Borges' Library

Top Reads 2021: Hummingbirds and Holbein

 

This year was hummingbirds, flowers and Holbein.

My year began and ended with a beautiful article on hummingbirds in the New York Review of Books, called ‘ Download ‘A Searing Bolt of Turquoise’ _ by Christopher Benfey _ The New York Review of Books,’ It was about a poem by Emily Dickinson, a novel and a book of nonfiction:

The Glitter in the Green: In Search of Hummingbirds, by Jon Dunn
&
Hummingbird Salamander, by Jeff VanderMeer

I read Jeff VanderMeer's novel immediately but did not get to The Glitter of Green until mid-December... I loved both! The review was so well-done and so bought Benfey's latest, A Summer of Hummingbirds: Love, Art, and Scandal in the Intersecting Worlds of Emily Dickinson, Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Martin Johnson Heade, which won both the 2009 Christian Gauss Award of Phi Beta Kappa and the Ambassador Book Award. 

This year, I read fewer books than usual (2021 Goodreads Stats). My reading was very scattered. And I found myself picking up books and reading almost to the end and then stopping, when I realized I was having trouble following the thread and wanted to start from the beginning again. No poetry whatsoever. 

My book reviews also flagged halfway through the year.... I started 2021 with reviews in the Chicago Review of Books: Searching for the Language of Home in “An I-Novel, by Minae Mizumura, translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter and a review on Fermentation as Metaphor, by Sandor Ellix Katz, in the Dublin Review of Books. I published a review on Social Hierarchies Matter in China and the Rest of the World by Daniel A. Bell (REVIEW in New Rambler) It was my first review translated into Chinese!【琳恩·小笠原】即将淹没的世界中的等级体系 ——贝淡宁、汪沛著《正义层秩论》简评

I also wrote several reviews for the Asian Review of Books: Hojoki, translated by Matthew Stavros; “A Gap in the Clouds: A New Translation of Ogura Hyakunin Isshu” by James Hadley and Nell Regan;“Eating Wild Japan: Tracking the Culture of Foraged Foods, with a Guide to Plants and Recipes” by Winifred Bird; and “The Chinese Dreamscape, 300 BCE-800 CE” by Robert Ford Campany.

But by late summer, I just dropped the ball. Only one review appeared in Kyoto Journal, Water, Wood and Wild Things by Hannah Kirshner and had my first review in Books on Asia about Multispecies Cities: Solarpunk Urban Futures multiple authors.  

Looking forward to reading The Great Passage by Shion Miura, translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter, finishing Albert and the Whale, and reading the new biography on Sebald in early 2021! Below.... drum roll.... are my top reads of 2021:

 

Best in Fiction (Top 3):

#1

A Registry of My Passage upon the Earth: Stories
by Daniel Mason

#2

What is Not Yours is Not Yours
by Helen Oyeyemi

#3

Where the Wild Ladies Are
by Aoko Matsuda, Polly Barton (Translator) 

 

Best in Non-Fiction (Top 3):

#1

Floating Coast: An Environmental History of the Bering Strait
by Bathsheba Demuth

#2

The King's Painter: The Life of Hans Holbein
by Franny Moyle

#3

Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life
by Lulu Miller

Most unique:

Multispecies Cities: Solarpunk Urban Futures (My review in Books on Asia)

and

Water, Wood and Wild Things by Hannah Kirshner (Review in Kyoto Journal)

Favorite New Translation:

"An I-Novel," a novel by Minae Mizumura, translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter. (My review in Chicago Review of Books)

Hōjōki: A Hermit's Hut as Metaphor (My review in Asian Review of Books)
by Kamo no Chōmei, Matthew Stavros 

Most Inspiring

Last Year, I began revisiting Japanese flower arrangements and foraging. This year, I started a class at the London Floral School called DUTCH MASTERS FLORAL COURSE. I also took a class at the Huntington gardens. I am reading Flower Hunters by Lucy Hunter (review--not by me-- here) I also realized Lauren Groff, whose award-winning novel Matrix I read this year, wrote a short story called Flower Hunters (New Yorker)

Gifting Books for Christmas:

Water, Wood and Wild Things (Review in Kyoto Journal) by Hannah Kirshner

A Registry of My Passage upon the Earth: Stories
by Daniel Mason

As Kingfishers Catch Fire: Birds & Books
by Alex Preston, Neil Gower

The Glitter in the Green: In Search of Hummingbirds, by Jon Dunn

Most Beautiful:

As Kingfishers Catch Fire: Birds & Books
by Alex Preston, Neil Gower

Best History of Science/Science:

109 East Palace: Robert Oppenheimer and the Secret City of Los Alamos
by Jennet Conant

And:

The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness
by Mark Solms

 

Best Re-Read:

The Relic Master
by Christopher Buckley

Death Comes for the Archbishop
by Willa Cather

A Blossom Like No Other Li Qingzhao
by Wei Djao

The Wages Of Guilt: Memories Of War In Germany And Japan
by Ian Buruma

The Spy Who Loved Us: The Vietnam War and Pham Xuan An's Dangerous Game
by Thomas A. Bass

Most Thought-Provoking and World Changing:

Timothy Morton's All Art is Ecological (3QD Essay here)

Be My Guest: Reflections on Food, Community and the Meaning of Generosity
by Priya Basil 3QD Essay here. 

Best Writing Craft Book:

A Field Guide for Immersion Writing: Memoir, Journalism, and Travel
by Robin Hemley

Best Exhibition Catalogue

Holbein: Capturing Character
by Anne T. Woollett (Editor), Austeja Mackelaite (Contributor), John T. McQuillen

 

**

--2021 Book Towers Below--

First Stack: Chinese Calligraphy and Mi Fu

I re-read quite a lot on Chinese calligraphy this year.

My essay on an exhibition at the Huntington Gardens in 3QD is here: Calligraphy in the Garden

And In Praise of Oranges in Gulf Coast Journal is here.

