Good writing as always Erik... That Melville comment to Hawthorne reminded me of where I first read it, in Kurt Andersen's excellent book "Fantasyland" (p102) where he discusses it in terms of American uniqueness and individuality, "Melville appreciated the delicious, seductive power of their peers’ transcendental ecstasies, but he also understood them to be on a slippery slope
About the Transcendentalist era of the mid-19th century US: I've been reading No Man Knows My History by Fawn Brodie, the biography of Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon religion. My main takeaway is that the "burned-over district" of 1820s-1830s New York State- and adjacent territories in the Midwest- was just nuts. Rife with folk magic, diviners, Christian crisis cults, charismatic evangelists- and the sort of competition for followers, fame, and fortune that sometimes broke out into something like gang warfare. The concept of the psychically driven treasure hunt was not the sole provenance of Joseph Smith (initially inspired by an angelic visit he claimed to have received at the age of 17, attested to by his family.) Other Americans of the day were pursuing similar Mystical Quests. And it could get pretty wild. Kidnappings, thievery, killings, feuds, armed attacks by inflamed mobs of rival congregations, schisms, factional rivalries between God-intoxicated preachers, each with their own peculiar visions, shadowboxing the apocalypse and wandering the land.
Americans are crazy, I tell you. Particularly in the Great Lakes region in the 1830s, the Big Questions weighed on the minds of many.
… & an idea: (i.e. future post?) as you’ve said you feel absolutely unprepared for taking on Madame Polly Crisis in a WWE bout - might you consider commentator of a rematch w self-professed WWE adoring opponent Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio? Just a thought. Although it’s making me feel better already..
Thanks a million for this. I'm not able to participate in the Moby-Dick program you're running right now, which is too bad because it is my favorite book (whatever that means).
I'm always heartened when I find people who have read it and seen it for what it is: the strangest, funniest, scariest, most esoteric, most twisted, most head-spinning, Weirdest book in English that I know of. It is Weirder than Finnegans Wake, in its way, and I'm currently in a Wake reading group. Oh, and it's a good adventure story. The second time I read it was during a period of great demoralization leading up to and including the election of Trump I, and I couldn't believe how relevant it was. But to read it as an allegory for current events, however useful, reduces it. Besides, that's what a work of prophecy is, right? A work that is always relevant.
What's the comment version of a standing ovation, because that's what I want to put here.
Good writing as always Erik... That Melville comment to Hawthorne reminded me of where I first read it, in Kurt Andersen's excellent book "Fantasyland" (p102) where he discusses it in terms of American uniqueness and individuality, "Melville appreciated the delicious, seductive power of their peers’ transcendental ecstasies, but he also understood them to be on a slippery slope
toward a very American solipsism."
About the Transcendentalist era of the mid-19th century US: I've been reading No Man Knows My History by Fawn Brodie, the biography of Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon religion. My main takeaway is that the "burned-over district" of 1820s-1830s New York State- and adjacent territories in the Midwest- was just nuts. Rife with folk magic, diviners, Christian crisis cults, charismatic evangelists- and the sort of competition for followers, fame, and fortune that sometimes broke out into something like gang warfare. The concept of the psychically driven treasure hunt was not the sole provenance of Joseph Smith (initially inspired by an angelic visit he claimed to have received at the age of 17, attested to by his family.) Other Americans of the day were pursuing similar Mystical Quests. And it could get pretty wild. Kidnappings, thievery, killings, feuds, armed attacks by inflamed mobs of rival congregations, schisms, factional rivalries between God-intoxicated preachers, each with their own peculiar visions, shadowboxing the apocalypse and wandering the land.
Americans are crazy, I tell you. Particularly in the Great Lakes region in the 1830s, the Big Questions weighed on the minds of many.
… & an idea: (i.e. future post?) as you’ve said you feel absolutely unprepared for taking on Madame Polly Crisis in a WWE bout - might you consider commentator of a rematch w self-professed WWE adoring opponent Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio? Just a thought. Although it’s making me feel better already..
✨🙏 l i s t e n i n g 🙏✨
Thanks a million for this. I'm not able to participate in the Moby-Dick program you're running right now, which is too bad because it is my favorite book (whatever that means).
I'm always heartened when I find people who have read it and seen it for what it is: the strangest, funniest, scariest, most esoteric, most twisted, most head-spinning, Weirdest book in English that I know of. It is Weirder than Finnegans Wake, in its way, and I'm currently in a Wake reading group. Oh, and it's a good adventure story. The second time I read it was during a period of great demoralization leading up to and including the election of Trump I, and I couldn't believe how relevant it was. But to read it as an allegory for current events, however useful, reduces it. Besides, that's what a work of prophecy is, right? A work that is always relevant.
"heavy works of great literature" indeed.
Try an alternative:
https://peterwebster.substack.com/p/how-do-psychedelics-work