Intro
This is Time's Corner, an occasional newsletter by Christian Leithart. I’m co-founder of Little Word and editor of Good Work magazine. By day, I teach, and by night, I edit this newsletter.
It is wonderful how much news there is when people write every other day; if they wait for a month there is nothing that seems worth telling.
So says the author of Penny Plain, a 1920 Scottish novel by John Buchan’s younger sister Anna. I can’t say the words describe my situation perfectly—after a few weeks away from Time’s Corner, I usually find myself with too much to say—but the result is the same. So many things happen that it’s hard to decide what’s worth telling. When you write a regular newsletter (weekly, say), you put everything in it. When you write an occasional one… Well, what constitutes an occasion for writing?
I’d like to return to publishing weekly, but for now, here’s a small pile of updates you might find interesting. Call it anything you want (buffet, smorgasbord, potpourri…). I prefer to call it a salmagundi.
A Monday Salmagundi
First, I’m pleased to announce that a short story I wrote will appear in Silence and Starsong Magazine (Volume 2, Issue 1) in Kindle, paperback, and hardcover. The release date is November 29, but you can go ahead and pre-order. S&S also published a piece of my flash fiction back in August, which you can read here.
Speaking of writing, I recently mentioned a free app called Tangent that I’ve started using. I should have experimented for a few more weeks before gushing about it. Like every program, it has pros and cons. For one thing, it’s not blazing fast. Sure, it’s faster than MS Word, but even a small delay can snag when you’re trying to open a quick note. I’ve started to lean more on Apple Notes for jotting thing down.
On the plus side, I discovered that you can make separate “workspaces” and organize them like folders. When I’m working on an essay or short story, for example, I create a workspace dedicated to that project and keep all my drafts and notes in the same place.
I’ve made no secret of my affection for Montaigne, an easy-as-pie way to create a website. Anton Podviaznikov, its creator, has released a new desktop version called Alto. He also has new micro-blogging service called public.me. Like most of his products, the concept is simple: What if you could blog using iMessage? I look forward to tinkering with it for the next few months.
Following Anton’s projects has been fun, but I’m leery of relying on them too much, just as I am of relying on any product maintained by a single developer (like Highland, Tangent, Bear, Micro.blog, NetNewsWire, and dozens of others that I like). Once the developer loses interest, money, or time, the app ceases to function smoothly and finally becomes unusable.
My students’ responses to The God Beneath the Sea ranged from “It was boring/confusing” (a standard middle school response to any book assigned by a teacher) to “I liked it, but I got really tired of the gods.” Perfect, I said. Exactly what I wanted.
Most of the students knew myths like Demeter and Persephone or Orpheus and Eurydice, but the adaptations typically assigned in elementary school make the stories too sweet and the characters too noble. While there is a place for that, especially in the early years, I was aiming at a different target. I wanted to arouse my students’ Christian fighting spirit. I wanted them to say, “That’s not right! Zeus should not be allowed to behave this way!” They’re in a good frame of mind to tackle their next assignment, Aeschylus’s Oresteia.
I’m re-reading The Lord of the Rings for the first time in probably fifteen years and it is even better than I remembered. The pacing, which I used to think too slow, is perfect. Not only does it fit the plot (which is essentially several arduous journeys), it gives you time to settle into each and every one of the characters—even Legolas, who used to annoy me. I was also struck by the characters’ uncertainty, especially Gandalf and Aragorn, who are constantly repeating some variation of “I don’t know.” And the songs! As a young reader, I skipped them. Now I couldn’t do without them.
While I have a great affection for the movies (a topic for another time), they completely miss some key aspects of the books. As others have said, Viggo Mortensen just doesn’t have the nobility of Aragorn, which is a shame because Aragorn’s whole character arc is that of a king returning to his rightful throne.
Another major difference between the books and the movies is the concept of power. In the movies, power is the same as force: Gandalf and Saruman duel by tossing each other around the room; Sauron throws elves against rocks with a sweep of his hand. In the books, power is almost closer to strength of will. The Balrog is a formidable foe for Gandalf not because he can kick down a door but because he can force a door open despite Gandalf’s wanting to keep it shut. The Ring doesn’t give you super-strength or the ability to call down lightning. It increases makes your will stronger than others’ so that they are forced to do your bidding.
I get it. It’s hard to display strength of will onscreen. That’s why the books are better.
Up To
Reading: The Mystery, by Stewart Edward White and Samuel Hopkins Adams. Fun yarn about the Royal Navy, a ghost ship, a mad scientist, and a band of mutineers.
Watching: The Iron Giant, my daughter’s first “grown-up movie”
Listening: The Farewell Drifters
About
I’m Christian Leithart, a writer and teacher living in Birmingham, Alabama. I’m not active on social media, but you can read my blog here. Use the button below to share this issue of Time’s Corner, if you so desire. Thanks much for reading.