2021 #2 The Clan of the Cave Bear (Auel)

 

The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It took a bit for me to get into this one, but once it became centered on Ayla and her journey/growth, I became engrossed. The book engages with Cro-Magnon and Neanderthal anthropology without hitting you over the head with it, although certain moments are fairly obvious. The paternalism of the clan is rather disagreeable for modern sensibilities, but I don't think it is supposed to be otherwise (and it is likely accurate from an anthro perspective). Auel's descriptive writing is excellent and there were moments where you forget that woolly mammoths no longer walk the earth. I found the explanation of the clan's language truly artful and well developed and it isn't a far leap to realize that, at least historically, gesture and dance were more rooted in language than speech.

I'm glad I finally read this classic and look forward to The Valley of Horses.

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2021 #1 The Abolition of Man (C.S. Lewis)

 

The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For me, the mark of a good thinker and writer is one with whom I can meaningfully engage even if I disagree with them. This is most assuredly the case with C.S. Lewis. This highly debated works is quintessential Lewis in its wit (see the opening chapter), its encyclopedic knowledge, and its unapologetic anchor in Christian theology. When I read Lewis it feels like a bit of a dance, except that we very much switch off who leads. I step forward and say, "you are appropriating the Tao" and then he steps forward and says, "but am I wrong about eugenics?" He twirls me around with comments like: "...the modern situation permits and demands a new sexual morality: the old taboos served some real purpose in helping to preserve the species, but contraceptives have modified this and we can now abandon many of the taboos" (33) until I realize that he certainly does not agree that women have a choice when it comes to their own bodies.

It is important to realize that these lectures (originally commissioned by the University of Durham) were delivered in 1943, so Lewis's warnings against technological power and creation of an "artificial Tao" are easily understood. Even when he puts aside some of his more fanciful philosophical footwork, he makes statements that resonate profoundly today (and perhaps for evermore): "I am very doubtful whether history shows us one example of a man who, having stepped outside traditional morality and attained power, has used that power benevolently" (66).

It is a potent defense of natural law. I say this not because I agree with him, but because there is a lot here that rings true and has played out in the 80 years since these lectures were published. I wonder what he might think of education today, given his allowance for emotion and and magic as part of his objective truth (or, more accurately, Truth). Certainly if debates that crowd our societal stage today were conducted with the same level of knowledge and thoughtfulness, we'd likely be making more progress (defined broadly). Reading Lewis moves us away from collecting sound bytes and invites us to invest in the true realities of the human condition.