The Ball and the Cross

Chesterton's work in The Ball and the Cross is very different than Manalive. It's still his kind of fiction, full of quotable sayings and moving descriptions, but it's not quite as cohesive. I chalk that down to it being published month by month in a periodical instead of all at once as a novel. Of course, Charles Dickens pulled the trick of publishing a novel month by month perfectly seamlessly, but we needn't expect Chesterton to be Dickens.

Considering TBATC as a whole from the perspective of just having finished it, I'm not sure whether it is better or worse than Manalive. It's a little harder to understand, but I think that may be due to subtlety. It's also not as moving, but that's not surprising since it's not about how one man should live, but how a society should run.

The story focuses on the continually frustrated struggle of two Scotchman to have a duel for the honor of the Virgin Mary. One is Mr. Turnbull, a fiery atheist who has never in his life been taken seriously, putting out a little newspaper that continually defies the world with his blasphemies. The other is Evan MacIan, a young Scotchman just come to London to make his way in the world. He's a Roman Catholic, grown up in the wildest parts of the highlands, away from the Presbyterian influence of that country. He's also a Jacobite, and steps into London from an isolation that dates back to that era of rebellion. When he reads in the window of Turnbull's shop that the Mother of God is a common harlot, covering her misdeed with a fanciful mythology, he breaks the shop window in a fury to reach Turnbull, and challenges him to a duel.

However, it's not as easy as it sounds, apparently, to fight a duel in early 20th century England. They must flee magistrates, police, liberal Christians, pagan professors, drunken Gentlemen, and an increasing mutual sense of phileo. The story all ends up in an insane asylum with Dr. Lucifer - and a spectacular miracle.

The story is a warning against the effects of modernism on society, it's a not designed to showcase a debate between Christians and atheists. Turnbull and MacIan are equally protagonists, and by the end of the book, they find themselves on the same side against modernity's proffered insanity. Perhaps it can offer advice for an era in which many people are concerned about the relationship of the Church and the State, though I'm not sure anyone wants to hear what Chesterton has to say. Here is what I think is the point of the book - MacIan is speaking to Turnbull:

"When I saw that, I saw everything; I saw the Church and the world. The Church in its earthly action has really touched morbid things--tortures and bleeding visions and blasts of extermination. The Church has had her madnesses, and I am one of them. I am the massacre of St. Bartholomew. I am the Inquisition of Spain. I do not say that we have never gone mad, but I say that we are fit to act as keepers to our enemies. Massacre is wicked even with a provocation, as in the Bartholomew. But your modern Nietzsche will tell you that massacre would be glorious without a provocation. Torture should be violently stopped, though the Church is doing it. But your modern Tolstoy will tell you that it ought not to be violently stopped whoever is doing it. In the long run, which is most mad--the Church or the world? Which is madder, the Spanish priest who permitted tyranny, or the Prussian sophist who admired it? Which is madder, the Russian priest who discourages righteous rebellion, or the Russian novelist who forbids it? That is the final and blasting test. The world left to itself grows wilder than any creed. A few days ago you and I were the maddest people in England. Now, by God! I believe we are the sanest. That is the only real question-- whether the Church is really madder than the world. Let the rationalists run their own race, and let us see where they end. If the world has some healthy balance other than God, let the world find it. Does the world find it? Cut the world loose," he cried with a savage gesture. "Does the world stand on its own end? Does it stand, or does it stagger?"

That's a good question.

Ecumenical Lenten Dialogue

Mere Comments posted a link that's worth reading. It's both witty and thought provoking, so you should give it a click.

Lenten Fare

Interactive Weather Map

I love weather, and today I found a new way to get a look at its goings ons. Weather.com has added a new feature to their page that's sort of like Google Maps for weather. You can keep track of the latest storm front on an interactive page that allows you to zoom in, click and drag to move around, and has a couple of different layers. You can look at the cloud cover for the entire world, if you zoom out far enough.

It has some problems, and it's still a beta, so that's not surprising, but it's a neat little feature that just makes weather radar imagery more accessible. Here is the: Interactive Weather Map

Manalive!

G.K. Chesterton doesn't write on a wide variety of themes, but the issues he hits on are the biggest. He writes about things on such a wide scope using such imprecise generalizations that it can be fairly bewildering to attempt and pin him down. Perhaps this is one of the reasons he writes such good fiction.

