Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 19/06/2025Haha, and a lot of dubious material from an ethical point of view also. so much xenophobia, violence, intolerance, oneupmanship.... 100
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 19/06/2025The historical books were a bit tedious to be honest, but I am really excited about what is coming next - Book of Job, the Psalms, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, and all the major and minor Prophets. From what I know about them, these might be my favourite parts of the Hebrew Bible. 120
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 19/06/2025Bible reading update: After the Pentateuch, I have also now finished all the Historical books - Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra-Nehemiah, Esther - all done! 120
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 19/06/2025I haven't read a lot of fiction this year but the main highlight for me in the first five months was "The Antiquary" by Walter Scott. I also liked "East Lynne" by Ellen Wood. I didn't particularly enjoy "The Good Soldier" (Ford Madox Ford) but could see why it is considered an important work. 010
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 19/06/2025I am going to read The Odyssey as well but not immediately. I want to first read some more secondary literature on Homer and the Trojan war and then read the Classical Greek plays which reference the War. 000
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 19/06/2025Next time I am going to read the Richmond Lattimore's translation. Richard Martin's introduction in this volume is really superb, much better than the one by Bernard Knox in Fagles's edition or Barbara Graziosi's volume in the Oxford VSI series. It helped me a great deal. 110
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 19/06/2025That said, the second reading will be much easier, now that I have spent so much time looking up the notes, all the different introductions, and other supplementary secondary reading material. 100
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 19/06/2025This took a lot of time and effort but at the end it was all worth it. I mean the language (at least in translation) wasn't difficult at all but there were just too many characters, and keeping track of their interrelationships and their place in the wider mythology felt like a lot of work. 140
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 07/06/2025a real cup from 9th century BCE containing the inscription "I am the Nestor's cup," - one of the earliest surviving Greek writing. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestor%...en.wikipedia.orgNestor's Cup (Pithekoussai) - Wikipedia 000
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 06/06/2025And next year there are new editions of his works coming out in the Oxford World's Classics series. I hope they are nicely annotated, especially Doctor Faustus, which requires a lot of scholarly guidance 040
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 06/06/2025On his birthday today a nice brief essay on Thomas Mann by Morten Høi Jensen (his book on him is also getting out soon) engelsbergideas.com/notebook/tho...engelsbergideas.comThomas Mann's cathedrals in proseOne of the greatest European writers, Thomas Mann, born 150 years ago, dedicated his life to the pursuit of literary form. He left a monumental legacy. 131
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 06/06/2025Robert Fagles doesn't say Lesbians, he says women of Lesbos 110
Reposted by AlokDavid Hudson @dwhdaily.bsky.social · 06/06/2025RIP, Enzo Staiola. “The young boy doesn’t say much, but in his expressions you can see what’s going on in his mind, even on a subconscious level.” Jia Zhangke on Vittorio De Sica’s BICYCLE THIEVES (1948) www.criterion.com/current/post... 0103
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 05/06/2025this description of hip-joint in the Iliad will probably get past the approval of modern orthopaedic surgeons (lot of really graphic descriptions of wounds) 000
Reposted by AlokEmile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 02/06/2025Nora was one of the great French intellectual impresarios of the postwar period and truly representative of his generation - in all its imagination and dogmatism. www.lemonde.fr/disparitions...lemonde.frL’historien Pierre Nora est mortHistorien, maître d’œuvre des « Lieux de mémoire », publiés en sept volumes à partir de 1984, le créateur de la revue « Le Débat » est mort le 2 juin, à l’âge de 93 ans. 064
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 03/06/2025www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v2... www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v2...lrb.co.ukPerry Anderson · Dégringolade: The Fall of France 000
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 03/06/2025Nora (with François Furet, also his brother-in-law) was one of the most important figures in the "centrist" and anti-leftist intellectual revolution in France in the 70s and the 80s. The duo take centrestage in this two-part classic demolition job by Perry Andersonlrb.co.ukPerry Anderson · Dégringolade: The Fall of France 110
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 03/06/2025This is a review of an English edition of his monumental edited volume called "Realms of Memory," a sort of historical encyclopedia of French identity. 100
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 03/06/2025Can't find any English obituary yet, but I first came across the name of the French historian, publisher, editor, Pierre Nora, who has just died, in this review-essay by Tony Judt (also collected in his "Reappraisals") archive.is/CNC96archive.is 100
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 03/06/2025This looks nothing unusual to someone who is familiar with epics in the Indian (Sanskrit or vernacular) tradition. I am surprised why it took such a long time for Western scholars to identify this element of Homeric style and connect it to the oral tradition. It seems extremely obvious. 000
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 03/06/2025A very handy list of epithets or metrical formulas used in Homer en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epithet...en.wikipedia.orgEpithets in Homer - Wikipedia 110
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 01/06/2025Now onwards to the Iliad! I don't think I am fully prepared yet but I am ready to jump in. 000