All of my notes are here.

Another World Lies Beyond: Creating Liu Fang Yuan, the Huntington’s Chinese Garden, edited by June Li

The Burden of Female Talent: The Poet Li Qingzhao and Her History in China
by Ronald C. Egan

A Blossom Like No Other Li Qingzhao
by Wei Djao

Embodied Image
by Robert E. Harrist Jr

Kraus’ Brushes with Power
Modern Politics and the Chinese Art of Calligraphy

Sturman’s Mi Fu: Style and the Art of Calligraphy in Northern Song China Style and the Art of Calligraphy in Northern Song China

Kazuaki Tanahashi ‘s Delight in One Thousand Characters: The Classic Manual of East Asian Calligraphy

Shakyo Practice book and A Kanji Stroke Order Manual for Heart Sutra Copying

The Skills of How to Imitate Wang Xizhi’s Preface to The Poems Composed at The Orchid Pavilion Running Script Chinese Calligraphy

Chinese Calligraphy of Heart Sutra (Contrastive Version of Classical Inscription Rubbings of Dynasties)

Below, haven’t read but looks interesting!

Taction: The Drama of the Stylus in Oriental Calligraphy 石川九楊著『書-筆蝕の宇
Ishikawa, Kyuyoh; Miller, Waku

 

The Second Stack:

On Foraging and Fermentation

This was probably the main reading obsession of the year, and I wrote a review on Katz's new book in the Dublin Review of Books (he has come out with a new one since!) and an essay at 3 Quarks Daily, A Walk on the Wild Side. (My notes for the post are here).

Eating Wild Japan: Tracking the Culture of Foraged Foods, with a Guide to Plants and Recipes
by Winifred Bird (Review in Asian Review of Books)

Water, Wood and Wild Things (Review in Kyoto Journal) by Hannah Kirshner

Gina Rae La Cerva’s Feasting Wild: In Search of the Last Untamed Food

John Cage’s A Mycological Foray: Variations on Mushrooms

On Flowers: Lessons from an Accidental Florist
by Amy Merrick

Water, Wood and Wild Things (Review in Kyoto Journal) by Hannah Kirshner

Forage, Harvest, Feast: 40 Plants, 500 Recipes, a Wild-Inspired Cuisine
by Marie Viljoen

Rewilding

Feral: Rewilding the Land, the Sea and Human Life

by George Monbiot

 

Fermentation

[First published in Dublin Review of Books]

Sandor Ellix Katz:

Fermentation as Metaphor & The Art of Fermentation

The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved: Inside America's Underground Food Movements

And

Koji Alchemy

Interview with author Rich Shih in Serious Eats

Foundations of Flavor: The Noma Guide to Fermentation
by Rene Redzepi, David Zilber

 

The Third Stack: Memoir

All the Lives We Ever Lived: Seeking Solace in Virginia Woolf by Katharine Smyth

“Perhaps there is one book for every life. One book with the power to reflect and illuminate that life; one book that will forever inform how we navigate the little strip of time we are given, while also helping us to clarify and catch hold of its most vital moments. For me, that book is To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf’s novel about her parents, Julia and Leslie Stephen, who died when Virginia was thirteen and twenty-two, respectively. First published in 1927, it tells the story of the Ramsays, a family of ten who, along with an assorted group of friends, spends the summer on a remote island in the Hebrides. Tells the story of the Ramsays? I should rephrase: To the Lighthouse tells the story of everything.”

 

Smyth’s book is one of the most poignant and beautiful books about family life that I’ve ever read. She has portrayed all of the trials and challenges of being an only child and about having a flawed parent. Her book is a portrait of a marriage and portrait of a father and a daughter. It’s very close to my heart since I lived through something similar when I was a little bit younger than her and watched as my father suffered through cancer —in and out of the hospital. I wish I had had a book to keep me company, something to help me make sense of it all. That would take me decades. Her writing about the last days in the hospital was beautifully written. It was so poignant. While I would’ve appreciated more about Virginia Woolf — only if that didn’t require cutting out any of her own story. I truly appreciated the way she slowed down to be attentive to all the details of the days preceding and after his father died. It was extraordinary how she leaned into things that many writers would not seek to dwell upon. 

"The insufficiency of emotion in the face of such a disaster...."

In tone, it reminded me something of Daniel Mendelsohn's An Odyssey. It had things in common with these as well:

 

Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life
by Lulu Miller

 

Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times
by Katherine May

 

To See Every Bird on Earth: A Father, a Son, and a Lifelong Obsession
by Dan Koeppel

The Wine Lover's Daughter: A Memoir
by Anne Fadima

More memoir here.

 

 

The fourth Stack: New Hobbies

Birding, Wine, and Sashiko

Birds Art Life, by Kyo Maclear

Field Notes from an Unintentional Birder: A Memoir
by Julia Zarankin

To See Every Bird on Earth: A Father, a Son, and a Lifelong Obsession
by Dan Koeppel

The Wine Lover's Daughter: A Memoir
by Anne Fadima

As Kingfishers Catch Fire: Birds & Books
by Alex Preston, Neil Gower

The Glitter in the Green: In Search of Hummingbirds, by Jon Dunn

 

Last Year and Next Year:

My new stack on Henry VIII and the Tudors

My essay based on last year's favorite book, The Rhinoceros and the Megatherium, by Juan Pimental, was published in Pleiades this fall. 
Book by Shawna Kenney, my writing teacher at UCLA

Pleiades cover

Some exciting reads from this year.

Sandor Ellix Katz:

Fermentation as Metaphor & The Art of Fermentation

The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved: Inside America's Underground Food Movements

And

Koji Alchemy

Interview with author Rich Shih in Serious Eats

Foundations of Flavor: The Noma Guide to Fermentation
by Rene Redzepi, David Zilber

Holbein, van Eyck and Kende Wiley

Holbein, 1536 or 37. Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool

The King's Painter: The Life of Hans Holbein
by Franny Moyle

Holbein: Capturing Character
Getty Museum Catalogue 

Portrait of Simon George of Cornwall, c. 1535-1540, Hans Holbein the Younger Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main

Portrait of a Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling is an oil-on-oak portrait completed in around 1526–1528 by German Renaissance painter Hans Holbein the Younger. London.

