Fear of the Classics

When I was in my late teens/early 20’s I took it upon myself to read the Classics – as a way to educate and (possibly) improve myself. So I started collecting them and borrowing them from my local library. Of course, being rather ignorant back then (or more ignorant) I only went for the best of the well-known – Dickens, Hardy, Woolf. Almost invariably I gave up on each book and became convinced that they were simply too difficult (or just too old) for my young working class brain to comprehend. Maybe, as with other things, I was simply trying to run before I had learnt to walk upright.

So I did two things – I continued to pick up classical works and I backed off a little resolving not to be so hard on myself. As I was already reading a lot of SF, which accounted for the majority of my reading back then, I looked for classic SF and read Asimov, Clarke, Anderson, Simak, Herbert, Wyndham, Niven, Dick and other great works that I haven’t often mentioned here (having read almost everything by them decades ago). I tried Verne, and failed, but loved HG Wells and devoured most of his rightly labelled SF classics. War of the Worlds and The Time Machine remain two of my all-time favourite books. Moving away from SF I started reading classic crime from Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle falling in love with the world of Sherlock Holmes. With a growing number of classics under my belt I went back to previously attempted books and failed again. I just couldn’t get into most of them and found myself yawning almost after the first few pages – they were just so slow and nothing really happened. Taken together with the often convoluted language my early 20’s brain practically switched off.

I did manage a few early victories over my aversion to classical literature – 1984 and Animal Farm by George Orwell as well as Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, but I already had a stake in the SF universe so these were easy wins. Then there was fantasy with the works of Robert E Howard and, of course Tolkien. Easy wins again with books like The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings plus a hero like Conan to keep me interested. Adventures stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs, only vaguely SF, continued the thrill me many decades after they were published and I racked up an impressive collection of his works. Continuing the crime theme, and my love of all things Noir, I read Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett revelling in their delicious use of language. In the world of espionage I had Fleming’s James Bond (generally much different from the later movies) and read everything he had produced.

But about 12-15 years ago, pre-Blog anyway, I discovered something to combat my fear of the classics – a love of the classics. It was when I read Frankenstein and then Pride and Prejudice that I finally realised that, not only where the classics nothing to be afraid of, but that they were also quite excellent and often easy to read. Since then I’ve aimed at 6-10 classics a year. I’ve become a huge fan of Austen and have even managed a handful of Jules Verne novels (who I still don’t think is as anywhere as good as Wells). The plan now is to move beyond the 19th century classics and move into areas increasingly outside my natural comfort zone. Either at the end of this year or the beginning of next there’s 10 modern classics heading my way and I recently picked up the complete works of Charles Dickens which will be making their way onto my reading list in the coming months. There’s definitely a lot to look forward to and so much to catch up on! I’m actually looking forward to it….. if I don’t lose my nerve [lol].

Cartoon Time.

English DNA 'one-third' Anglo-Saxon

By Paul Rincon, Science editor for BBC News

19^th January 2016  

The present-day English owe about a third of their ancestry to the Anglo-Saxons, according to a new study. Scientists sequenced genomes from 10 skeletons unearthed in eastern England and dating from the Iron Age through to the Anglo-Saxon period. Many of the Anglo-Saxon samples appeared closer to modern Dutch and Danish people than the Iron Age Britons did. The results appear in Nature Communications journal.

Genetic studies have tackled the question of Anglo-Saxon ancestry before, but sometimes gave conflicting results. Confounding factors included the close genetic affinities of people in North-West Europe and the scarcity of ancient DNA from indigenous Britons and the Germanic-speaking migrants. Dr Stephan Schiffels of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Germany sequenced genomes of human remains from Hinxton, Saffron Walden, Linton and Oakington - all of which are near Cambridge. The burials fall into three different age categories: Iron Age, early Anglo-Saxon and Middle Anglo-Saxon.

