AMERICAN LITERATURE:
WISDOM OF ABSURDITY

List of Topics:


	Salute to a Goddess of Wisdom: Athena/Monerva
Absurdism	Understanding the theater of the absurd	A story about absurdism: "Zoo Story"

American Literature Web Sites	Sight to find pages for literature research

Outstanding American Writers	Henry James	William Carlos Williams

Issues of American Literature	Story about jingoism: "Editha" Poverty in 19 th century Realism and Naturalism

Feature Article	UNDERSTANDING THE PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY

WHAT IS THE WISDOM OF ABSURDITY?	Big Question!!!

Devoted to Goddess Athena - Minevera

Wise owl of Athena

Minerva on the California Seal

Athena was ancient Greek goddess. She was also the Goddess of the city of Athens.Her other name is Pallas Athene. She was also a goddess of ancient Rome. In mythology she sprang from the head of Zeus as an adult and dressed in armour. In Athenian poetry, Athena was the model of wisdom, reason, and purity. Athena symbolizes civilzation, useful arts, logic and reasoning. Her skils: (1) brilliant strategist of war, (2) a seeker of peace through negotiation, problem solving, and practical wisdom, (3) patron of expert artisans such as weavers, painters, horseman, sculptors, and
musicians, and patron of arts and literature. She was attended by an owl which signifies watchfulness and wisdom.

Today, she appears on the California Seal as Athena - the goddess of wisdom. On the seal is the slogan "EUREKA" which means "I have found it." I believe the person who loves wisdom will find it by mediating, contemplating, and praying to Minerva. She will transform you fom the self of absurdity and folly to a wise person of the perennial philosophy.

Understanding the Theater of the Absurd

Peter Absurd is a fictional character. Meaningless experiences fill his daily existence. Peter attends a café, where he communicates with stupid and discouraged associates. He works on a boring job overflowing with dumb and foolish activities. A crazed killer with senseless motives murders Peter. John Wise, a brilliant playwright, transforms the incidents of Peter’s life into a tale of insights about the absurd. The life of Peter Absurd reveals the nature of the theater of the absurd.

These questions and answers will facilitate members of this audience understanding of the Theater of the Absurd.

What is the The Theater of the Absurd?

The phrase The Theater of the Absurd refers to plays written by European and American playwrights of the late 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. Martin Esslin, an American literary critic, first used this term, in his book published in 1962, The Theatre of the Absurd. According to Esslin, its four founding playwrights are Eugene Ionesco, Samuel Beckett, Jean Genet, and Arthur Adamov. Other important playwrights of this movement include Friedich Durrement, Fernando Arrabal, Harold Pinter, Edward Albee (the playwright of The Zoo Story), and Jean Tardieu. (“Theatre of the Absurd” 1).

What is the philosophy of absurdism?

The basic ideas of the philosophy of absurdism: The essential condition of human beings is absurd for these reasons: Humans live in a universe that is meaningless, irrational, chaotic and senseless. Both life and death for humans is senseless and pointless, because they live in a cosmos without God and devoid of spiritual and metaphysical meaning. Humans are born from nothingness and return to nothingness in death ( Encarta College English Dictionary 1). The experiences of being human is filled with anguish, despair and angst. Humans suffer many events of terror and tragedy. Many deeds are ludicrous and ridiculous. The most important events of human lives are both filled with love and kindness and cruelty and violence. .Humans are “isolated existents,” who live in an estrangement and loneliness. They try to comprehend and make sense of the world, cosmos and life. It is not possible, because people cannot understand the truth, value, and meaning of the universe and human life. (Absurdism 1).

What is the nature and ideas of the theater of the absurd?

Theater of the Absurd plays ”stress the illogical or irrational aspect of experience, usually to show the pointlessness of modern life” (“absurd, theater of 1). The playwrights of this genre look to the existentialist philosophers, Jean – Paul Satre and Albert Camus who describe a mad, insane and irrational world beyond man’s rational understanding. The horrible events of post World War II environment include two monster totalitarianism of fascism and communism, disillusionment with scientific progress, and the regression of mankind to barbarism and terrorism. The theater of the absurd plays are filled with weird situations, bizarre characters, and irrational experiences (“absurd, theatre of the” 1)

Deeds manifest as the ridiculous, unreasonable, ludicrous, and incongruous. Acts are meaningless, purposeless, and turbulent. The audience experiences intense emotions, excitement, and terror from violent conflict.

Characters are portrayed as “isolated, clown – like, and blundering their way through life. (“From Beckett to Stoppard” 1). They are filled with “bewilderment, anxiety, and wonder in the face of an inexplicable universe” (Theater of the Absurd 1). Their personalities show weirdness, despair, estrangement, and restlessness.

The dramas of the absurd are directed by three simple rules as explained in the essay “From Beckett to Stoppard”.

(1) There is often no real story line: instead there is a series of “free flowing images “ which influence the way an audience interprets a play. (2) There is a focus on the incomprehensibility of the world, or an attempt to rationalize an irrational, disorderly world. (3) Language acts as barrier to communication, which in turn isolates the individual more, thus making speech almost futile.(1-2)

D. Harlon Wilson, a noted absurdist writer, explains the main element of absurdism: “The main element is satire. The great historic absurdist writers were essentially making wisecracksabout social structures and relations” (Tyme 1).”

Theater of the absurd helps us laugh at the folly and absurdity of life, thus helping us accept reality.

Works Cited

“Absurdism” Answers.com 14 April 2005

http;//www.answers.com/topic/absurdism

“absurdism” Microsoft: Encratra College Dictionary New York: St Martin’s Press 2001.