Portrait of Christina of Denmark, 1538 London

 

Mantegna's Madonna della Vittoria 1496. Paris 

van Eyck's The Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele, 1434–36 Bruge

The Brera Madonna, Piero della Francesca Milan

Fresco Piero Rimini

The Long Disputed Meaning Of Van Eyck's Painting (Waldemar Januszczak Documentary) | Perspective/VIDEOThe Tudors Through The Eyes Of Holbein

Video: A Stitch in Time in the Arnolfini Portrait

Hannah Gadsby: why I love the Arnolfini Portrait, one of art history’s greatest riddles

GIRL IN A GREEN GOWN 
by Carola Hicks

Jan Van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait: Stories of an Icon
by Linda Seidel

 

"resurrection" by alma thomas
This acrylic and graphite on canvas painting was done by Alma Thomas, who was an educator and artist in Washington, D.C. for most of her career. She was a member of the Washington Color School. This painting was unveiled as part of the White House Collection during Black History Month 2015 and is the first in this collection by an African-American woman. This painting was acquired for the White House Collection with support from George B. Hartzog, Jr., and the White House Acquisition Trust/White House Historical Association.

Brooklyn Museum/ Kehinde Wiley Napoleon Leading His Army Over the Alps

Napoleon Leading the Army is a clear spin-off of Jacques-Louis David’s painting of 1800-01 (below), which was commissioned by Charles IV, the King of Spain, to commemorate Napoleon’s victorious military campaign against the Austrians. The original portrait smacks of propaganda. Napoleon, in fact, did not pose for the original painting nor did he lead his troops over the mountains into Austria. He sent his soldiers ahead on foot and followed a few days later, riding on a mule.

The Obama Portraits Have Had a Pilgrimage Effect
One year after Kehinde Wiley’s and Amy Sherald’s paintings were unveiled, the director of the National Portrait Gallery reflects on their unprecedented impact.

By Kim Sajet

The Internet Is Restaging Famous Paintings While Museums Are Closed
The Getty, Metropolitan Museum, and Rijksmuseum have challenged their followers to creatively recreate famous works in their collections. In HYPERALLERGIC by Hakim Bishara

 

Books:

The Obama Portraits
by Taina Beatriz Caragol-Barreto, Richard J. Powell, Dorothy Moss, Kim Sajet, Thelma Golden

Huntington Museum Kehinde Wiley: A Portrait of a Young Gentleman

Kehinde Wiley: Memling

Bird Books

 

Field Guides

How to differentiate between birding field guides? There is the Peterson Guide and Sibley's. The National Geographic Field Guide is the one recommended by the instructor of the Great Courses Birding class, while Audubon is one of the oldest (though I just read that Peterson's is older still). If you really want the oldest, you will have to track down a copy of Birds Through an Opera-Glass, written by Florence Augusta Merriam Bailey (1863 –1948), who was an American ornithologist and nature writer who organized early Audubon Society chapters and was an early activist for bird protection. 

In the end, it seems, it really comes down to personal preference.

While my husband gravitated immediately toward the beautiful illustrations of the Sibley, with their focus on plumage; I liked the simplicity and feel of the Kaufman Guide, which was designed for beginners. I also love Alvarez's Guide to California Birds. This latter one is the only field guide I actually use. Both Alvarez and the Kaufman have better notes on bird calls and songs too.

My new favorite is Hansen's Field Guide to Birds of the Sierra Nevada: with its beautiful descriptions and fabulous pictures!

I also regularly consult the funny Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America, by Matt Kracht. 

++

Art/Culture

The Book of the Bird: Birds in Art Birds in Art
Hyland, Angus, Laurence King Publishing

The Bird in Art
Bugler, Caroline, Merrell 

An Unlikely Search for Meaning in the World's Most Magnificent Bird An Unlikely Search for Meaning in the World's Most Magnificent Bird
Flynn, Sean, Simon & Schuster

Birds and People
Mark Cocker, David Tipling

Birds: Myth, Lore and Legend
Rachel Warren Chadd, Marianne Taylor

Ciao, Carpaccio!: An Infatuation
by Jan Morris

Carpaccio: Major Pictorial Cycles
by Stefania Mason

Hieronymus Bosch: Garden of Earthly Delights
by Hans Belting

As Kingfishers Catch Fire: Birds & Books
by Alex Preston, Neil Gower

"Carpaccio's 'Hunting on the Lagoon': A New Perspective"
Yvonne Szafran

"A Late Fifteenth Century Venetian Painting of a Bird Hunt"
 George Goldner

"Divine Judgment in Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights"
Author(s): Peter Glum
Source: The Art Bulletin 

Memoirs/Journalism

To See Every Bird on Earth: A Father, a Son, and a Lifelong Obsession A Father, a Son, and a Lifelong Obsession

Field Notes from an Unintentional Birder: A Memoir
by Julia Zarankin

Birds Art Life: A Year of Observation
by Kyo Maclear

How to Know the Birds: The Art and Adventure of Birding 
by Ted Floyd

Life List: A Woman's Quest for the World's Most Amazing Birds
Gentile, Olivia

Kingbird Highway
Kenn Kaufman

Big Year, Biggest States
Lynn Barber

A Most Remarkable Creature: The Hidden Life and Epic Journey of the World's Smartest Birds of Prey
Meiburg, Jonathan

The Thing with Feathers: The Surprising Lives of Birds and What They Reveal About Being Human
Strycker, Noah

Pasta for Nightingales: A 17th-Century Handbook of Bird-Care and Folklore A 17th-Century Handbook of Bird-Care and Folklore
Olina, Giovanni Pietro, dal Pozzo, Cassiano, Clayton, Kate, Macdonald, Helen, 