Contrary to narratives suggesting large-scale displacement of the Britons by Anglo-Saxon invaders, the researchers found evidence of intermarriage in the earliest phase of settlement. In order to disentangle the Anglo-Saxon signal from the indigenous British genetic background, the researchers looked at many rare mutations across the whole genome. "We found that these rare mutations were the key to studying historical samples. We could compare our ancient samples with modern samples in an improved way," Dr Schiffels told BBC News. "We could look at these in a very large sample of modern Europeans. For example, we studied low frequency mutations that must have occurred in the ancestors of the Dutch over the last few thousand years. We found that these mutations were shared with the Anglo-Saxon immigrants at a factor of two more than they are with the indigenous Celtic people. These rare mutations are found only with whole genome sequencing."

From there, the scientists could track the contribution made by those Anglo-Saxon migrants to modern British populations. They found that on average 25%-40% of the ancestry of modern Britons is attributable to the Anglo-Saxons. But the fraction of Saxon ancestry is greater in eastern England, closest to where the migrants settled. Even traditionally Celtic populations, such as the Welsh and Scottish show some Anglo-Saxon-like ancestry - even though it is typically lower than that in eastern England. But Dr Schiffels points out that it is difficult to tell when this genetic component arrived there until DNA from Iron Age remains in those regions is analysed.

In another study, also published in Nature Communications, Prof Dan Bradley from Trinity College Dublin and colleagues analysed the genomes of nine individuals from Roman-era York. They found that six of the individuals - presumably indigenous Britons - were similar to the modern Welsh, but different from populations living in Yorkshire today. However, one of the individuals had genetic affinities with people from North Africa and the Middle East, providing evidence of long-scale migration in Roman times. The burials at Driffield Terrace, from which the genetic data was drawn, fit the profile of Roman gladiators. The majority were male, under 45 years old and had been decapitated. They were also slightly taller than the average for Roman Britain, with most showing signs of trauma to their bones. However, Prof Bradley and his colleagues point out that the remains might also be compatible with Roman legionaries.

[Interesting. I’ve been thinking of having my DNA tested to see what my ancestry is – definitely largely from Celtic/Irish and (I think – maybe romantically) Scandinavia considering that the area of Ireland where my father was from had been heavily settled by the Danes. Fascinating stuff really….]

Just Finished Reading: The Discovery of the Titanic by Dr Robert D Ballard (FP: 1987)

No one would have believed in April 1912 that after the RMS Titanic hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic that it would ever be seen again. After all when it slipped beneath the waves that fateful night it had 2 miles of water beneath it before striking the muddy bottom. It wasn’t until many decades later that the technology had developed enough to even contemplate a return to the greatest of all shipwrecks.

But even with the technology it was to be no easy feat. First they had the find the wreck itself which proved to be much more difficult than first thought – especially as the last known position given by the stricken liner was guesswork as much as anything else. The first expedition tried and failed in its attempt using sophisticated sonar to map the ocean floor. But Bob Ballard had other ideas – his team would visually survey the ocean floor using the latest in video surveillance drones. The first team (largely French) swept the area and, despite some tantalising contacts, came up empty. The second team, mostly American, extended the area and finally had something to report and on September 1st 1985 announced to the waiting world that they had discovered the last resting place of the world’s greatest maritime legend.

Of course that wasn’t the end of things. After press conferences and TV spots the work behind the scenes went ahead and a second more detailed expedition was planned for the following year. Using state of the art and often completely experimental equipment the new team managed to extensively film, photograph and experience first-hand the majesty of the Titanic which (surprisingly to me at least) was largely intact with gleaming brass work, intact railings and even woodwork looking almost as new as the day she sailed. After a week on site Ballard’s team left some plaques commemorating the sinking and left the site largely undisturbed.