“From Beckett to Stoppard: Existentialism, Death, and Absurdity” Home.sprintmailo.com 15 March 2005

http://home.sprintmail.com/~lifeform/beckstop.html

“Theater of the Absurd” Abwag.com 15 March 2005

http://www.abwag.com/thearter_of_the_absurd.htm

“Theater of the Absurd” OmniKnow Site 23 March 2005

http://omniknow.com/common/wiki.php?in=en&term=Theater_of_the_absurd

”Theatre of the Absurd” Wikipedia 23 March 2005 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theatre_of_the_absurd

Tyme, Justynn “Interview With D. Harlan Wilson” 1 February 2004 The Writer Remains; Face to Face Series. 14 March, 2005.

http://www.writtenremains.org/f2f/dharlan.html

Descriptive Analysis of a Drama of the Thearter of the Absurd

Title: The Zoo Story (1958)

Playwright: Edward Albee (1928 - )

Scene of Jerry and Peter in Central Park

Plot: (1) Jerry, a stranger, interrupts Peter who sits on a bench reading a book in Central Park of New York City. Jerry reveals that he has been to the zoo. Jerry ask a series of question and learns that Peter lives a normal family life with a good wife, two daughters, two cats and two parakeets, and a nice upper – class apartment in Manhattan. (2) Jerry describes his past and present living conditions. Jerry’s explains his miserable situation. Jerry lives in a run – down rooming house. His relations with other people are woeful. He has no relations with women, except brief encounters with prostitutes. Jerry has no relations with the other roomers, except the landlady who is drunk, lustful, obese, and ignorant. Jerry feels disgust with her seductions. He owns very little and is very poor. Jerry speaks about his sorrowful childhood and broken family. Jerry’s mother was an alcoholic and left the family when Jerry was ten. After his mother’s death Jerry’s father drank heavily and died of an accident. (4) Jerry tells Peter a story of the black, ugly, savage dog of the landlady. Each day, the dog attacks Jerry when he enters the apartment. For six days, he feeds the dog hamburgers in the hope this deed will pacify the dog. The dog’s vicious attacks continue. On the seventh day, he poisons the dog with another hamburger. Jerry strangely wants the dog to live. The dog survives. Their new relationship is mutual indifference. Jerry tells Peter that he learned from this terrible story is that the reality of life is made up of two opposing emotions: kindness and cruelty. Peter is hypnotized by this account and makes no comment. (5) Jerry provokes Peter by committing psychological and physical mistreatment. Jerry tickles Peter, which shows disrespect. Jerry calls Peter, “a bastard” and “a vegetable.” (6) Last is the scene of Jerry’s death. There is a territorial dispute over a bench. Peter decides to fight for the bench. Jerry opens a knife and tosses it at Peter. Peter does not pick it up. Jerry hurries over and slaps Peter and spits in his face. Then Jerry charges Peter, and impales himself with the knife. Jerry thanks Peter for ending his life of anguish. At the end of the play Jerry expresses anger toward God who failed to find an answer for his desperation and alienation.

Protagonist character is Jerry. He is a single man in his late thirties. He is growing fat and is losing his handsome looks. He suffers from a great weariness. Jerry is an emotionally disturbed man who is angry and alienated about his frustrated sexuality, alienation, and poverty. Other characteristics are insecurity, verbal and physical aggressiveness, and domination. Jerry lives a miserable existence of desperation and estrangement.

Antagonist character is Peter. He is a married man in the early forties with a normal family. He is an executive in a publishing house. He is average size and nearsighted, smokes a pipe, and wears tweeds. Peter represents a successful, conservative bourgeoisie of the Eisenhower era. His attitudes reflect his status: naïve, complacent, proper, polite, and boredom. Peter is a serious man who is embarrassed and insecure about Jerry’s presence.

Setting: The time is a summer Sunday afternoon in the late 1950s. The location is Central Park, New York City. There is an encounter of the two characters, Jerry and Peter. The location is the same 6for the entire play.

Tone: The play has a gloomy and dismal mood. Albee pictures Jerry as a loser and a life failure - suffering psychological disintegration and desperate to find relief from his alienation. He is utterly depressed and lonely outsider unable to establish friendly relations with other people. There is also the fatalistic doom as Peter unwittingly becomes a killer. And then there's the irony of what did happen at the zoo.

Style: Albee has Jerry dominating the dialogue with caustic hostility. The purpose is to show Jerry exploding with anger and filled with intense alienation. He feels bitterness toward the landlady who makes him “the object of her sweaty lust,” He describes the landlady as “fat, ugly, mean, stupid, unwashed, misanthropic, cheap, drunken bag of garbage.” The action of the play follows a pattern of physical attack and verbal abuse and of infringement and retreat. For example, there is the scene, where Jerry tickles Peter. Jerry next tells Peter what happened at the zoo.

Staging: Two benches on the opposite end of the stage represent the characters’ different life conditions and fundamental incompatibility. Peter resides in upper class housing east of the park, while Jerry lives in a shabby rooming house west of Central Park. The two characters wear two different costumes: Peter dresses conservatively - “wears tweeds, smokes a pipe, carries hornrimmed glasses.” Jerry is carelessly dressed, losing his handsome looks. and is gaining weight.

Symbols: The zoo stands for the cosmic zoo in which human behave like fierce beasts and live in cages as isolated beings. Central Park through Jerry’s questioning, deeds, and monologues symbolizes the impersonality, indifference, and brutality of modern urban life.

Theme: The modern large city represents alienation and a malignant gap between the upper class successful businessman and the desperate poor.

Evaluation: The message of this play is that people seek kindness and love, but in reality live in a harsh and cruel world. The play explains the difficulties of people living harmoniously together and communicating with each other. Albee uses the senseless and absurd final scene to express the horrors of mans’ deeds and insane motivation.

AMERICAN LITERATURE WEB SITES
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OUTSTANDING AMERICAN WRITERS

HENRY JAMES

Henry James (HJ) was a magnificent American writer of the late 19th century and early 20th century. In a letter to Henry James, Robert Lewis Stevens, the authorof Treasure Island, praised James as “a man so accomplished, so adroit, so craftsman like” (The Letter of Robert Louis Stevens: December 8, 1884). These characteristics were the realities of Henry James life.

Timeline of Henry James life.