The Bedside Book of Birds: An Avian Miscellany An Avian Miscellany
Gibson, Graeme, Atwood, Margaret

The Charm of Birds
Grey, Sir Edward,

Living on the Wind: Across the Hemisphere with Migratory Birds Across the Hemisphere with Migratory Birds
Weidensaul, Scott

A World on the Wing: The Global Odyssey of Migratory Birds
by Scott Weidensau

Why Birds Sing: A Journey Into the Mystery of Bird Song by David Rothenberg (2005-04-12)
Rothenberg, David

Into the Heart of Borneo
by Redmond O'Hanlon

 

 

The High Road to Taos

 

From Santa Fe (Willa Cather)

Lamy of Santa Fe 
by Paul Horgan 

La Conquistadora, by Sue Houser

La Conquistadora: The Autobiography of an Ancient Statue 
by Fray Angelico Chavez

La Conquistadora, Unveiling the History of a Six Hundred Year Old Religious Icon 
by Jaima Chevalier

A Guide} Built of Earth and Song: Churches of Northern New Mexico, by Marie Romero Cash

 

Below is the Church of San Miguel. It is arguably the oldest continuous place of Christian worship in the United States. Built sometime around 1605, but destroyed during the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. The church has a lot of the post-revolt late 17th century santero art--altar screen perhaps by artist known as the Laguna Santeros. He worked in New Mexico from about 1796 to 1808. A statue of San Miguel (Saint Michael) dating back to 1700 takes pride of place on the reredos. Four oval paintings also adorn the screen: Saint Teresa of Avila, Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Colette of France and Saint Louis IX, King of France.

The old bell dates back to 1356. The story goes that Christians were losing their fight against the Moors, until they vowed to craft a bell dedicated to Saint Joseph. Everybody relinquished their gold and silver-plated jewelry, which was all melted down to make the three-inch thick bell. Writing in 1908, Reverend W.J. Howlett described the bell as embodying “the richness of gold and the sweetness of sacrifice.” The famous bell made a cameo in Willa Cather’s novel “Death Comes for the Archbishop.” 

 

 

 

I love anything written by Fray Chavez. His statue stands in front of public library (historical registry) across from our hotel. 

Because of its extraordinary altar screen paintings, the Shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe is my favorite church in Santa Fe

Altar paintings signed by Mexican artist Jose de Alcibar in 1783. The painting was transported to Santa Fe by burro.

And tequila at Sazon.

On the Road with Willa Cather

Top Reads:

Pueblos, Spaniards, and the Kingdom of New Mexico 
by John L. Kessell

Historic Churches of New Mexico Today 
by Frank Graziano

Pueblos, Spaniards, and the Kingdom of New Mexico
John L. Kessell

My Penitente Land, Reflections of Spanish New Mexico 
by Fray Angelico Chavez

 

1) Willa Cather

Death Comes for the Archbishop, by Willa Cather (Scholarly Edition)

Willa Cather: Double Lives 
by Hermione Lee

 

2) Santa Fe Books (Photos)

Lamy of Santa Fe  – 
by Paul Horgan 

La Conquistadora, by Sue Houser

La Conquistadora: The Autobiography of an Ancient Statue 
by Fray Angelico Chavez

La Conquistadora, Unveiling the History of a Six Hundred Year Old Religious Icon 
by Jaima Chevalier

Following the Royal Road: A Guide to the Historic Camino Real de Tierra Adentro Paperback – December 15, 2006
by Hal Jacks

 

 

 

3) Chimayó Books (Photos):

The Healing Power of the Santuario de Chimayó: America’s Miraculous Church (Religion, Race, and Ethnicity) 
by Brett Hendrickson

Historic New Mexico Churches
Annie Lux, Daniel Nadelbach

Historic Churches of New Mexico Today 
by Frank Graziano

A Guide} Built of Earth and Song: Churches of Northern New Mexico, by Marie Romero Cash

Georgia O’Keeffe, Black Cross with Stars and Blue
Jeffrey Richmond-Moll

Alabados de Nuevo Mexico

To the End of the Earth: A History of the Crypto-Jews of New Mexico
Stanley Hordes

Remnants of Crypto-Jews among Hispanic Americans
Gloria Golden, Roberto Cabello-Argandona, Yasmeen Namazie

Pueblos, Spaniards, and the Kingdom of New Mexico
John L. Kessell

My Penitente Land, Reflections of Spanish New Mexico (Southwest Heritage) Paperback – April 25, 2012
by Fray Angelico Chavez

Machado's Poem "The Arrow"

A Drizzle of Honey: The Life and Recipes of Spain's Secret Jews
by David M. Gitlitz, Linda Kay Davidson

And speaking of cookbooks, whatever you do, don't miss the best family restaurant you can find anywhere: Rancho de Chimayo Cookbook: The Traditional Cooking of New Mexico Cookbook.

4. The High Road to Taos--Pictures

Centuries of Hands: An Architectural History of St. Francis of Assisi ...
Book by Corina Santistevan and Van Dorn Hooker

 

5. Marfa

 

 

Chimayó (Willa Cather)

El Santuario de Chimayo

el Pocito

Books:

The Healing Power of the Santuario de Chimayó: America’s Miraculous Church (Religion, Race, and Ethnicity) 
by Brett Hendrickson

Historic New Mexico Churches
Annie Lux, Daniel Nadelbach

Historic Churches of New Mexico Today 
by Frank Graziano

Georgia O’Keeffe, Black Cross with Stars and Blue
Jeffrey Richmond-Moll

To the End of the Earth: A History of the Crypto-Jews of New Mexico
Stanley Hordes

Remnants of Crypto-Jews among Hispanic Americans
Gloria Golden, Roberto Cabello-Argandona, Yasmeen Namazie

Pueblos, Spaniards, and the Kingdom of New Mexico
John L. Kessell

My Penitente Land, Reflections of Spanish New Mexico (Southwest Heritage) Paperback – April 25, 2012
by Fray Angelico Chavez

Alabados de Nuevo Mexico

Machado's Poem "The Arrow"

A Drizzle of Honey: The Life and Recipes of Spain's Secret Jews
by David M. Gitlitz, Linda Kay Davidson

And speaking of cookbooks, whatever you do, don't miss the best family restaurant you can find anywhere: Rancho de Chimayo Cookbook: The Traditional Cooking of New Mexico Cookbook.

