Odd Enthusiasms

Written by

I have a tie that I like, but it is so time specific, and is now so dated, that even a tie-wearing radical like me probably won’t wear it again. A tie- wearing radical is anyone who now turns up at conferences, committee meetings or to other occasions of social posing where a tie is not strictly necessary. So I’m wondering, just where now is a tie strictly necessary. I’ve recently been at funerals, weddings, ordinations where several of the key players didn’t wear a tie. This doesn’t make anyone a bad person – it just signals a social shift, and leaves me feeling that the few people who were cool and independent thinking because they dispensed with a tie, are now in the majority and it’s those of us who still wear a tie who are becoming cooler. Or is my logic flawed yet again?

Anyway, the tie in question is a Wallace and Gromit tie, and against a navy blue background it is covered in sheep, only one of which is wearing green wellies. Now you see why I don’t wear it now – and wonder with flabbergasted amazement why I ever wore it in the first place. But each to his / her taste. When I first wore it a friend who risked becoming an ex-friend suggested the sheep with the wellies was the pastor, who was just like the other sheep but wasn’t prepared to walk unshod in the farmyard manure of life. Whatever, I doubt if there are many of this particular tie now in existence, and if anyone will ever risk wearing it again. But I still like the tie, and don’t need the affirmation of other fashion officionados to justify my odd enthusiasm for it.

Which brings me to some of my other odd enthusiasms, of the literary kind. I’ve recently re-read several of books that I’m not sure many other people would get all that worked up about. Let me know if you’ve heard of / read / think much of:

The Snow Leopard, Peter Matthiessen

A Dresser of Sycamore Trees, Garret Keizer

Walking a Literary Labyrinth, Nancy Malone

Wind, Sand and Stars, Atoine de Saint Exupery

Life and Letters of H R L Sheppard

The Dean’s Watch, Elizabeth Goudge

Comments

10 responses to “Odd Enthusiasms”

18 January 2008

Catriona

I think that tie sounds ‘well cool’ and would certainly be approved of my church treasurer who also sometimes sports a Wallace and Grommit tie (though not that particular design).
I’m afraid I’m way to ‘higorant’ to know any of the literature you list, sorry.

Reply
18 January 2008

Catriona

I think that tie sounds ‘well cool’ and would certainly be approved of my church treasurer who also sometimes sports a Wallace and Grommit tie (though not that particular design).
I’m afraid I’m way to ‘higorant’ to know any of the literature you list, sorry.

Reply
18 January 2008

Jim Gordon

Don’t be sorry – proves how odd my enthusiasms are!

Reply
18 January 2008

Jim Gordon

Don’t be sorry – proves how odd my enthusiasms are!

Reply
6 August 2011

Cristian C.

When asked about re—reading, I ask back in my turn: –Do you taste the same food twice? Why would one eat the same delicious dish, twice? Do you speak to the same friend twice? Do you listen to a tune twice? Do you hug your wife twice? Do you watch a play, or a movie, twice and thrice? Do you play a game, or visit a certain place, twice? Well, it’s the same with books—only, in some cases, better. One re—reads for pleasure. You don’t re—read what you dislike. You re—read because you enjoy the book—which is not the book’s dim memory, but the actual book, and style, and phrase. One repeats a pleasure. Pleasures can be repeated. One tends to repeat what one enjoys. I have re—read countless times a poem by Carducci and one by Arghezi.
One re—reads because one repeats a pleasure and meets again something that gives him pleasure; it’s the same with foods, drinks, ice—creams, landscapes, cities, tunes, paintings, movies, games, etc.—and the same with human encounters. Bis repetita placet. When I had a cat, I played daily with her. This tendency to repetition is good and gives coherence and stops the mind from floating and wandering. Chartier wrote: if you believe you know a building by heart, than close your eyes and tell me how many bricks are there! Count the Parthenon’s columns with your eyes shut. You can’t. One can’t. And then, besides knowing, it’s the pleasure in itself, the pleasure of meeting again. The aim of re—reading is this renewed pleasure. There are things that give pleasure, now matter how many times you encounter them. There are movie buffs able to see again the same movie, daily, for long periods of time. They feel they do not have enough of the pleasure given by that movie.
And not only literature—but philosophy, theology, scholarship can give this repeated joy. Of course, one can not re—read anything, regardless, but only that which pleases him much.