He lived for 73 years from 1843 to 1916.

Phase one: His youth was a time of preparation for his literary career.

HJ was born on April 15, 1843 to Henry James Sr. and his wife Mary Walsh Robertson. The location was Washington Place (near Washington Square) at 14th street in wealthy uptown New York City. (“American Writers” 321)

He came from an extraordinary family.

Henry James Sr. was a son of an Irish immigrant who made great fortune, because he helped build the Erie Canal. His grandfather when he died in 1832 was the second richest man in New York State. HJ Sr. used the money for a lavish education and European travel for his sons (“The Henry James Resource Center” 1). His father was an important intellectual of 19th century who studied and wrote about theology, philosophy, and mysticism. He rejected the Presbyterian Church for the Swedish mystic Christian Emanuel Swedenburg. {“Classic Notes: Henry James”1 )
William James, the brother of Henry James was a famous psychologist and the founder of the American philosophy called pragmatism. They were very close through their lives.(“Classic Notes: Henry James” 2)

Education

In his teens HJ spent many years in Europe in such cities as Geneva, Paris, and London. He learned French, Greek, and Latin and absorbed European culture. The family visited the important museums, art galleries, theatres, and libraries of Europe. One trip lasted three years from 1855 to 1858. (“American Writers” 321}
In 1864 the James family moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts. Prominent writers including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Bronson Alcott visited the James family (“Classic Notes: Henry James” 2).
HJ had an unorthodox education at schools and with private tutors.
HJ was an avid reader. His father called HJ “a devourer of libraries.” He read the classics of American, English, French, and Russian literature (“Henry James”1).
In his youth HJ wrote short stories and essays.
HJ did not take part in the civil war, because he suffered a back injury. At age of 19 in HJ attended Harvard Law School for one year, but he withdrew to concentrate on writing. and reading literature.(“About Henry James” 2)

Character of HJ in his youth: self – absorbed, reflective, and concerned with human problems and behavior. (American Writers322)

Phase Two: Apprentice and International Theme (1865 -1884) HJ age was 22 to 41.

ApprenticHJ in his 20s contributed stories and reviews to literary magazines of the United States: Atlantic Monthly and The Nation. HJ submitted articles to William Howells, and they were friends for life.
In 1871 HJ published his first novel, Watch and Ward (About Henry James 2)
International theme period involves relationship between naïve Americans and cosmopolitan Europeans. His theme was the conflict of the innocence of the New World of America and the corruption and of the Old World of Europe.
. Most important novels and stories: The Americans (1877), Daisy Miller(1879), and The Portrait of A Lady(1881), (Rozaki 225}

Phase Three: Experimental Phase (1885 to 1899) His age was 42 to 56.

HJ wrote about new subjects. In The Bostonians(1886) he wrote about feminism and social reform. Princess Casamassima (1885) was about political intrigue.
He tried to write plays for the theatre, but he failed. The audience booed his play, Guy Donoville (1895) off the stage the first night. (Rozaki 226)

Phase Four: Major and Mastery Phase (1900 to1916) HJ age was 56 to his death at 73.

HJ returned to international subjects. His novels were less concerned about external events, but they emphasized the internal psychology of the characters.

Important novels included The Wings of the Dove(1902), The Ambassadors(1903), and The Golden Bowl (1904).(Rozaki 226 –227).

Other important information about HJ

HJ wrote a vast amount of literature: 20 novels, 120 short stories, and nonfiction literature that included literary reviews, analysis of the American and European social scene, travel pieces, personal memoirs, and biographies. (American Writers 488)

His goal in life was to create superb literature. Charles G. Hoffman, an authority on HJ, explained his excellent stories:

His intricate and involved style, his exquisite sense of analysis of subtle analysis of character, his refined sense of shades and variety of experience, his probing of states of awareness and perception, his habit of expanding a given narrative situation by elaborating its dramatic and intellectual possibilities from different points of view (Hoffman 5 –6).

HJ was a psychological realist. His fictional novel concern was to present the psychology of characters that included their motives, feelings, desires, and thinking. HJ wrote about the violent behavior that involved the emotional reactions and internal conscious states of characters that stimulated external events. In his novels HJ explained the peoples’ morals, style of life, and manners in both United States and Europe. HJ inspired many writers such as Joseph Conrad, James Joyce, and Virginia Wolfe to focus on psychological analysis of their characters. Some of HJ’s best known psychological works were his short stories that included Daisy Miller and Turn of the Screwand his novels such as , The Portrait of the Lady, The Ambassadors, and The Golden Bowl (American Writers 320)

HJ was well known for his quotes:

“She had an unequalled gift … of squeezing big mistakes into small opportunities.”

“Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind.”

Be not afraid to live. Believe life is worth living, and your life will help you create the fact. (Free Online Library 2).

HJ was an expatriate who after 1875 spent most of his adult life in England .An expatriate is a citizen of a nation who lives in another for a prolonged period. He also traveled throughout Europe to France, Italy, and Switzerland. For a brief period from 1905 to 1910 he visited United States. HJ’s affections belonged to England, because he perceived Britain as the home of civilization. (Snow 294 –295). HJ lived in London from 1876 to 1896. He had numerous important friends Robert Browning, Lord Tennyson, and Prime Minister William Gladstone. He joined one of the most exclusive clubs of London. In the winter of 1879 he dined out 109 times. (“The Henry James Resource Center” 2). HJ lived most of the last 20 years in his famous house located in Lamb House with “Roman - arched bow windows rising above the street, a peaked roof, an old - fashioned lattern set in the wall and ivry climbing up one side” and located in Rye, Sussex. At this house HJ wrote many novels and stories.(Edel 460). During World War One HJ ardently supported the British. He visited hospitals and aided refugees. In 1915 HJ gave up his American citizenship and became an English citizen. He died of pneumonia on February 28, 1916. He was deeply appreciated by the English. On January 1 1916.King George V awarded him the highest civilian order open to an Englishman,, the Order of Merit. Sixty years after HJ death, a plaque bearing his name was placed in the Poets’ corner of West Minister Abbey (Snow 294 –296).