 

 

The Totem Poles

Susan Orlean, in her latest bestseller, The Library Book, describes her fond memory of the piles and piles of library books of her childhood; those stacks of checked-out books forming totem poles of the narratives she had visited. I was quite taken by this description, as I too loved those towers of stacked books from my childhood.

Books mainly kept in the The Black Tower 玄武

2018

The Tower of el Quixote

The Tower of Thomas Bernhard 

"The Way" of the Octopus and Talking to Animals (Kept in Sun Gallery 朱雀) 

Books on Foraging (Kept in Sun Gallery 朱雀) 

Venice

 

2020

The Tower of Venice

The Tower of Borneo

2021

THE PHILOSOPHIES OF HOSPITALITIES: LEVINAS, DERRIDA & CIXOUS

Books on Flowers (Kept in Sun Gallery 朱雀) 

 

 

Hierarchy in a Drowning World

Hierarchy in a Drowning World

By LEANNE OGASAWARA

Review of Just Hierarchy: Why Social Hierarchies Matter in China and the Rest of the World, by Daniel Bell and Wang Pei

Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2020

First published in the New Rambler

---

I.

Imagine a drowning city. The collapse of the Greenland ice sheets has led to a ten-foot rise in global sea-levels. You think this is bad, but it is followed by further melting at the Aurora Basin in East Antarctica, resulting in another forty-foot rise. In his novel, New York 2140, Kim Stanley Robinson paints a picture of a flooded Manhattan, where morning commuters use vaporetti to travel to and from work and live in apartment towers that reach up out of the rising waters into the sky. As you might imagine, the city suffers from staggering income inequality. Hedge-fund millionaires weave in and out of shipping lanes in their private speedboats, as kids who can’t read ferry people around in leaky gondolas through waters poisoned with toxic waste. The world is facing an unprecedented existential threat. And survival will demand collective action and sacrifice. In such a world, what kind of government would you want calling the shots? 

This question is not something only out of the world of fiction. Climate change and a worldwide pandemic are on everyone’s mind. Yet, for all the talk, it could be argued that intellectuals are not discussing enough what types of government might be best suited for making the tough decisions necessary for long-term planning and collective preparation. One notable exception to this is political philosopher Daniel Bell, who for the last two decades, has been writing books and a seemingly endless stream of provocative op-ed pieces highlighting the ways in which less-democratic forms of government might be better suited to tackling the tough issues we now face. 

As Dean of the School of Political Science at Shandong University and a professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing, Bell is uniquely positioned to compare the strengths and weaknesses of the Chinese and Western political orders. In his last book, The China Model, Bell made a strong case for what he called “political meritocracy,” with leaders selected “in accordance with ability and virtue” rather than by the ballot. As Kyle Hutzler wrote in his New Rambler Review essay, this earned The China Model a place on just as many “best of” lists as it did strident rebuttals.

In his latest book, Just Hierarchies: Why Social Hierarchies Matter in China and the Rest of the World, he goes in an interesting new direction. Authored with Wang Pei, an academic at Fudan University in Shanghai, the book is more grounded in Chinese culture and history. This is most likely thanks to Wang Pei and her known specialization in Chinese intellectual history. In this new work, the authors analyze how decisions are made for the collective good and how concepts of hierarchy function in terms of meritocracy, bureaucracy, and the good life. Exploring systems of political meritocracy and hierarchies mainly found in the Confucian-influenced societies of East Asia, as well as in ancient Buddhist governing practices found in Ashoka’s India (c. 268 to 232 BCE), the authors work to make their case for what they call just hierarchies. 

Similar to the related terms of bureaucracy and meritocracy, hierarchy is a concept rife with negative connotations. Common sense might suggest that it is the elimination of hierarchies, from race and gender to those found in our political systems, that should be our common goal. Bell and Wang argue that hierarchies exist everywhere and rather than trying to stamp them out—an impossible task, in any case—we should be examining how they function in terms of efficiency and the greater good. With their focus on East Asia, the authors investigate hierarchies in the main spheres of life: in private—between lovers, spouses, friends, and neighbors—as well as in public spaces in order to uncover what types of hierarchical systems should be preserved and strengthened—and which need to be thrown out. The latter chapters of the book take a surprising and intriguing turn by looking at hierarchies between humans and animals (Ch. 4) and humans and machines (Ch. 5).

In what is perhaps the book’s most compelling argument, the authors assert that the most beneficial forms of hierarchal relations entail what we might refer to as an ethics of care. This is not the exact term the authors use, but it’s a good way of making sense of the recurring notion that hierarchies are morally justified if they involve the care of those with less power on the bottom of such hierarchies. These relationships of care—care of the elderly (Ch.1); care for citizens (Ch.2); care for weak countries (Ch. 3); and care for animals (Ch. 4)—should be based on what the authors call “strong reciprocity.” 

To illustrate this, they begin their book with a description of the seating arrangements of formal gatherings in Shandong. Tradition stipulates that the guest of honor be seated to the right of the principle host who is placed in the position furthest from the door, while the co-host (male or female) sits in the opposite chair nearest the door. What may seem like a tedious or even hypocritical expression of social position and rank is not only endorsed but often enjoyed because these protocols facilitate the smooth unfolding of a drinking party. Ideally the etiquette results in the relationships between the members being strengthened. It is a ritual in which everyone knows their role and where guests can feel honored. It is also reciprocal since the warm hospitality received would be reciprocated in kind.  