This was yet another of those books that I bought years previously, skimmed the text, looked at the many pictures and put the one side to forget about until recently. Although the technology has dated a great deal – photographs of the ships computers made me snigger – the results of the dives are quite staggering. Many of the photographs taken at the bottom of the ocean are reproduced here and provide a fascinating insight to what happened that night. Ballard had hope to confirm (or deny) the gash down the hull theory but discovered to everyone’s irritation that the front of the ship (now in two pieces) was too deeply buried in mud to answer that all absorbing question one way or another. Also having a much clearer idea of exactly where she sank, and the probable position of other near-by vessels (particularly the Carpathia and the Californian) Ballard was able to speculate on the Californian captain’s denial that he was in easy striking distance of Titanic and could, if he had acted correctly, have saved hundreds of more lives.

Overall this was an interesting book rather than a gripping one – but more than made up for this with its wealth of photographs and the author’s style of writing which was very open and accessible. Definitely recommended for any Titanic fans – or anyone interested in marine archaeology in general and the discovery of wrecked ships in particular.  

Cartoon Time.

Just Finished Reading: The Flame Throwers by Rachel Kushner (FP: 2013)

After graduating from Film School ‘Reno’ heads to the only place she can think of to learn her trade and start producing the art she knows she’s capable of – New York. It’s 1977 and New York is the art capital of the world. But after months of looking and trying nothing has happened – until she wanders into a bar meets a strange couple in the middle of a long running argument and is invited to a party downtown. Days later she receives an invitation to show her around the city by someone she is immediately drawn to. Having already learnt the danger of asking direct questions she slowly discovers that he’s the younger son of an Italian tyre and motorbike empire ‘slumming it’ in New York to escape his overbearing family in Milan – an empire that produces her favourite motorbike. Trying out her latest set of wheels (care of her now boyfriend) she hooks up with a group of Italian mechanics supporting a land speed record attempt and (briefly) becomes the fastest woman in the world at Bonneville Flats. Invited to go to Milan on a promotional photoshoot – and to create her first proper documentary film – her reluctant boyfriend agrees to ‘tag along’ and introduce her to his family. It’s a situation that quickly spirals out of control and Reno flees to Rome in an attempt to escape from her boyfriend’s betrayal. There she is at ground zero for an explosion of political radicalism, demonstrations and the terrorism of the Red Brigades. It’s all quite a coming of age.

The brief synopsis above hardly does credit to this frighteningly good novel (the author’s second). ‘Reno’ – the only name we know the main character and sometime narrator of her own life by – is fantastic as the youth addicted to speed, motorbikes and the need to find meaning in celluloid. Late 70’s New York is a fascinatingly chaotic, dangerous and run-down place seemingly full of offbeat, damaged and intriguing figures many of whom you don’t know whether to take seriously or not. The conversations are sparkling and disturbing in equal measure but never, never dull. Rome takes things to a whole new level. You can almost taste the tear gas in the back of your throat and hear the rhythm of the riot police as they bang their riot sticks against their shields prior to charging into the crowd. The tension on the city streets is quite palpable and certainly stays with you long after you’ve turned the last page. Above all else, character, plot, background, minor and major story diversions, the thing that struck me most about this quite excellent novel was the beauty of the writing. Above all else it was a delight to read. The crafting of every scene, every page, and every sentence was often astounding. I caught myself re-reading passages, not because I had lost my way or was struggling to understand a particularly difficult section but because I just loved the way it sounded – in my head or out loud. Luckily I read it mostly at home or my work colleagues would probably have thought that I’d finally tipped all the way over into madness (and my work would have suffered terribly as I wouldn’t have wanted to put the book down after my lunch break)!

Not only is this one of the best books I’ve read in a while I’d have to say that it’s one of the best I’ve read at all – and I’ve read quite a few. I’ll definitely be hunting out her earlier work and looking out for her next when it hits paperback. I’m not sure if I can recommend it too highly. There’s a lot going on – not exactly clear from my poor synopsis – and you do have to keep your eye on the ball – but the quality of the writing helps a great deal in keeping the focus where it’s needed. While not entirely effortless this is a dream of a read. I’m certainly glad that I impulse bought it when I did.  

Cartoon Time.