For an English major of a certain age, sodden , like sempiternal , immediately suggests T.S. Eliot’s “Little Gidding”:
Midwinter spring is its own seasonOther words, other works of lit
Sempiternal though sodden towards sundown
Inside Higher Ed asks, “How many books should a professor be able to check out?” I take no position on the borrowing privileges described therein. But reading the article made me recall a happy moment from Thomas Merton’s The Seven Story Mountain (1948).
The scene: the library at St. Bonaventure College (now St. Bonaventure University). Robert Lax is introducing his friends Merton and Ed Rice to Father Irenaeus Herscher, the college’s librarian:
“They were at Columbia too,” said Lax.Merton adds:
“Ah, Columbia,” said Father Irenaeus. “I studied at the Columbia Library School,” and then he took us into his own library and with reckless trust abandoned all the shelves to us. It never occurred to him to place any limit upon the appetites of those who seemed to like books. If they wanted books, well, this was a library. He had plenty of books, that was what a library was for. You could take as many as you liked, and keep them until you were through: he was astonishingly free of red tape, this happy little Franciscan. . . .
Presently we came out of the stacks with our arms full.
“May we take all these, Father?”
“Sure, sure, that’s fine, help yourself.”
We signed a vague sort of a ticket, and shook hands.
“Good-bye, Mr. Myrtle,” said the Friar, and stood in the open door and folded his hands as we started down the steps with our spoils.
As far as I know, Father Irenaeus has never been robbed of his books on a larger scale than any other librarian, and on the whole, the little library at Saint Bonaventure’s was always one of the most orderly and peaceful I have ever seen.No wonder: εἰρήνη [eiréné ] means “peace.”
In Los Angeles, Charlene Matthews, bookbinder, has written out the text of James Joyce’s Ulysses on thirty-eight ship dowels.
Thanks, Sean.
Related reading
All OCA Joyce posts (Pinboard)
“I am into this kind of thing”: Nathalie Vanderlinden is reading Proust aloud, in French, in San Francisco BART stations.
Related reading
All OCA Proust posts (Pinboard)
“With all the interest in Belgian ales and in the monasteries that brew them, it’s time to remind the world that here in the U.S. we have a Monk of our own”: Brother Thelonious Belgian Style Abbey Ale is licensed under an agreement with the Thelonious Monk Estate.
When I saw this ale in our beverage mart, I did a doubletake. When I saw the ABV — 9.4% — I did another.
Related reading
All OCA Monk posts (Pinboard)
Here is a statement from Rev. Ristine of Claremont United Methodist Church, Claremont, California. And a Newsweek story.The nativity scene at Claremont United Methodist church.
— Matt Rindge (@mattrindge) December 8, 2019
HT Rev. Karen Clark Ristine. pic.twitter.com/YRIl8me63y
[Mutts, September 24, 2019.]
Thank you, Bip and Bop. You may now return to your nest, where I have installed a small calendar.
Elaine watched a little last night, just to see what it is that people tune in to. That is a straitjacket, isn’t it? It’s fancy, but still a straitjacket, or at least it should be.