Leon Edel wrote a superb biography about HJ entitled Henry James: A Life.It explains the complex development of HJ into a great writer. The book won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.

A controversial issue of HJ’s life – Was he a discrete homosexual? Leon Edel believed this was a possibility. William Morton Fullerton visited tf HJ in his London home and worked as a correspondent for the LONDON TIMES. Fullerton was very handsome and charming. He was known as “ a covert Victorian homosexual”, knew Oscar Wide, and had an affair with Lord Ronald Gower, a prominent sculptor . HJ sent letters of affection to Fullerton. While visiting Paris, they met in cafes and attended the thearter together.(Edel 374). It was never substantiated HJ was a homosexual.

One of the great stories of his life was his relationship with Edith Wharton, a wealthy writer of America. Her writing was “elegant, graceful, and honest” (Rozaki 228). There were the comical events. She came to Lamb House with her motorcar and chauffeur. “She whisked him away in the car, and took him around England on journeys he had no desires to make.” HJ often complained about money. She had the same publisher, Charles Scribner. She persuaded the company to pay in advance for a new novel and gave the company a large amount of money. The company sent a letter of admiration. HJ accepted the offer (Snow 291 –292).

Some of HJs novels were made into movies and include THE EUROPEANS (1979), THE BOSTONIANS (1984), Peter Bogdanovich’s DAISY MILLER (1974), and William Wyler’s THE HEIRESS (1949). Jack Cayton’ s THE INNOCENTS (1961) was a succesful adaption of THE TURN OF THE SCREW (Rozakis 226).

HJ is now ranked with Mark Twain as one of the two greatest writers of the second half of the 19th century (Rozakis 228). C. P. Snow described the memorable merits of HJ: a great, decorous and responsible writer, very kind and polite, a great master of literary theory, most respected of his contemporary writers , and the literary pundit of his era (Snow 256).

WORKS CITES

“About Henry James.” Cyber Studios 2005. 7 February 200

http://www.underthesun.cc/Classics/James

AMERICAN WRITERS: A COLLECTION OF LITERARY BIOGRAPHIES. Editor: Leonard Unger. New York: Charles Scribers. 1974.

“Classic Notes: Henry James”.Gradesaver 2003. 7 February 2005,

http://www.gradesaver.com/ClassicNotes/Authors/about_henryjames.html

Edel, Leon. HENRY JAMES: A LIFE. New York: Harper & Row, 1985.

“Henry James – Free Online Library” Fairlex Inc. 2004. 7 February 2005.

http://james.thefreelibrary.com/

“The Henry James Resource Center”. 7 February 2005.

http://www.historyspark.com/james/1843.html

Hoffman, Charles G. THE SHORT NOVELS OF HENRY JAMES. New York: Bookman Associates 1957.

Rozakis, Laurie. THE COMPLETE IDIOTS GUIDE TO AMERICAN LITERATURE. Indianpolis: Alpine Books 1999.

Snow, C.P. THE REALISTS: EIGHT PORTRAITS. NEW YORK:Collier Books 1978.

William Carlos Williams

1883 – 1963

William Carlos Williams was a 20th century American Poet associated with imagism (William Carlos Williams 1). The Random House Dictionary of the English Language defines imagism:

Literature. A style of poetry that employs free verse, precise imagery, and the patterns of rhythms of common speech, esp. as developed by a group of English and American poets between 1900 and 1917.

He was known as a poetry experimenter and theorist who created poetry rooted in his own life and members of his New Jersey Community where he had his lifetime home (“Biography” 1).

Time – line of his life by topic

September 17, 1883: William was born in Rutherford, New Jersey. He lived in a middle class family.

Father was William George Williams who was an Englishman and worked as a businessman in New York City.
Mother was known as “Elena” who was born in Puerto Rico (“Biograhy”1).
His mother and father were lovers of literature and visual arts (“The Red Wheelbarrow” 1).

His education:

1899: At Horace Mann High School in New York City, William was outstanding in writing poetry and biology. He was determined to have a career in both medicine and poetry (“William Carlton William: Physician And Author” 2).
1902 -1906: He attended the University of Pennsylvania and received his degree as an M.D. Later he studied in Switzerland where he specialized in obstetrics and gynecology. At University of Pennysylvania he befriended two poets: Ezra Pound and Hilda Doolitle. He was a close associate with Pound, who in 1913 helped him publish The Tempers in England. Later, Dr. Williams visited Powell in the insane assulyam (“Whitaker “13).

His practice as a physician:

1912 – 1951: He set up his private practice in his hometown of Rutherford and also in Paterson, New Jersey, a nearby industrial town. He practiced medicine until 1951. After Dr. Williams suffered a heart attack, his son took over the practice. Williams continued to write and give lectures at colleges. (“Williams, William Carlos” 2).
Many of his patients were mill girls, local prostitutes, and desperate mothers. He also had proper middle class mother as patients. They influenced his poems and other literary works (“William Carlos Williams: Physician and Author “2).

His wife was Florence Hermann. She was known as Flossie (“the Flossie of his life”). She appeared in some of his poems as his beloved “Flossie”. She was his wife for the rest of his life.

Career in literature:

His best known poem is The Red Wheelbarrow. It is “considered the model example of the Imagist movements style and principles.” He also wrote the Imagist motto: “no idea but in things.”(William Carlos Williams 2). This poem is a painted picture that is elegant, simple, and evocative. Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren in a classic book on poetry, Understading Poetry, wrote:

Reading this poem is like peering at an ordinary object through a pin prick in a piece of cardboard. The fact that the tiny hole arbitrarily frames the object endows it with an exciting freshness that seems to hover on the verge of revelation (“The Red Wheelbarrow” 1)

His important poetry works:

The Tempers published in 1913
Complete Poems published in 1938
Paterson, a poem about the Depression
Pistures from Brugel and other Poems (1962)
Imaginations (1970)

(“William Carlos Williams: Physician and Author “2)

He was greatly admired by the beats and notably Allen Ginsberg (Ibid 2)..
Williams was a prolific writer. His works included poetry, short stories, essays, novels, plays, and his own autobiography. (American Writers 404).