Manalive is typical Chesterton, and that means it's good. It's about society, as individuals, trying to deal with someone who wants to grasp life by the horns. It's about a man trying to be alive.

Innocent Smith is, therefore, the most remarkable person in the book. I am not sure, however, that he is the main character. In some ways, he is not even the most important character. He is a catalyst for the main characters: the residents of the boarding house into which he catapults during a frantic windstorm. As such, we cannot identify with him, who is too far from normal, but we can be changed and inspired by him to become a little less normal. We can, like the boarding house residents, be inspired to be a little more alive.

Smith's trick is to do all the parts of his life in such a way that defies convention but gains for him their essential joys. He robs his own house to appreciate property, he repeatedly remarries his own wife to appreciate marriage, and he travels around the world to discover his own home all over again as the place to which he belongs. All of his outrageous adventures, however, are told through others' words. These normal people's lives are changed in one of two ways: either they reject him as dangerously unusual or embrace him as dangerously unusual. As readers, we are offered the same option.

I've decided what I want to do with Innocent Smith - you should read the book and find out what you would like to do with him, too.

Thomas Nathanael Moothart

The first thing we wanted to know when we got back from Mammoth was whether or not our brand new nephew had arrived. We were happy to find out that he (finally!) had, and we were happy to be able to go and see him the very next evening (last night). He's extremely cute and tiny, and it was fun to watch him sleep, open his eyes for a few minutes or less, and go back to sleep, again. He sleeps very well, and that's admirable.

I posted those pictures on Flickr, too, so you can see those here. Emily has posted about him, too (no small wonder, he being her small wonder). She might post the birth story eventually, and that's quite a saga to hear.



This is Libby holding her little baby nephew. She had a headache from a hard day at work, but it didn't deter her from wanting to see her nephew!



Here are our two favorite nephews. Jonathan is going to have to learn how to be a big brother now, and how to share.

Mammoth Trip

Well, we made it back and we're in one piece (for the moment).

We had a lot of fun skiing around and hanging out at the cabin. Joe Profita came up and spent some time skiing around, too. On Sunday, the new snow was so thick that we could hardly go anywhere. Dad made some great little trails around the cabin using snow shoes, and we also took a jaunt around the lake.

The most exciting moment may have been when Libby's boots started breaking. The soles started separating from the uppers right at the toe, making it impossible to get up after falling. We were up above the fallen tree on the mine road near the cabin, so I went down to get some snow shoes while Dad fitted her skis with a handy dandy strap to help her get home.

Here are some pictures:



This is the cabin on Saturday morning, I think. It might have been Friday afternoon, but I can't remember. I'm pretty sure it's Saturday morning.



This is the cabin on Sunday morning. It had been snowing on us consistently at this point from the moment we arrived at a very windy trail head.

There are more pictures, but I won't clutter up the blog with them. They're at our Flickr account. You can see them here.

Snow Birds

Libby and I are heading up with my parents to Mammoth tomorrow. We're going to spend the weekend at the cabin.

The weather reports are saying that it should precipitate all weekend, but it sounds like it might be forebodingly warm. The snow level is at 8,000 feet and it's February! I hope it stays at that level, and we don't get rained on at all. That would not be any fun.

Libby and I'll try and remember to bring a camera with us for the trip, so we can record it for posterity. There isn't a whole lot of snow on the ground, so it won't be quite the winter wonderland that it normally is. All the same, it will be interesting to experience a new side of the mountain's winter.

Jonathan Learns Ballistics

New Post!

Oh my goodness, how Libby and I have slacked on posting on this blog! We haven't been extraordinarily busy, though we've had a few things to do. I worked today (boo!) and Libby is feeling under the weather. It seems that happened to me quite a bit this January, but February is here, and so is a virus for the Libster.

I ought to link to a video posted by Emily of her son (our nephew) being insufferably cute. I'm going to do the YouTube visual link so it should show up in another post (how annoying!). We're all waiting for our new nephew to show up any time now, so we'll have even more cuteness to go around on the Moothart side of the family.

Just for fun, here is a picture of our backyard finches. We've got a healthy number (dozens) of goldfinches and house finches eating the thistle seed we put out every day. The lesser goldfinches are fairly vibrant (as you can see below) but the few American goldfinches are actually a dull brown. I'm looking forward to the spring, when they'll turn yellow all over and outshine their smaller cousins.



Here, just for fun, I'll post a spring American goldfinch from Bolsa Chica last spring:



Spring is coming quickly!