Perhaps an easier to understand example of how this works can come from the parent-child relationship. Japan is where I spent my adult life. Like in other parts of East Asia, in Japan filial piety is alive and well. Traditionally, the eldest son or daughter not only inherits all family assets but this child also inherits the obligation of caring for their parents into old age. While this used to be part of the legal code, now there are laws stipulating an equal distribution of assets if there is no will. In the case of my marriage to an eldest son, it was decided between the two brothers that the younger brother would inherit-- and likewise care for the parents. Just like in America, there are a myriad of varying cases of how this works, but at base the obligation a child has toward their parents is much more strongly emphasized. In Singapore, there are filial-support laws which enforce the reciprocity of the relationship.

As a Confucian society, people in Japan trust that vertical hierarchies help foster communitarian values and the greater good. Japan, like Korea and China, considers itself to be a collectivist society, called shudan shugi. In societies without such hierarchies, motivations are founded on self-benefit, which might be advantageous for some individuals, but creates a less harmonious and less egalitarian society as a whole. This is perhaps counter-intuitive, but the vertical societies of Japan and South Korea have flatter wealth gaps. It must be said that this is not so of China, which has almost American levels of income inequality and similar holes in their social safety nets, including a lack of a national healthcare. Much of the criticism to Bell’s 2015 book, The China Model, is due to the fact that he is based in China, which is not living up to its own traditional—or even its communist—philosophical ideals. Bell and Wang are aware of these problems and their study is thus more wide-ranging, exploring meritocratic variants from Japan and Singapore to France. 

France might not be a Confucian society, but within Europe the country is known for its top-heavy style of government. With a President who holds tremendous power and government ministries that are entrusted to promote regulation well beyond what is considered typical in other countries, it is seen within Europe as being more bureaucratic and paternalistic in its style of government. Wages and labor issues are much more strongly regulated than in neighboring countries and there is even a ministry that works on issues of language usage. When we think of rising waters caused by carbon emissions, for example, France was able to make tough and unpopular decisions regarding nuclear energy. I am not promoting nuclear energy per se—only making the point that when public opinion in Germany effectively stalled this carbon-clean form of energy, France was able to do what their scientists felt necessary to maintain a footprint that remains significantly less per person that that of Germany. Similarly, we can look at how a vertical system vs a non-vertical has handled other key issues. For example, how Singapore has addressed the perils of COVID vs. Italy or the US. How Korea addressed global recession in 2009 vs. Britain. How different countries are handling climate change—which are able to make rapid change vs those flailing due to their political systems and what the authors call the tyranny of public opinion. 

One modern requirement for a healthy democracy demands an educated and stable middle class. But what to do when the population eschews life-long learning and people no longer reads books—instead relying on corporate media pieces shared on social media designed to generate “clicks” by inflaming rather than informing—often to the detriment of nuance and truth? We now find ourselves in a world in which the 24-hour news cycle—fueled by social media—is eroding our ability to engage in critical reasoning to solve complex problems, or at least elect leaders that can. This is to ask: what happens when political decisions are held hostage to public opinion that itself is based on profound misunderstandings of science and history? Then what? Well, we would find ourselves in a society where one person’s ignorance is equivalent to someone else’s expertise. It is a lack of faith in experts that has led to an America that votes for politicians based on their personalities and star-quality rather than for demonstrated experience in leadership and government. We have a congress of successful business people and the lawyers who protect them. Contrast that with possible governments composed of physicists, engineers, medical doctors, chemists, and—wait for it—moral philosophers?

II.

In examining the distinction between relationships that are vertical (emphasizing hierarchy) vs. horizontal (valuing social equality), the authors tackle the concept of legitimacy. In Western democracies, notions of equality, checks and balances, as well as government transparency form the basis of legitimacy. We have seen in East Asian countries how things can tilt toward what has been called politely as “paternalistic.” The authors address this by suggesting that the moral justifications of leadership can be found in Confucian, Buddhist, and Daoist philosophies; they also appeal to simple common sense. For example, if economic inequality or other forms of social unrest becomes destabilizing, then the validity of the hierarchy needs to be questioned. We saw this happening in South Korea in 2016-2017, when millions of citizens took to the streets to demand the resignation of the President Park Geun-hye, as well as the firing of several members of her cabinet for various improprieties. 

The question can also be presented in reverse, by asking whether American-style individualism and the pursuit of happiness, freedom, and consumerism might become serious obstacles when crises demand sacrifice for the communal good? Is the most we can hope for equal opportunity to claw our way to the top regardless of the health and security of the group? Shouldn’t societies be judged by their treatment and protection of its weaker and more vulnerable members?

Of any modern country, Singapore perhaps takes the best stab at bringing this kind of thinking in how it structures its government. Being steeped in both British education and Confucian values, Singapore’s founders sought to blend East and West in ways that would create stability for a practically resourceless and tiny nation-state. While maintaining a Westminster system of government, Singapore’s ever-dominant People’s Action Party has sought to create socialistic, or collectivist aims using capitalistic methods. The “no beggar bowl” society has used government to create affordable housing, 94% homeownership, universal healthcare, retirement planning, top-tier education, often negative unemployment rates (currently 3% in the middle of a global economic crisis) and the world’s fourth highest Per Capita GDP exceeding that of every European and Western country aside from Luxembourg. Singapore has been consistently rated the most transparent government in the world for more than a decade – priding itself on having stamped out corruption and graft. A major reason why this all works for Singapore is people’s faith that their government has their best interests at heart and that stability and economic equality are higher priorities than individual choices or the weight of individual opinions. Like corporate executives, Singapore’s top leaders are paid salaries in excess of USD $1 million per year with bonus packages for meeting key economic and social metrics. In turn, the people expect their leaders to optimize their well-being—staying above the tides of public opinion and short-term politics. The Prime Minister and his Cabinet are entrusted with keeping the ship stable and on the right course—and they are considered to be the top minds and specialists capable of doing that. They are given a paternalistic deference to be allowed to do their jobs. The results of this social contract speak for themselves.

