Word: wisdoms
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...written compilation of centuries of oral wisdom, the Talmud was completed 1,500 years ago in two versions, named for their places of origin. The commonly used Babylonian text runs to 2.5 million words. The Jerusalem (or Palestinian) Talmud, far less known, is half as long, but many sections are so condensed as to be unintelligible. Its message was alive only for scholars and a handful of others. Now that is changing because a brilliant Orthodox rabbi named Adin Steinsaltz believes Judaism is in peril if "an essential part of our people are cut off from the Talmud...
...Kiefer's allegories work with such clarity. When he felt the urge to be didactic ten or so years ago, he could be remarkably opaque. Ways of Worldly Wisdom, 1976-77, attempts to create a whole genealogy of German nationalism starting with Arminius, who in A.D. 9 wrecked Augustus Caesar's policy of German occupation by destroying three Roman legions in the Teutoburg Forest. As a primal hero of German history, Arminius was a great Nazi favorite, but here Kiefer conflates him with awkward portraits of all manner of later German "descendants" like Blucher, who fought against Napoleon; Schlieffen, whose...
...that I learned a great deal about Mathematics, Systematics, German, Fine Arts, Sanskrit, Archaeology, Biology, and Pottery, during my three and a half years at fair Harvard. But somehow, what little book learning I have acquired here seem pale and gaunt compared to the true wisdom I have come to call my own. Stand ever firm, O Stacks of Widener; but not down thy revered stacks shall I tread...
Perhaps you may think, dear reader, that within the gates marked "abandon all hope, and grow in wisdom" this writer has acquired knowledge of a more earthy nature. For what is Harvard really known for, in the "real world," if not as the nursery of captains of industry and political masterminds? But the truth is that I never joined the Student Productions Association, never met the undergrads who wear power ties to lunch in the Union. I never tapped into the great politico-economic power grid they call "the old school tie." I may be an ass, but I have...
Exurbanites, among others, know the only permanent thing is change. Alice and Martin Provensen serve a child-size portion of that wisdom in Shaker Lane (Viking; $14.95). Into the old Shaker country of abandoned farms come the first of the home builders. A sleepy village is born. In time it gives way to county developers. Where once there were bulls there are now bulldozers, and in their wake come tract housing, aboveground swimming pools and backyard basketball courts. One holdout remains, surviving on his houseboat, a poignant reminder of the rural past. The Provensens' flat, colorful paintings are nostalgic...