After suffering a series of strokes Dr. Williams died on March 4, 1963 at the age of seventy – nine (Ibid 2).

An absurd story of the anti – communist era involved Dr. Williams: He was an active member of his community and a member of the very liberal Unitarian Church. He was also a liberal member of the Democratic Party and an advocate of left – wing issues. In 1949, Williams published a pamphlet and poem called The Pink Church that was about the human body. Some conservatives believed the book was pro – communist. He was also a friend of the pro – Nazi poet Ezra Pound. The Library of Congress appointed him to a consultancy - the Chair of Poetry. He lost this post, because Dr. Williams was accused of being pro – communist. He was also treated for depression (“Williams Carlos Williams: Physician and Author “ 2).

.WORKS CITED

“Biography: William Carlos Williams” Longman Publishers 1971. http://occawlonline.pearsoned.com/bookbind/pubbooks/kennedycompact_awl/chapter42/

“Brief Biography” UTA.EDU. 23 Feb 2005

http://uta.edu/english/tim/poetry/wew/Brief%20Biography,html

“Imagism” The Random House Dictionary of the English Language: College Edition. 1968.

“The Red Wheelbarrow – Williams Carlton Williams” C.S. Rice Edu. 6 May 1999.

http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/83.html

Unger, Leonard ed., American Writers: A Collection of Literary Biographies Volume 4. New York: Charles Scriber’s Son. 1974.

Whitaker, Thomas R. William Carlos Williams. New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc. 1968.

“William Carlos Williams” Wikipedia. 29 Mar. 2005.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Carlos_Williams

“William Carlos Williams: Physician and Author” Notable Unitarians Home. 4 April 2005 .

http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/unitarians/wcw.html

Williams, William Carlos” MSN Encarta. 2005.

http://encarta.msn.com/encylopedia_761560921/William__Carlos_William

Issues of American Literature
From late 19th century to 20th century

A STORY ABOUT JINGOISM

Title: “Editha “ (1907)

Author: William Dean Howells (1837 – 1920)

Plot:: (1)A love scene of kissing took place between Editha Balcron and George Gearson, her fiancé. Edith presented her jingoist and romantic views of war. George presented his opposition to the war, because he believed that war is harmful in all circumstances. She was delighted that United States may soon be involved in a war, but Editha did not understand George’s dislike of war and his unwillingness to fight in the war. She said that she wanted George to be a hero of the war and repeated romantic, jingoistic newspaper phrases; (2) After George left the house, the Spanish American War was declared. Edith’s mother told Editha that persuading George to enlist was an evil deed. In her room Editha wrote George a letter which stated, ‘The man I marry must love his country, first of all.” She also exclaimed that serving America was the highest honor. She placed his engagement ring and other mementos into an envelope. She decided to keep the envelope for a while, in case he did not enlist; (3) George returned to the Balcron house that night with the news. He spoke to a town meeting as leader of pro –war people and was elected captain of the town’s volunteers. Editha over a glass of lemonade told George that this war was a sacred war for freedom and humanity. He asked Editha to visit his mother, if some disaster happened to him. Editha gave George the letter; (4) Editha discovered a list of casualties of the first battle, in which George was listed as killed; (5) Editha traveled with her father from upper state New York to Iowa to visit George’s mother. George’s mother expressed her anger. She said, “You didn’t expect George to get killed. You just expected him to kill someone else, some of those foreigners…They had to be there, those poor wretches” ; (6) A visiting painter who sketched Editha consoled her. She said the war helped America, that Editha’s behavior was exemplary, and that Mrs.Gearson’s conduct was vulgar. From that time on, Editha overcame her shame and self – pity and returned to her naïve, romantic jingoism.

The central character was Editha, a pretty young lady who was a fervent jingoist for war. The writer depicted Editha as young naïve romanticist who believed the war was divine providence and could not comprehend the harmful consequences of war. She was a model of jingoism.

Others important characters: George was the fiancé who opposed war. His love for Editha led him to abandon his core principles against war. At the town meeting George was overcome by war fever and excitement. George’s mother was an ardent opponent of war who saw its horrible consequences. Her husband lost his arm during the civil war. Mrs. Gearson expressed her bitter anger in her conversation with Editha.

Setting: The story was set in an unnamed northern town. Editha lived in a middle class family house. A second setting was George’s mother house in a little country Iowan town. Another was an artist painting a portrait of Editha.

Point of view: The omniscient narrator was an unknown character with a moral point of view that imperialist war and jingoism were harmful to the American people and mankind.

Tone: The atmosphere was oppressive. Editha was sleepwalking about the actualities of war. Her fiancé did not return as a hero, but a body killed in the first battle. George was caught up in the excitement and glory of war. The foolish dupe gave up his anti – war principles and lost his life. Howells used irony to show incongruity between what was expected and what actually happened. Editha expected George to return as a hero, but he was killed in the first skirmish of the war.

Style: The language was stilted and cumbersome.

Symbols: Howells, the realist, did not use symbols to show the horrors of war and imperialism. Instead, he employed real conversations and terrible events to explain the dread of war and jingoism.

Theme: Imperialist war and jingoism produce horrors for the American people and humanity.

Evaluation: This story teaches these lessons: Jingoism during imperialist wars generates a false idealism of courage, glory, and victory. Realism perceives the actual horrors of imperialist wars: misery, suffering, pointless destruction, and unwanted death. Editha was portrayed as the jingoist archetype that corrupts the values of democracy, freedom, and intelligent reason. I recognized the parallels of Spanish American War of the 1890s and present American Iraqi War. Both wars exemplify imperialism and jingoism.