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 01/06/2025Graziosi's book is a solid introduction for those who are encountering Homer for the first time. Half of the book is an overview of the Homer question and the current state of scholarly consensus on the subject and the rest of the book is basically a critical summary of the Iliad and the Odyssey. 100
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 01/06/2025Read both of these. As I said earlier, Cline's book is mostly about archaeological evidence for the Trojan war, and indeed the city of Troy as depicted in Homer's work and and the Epic cycle. He is not a sceptic, there is evidence, but it is quite complicated, not so straightforward. 100
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 01/06/2025"the lies that Odysseus told all of us" - Homer, A Very Short Introduction, Barbara Graziosi 010
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 01/06/2025My learning so far from reading the Hebrew Bible is that you don't mess with Yahweh and you don't mess with his prophets either. (this is prophet Elisha, from 2 Kings) 010
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 31/05/2025He neither makes big claims, nor is he overly sceptical. He discusses the 1177 and the event of the disappearance of the late Bronze age civilizations in Eastern Mediterranean in this book as well. So many tantalizing and unanswered (or partially answered) questions.... 000
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 31/05/2025yeah he is a professional field archaeologist besides being an ancient history professor. I liked how calm and sensible he was. He presents all the findings, discusses the methods professional archaeologists and historians use to interpret them and then leaves it to the readers. 100
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 31/05/2025This is a nice introduction to the "Homeric question" by Adam Kirsch. (Review of a book about American scholar Milman Parry) The Classicist Who Killed Homer How Milman Parry proved that the Iliad and the Odyssey were not written by a lone genius. archive.is/vHFpfarchive.is 020
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 31/05/2025The list of its fans included R. K. Narayan www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v2... 000
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 31/05/2025I am planning to read the one by Robert Fagles. I am starting with the Iliad and then will get to the Odyssey. 100
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 31/05/2025"the Trojan Horse may be Homer’s way of depicting the earthquake sent by Poseidon to level the walls of Troy" 100
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 31/05/2025He is a minimalist, not a complete sceptic, when it comes to the questions of historicity of the Trojan war 100
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 31/05/2025A more appropriate title for Cline's book would be "A very short introduction to the archaeological evidence for the Trojan war." Almost the entire book is about archaeology. 100
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 30/05/2025Wikipedia tells me that there was a Tamil film was made from it in the 50s - a breakout role for Gemini Ganesan who played the villain. I am surprised there were no Bollywood films. The plot and situations did remind me of films like Aap ki Kasam (gender reversed) or Aradhana 110
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 30/05/2025Initially I groaned at how contrived and implausible was the description of the central event on which the whole narrative rests, but boy, did she make up for it in the second half! She takes the reader through a wringer. Keep the tissues handy if you plan to read it. 130
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 28/05/2025The scholar introducing the book of "Samuel" in Oxford Bible says that in detailing David's character, the text "protests too much," that is, it is too plainly apologetic and thus provokes one to read between the lines and go beyond the surface ideology. Here's another example from "Kings" 000
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 28/05/2025Last week, I also read this book about the early Jewish history, covering the period when Israelite religion turned into what we now know as Judaism, or at least its precursor. I still prefer the account in Martin Goodman's History of Judaism, even thought it is in a much more condensed form there 020
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 28/05/2025This is a slightly modified and expanded from her course lecture, also available on youtube. She is very good - so cool, calm, and composed. www.youtube.com/watch?v=mo-Y...youtube.comLecture 1. The Parts of the WholeYouTube video by YaleCourses 140
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 28/05/2025My Bible reading is getting along. I am in the middle of historical books ("Deuteronomistic history") right now. Have finished Joshua, Judges, Ruth, and Samuel and started Kings. In the meanwhile I read this introduction to Hebrew Bible - an introductory college level textbook, very good to read. 100
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 24/05/2025Is this another example of English hibernophobia? (this is from the annotations in the novel) 000
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 24/05/2025Occasionally in the novel Mrs Wood breaks the fourth wall and gets into a homiletic mode. Here, a sermon to the married women: 100
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 17/05/2025Haven't been reading much fiction lately. Now getting back to the Victorian sensation novel. Will it be as good as "Lady Audley's Secret," let's see! 150
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 17/05/2025Have been keeping away from social media recently for various reasons. It also helps that bluesky is not addiction forming like the good old twitter. My Bible read is still going along. Done with the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses, along with some commentaries. Taking a break now. 120
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 03/05/2025technically not a description, more of an unending list of things, but still. 000
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 03/05/2025while I was reading Genesis and Exodus, I was thinking too much narrative, not enough description, the Biblical author(s), it seems, was waiting for the crew the leave Egypt to get started on a descriptive frenzy - first the wilderness tabernacle and now the ritual offerings. 100
