Review: The Once and Future King

The Once and Future King by T.H. White
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So I originally had to read the first half of this book for school years ago, but I never actually got around to finishing the latter half till now. Incidentally, I enjoyed the second half of this book way more than the first half this time around.

The Once and Future King is a modern (well, WWII-modern) era retelling of the legends of King Arthur and his knights of the round table, largely based off of the medieval era work Le Morte d’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory (supposedly, anyway since no one seems to know who “Thomas Malory” actually is). It’s pretty noticeable, actually, given the number of times the narrator in this book goes, “I could talk about this story but you’d be better off hearing it from Sir Malory."

Which is to say that despite the apparent premise as a general overview of the life of King Arthur- and in fact people will often mark this book as THE go-to for an introduction to him- it’s a rather specialized work, focusing instead on the philosophical aspects of the Arthurian legend, and hence it tends to neglect other stories that might not contribute as much toward that end. The book, particularly the first (The Sword in the Stone: the happy-go-lucky source for the Disney children’s movie you may be familiar with, which in retrospect wasn’t all that happy) and last part (The Candle in the Wind), comes across almost as a treatise on leadership and its complexities, and in particular how the ideals and reforms that Arthur brings about with his reign, the age of chivalry, also ironically contribute to his own downfall.

I always sort of took it for granted that the legend of King Arthur was a tragedy just because… well, bad stuff happens to good people sometimes and tragedies are more interesting than happily-ever-after stories. But this book really homes in just exactly why his kingdom went downhill and how inevitably tragic it was. It’s pretty depressing to think about, but it makes sense. Arthur’s a good man at heart, but good and noble intentions don’t always make for good leadership if you aren’t willing to make serious sacrifices for your ideals from the get-go- and well okay, that only addresses just ONE of his many issues (in fact he ends up making many sacrifices, but to what avail is debatable). The story forces you to realize the limits of authority and the difficult choices that leaders are faced with on a continual basis, and just how hard it is to actually be an effective ruler when the people you have to rule over are just so damn flawed and frustrating.

A number of chapters from this book end up becoming rather abstract on that note- taking you out of the narrative to meditate on the underlying philosophy that White’s concerned with, and it can feel almost preachy at times when all you really care about is what will happen next. But the text even in these moments is still worth examining, as White’s concerns are more relevant to the present-day than one may realize.

I regret not finishing this book the first time around. While it seemed easy enough to look at all of Wart’s different animal adventures in The Sword and the Stone and conclude that obviously, the geese did things right (unless you supported the ants, you dirty commie), it’s another thing to actually see Arthur’s response to his lessons carry out into his lifelong occupation and to learn where it works and where it doesn't.

This holds even in the third part, which disproportionately concentrates on the decades-long scandalous though perhaps not-quite-steamy-enough affair of Lancelot and Guinevere/“Jenny”- which while not uninteresting or even irrelevant in itself (read: I was obsessed), did feel a bit jarring compared to the more Arthur-centric focus of the rest of TOFK. You still get glimpses of Arthur’s role throughout it and his continuously evolving struggle, as seen in the Quest for the Holy Grail and its actual purpose and consequences. And the Ill-Made Knight himself encapsulates the central conflict of the novel pretty well.

But yeah, Lancelot is also kinda pitiful and Guinevere is insufferable and Gawaine is stubborn and Mordred and Agravaine are insane and Galahad is amusingly a snob and Percival doesn't really do much and Merlin is the best unfortunate backwards-time-traveling mentor ever- at the end of the day, it was just plain fun to finally meet all these characters I’d heard of but never really knew that well or understood and get a glimpse into the wider world of Arthurian mythology. The Once and Future King may have been just White’s politically infused reinterpretation of the story of King Arthur in response to the political landscape he witnessed in the 20th century, but it’s also an promising example of what can be accomplished with these kinds of interpretations. It’s both entertaining and insightful.

Review: Indonesia, Etc.: Exploring the Improbable Nation

Indonesia, Etc.: Exploring the Improbable Nation by Elizabeth Pisani
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An interesting introductory overview to Indonesia from a Westerner's perspective. This book is primarily an account of the sabbatical year Pisani took traveling throughout the country around 2012 and her interactions with the locals, with occasional flashbacks to moments from previous trips up to 20 years before during her work as Reuters foreign correspondent and HIV/AIDS health worker. What results is a fairly entertaining and informative read- just enough to be accessible to anyone unfamiliar with the country and its history and culture.

