- Long Distance Friendship
Today was much more of a chat than something requiring citations, but here are some links to a few of the sources we mentioned.
There isn't a free translation of Aquinas's commentary on the Ethics that I really like, so here are a few options. (If anyone knows where to find a better free source, let me know!)
https://isidore.co/aquinas/english/Ethics8.htm#1
https://aquinas.cc/la/la/~Eth.Bk8 (Latin text only)
https://thegreatthinkers.org/aquinas/major-works/commentary-on-aristotles-ethics/
Here is a translation of Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics:
https://socialsciences.mcmaster.ca/econ/ugcm/3ll3/aristotle/Ethics.pdf
33m - Jul 15, 2022 - Lust, the Joys of Contemplation, and Rumer Godden
Today's episode certainly fell short of the lofty goals that I started with in my mind, but hopefully these sources will help you make sense of it!
Lecture by Fr. Hofer: https://soundcloud.com/thomisticinstitute/lust-and-spiritual-contemplation-according-to-st-thomas-aquinas-fr-andrew-hofer-op#t=7:02
Where you can find the novel Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy by Rumer Godden: Here. (This is the Thriftbooks cheap version.)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009SS96Y6/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 (If you want a new or Kindle copy.)
Aquinas on folly as the daughter of lust: https://aquinas.cc/la/en/~ST.II-II.Q46.A3.T
27m - Jun 30, 2022 - Solzhenitsyn and Human Flourishing
Today's episode was something a bit different, so there aren't as many sources--much more of me rambling!
Regardless, here is the translation of "Live not by Lies" that I used: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03064220408537357
20m - Jun 30, 2022 - Rebecca 2020- a wild ride
Today's episode was an absolute treat! But, the more fun, the fewer sources.... Here are some random articles and stuff in case you want to delve further!
The trailer: https://youtu.be/LFVhB54UqvQ
The New Yorker Review: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/all-the-wrong-reasons-to-remake-rebecca
Another pretty negative review: https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/24/21531089/netflix-rebecca-review-hitchcock-disney-remake
Summary of the novel/movie: https://theconversation.com/guide-to-the-classics-rebecca-by-daphne-du-maurier-gender-gothic-haunting-and-gaslighting-146573
23m - Jun 30, 2022 - truth, art, and the poetry of Elizabeth Jennings
Over the last several weeks, I have been reading quite a lot of Elizabeth Jennings poetry, and it never fails to strike me as at once hopeful and tortured.
So much of her work is deeply introspective--delving into her own past and her need to be alone with it as well as her yearning for community and friendship. Through it all, of course, she remained a devout Catholic, and this not only shapes her understanding of the demons that haunt the dark recesses of her mind, but also formulates her response to them.
Something about her work is especially resonant with me now--I don't think I would have enjoyed reading her before the pandemic!--when my own poems have taken a similar turn.
In any case, here are the sources I mentioned today, as well as some general stuff about her life.
Today's poem, "Chinese Art"
A selection of Jennings poems: https://allpoetry.com/Elizabeth-Jennings
"The Life and Mystery of Poet Elizabeth Jennings" is a great introductory article by Analeah Rosen published on the Washington University in St. Louis Library website. https://library.wustl.edu/the-life-and-mystery-of-poet-elizabeth-jennings/
A short bio of Jennings from the Poet Archive, with recordings of Jennings reading two of her own poems. It's always wonderful to hear an artist read their own work: https://poetryarchive.org/poet/elizabeth-jennings/
An article from The Catholic World Report on Jennings and religion: https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2019/03/24/elizabeth-jennings-and-the-poetry-of-faith/
If you are really interested in seeing her manuscripts, you can contact the archive that houses her collection of papers here: http://archon.wulib.wustl.edu/index.php?p=collections/controlcard&id=911&q=elizabeth+jennings
28m - Jun 30, 2022 - achieving peace of heart
Peace of heart is such an elusive thing, especially in a world in which it sometimes feels impossible to act, unknown to rest, and difficult to trust. For me at least, it has been increasingly difficult to see the beauty around me--to find joy in the way light filters through golden leaves. In today's episode, I tried to discuss some of the methods through which we can dispose ourselves towards this peace, inspired by Fr. Irala's book.
