while bored. Real, flying, living birds, which was startling to his friends and classmates, to say the least. At the beginning of the novel, he also curses a kid who bullies him and his cousins, causing that boy to instantly die, and then promptly brings him back from the dead.

It is interesting how Jesus' divine nature is handled in the book. Naturally, he is not omniscient, as that would make such a first person narrative almost impossible. But he does have power and instant theological knowledge, and he heals people at several points. I think Rice did a difficult job well and managed to not include anything very theologically questionable

The main plot of the book centers around Christ trying to discover the truth about the circumstances surrounding his birth, in particular the killing of the innocents, which, understandably, no one in his family will talk about to him, and none of the rabbis he meets wish to discuss with a small child. So it is a mystery novel, but one to which the reader knows the solution.

Overall, I recommend this book very highly. It is easy to read, well written, and contains some beautiful scenes both of family life and of religious devotion, though, at the same time, there are some very horrible things that happen in it during the turmoil surrounding Herod's death.

Hard Times

Hard Times is at heart Dickens' critique of economists and utilitarians, and so the book was at times slightly incensing, in that it seemed to portray people like me and Rachel as nothing but rational calculators, and this oversimplification and mischaracterization was certainly the genesis of a stream of disutility that led to sub-optimality in terms of both pure utility and productivity for me for the period of three days, four hours, and eighteen minutes, but I digress.

The criticism of early utilitarianism is much more potent than that of economics, as the main family in question, the Gradgrinds, bring up their children much as James Mill raised J.S. Mill, leading to horrific consequences in terms of their happiness and character. The book demonstrates the obvious effects of depriving children of play, imagination, and emotion. It seems that Dickens did not fully understand the economics of his day, and does not address their arguments abstractly, but does point out the flaws of early classical economics by offering clear examples of serious pollution and individuals caught in machinery. These, particularly the first, are now seen as inefficient and detrimental by economists, and of course the second is seen as just as horrible and barbaric as it always was. Thus what he lacks in abstract understanding Dickens makes up for in practical example.

The book is, overall, quite humorous and interesting, although not as good as either David Copperfield or Oliver Twist. It is certainly worth the time it takes to read it, though.

The Screwtape Letters

We seem to be doing well for variety on this blog....

I read The Screwtape Letters Friday evening as a change from Eudora Welty. Every time I read Screwtape, I come away scared. Ironic, since the book is all about the devil's ultimate defeat in the case of his "patient" and about the power of God to deliver a man from the clutches of the evil one. In some ways, I wonder if C.S. Lewis doesn't attribute too much to the devil's power and too little to our own sinful natures. Whichever the case, the book makes a strong warning against certain common Christian vices. I found the chapters or letters on prayer and on spiritually dry times to be particularly valuable. The need for us as believers to focus on Christ and solidly grounded on the truth of His Word is never more important.

The Big Sleep

This is a classic detective novel, by Raymond Chandler, the first of those he wrote featuring the detective Philip Marlow. Marlow is engaged by the elderly General Sternwood to look into attempts by several men to blackmail him based on potential impropriety on the part of his younger daughter. At the same time, it appears that the General wants to find the husband of his other daughter, a man whose company he had enjoyed in his seriously infirm condition, who appears to have left for another woman, but has also disappeared entirely.

Crystal's post made me think of this because it involves many scenes of the same empty decadence. The General is very rich from oil and his daughters are able to behave as they please, with their indiscretions covered up by Marlow and their butler. Their carelessness and the machinations of the criminal world are ultimately juxtaposed against the simple need of the old General for companionship as he is slowly dying, after numerous people have been killed out of greed and for revenge. The novel is stark, but not entirely bleak, if that makes any sense, and the genesis of the conflict is revealed to be a spitefulness on the part of one of the daughters that qualifies as mental illness. This makes it ambiguous as to whether their lifestyle caused the conflict or an inborn trait which caused the mental illness, with strong hints towards the latter.

Given that my brother was assigned this book for school I was surprised by its content, though Chandler does an excellent job of portraying extreme vice without being graphic. I would recommend this book highly, even though detective novels are not usually my cup of tea.