Reply
6 August 2011

Cristian C.

When asked about re—reading, I ask back in my turn: –Do you taste the same food twice? Why would one eat the same delicious dish, twice? Do you speak to the same friend twice? Do you listen to a tune twice? Do you hug your wife twice? Do you watch a play, or a movie, twice and thrice? Do you play a game, or visit a certain place, twice? Well, it’s the same with books—only, in some cases, better. One re—reads for pleasure. You don’t re—read what you dislike. You re—read because you enjoy the book—which is not the book’s dim memory, but the actual book, and style, and phrase. One repeats a pleasure. Pleasures can be repeated. One tends to repeat what one enjoys. I have re—read countless times a poem by Carducci and one by Arghezi.
One re—reads because one repeats a pleasure and meets again something that gives him pleasure; it’s the same with foods, drinks, ice—creams, landscapes, cities, tunes, paintings, movies, games, etc.—and the same with human encounters. Bis repetita placet. When I had a cat, I played daily with her. This tendency to repetition is good and gives coherence and stops the mind from floating and wandering. Chartier wrote: if you believe you know a building by heart, than close your eyes and tell me how many bricks are there! Count the Parthenon’s columns with your eyes shut. You can’t. One can’t. And then, besides knowing, it’s the pleasure in itself, the pleasure of meeting again. The aim of re—reading is this renewed pleasure. There are things that give pleasure, now matter how many times you encounter them. There are movie buffs able to see again the same movie, daily, for long periods of time. They feel they do not have enough of the pleasure given by that movie.
And not only literature—but philosophy, theology, scholarship can give this repeated joy. Of course, one can not re—read anything, regardless, but only that which pleases him much.

Reply
24 August 2011

Poetreehugger.blogspot.com

The Dean’s Watch! Since the flourishing of the Internet, I have added to my book collection most of Elizabeth Goudge’s works. She has a passage in The Scent of Water that is a great comfort to anyone who has ever been afraid of losing their mind, something about losing it into the hands of God.
Knowing you enjoyed that book makes your list a welcome list of books I want to read. Thanks.
As to ties, I can understand an affection for a specific item of clothing, but I wonder how many people give thought to the sometime abuse of the suit and tie as a subconscious power weapon. I have been aware of suited men whom I mentally refuse to impute with the power society implies automatically. The reason I at age 53 wear jeans to church, is that it feels more real to me than dressing differently would. I consider it a challenge to try to live and think the same way all seven days. Don’t usually accomplish it, but try to remember to try.
Loved Cristian’s comment.

Reply
24 August 2011

Poetreehugger.blogspot.com

The Dean’s Watch! Since the flourishing of the Internet, I have added to my book collection most of Elizabeth Goudge’s works. She has a passage in The Scent of Water that is a great comfort to anyone who has ever been afraid of losing their mind, something about losing it into the hands of God.
Knowing you enjoyed that book makes your list a welcome list of books I want to read. Thanks.
As to ties, I can understand an affection for a specific item of clothing, but I wonder how many people give thought to the sometime abuse of the suit and tie as a subconscious power weapon. I have been aware of suited men whom I mentally refuse to impute with the power society implies automatically. The reason I at age 53 wear jeans to church, is that it feels more real to me than dressing differently would. I consider it a challenge to try to live and think the same way all seven days. Don’t usually accomplish it, but try to remember to try.
Loved Cristian’s comment.

Reply
10 September 2011

Cristian C.

Thank you very much. Love your comment too.

Reply
10 September 2011

Cristian C.

Thank you very much. Love your comment too.

Reply