Over the years, Bell’s work has received criticism suggesting it is an apology of the Chinese party-state. But I think that misses the point since his ideas are not about the CCP but about communitarian values found in traditional East Asian thought and how these can inform the political system and our lives—both in China and the rest of the world. In discussing just hierarchy between citizens, for example, Bell and Wang take some time to remind readers of the strong points of the old imperial examination system in China, which was open to almost all members of society with exams taken blind to prevent a selection process that favored the children of aristocratic families. Europe would not see anything like it until comparatively recent times. Even now in Japan and France, top students of top universities compete with each other to enter government service and the government bureaucracy. In the West, bureaucracies are looked at with some disdain, though it has to be said that it is questionable whether a government of non-experts and a relentless business sensibility has created a better society. I would argue it has not. 

III.

Another chapter of particular interest was Chapter 3 on the “Just Hierarchy between States,” in which relations between nation-states must also be founded “on the need for reciprocity” (106). Invoking David Kang’s provocative book, East Asia Before the West, the authors point out that in 500 years of the Chinese Imperial Tributary System, there was only one war. Also that borders between China and the Tributary counties of Japan, Korea and Vietnam were respected during that period. Despite the fact that the countries were in an unequal relationship, they maintained balance and harmony. Bell and Wang suggest this happened because the system demanded that China act in ways that was not in always its immediate self-interest. For example, technology transfers and trade relations that were beneficial to the weaker states maintained in order for the status quo to be maintained. 

This might not sound very appealing. But in terms of climate change, don’t the developed and more powerful countries have an obligation to take into account that the average poor person in less developed parts of the world would likely prefer to climb out of poverty quickly by burning cheap coal as they have until now rather than accept cuts to progress that might be small potatoes for the average Californian. The problem with policies like the Paris Agreement is that they expect both poor and rich countries to make huge sacrifices for very small benefits. And how it must irk to be in a post-colonial country and hear the big boys in the north tell you that, sorry, you are late to the party. Taking a cue from the great Buddhist King Ashoka of India, the authors discuss the way more powerful countries can lead in ways that show humility. The authors are not-so-implicitly critical of China’s “wolf warrior diplomacy” and say that China can play a leading role in the East Asian region only if it gains the trust of neighboring countries by abandoning the attitude of moral superiority that characterized the tributary system and be open to learning from the cultures of neighboring states (137-38).

If we have learned nothing else in 2020, it’s that things can change very quickly with the local becoming the global. When the going gets tough, who do you want making decisions? I suggest you will want someone committed to the collective good. And you might also want a person not bound by special interest in election cycles. Someone who can make tough decisions based on rational and informed analysis of short and long-term community benefits and risks. We all know that our model of endless growth, personal optimization, and consumerism-as-citizenship is simply not sustainable, not for the planet and not even for those winning the race to the top. It is time to herald in a new age.

The problems we face will require working together, both in communities and more, between nation-states. Bell and Wang want us to acknowledge that beneficial hierarchies exist. And our job is to make use of them where appropriate to make a more just world. For as the authors take pain to insist, hierarchies exist no matter what, and it is our job as citizens to insist that they be the types that promote compassion and protection of the vulnerable—dare I say even economic justice—rather than those that do not.

Posted on 7 January 2021

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TRANSLATED INTO CHINESE AT RUJIAWANG

Cauldron Bubble

 

[First published in Dublin Review of Books]

Fermentation as Metaphor, by Sandor Ellix Katz, Chelsea Green Publishing, 128 pp, $25, ISBN: 978-1645020219

He calls himself a fermentation revivalist. With several award-winning books on the subject and a very large following on YouTube, Sandor Ellix Katz is part fermentation expert and part fermentation superstar. But I wondered: why revivalist? Did fermentation ever go out of fashion? Where I spent my adult life ‑ in Japan ‑ fermentation has always stood centre-stage. From soy sauce to miso and from sake to tsukemono, it is hard to imagine Japanese food without it.

I was inducted into the Way of Pickles early on in my Japan days. The first time I visited my ex-husband’s hometown in Shizuoka, the family egged me on to stick my hand into Grandma’s pickle jar. It was kept underneath the sink, and every day someone had to put their hand deep into the large ceramic jug and stir things up to keep the fermentation process going. This was called nukazuke, and Grandma Ogasawara was an expert. The nuka “bed” ‑ made from rice bran, salt, seaweed and some water ‑ required regular stirring for oxygenation. Why this had to be done with a human hand remained a mystery, one among many. Grandma would toss in cucumbers, radishes, eggplant, carrots, little onions or anything else she had on hand and then a few days or weeks later, eat accordingly. Because she never tossed out the nuka bed, the flavours became more complex over time. Or so the story goes. In the end, I did stick my hand in and give it a stir ‑ to everyone’s great delight. And his grandma rewarded me with the best pickles I had ever tasted.

One could no more easily imagine Japan without sake, mirin and soy sauce than Korea without kimchi or gochujang. And how about thinking of France without bread, cheese and wine? In Europe and beyond, you can still find wines made with naturally occurring yeasts. Indeed, there are purists who refuse anything other than biodynamic wine. It is part of the fight to reclaim cultural identity and part of the magic of terroir. Proponents of natural wine say industrial wines are not alive.

Katz also asks us to consider the Catholic Mass and the sacrament of bread and wine. If that’s not fermentation than I don’t know what is, he says. Indeed, many rituals and rites found in traditional cultures incorporate fermented beverages. Made from grains, fruit, and honey ‑ as well as yogurts and cheese ‑ these drinks can be traced back more than eight thousand years. And recently, the mold-based fermentation known as koji, used in Asian soy and fish sauces, miso, sake, vegetable pickling, and spicy sauces such as doubanjiang and gochujang, is gaining popularity in America and Europe. It is valued for its umami impact, that indescribable taste supercharger.