Of course, much of Pisani's observations are colored by her point of view as an outsider- as can be seen in the offhand comments she sometimes makes about some traditions and customs, with her tendency to not-so-subtly insert her own opinions of what proper behavior should be. It can feel a little judgmental at times, like she's trying to impose Western understandings of morality and social behavior on peoples who have no conception of such things.

But then again, the converse is also true too. The opinions of many of the locals she meets makes Pisani herself seem open-minded and accepting in comparison, and the inter-island-traveler perspective that she brings enables her to see past the biases and racist attitudes that they often exhibit. And quite frankly, as explained in the book, many aspects of Indonesian society and politics are just plain contradictory or illogical in nature (the "sacred sex mountain" of Gunung Kemukus comes to mind), so her exasperated reactions are not unwarranted. The manner in which the author goes out of her way to experience indigenous lifestyles and still keep in touch with people she’s met years after the fact, often to her own personal inconvenience, is admirable enough in itself, so one can’t fault her for not trying to understand Indonesian culture; she does so perhaps moreso than most people ever could.

That said, Pisani herself acknowledges that for all the time that she spends trying to live like and among the locals, there is still a great deal about Indonesia that she will never actually know. It's all encapsulated in the typical blasé Indonesian response to the many questions she asks throughout the book: Begitulah. "That's just the way it is." Not everyone is happy with the status quo, but for the vast majority of Indonesians, it is a reality that they have to live with.

Although her writing does read like a backpacker’s travel diary much of the time, it also is conscious of the importance and influence of history and is surprisingly detailed when it comes to explaining it, while doing a good job of contextualizing it within her own experiences. Some of her concluding analyses, such as those regarding the nature of political corruption and the relationship between "religious" violence and economics, probably could have used more formal academic treatment or direct sources given how they’re almost presented as fact here, but I guess that partly reflects the mixed nature of this book as both travelogue and pseudo-history-textbook. Then again, I’m not sure how many English sources there are available currently about Indonesia- I get the impression that this book may be one of a few.

Speaking personally, this book was pretty eye-opening and new to me despite the fact that I've probably traveled to Indo more times in my life than any other country, although much of Pisani's descriptions of local attitudes, the cultural atmosphere, the beauty, the corruption and incompetence, the contradictions, it all felt very familiar. I can empathize with her sentiment here, of the country feeling like one giant Bad Boyfriend: "just when you think you are really getting to know it, it reveals some hidden secret, or reinvents itself completely... you know full well it will all end in tears, and yet you keep coming back for more."

Review: A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories

A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories by Flannery O'Connor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Morbidly Catholic. Probably the most appropriate way to describe this collection.

Just about all of the stories in this collection deal with Catholic- or well, really, Christian- conceptions of morality in the context of the American South, and all of the ways in which those notions have been twisted and at other times preserved within that culture. O'Connor sometimes takes these so-called morality plays to shockingly morbid extremes... that also ironically feel appropriate for the setting. Between this and Faulkner and other more contemporary examples like recent current events, I think I've come to expect this from the South.

While it might feel tempting to call these stories heavy-handed because of their obvious Catholic association, most of the ideas presented are handled as subtly and thoughtfully as would be expected in a well-written short story. With maybe one exception, I didn't really get a sense that I was being preached to or even solicited at any point; instead, I felt like I was being presented with complex, heavy conflicts and situations that didn't have easy solutions in real life. Or at least if only because in real life, people really are that flawed and hypocritical and make problems worse for themselves than need be. It is human nature, and O'Connor captures that aspect pretty well here.

Yes, O'Connor does tend to push for a certain Catholic/Christian moral standard at the end of the day that many of her characters fail to meet (except in ironic, grace-filled moments per Christianity), and whether or not or to what extent you agree with her ideas can be a whole other topic of discussion, but her presentation of these subjects in a creative and subtle way that forces you to reflect deeply on them is admirable and quite masterful in my opinion. The first and last stories in this collection ("A Good Man is Hard to Find" and "The Displaced Person") were my favorites in that regard, but many of the other stories are pretty good too.

Part of me wishes I'd gotten to read a collection like this for school- this is definitely the kind of short story worth analyzing in detail for, from the dialogue to the symbolism to the imagery and themes and all that- although I also get the feeling that I might not have enjoyed it as much if I'd been forced to do so. Ironically now that I'm reading this for fun, I don't have as much time to actually scrutinize it to that level of detail... but it's still enjoyable to read in its own way.