TWO SCHOOLS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE

Realism and Naturalism

Explain realism and naturalism by comparing/contrasting literary elements of two stories. The realist story is Charlotte Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” and the naturalist narrative is Jack London’s “The Law of Life.”

The first common feature describes actual reality. Realism describes life as it actually exists and characters existence in the concrete world. The protagonist in “the Yellow Wallpaper” is a young wife and mother who suffers insanity, loneliness, and desperation. Her situation is described vividly and with fidelity to real life. Naturalism depicts harsh reality. “The Law of Life” tells the grim realities of last moments of a Native American chief in the winter and the far north wilderness.

The second common feature explains how the writer describes reality. In realism the writer uses similitude: truthful accounts of the situation. The story mirrors the reality of life. Gilman pictures the terrible realities of lady who moves into insanity, because she spends most of her life in the attic of a colonial mansion and becomes obsessed with its yellow wallpaper. In naturalism the writer applies extreme objectivity. London stands backs from the main character and describes these realities: the thoughts of the old dying man who remembers his life such as time of famine and prosperity, and the terror and the dignity of Koskoosh at the end, as he feels the muzzle of the wolf on his cheek.

The third common feature explains the nature of the situation confronting the character. In realism the character is usually a middle or upper class person in an everyday situation. Gilman pictured the main character as a nervous and neurotic upper class lady and a doctor’s wife who suffers in the attic isolation of the mentally ill woman in the nineteenth century. In naturalism, the character encounters a terrible destiny such as misery in life or extinction in death. The old Indian approaching death faces the law of life: the survival of the group and the death of the individual. The tribal men leave behind the old dying man who no longer benefits the tribe. They go to a new hunting ground for the sake of the survival of the tribe.

The fourth common feature explains the individual’s personality, psychology, and character. In realism the writer is concerned with the subtleties, individual psychology, and the hidden motives and purposes of the main characters. “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a brilliant psychological study into the motives, emotional intensity, and introspection of its protagonist. In naturalism the character actions are determined by Darwinism: by the animality of humans, the blind forces of evolution, and the fatalism of nature. Kosooch responds to the fatalism of death and the hardships of the circumstances of his environment with dignity. In the final scene he suffers the attack of the wolves with a stoic resignation, because it is the law of life.

The fifth feature is the tone of the story. In realism the tone of the story is irony. The situational irony of the main character in the realistic story is that she hopes to escape the attic and her horror perceptions of the wallpaper. The reality is she moves into deeper insanity and alleviates her suffering. The tone of naturalist narrative is cosmic irony: the environment and laws of life operate against him. Kosooch desires that the members take him with them, but the reality is for the survival of the tribe its members leaves him to die.

The sixth feature relates to the theme of the story. In realism the theme teaches a moral lesson of right and wrong behavior. The theme of this story teaches the dire consequences of wrong treatment for the mentally ill. In naturalism the theme shows truth is illusionary and involves pessimistic outcomes. In “The Law of Life” the theme is the inability of the human being to change the dark fact of death and the necessity to face its inevitability with resignation and dignity.

POVERTY IN 19TH CENTURY AMERICA

Two stories are analyzed on how they reflect nineteenth attitudes and treatment of the poor. The first is Harris, “Free Joe and the Rest of the World” and the other is Norris, “A Deal in Wheat.”

Harris depicted Free Joe as a victim and tragedy of the plantation system of the lower South prior to the civil war. Free Joe, a former slave, suffered terrible poverty and degradation of treatment. The town people perceived Free Joe with scorn as drifter, shiftless, and lazy. In this era of laissez – faire there were no government programs to help Free Joe find a job, start a business, or acquire an education. Joe was viewed as a threat to the plantation system. He was treated as an isolated atom because many town people feared, that if he succeeded in finances that would encourage the slaves to revolt. The only people Joe could associate with were the “poor white trash” of Hillsborough. He found sympathy and help from the poor white Staleys. His own race saw Joe as a Negro in exile. Because of his miserable poverty the slaves despised him and treated him with contempt.

“Spike” Calderwood, the tyrant slave owner, exemplified the harsh treatment that dehumanizes poor free slaves. Many slave owners regarded free slaves as inferior and with disdain and contempt. Calderwood behaved toward Free Joe with wretched contumelious. He forbade Free Joe from visiting his wife on the plantation. When Free Joe visited her secretly in the woods, Calderwood took her away in a buggy to a new location. The terrible results were that Joe never saw his wife again and died with a broken heart.

Frank Norris’ “A Deal in Wheat” teaches these lessons about the era of laissez – faire capitalism and its effects on poverty:

Good, hardworking, and wholesome farmers like Sam Lewiston and his wife could lose their farms and fall into poverty. They were victims of a situation beyond their control and could not take actions to remedy it.

If a worker lost his job in a city factory, he needed to depend on private charity. If the charity could not supply aid the worker fell into destitution. Sam lost his job at his brothers small hat factory and was thrown out into the streets. He received bread from a local bakery. Once the price of wheat reached two dollars due to manipulation by speculators the bakery could not supply bread. Sam and unemployed workers were left without food.

The speculators of commodities primary concern was more and more wealth. The speculators were the haves in an amoral system of capitalism that encouraged them to exploit the hapless have – nots. The speculators ruined farmers and workers without regard for their survival, health, and well –being.

Given the opportunity many working men achieved a modest success. Sam had the good fortune of finding a job as a street cleaner. With hard work Sam was promoted to better positions and finally an inspector.

FEATURE ARTICLE

Mandala of Universal Wisdom

UNDERSTANDING THE PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY

These questions and answers will help members of this audience understand the perennial philosophy. Please read them carefully and reflect upon them.

What is the perennial philosophy?