While his previous books, like the New York Times bestseller The Art of Fermentation, describe the concepts, processes, and health benefits of fermentation, in this book Katz explores fermentation as a metaphor.

What kind of metaphor? Well, you name it. Fermentation has long been used as a metaphor for societal change, cultural changes, political changes, economic changes ‑ it is even used in terms of spiritual changes. The English word is derived from the Latin fervere, which means to boil. But while fire consumes everything in its path, fermentation brings transformation. “Driven by bacteria that spawned all life on earth and continue to be the matrix of all life, fermentation is a force that cannot be stopped. It recycles life, renews hope, and goes on and on.”

And what is the fermentation metaphor without the bubbles? “Bubbles create movement,” Katz says, “literally exciting the substrate being transformed by the fermentation, bringing it to life.” When our ideas, our spirits, our thoughts bubble up, it shows that something exciting is taking shape, he continues. This is something that was not lost on physicist Richard Feynman, who once suggested that “All life is fermentation.”

I used to believe that all life is translation. I am a translator, you see. And if you stop and think about it, so much does come down to translation and interpretation. But then again, how much more comes down to fermentation!

Bubbles in the plural are, of course, different from bubble in the singular, and Katz talks a lot about the wonders of the former and the dangers of the latter. In particular, while bubbles thrive on soupy situations that require a multitude of microorganisms and elements, the singular version relies more on concepts of singleness or purity. For example, living in a liberal bubble might suggest an absence of other voices, unpleasant or otherwise. Concepts of racial purity, binary sexuality, or food purity have gone down even more slippery slopes of false categories and unscientific thinking. I know I personally hesitate when making mold-based pickles because I have a fear that I will create a Frankenstein’s monster in my pickle jar. I am wary of things not purchased on a supermarket shelf, such as wild mushrooms. I was therefore surprised to learn that pickled vegetables are among the safest items you can make at home.

In the same way that we now know that childhood exposure to diverse microorganisms can help protect against allergies, asthma, and other autoimmune diseases, so exposure to a diversity of different people can inoculate against racism and closed-mindedness. As Joan Harvey has written in her review of the book in 3 Quarks Daily: “Katz reminds us food is not clean, children are not pure, sexuality should not be suppressed. He even has sections on body odors and farting, though he does not go so far as to use farting as metaphor. Purist fantasies of race, blood, nation, culture, are just that, fantasies.”

It is true that our lives are governed by stark and absolute categories. “There’s good and bad, hot and cold, clean and dirty; there’s kindness and cruelty; there’s heaven and hell. In political reporting we hear about red states and blue states, though everywhere there is a diversity of opinions, even where the vast majority feels one way or another.” This seems like an obvious point, but in moving, for example from a Japanese language mindset to that of an English one, I have been struck again and again by the way dualism and dualistic categories dominate the way people think in English. And so I appreciated Katz driving the point home that life exists more along a spectrum ‑ and that bacteria are not possible in a pristine environment. Some level of contamination is required to achieve those bubbles.

Thinking back in terms of biodynamic wine, for example, Katz talks about the way that the modern approach, which uses chemicals to sterilise the crushed grapes in order to introduce a single strain of yeast is a serious departure from the long history of winemaking that always worked with the groups of microorganisms already present in the fruit.

Purity is impossible and contamination is inevitable. Katz repeats this several times. In a completely sterile environment, for example, fermentation would be impossible. While humans may single out particular bacteria or organisms to work with in their food labs, in nature they exist in interdependent clusters that are breaking down parts to give rise to new forms, and those in turn break down as well. This is an apt metaphor for social change as well, “which works as a source of mutation, transformation, and regeneration”.

Despite his strong opinions, Katz is not in favour of categorical stances. Having been diagnosed with HIV in his early life, he is kept alive by certain anti-viral medications. So, while he is the first to say that antibiotics and anti-viral drugs are good things to have around ‑ a very good thing indeed! ‑ their overuse is wreaking havoc on the natural ecosystems in the soil and in our bodies. His vision of the world is one of interdependence, where the boundaries between organisms are not quite as solid as we normally imagine. To illustrate this, more than half of the book is filled with gorgeous full-page photographs of the microbiotic world that were taken using an electron microscope. The images are artificially colorised to highlight the complexity of the structures and membranes. Not unlike our own human skin, the dividing line between the organisms appears porous and blurred. Scientists tell us that we are ourselves composed of a multispecies crowd with microorganisms making up 1-3 per cent of our body mass and comprising a vital role in human health.

So how can we better live in harmony with the natural world? How can we slow down and eat in a healthier and more sustainable way? Can we ever move beyond simplistic binary notions, including that of racial purity, food purity, language purity to get beyond the us versus the world mentality? These are all questions tackled by the great rock star of fermentation, who reminds us that,

Food offers us many opportunities to resist the culture of mass marketing and commodification … We do not have to be reduced to the role of consumers selecting from seductive convenience items. We can merge appetite with activism and choose to involve ourselves in food as co-creators.

It all reminded me of Richard Feynman, who also liked his fair share of bubbles. Feynman wrote about a nameless poet who said that the whole universe was in a glass of wine:

If our small minds, for some convenience, divide this glass of wine, this universe, into parts ‑ physics, biology, geology, astronomy, psychology, and so on ‑ remember that nature does not know it! So let us put it all back together, not forgetting ultimately what it is for. Let it give us one more final pleasure; drink it and forget it all!

How wonderful it must be to hold your wine glass up to the light and see stars and galaxies refracted there! And I do think that happiness demands this kind of slowing down and really seeing things. That is because when you slow down and become attentive to the world, you come to belong to the world as much as the world belongs to you ‑ even if just in that moment. The world is no longer a resource to be efficiently consumed but instead becomes lit up and embodied with voice and with sentiment, we and it an inseparable whole.