Saturday, June 28, 2008
entries from the journal of Steven H. Cullinane
8:07 AM --
The Soul and...
The Soul and...
The Cocktail
G. H. Hardy on chess problems--
"... the key-move should be followed by a good many
variations, each requiring its own individual answer."
(A Mathematician's Apology, Cambridge at the University Press, first edition, 1940)
Brian Harley on chess problems--
12:00 PM --
The following poem of Emily Dickinson is quoted here in memory of John Watson Foster Dulles, a scholar of Brazilian history who died at 95 on June 23. He was the eldest son of Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, a nephew of Director of Central Intelligence Allen Dulles, brother of Roman Catholic Cardinal Avery Dulles, and a grandson of Presbyterian minister Allen Macy Dulles, author of The True Church.
"He twirled a button...."
The above figure
of Plato (see 3/22)
was suggested by
Lacan's diamond
(losange or poinçon)
as a symbol --
according to Frida Saal --
of Derrida's différance --
which is, in turn,
"that which enables and
results from Being itself"
-- according to
Professor John Lye
I prefer Plato and Dulles
to Lacan and Lye.
(A Mathematician's Apology, Cambridge at the University Press, first edition, 1940)
Brian Harley on chess problems--
"It is quite true that variation play is, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, the soul of a problem, or (to put it more materially) the main course of the solver's banquet, but the Key is the cocktail that begins the proceedings, and if it fails in piquancy the following dinner is not so satisfactory as it should be."
(Mate in Two Moves, London, Bell & Sons, first edition, 1931)12:00 PM --
Lottery Revisited:
The following poem of Emily Dickinson is quoted here in memory of John Watson Foster Dulles, a scholar of Brazilian history who died at 95 on June 23. He was the eldest son of Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, a nephew of Director of Central Intelligence Allen Dulles, brother of Roman Catholic Cardinal Avery Dulles, and a grandson of Presbyterian minister Allen Macy Dulles, author of The True Church.
| I asked no other thing, No other was denied. I offered Being for it; The mighty merchant smiled. Brazil? He twirled a button, Without a glance my way: "But, madam, is there nothing else That we can show to-day?" |
"He twirled a button...."
The above figure
of Plato (see 3/22)
was suggested by
Lacan's diamond
(losange or poinçon)
as a symbol --
according to Frida Saal --
of Derrida's différance --
which is, in turn,
"that which enables and
results from Being itself"
-- according to
Professor John Lye
I prefer Plato and Dulles
to Lacan and Lye.
4:00 PM --
You like it under the trees in autumn,
Because everything is half dead.
The wind moves like a cripple among the leaves
And repeats words without meaning.
In the same way, you were happy in spring
With the half colors of quarter-things,
The slightly brighter sky, the melting clouds,
The single bird, the obscure moon--
The obscure moon lighting an obscure world
Of things that would never be quite expressed,
Where you yourself were never quite yourself
And did not want nor have to be,
Desiring the exhilarations of changes:
The motive for metaphor, shrinking from
The weight of primary noon,
The A B C of being,
The ruddy temper, the hammer
Of red and blue, the hard sound--
Steel against intimation-- the sharp flash,
The vital, arrogant, fatal, dominant X.
-- Wallace Stevens,
Transport to Summer (1947)
Annals of Poetry, continued:
The Motive for MetaphorYou like it under the trees in autumn,
Because everything is half dead.
The wind moves like a cripple among the leaves
And repeats words without meaning.
In the same way, you were happy in spring
With the half colors of quarter-things,
The slightly brighter sky, the melting clouds,
The single bird, the obscure moon--
The obscure moon lighting an obscure world
Of things that would never be quite expressed,
Where you yourself were never quite yourself
And did not want nor have to be,
Desiring the exhilarations of changes:
The motive for metaphor, shrinking from
The weight of primary noon,
The A B C of being,
The ruddy temper, the hammer
Of red and blue, the hard sound--
Steel against intimation-- the sharp flash,
The vital, arrogant, fatal, dominant X.
-- Wallace Stevens,
Transport to Summer (1947)