Dr. Jeffrey Mishlove, the only person awarded a parapsychology Ph.D. from the leading American university of Berkley and a media interviewer, explained perennial philosophy as “the common thread that links all religions and all spiritual traditions from every culture and age of humanity” (“The Primordial Tradition with Huston Smith” 1). According to Aldous Huxley, the study of the perennial philosophy involves three levels: The highest is metaphysics that seeks to understand and experience the Divine Reality and the spiritual Ground of Being. The middle level is the psychological that uses mind, matter, action, and thought and seeks to know how the soul identifies with Divine Reality. The lowest level is the ethical and practical “that places man’s final end in the knowledge of the immanent and transcendent Ground of all - the thing is immemorial and universal” (Huxley vii & 1). The immanent is the subjective experience of the Ground within the person’s mind, while the Transcendent involves experiencing the Ground beyond time and universe and of eternity. The perennial philosophy seeks a magnificent quest - the perfection of love and wisdom. It begins with love and compassion in “the portals of the heart” and ends with the wisdom achievement of communion and friendship with the One Divine Reality, The person becomes one and unified with Divine Reality (Thackara 1). Perennial relates to the eternal, timeless, and everlasting, while wisdom pursues a splendid marriage and union of truth, goodness, and beauty with the Ground of All Being.

What is the background information and setting of the perennial philosophy?

The writer who popularized the perennial philosophy in the twentieth century philosophy was Aldous Huxley. He is the British author who wrote the famous disutopian novel - Brave New World. Huxley lived in Hollywood, California for much of his adult life and was greatly influenced by Hinduism and the Vendetta Society. He wrote his collection of essays, The Perennial Philosophy, during World War Two, and this book was published in 1945 (Bedford 437).

The term perennial philosophy corresponds to the ancient Sanskrit Sanatana Dharma that means “Eternal or Perennial Truth.” The Latin phrase

“philosophia perennis” was first used by Leibitz, a German philosopher of the sixteenth century (“Perennial Philosophy” 1).

What are the claims about the nature of reality?

The first is that humans live in the physical world of the senses and participate in the realm of spirit and the sacred.

The second is that humans can partake and experience the sacred realm through the mind and the center of our awareness called the soul.

The third deals with epistemology. People have the capacity for knowledge of the spiritual realm. Welsh explained, “If we train and develop the mind sufficiently, if we hone our awareness, develop our attention, refine our perception, then we can come to know this realm directly for ourselves,” Each person can experience this realm through his/her experiments and efforts.

The fourtrh end is concerned with ethics. The highest goal and good of humans is to know the sacred realm and the Ground of All Being through mystical experiences, devotion to guru or divine being, and selfless action.(Walsh 1 –2).

Aldous Huxley presents another claim: Man possesses a dual nature. The first is the “phenomenal ego” which allows each person to relate to the physical world and other people of the earth. The other is “an eternal self” which is the inner man, the spirit, the spark of divinity within the soul.” Its nature is of spirit and makes it possible for humans to identify with the Ground of All Being (“The Perennial Philosophy” 2).

What is the nature of the Divine Ground?

Huxley explains the Divine Ground in all religions and spiritual traditions as the Absolute that is ineffable, cannot be expressed in words, and is incommunicable. The human being can experience and realize the Absolute directly in his consciousness and intuition. Several examples of the Ground include (1) Trinity of Hinduism: Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, (2) Christian Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, (3) Incarnation of God in a human being such as Krishna, and (4) Sufis represent Al Haqq as the vital spirit of the Godhead which underlies Allah and regard “the Prophet as the incarnation of the Logos” (Huxley 21 –22).

What is the most important principle of the perennial philosophy?

Huxley explains the core principle as the Sanskrit formula tat tvam asi which means “that art thou.” Huxley states, “The Atman or immanent eternal self is one with Brahman, the Absolute Principle of all existence; and the last end of every human being is to discover the fact for himself, to find out who he/she really is.” This formula is experienced and realized in the deepest part of the person’s soul. The individual perceives “the identity of the individual spirit with the Universal spirit.” The Atman acts as the Witness of the mind and its operations. The wise person experiences the pure consciousness of both the Atman and Brahman (Huxley 2&6).

What are the ends of the perennial philosophy?

The first aim is salvation and deliverance. Salvation involves being saved from harm and destruction, while deliverance means moving into a better state and situation. According to Huxley, salvation involves folly, evil, suffering, and misery, while deliverance includes (1)happiness, (2) the good and beautiful, (3) wisdom, (4) unity and oneness of Self, (5) wisdom, (6) unity with the Ground, and (7) attainment of eternity and bliss (Huxley 200 -211).

The second aim is experiencing the eternal now that is the timeless presence of the divine spirit (Huxley 184 – 186).

The third end involves what Huxley calls traditional “charity” form of love, and in modern times it is called “agape”. Charity expresses the highest and most divine love. Agape is disinterested, generous and asks no reward. God is loved for itself. Persons are loved for God’s sake, because they are expressions of the Absolute. Agape makes the knower, known, and knowledge a unified one (Huxley 81 – 85).

The fourth end is mysticism. The perennial philosophy believes direct experience and communing with the Divine Ground is a possibility for all human beings. The methods include spiritual discipline practices, studying holy literature, and surprise, unexpected illumination of the Divine Ground. This revelatory experience transforms the person and his/her mind (“Mysticism and the Perennial Philosophy” 1).

The fifth aim is enlightenment gained through self – knowledge. The great saints and sages of great religious and philosophical traditions such as Socrates, great Hindu gurus, and Buddha explain self –knowledge, as overcoming the body, thoughts and desires of the self and acquiring knowledge of the Godhead and all embracing reality (Huxley 162 – 163). Enlightenment involves experiencing primordial Godhead and eternity. The mystic discovers the Kingdom of God within and unites with the essential Oneness of Divine Ground (Huxley 60).

What are paths for attaining the ends of the perennial philosophy?

