Learning for Understanding

The Ethics/

On The Improvement

 of The Understanding

by Baruch Spinoza

“The highest activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding, because to understand is to be free.”   ― Baruch Spinoza

In his Ethics Spinoza explores the nature of reality, God, and the human condition, inspiring readers to consider their own beliefs and look for greater meaning in life. I found that with his rigorous logic and meticulous reasoning, his Ethics and related writings succeeded in challenging interested readers to analyze closely their thinking about philosophy and the ethical life.

The method of Spinoza mirrors the mathematical logic of geometry in such a way to make his presentation rigorous beyond that of most philosophical treatises. Spinoza claims that "whatever is , is in God," and "from the necessity of the divine nature there must follow infinitely many things ..."  I found his argument that God equates with Nature and his derivative of the theoretical structure of the world in which we live to be enlightening in every sense.  Following in the steps of Socrates, Giordano Bruno, Descartes, and others, he developed a philosophy that emphasized the union of God and Nature and provided a scientific-based method for developing a way of life.  While addressing the nature of humans and the world around them, he explored the limits of knowledge and the limits of our own will.  I found even more impressive was  the way he could dispassionately promote a study of the passions. 

His disquisitions raise questions about who we are as humans, what are our causes and, most importantly, what is the nature of our being in reality.  In doing this he challenges all thinkers and believers to question the nature of God and God's relation to the world.  Interestingly, his approach to this involved developing a metaphysics and method to provide a foundation for his ethics.

Without trying to delineate all of the details of his philosophy (I'm certain that much of which is still somewhat beyond me) it is useful to summarize his premises of knowledge which revolved around imagination, reason, and intuition; all of which could be addressed via a scientific approach that evokes the rigor of geometry. The development of our personality depends on a mental acuity that encompasses the world around us. Yet, he argues that our reasoning demonstrates that truth is independent of our mind while challenging us to consider the cosmic order of things.

Memories of Butterflies

A Revolver to Carry at Night 

by Monika Zgustová

"So Vladimir sat down again at his desk, not without some difficulty, and pretended to write, but he couldn't concentrate. He was thinking about Vera and himself when they were just twenty . . ."   -  Monika Zgustova

Zgustova convincingly conveys the interaction of memory, art, and motivation whether or not it is historical. Her provocative, psychological portrait of a remarkable woman and the man she helped steer toward greatness is presented in just 150 pages, interspersed with a number of quiet scenes. It is an engrossing, subtle depiction of the life of Véra Nabokov, who devoted herself to furthering her husband's literary career and was instrumental in the composition of his best-known works.

In many ways, Véra Nabokov (1902–1991) was the quintessential wife of a great man: she was acutely aware of her husband's extraordinary talent and made his success her ultimate goal throughout their fifty-two-year marriage until his death in 1977. Véra worked as an editor and typist and was the first person to read his texts. She organized their life in exile, organizing trips to Berlin, Paris, Switzerland, and most importantly, the US, where she persuaded Vladimir to concentrate on writing novels in English. She managed the family's finances and contract negotiations, and she even went so far as to audit his classes.

Monika Zgustova immerses us in the everyday lives of this extraordinary couple in this rich, expansive book, providing insights into their intricate personal and professional relationships as well as the real people who lie behind characters like Lolita. Though Véra prided herself on being independent, was she really that much of an independent woman given how much room her husband occupied? Might Nabokov have emerged as one of the greatest authors of the 20th century without Véra?

An Unknown Quantity

Ice 

by Anna Kavan

“Reality had always been something of an unknown quantity to me.”   --  Anna Kavan, Ice







"Ice" is a haunting and enigmatic novel that has been described as a mixture of science fiction, dystopia, and surrealism. Published in 1967, it was Kavan's last work to be published before her death and remains her best-known work. The novel has drawn attention for its inventive and genre-defying style and has been acknowledged as an important piece of literature.

The world described in the book is engulfed in massive ice sheets as a result of a nuclear winter. The anonymous narrator is fixated on a fragile yet beautiful young woman as he describes the impending destruction of both his world and the girl he finds so alluring. The story is raw and brutal, drawing readers in with its frozen post-nuclear dystopia setting. Kavan's descriptions of disaster are both brutal and beautiful, with little gentleness in this world and a relentless fixation on male pursuit of female victimization.

"Ice" has been labeled as a work of science fiction, Nouveau roman, and slipstream fiction. It won the science fiction book of the year award after being nominated by Brian Aldiss, although he admitted that he didn't really think it was science fiction but believed the award was the best way to encourage more people to read Kavan's work. The novel has been increasingly viewed as a modern classic, on par with works like 1984 and Brave New World.

The novel can be interpreted as an allegory of addiction, with the brutal reality of the world, military governments, and the overwhelming ice serving as symbols that fit nicely with this theory. The destruction everywhere and the hallucinatory quest for a strange and fragile creature with albino hair can be seen as reflective of the author's personal struggles. Additionally, the novel delves into themes of loneliness, confusion, and the costs of violence, with a cool gaze that reveals the impact of abuse on both men and women.

Anna Kavan, born as Helen Woods, led a tumultuous life marked by strained parental relationships, bad marriages, mental health struggles, and heroin abuse. Her personal struggles are believed to have informed her writing, adding layers of depth and darkness to her work. Her novel is a gripping and uniquely strange work of literature that demands to be experienced. Its enigmatic nature, genre-defying qualities, and haunting themes have solidified its place as a modern classic in the literary world.