#Robertson Davies
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It pleased me to hear the Ghost quote scripture; if we must have apparitions, by all means, let them be literate.
- Robertson Davies, “The Ghost who Vanished by Degrees”
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El ojo ve sólo lo que la mente está preparada para comprender.
Robertson Davies.
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Gli scrittori amano i gatti perché
sono creature così tranquille,
amabili e sagge, e i gatti amano gli
scrittori per gli stessi motivi.
Robertson Davies
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A truly great book should be read in youth, again in maturity and once more in old age, as a fine building should be seen by morning light, at noon and by moonlight.
Robertson Davies
#books#bookish#booklr#bookworm#bookaholic#bibliophile#book blog#book blogger#Features#on books#on reading#read#reader#reading#quote of the week#quotes#quote#quotation#robertson davies
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The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend. -Robertson Davies
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"I feel myself to be an angel, beating in ineffectual wings in vain against the granite fortress of your obtuse self-righteousness."
Robertson Davies, Tempest-Tost
#Robertson Davies#Tempest-Tost#witty quotes#funny quotes#frustration#self-righteousness#angel#Canadian literature#quotes#quotes blog#literary quotes#literature quotes#literature#book quotes#books#words#text
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What generic wisdom and/or life advice do you have? Here's an acorn for your trouble: 🌰
Oh, goodness! Talk about an intimidating ask.
When I think about existence, two quotations always come to my mind from authors who have been important to me at various stages of my life.
The first, from Kurt Vonnegut's God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater:
Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you've got about a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies — "God damn it, you've got to be kind."
The second, the last line from Robertson Davies' final novel, The Cunning Man:
“This is the Great Theatre of Life. Admission is free, but the taxation is mortal. You come when you can, and leave when you must. The show is continuous. Goodnight.”
These are two thoughts by which I've tried to lead my life.
The first lesson is kindness.
As an educator and person in a certain position of power over people's learning journeys, I'd like to say that kindness costs me nothing. That's not true. Kindness costs me late nights, extra review sessions, letting people hand in assignments in ways that are detrimental to my own time and stress. Connecting with so many people on a daily basis can be emotionally exhausting.
If there's one thing I have worked on more and more in my life (and need to continue to work on), it's walking the fine line between being kind and being taken advantage of.
However, I operate from the following perspective:
Everyone is having a difficult time, and there are things in other people's lives that are not "dreamt of in my philosophy," so to speak.
This perspective makes my life richer. I have never understood people who rigidly stick to a "one size fits all" mindset. I listen to people. I prioritize the person over the dropbox deadline. I say nice things to my family, my friends, my colleagues, my students, when I can. I practice grace in most things.
This also means that, when I do draw a boundary (for example, in my work as a professor, I do not tolerate plagiarism once I have very clearly taught what it entails), people can see that there is a clear difference between my usual practice of grace, and my ethical framework. It also means that people are more likely to extend me grace in return. I need it. We all do.
The second lesson is passion.
This is the Great Theatre of Life. We don't get to choose much about it, but we do get to shape the show.
I was talking to a former student the other evening, after I came across him in the lobby after my Lord of the Rings performance. He said to me that I was one of the few faculty he'd had that wasn't cynical or jaded yet, which is why he'd enjoyed my class.
The funny thing is, that's not entirely true.
In many ways, I'm very cynical. A fellow faculty member once said of me, in an approving tone, that I was "impressively jaded for one so young." Look. I'm Jewish. I'm bi. I'm disabled (in the chronic often invisible illness way). I know what the world can dish out, and I can kvetch with the best of them. But that's mostly because I want to believe we can do better. In any case, I can only control myself. I can do better.
First, I want everyone I teach to know that reading, writing, critical thinking, loving language, loving literature and theatre, are all things they can do, even if those gates have seemed barred. Opening these gates together can help them. I like to break things down as clearly and succinctly as possible. I don't expect people to show enthusiasm for something if I'm not showing it myself. Do I sometimes get super-mega-frustrated with the results I'm getting? Of course. There are parts of my job and my life that suck. Do I throw myself into things head-first with enthusiasm anyway? Always.
I do the things I love. I see tons of theatre. I make theatre. I sing (even if you "can't" sing, find time to do it anyway). I tell stories. I spend time with friends. If I have a choice to go to the thing or stay home, I go to the thing. I support my friends. I make people LAUGH, because I love that more than anything. I curl these things around me like a warm cat on a lap. And I try not to get jaded by the offerings around me, no matter how many shows I go to or how many papers I read. (I don't always succeed.) Can you imagine, though, how amazing it is to have a life where you're in danger of getting jaded simply by the sheer amount of art on offer?
Four years ago, a student came to me after the second week of my rhetorical analysis class. She told me that she had dropped the course with other faculty twice because she was intimidated by it. We were talking about one of the course readings for the week, which was a 35-year-old essay by a now-dead white man (everything she was not) with very strong opinions on the need to properly state your ideas in exactly the correct words to prove you were thinking.
She said, about the reading, “I didn’t understand it when I read it and thought I was stupid. But then, when you said it might not have been written with me in mind, I felt better. And then, when you broke it down and I understood it, I liked how much I liked that feeling.” Then she said something that made me cry in my office: “Things happen for a reason. I had to drop that class twice so I could meet you.”
She came to office hour after office hour. We spent time working on her writing and discussing what her particular frame of reference brought to her understanding of each week's readings.
She had dropped the course twice because she "couldn't do it."
She left with an A.
She left with a new sense of agency over her own experience of the wonder of the world.
What does it cost to be kind, and to love things?
What do we gain?
This is the Great Theatre of Life. All we can do is put on a show of kindness, watching with wonder before we depart.
#not trek#my life#teaching#professor life#education#life advice#kindness#passion#learning love and laughter#sounds like a platitude on the side of a plate#and in many ways it is#general life advice is always kind of a set of platitudes#but this is mine for what it's worth#robertson davies#kurt vonnegut#long post
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the medium is the message
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“The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.”
–Robertson Davies, Tempest-Tost (1951)
Photo by Antonio Palmerini
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Another round of book reviews on this Wednesday evening.
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William Robertson Davies was a Canadian novelist, playwright, critic, journalist, and professor. He was one of Canada's best known and most popular authors and...
Link: Robertson Davies
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“Boredom and stupidity and patriotism, especially when combined, are three of the greatest evils of the world we live in.”
— Robertson Davies, “World of Wonders”
#robertson davies#literature lover#literature#lit#literature quotes#english literature#canadian literature#literature quote#philosophy quotes#philosophy#philosopher#philosophers#quote#quotes#excerpts#excerpt#book#books#bookworm#booklover#boredom#stupidity#patriotism
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World of Wonders, a novel by Robertson Davies (1913–1995). (Macmillan of Canada, Toronto, 1975.)
#novel#fiction#literature#literary fiction#Canadian novel#Canadian fiction#Canadian literature#classics#Canadian novelist#bildungsroman#psychological fiction#fantastical#travelling sideshow#freaks#World of Wonders#Deptford Trilogy#Robertson Davies#book cover#book excerpt
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