Huxley recommends these paths that originate from the Bhagavad Gita of Hinduism : The path of love and devotion applies to people whose inborn tendency is externalization of emotion. These feelings are gregariousness, kindness, and charity such as devotion to a personal God or guru, good will, and compassion. Another road is the path of action and work. It appeals to people who need to do things. The follower of this path performs selfless service without regard to gain and fruits. The last road is the path of knowledge. This type of person tends toward introversion, self – analysis, thinking, and creative imagination. He/she ceases to be ego centered and seeks knowledge of unity with the Ground (Huxley 152 -153).

What are applications of the perennial philosophy for literature in the new millennium?

These are my personal projections of perennial philosophy literature in the new millennium.

Writers of plays, poems and stories will look to revelations of the prophets, mystics, sages, and saints of the past such as Jesus Christ, Buddha, Krishna, and Lao Tsu. These revelations will describe the eternal, infinite, and unchanging essence of the Ground of Being and guide people on their own spiritual path. The new sages will guide people to understand the qualities and characteristics of the eras by their teachings of the perennial philosophy (Serious Seekers 1).

Writers will describe and explain the sane society of the perennial society. People will spend their time in meditation for self – knowledge and enlightenment and will work with trance states for super learning. The society will restrain industrialization and consumption, provide fulfilling and meaningful work, and make available leisure time for contemplation and meditation. Huxley presents the religion and ethics of new millennium society.

Religion (will) be the conscious and intelligent pursuit of man’s Final End, the unitive knowledge of the immanent Tao or Logos, the transcendent Godhead or Brahman. And the prevailing philosophy of life (will) be a kind of Higher Utilitarianism, in which the Greatest Happiness principle (will) be secondary to the Final End principle – the first question to be asked and answered in every contingency of life being: “How will this thought or action contribute to, or interfere with, the achievement, by me and the greatest number of others, of man’s Final End?” (Island (novel) 1).

Playwrights, poets, and story tellers will write about the essence of mysticism. “ These writers will present stories, characters, and poems about the mystical experience. These mystics have direct realization or gnosis of Ultimate Reality whether it is called Allah, Brahman, Buddha – nature, En – Sof, God, or the Tao. The Uphanishads of Hinduism states: Arin Boshnja explained “The Spirit supreme is immeasurable, inapprehensible, beyond conception, never born, beyond reasoning, beyond thoughts.” The ultimate Reality of the mystical experience cannot be defined in words, but words can point to the That beyond words. The writers will show what happens in consciousness, when enlightenment and awakening due to the mystical experience occurs (“arlinboshnja”1-6).

What is the significance of the perennial philosophy?

The perennial philosophy expresses the one truththat is stated in the various religions in different ways. It is the source of unity and oneness for mankind (Spiritual Times 1).
It explains why mysticism is the most important experience for human beings, and how mysticism can transform people (Spiritual Paths 1).
The perennial philosophy points out the highest common ground in the higher religions (Huxley vii).
It gives a clear direction to metaphysics, human psychology, and ethics and practice (Ibid 1).
The perennial philosophy presents worthy goals to live a fine quality of literature
This philosophy explains in depth these crucial concepts: truth, charity, and enlightenment.
The perennial philosophy inspires hope and optimism.

The aim of this presentation is help people comprehend the nature, meaning, implications, and importance of the perennial philosophy. Another purpose to have people ask themselves how they can apply this philosophy to their lives.

Works Cited

“arlinboshnanjajaku” “The Mystical Core of the Great Traditions.” Yahoo Groups: Perennial Philosophy. 6 May 2005. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PerennialPhilosophy/message/540.

Bedford, Sybile Aldous Huxley: A Biography New York:Knopf 1974

Hope, Ronald. “Contemporary Review: Aldous Huxley’s Perennial Philosophy”

February 2001 Contemporary Review.

http:somaweb.org/w/bookreviews/contemp%20Review%2001.html

Huxley, Aldous The Perennial Philosophy New York: Harpers 1945.

“Island (novel)” Wikepedia . 3 March 2005

http:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island(novel)

“Mysticism and the Perennial Philosophy” The Mysticism Resource Page 3 May 2005.

http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/gthurs/mys/prenphil.htm

Nolan, Richard T. “An Interpretation Of Mystical Religion Or Perennial Philosophy” 25 April 2005.

http://www.philosophy-religion.org/perennial/philosophy.htm

“Perennial Philosophy” Wikepedia 30 April 2005

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PerennialPhilosophy

“The Perennial Philosophy” Spiritwalk Encyclopedia 15 April 2005

http://www.spiritwalk.org/parennialphilos.htm

“The Primordial Tradition With Huston Smith” 1998 Intuition Network 8 May 2005

http://www.intuition.org/txt/smith3.htm

Serious Seekers. “What is the David Library?” 2000 – 2003. 20 April 2005 http://www.seriousseekers.com/David%20Library/davidlibrary_orientation.htm

Thackara, W.T.S. “The Perennial Philosophy” Sunrise Magazine April/May 1984. 15 February 2005.

htpp://www.theosophy-nw.org/theosnw/world/general/ge-wtst.htm

An important question
Why has the perennial philosophy not been transformed into a post World War II genre of American Literature?

WHAT IS WISDOM OF ABSURDITY?

WISDOM OF ABSURDITY is a new genre of literature. The creator is Jeff Love. This concept employs stories, poetry, and plays. The writer presents absurd events and characters for the purpose of discovering wisdom. Individuals use the methods of WISDOM OF ABSURDITYto find absurdity in their own lives and apply wisdom. Absurdity shows the illogic, irrationality, ridiculousness, and folly of human deeds and experiences. The insight of these expeiences manifest as wisdom, which involves the love and excellent attainment of truth, goodness, and beauty. The genius of the writer synthesizes absurdity and wisdom.

One of the essential ideas of the perennial philosophy is to "die to oneself." and to transcend the ego completely. The absurdist viewpoint can lead to this state of mind. The absurdist strips away pretnse and falsity. If the absurdist can maintain love, humor, and compassion, he/she through the infusion of grace of Divine Ground may move into the path of the perennial philosphy and mystical union.

Manfesting My Divine Self

Through The Perennial Philosophy