The book Achieving Peace of Heart is available on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/stream/achievingpeaceof0000iral?ref=ol
You can only borrow it for an hour, and if anyone else is using it, it won't be available, but it doesn't seem that popular.... for now anyway. (You might be battling with me directly for access to it!)
Here is Q13 of the Summa I-II, which is where Aquinas talks about choice: https://aquinas.cc/la/en/~ST.I-II.Q13
23m - Jun 30, 2022 - poetry workshop: art and artist
Here are the links to the things I mentioned during my poetry workshop rant--I'll try to organize them but I was all over the place in that episode.
Here is a description of the masterclass I attended, for context: https://www.amherst.edu/news/calendar/node/779620
Now here is the book Infinity and the Mind by Rudy Rucker that Jericho Brown's poetry exercises made me think of: http://www.rudyrucker.com/infinityandthemind/
Edward Feser's commentary on the book, offering a Scholastic interpretation of mindscape: https://edwardfeser.blogspot.com/search?q=mindscape
And, finally, the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy's summary article on Medieval Theories of Aesthetics: https://iep.utm.edu/m-aesthe/
(The internet encyclopedia may leave some things to be desired, but it's a good summary to point you to other areas of investigation.)
23m - Mar 31, 2022 - Autumn, Aestheticism, and Walter Pater
After the pause of.... more days that I promised myself... I have finally uploaded another episode!
Today's meditation turned out a good deal of a critique of aestheticism in its historic sense than I anticipated, but I hope you get the main idea. In any case, I hope the sources below can get you thinking on aestheticism, which will hopefully help us to reflect on the performance of autumn that confronts us every year, not only outside in nature, but in our own behaviors.
This is the V&A article I mentioned, an amazing introduction into the aesthetic movement.
https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/an-introduction-to-the-aesthetic-movement
Bonus V&A material on their aestheticism page: https://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/aestheticism
Here is a link to a PDF of the Studies in the History of the Renaissance by Walter Pater that I used: http://www.ajdrake.com/etexts/texts/Pater/Works/ren_1873.pdf
Although... you might also want a more general source about Him and His Thing from the British Libarary: https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/walter-pater-studies-in-the-history-of-the-renaissance
For the more official sources, even though I didn't mention those specifically, I used some of the amazing jstor articles. I can't share all of them, as you need an account for most, but here are some of the open access links.
A chapter from Carsten Strathausen's amazing book The Look of Things: Poetry and Vision Around 1900: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5149/9780807863237_strathausen.8
The New Aestheticism, a great book compiled by John J. Joughin and Simon Malpas, most of which is open access: https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt155j77d
An article titled "Whistler's Pastels" by A. E. Gallatin: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20560231
An article titled "A Sentence by Walter Pater" from The Journal of English and Germanic Philology: https://www.jstor.org/stable/27701015 (This one is absolutely wild! It's from 1920, so aestheticism was still very busy influencing Art Deco, among other things.)
34m - Mar 31, 2022 - Rose to Rosemary
As I seem to be getting into the habit of citing things, I will have to keep posting something like show notes. Regardless, here are some of the places I mentioned in today's episode about "Essential Oils—are wrung—" by Emily Dickinson.
Here is the poetry site, American Poets: https://www.americanpoems.com/poets/emilydickinson/essential-oils-are-wrung/
The Emily Dickinson Museum, which is closed at the minute, but still has archives and stuff available online: https://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/
Here is a decently-well-stocked archive, in case you want to See The Actual Writings of ED: https://www.edickinson.org/
As an extra bonus, the Wandering Botanist blog: http://khkeeler.blogspot.com/2016/12/plant-story-fragrant-rosemary.html
24m - Mar 31, 2022

