On the Prospect of Establishing a Pantisocracy in America

Whilst pale Anxiety, corrosive Care,

The tear of Woe, the gloom of sad Despair,

And deepen’d Anguish generous bosoms rend;–

Whilst patriot souls their country’s fate lament;

Whilst mad with rage demoniac, foul intent,

Embattled legions Despots vainly send

To arrest the immortal mind’s expanding ray

Of everlasting Truth;–I other climes

Where dawns, with hope serene, a brighter day

Than e’er saw Albion in her happiest times,

With mental eye exulting now explore,

And soon with kindred minds shall haste to enjoy

(Free from the ills which here our peace destroy)

Content and Bliss on Transatlantic shore.

The only problem is, now America itself is the problematic despotic state from which to flee and build new communities. So, maybe Gorringe is a good place to turn for advice?

3. Someone asked Abba Anthony, ‘What must one do in order to please God?’ The old man replied, ‘Pay attention to what I tell you: whoever you may be, always have God before your eyes; whatever you do, do it according to the testimony of the holy Scriptures; in whatever place you live, do not easily leave it. Keep these three precepts and you will be saved.

4. Abba Anthony said to Abba Poemen, ‘This is the great work of a man: always to take the blame for his own sins before God and to expect temptation to his last breath.’

6. Abba Pambo asked Abba Anthony, ‘What ought I to do?’ and the old man said to him, ‘Do not trust in your own righteousness, do not worry about the past, but control your tongue and your stomach.’

7. Abba Anthony said, ‘I  saw the snares that the enemy spreads out over the world and I said groaning, ‘What can get through from such snares?’ Then I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Humility.’

9. He also said, ‘Our life and our death is with our neighbour. If we gain our brother, we have gained God, but if we scandalise our brother, we have sinned against Christ.’

(this next two hit home for me, windbag that I am)

17. One day some old men came to see Abba Anthony. In the midst of them was Abba Joseph. Wanting to test them, the old man [Anthony] suggested a text from the Scriptures, and, beginning with the youngest, he asked them what it meant. Each gave his opinion as he was able. But to each one the old man said, ‘You have not understood it.’ Last of all he said to Abba Joseph, ‘How would you explain this saying?’ and he replied, ‘I do not know.’ Then Abba Anthony said, ‘Indeed, Abba Joseph has found the way, for he has said, ‘I do not know.’

18. Some brothers were coming from Scetis to see Abba Anthony. When they were getting into a boat to go there, they found an old man who also wanted to go there. The brothers did not know him. They sat in the boat, occupied by turns with the words of the Fathers, Scriptures and their manual work. As for the old man, he remained silent. When they arrived on shore they found that the hold man was going to the cell of Abba Anthony too. When they reached the place, Anthony said to them, ‘You found this old man a good companion for the journey?’ Then he said to the old man, ‘You have brought many good brethren with you, father.’ The old man said, ‘No doubt they are good, but they do not have a door to their house and anyone who wishes can enter the stable and loose the ass.’ He meant that the brethren said whatever came into their mouths.

19. The brethren came to Abba Anthony and said to him, ‘Speak a word; how are we to be saved?’ The old man said to them, ‘You have heard the Scriptures. That should teach you how.’ But they said, ‘We want to hear from you too, Father.’ Then the old man said to them, ‘The Gospel says, “if anyone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also.” (Matt 5:39) They said, ‘We cannot do that.’ The old man said, ‘If you cannot offer the other cheek, at least allow one cheek to be struck.’ ‘We cannot do that either,’ they said. So he said, ‘We cannot do that either.’ Then the old man said to his disciple, ‘Prepare a little brew of corn for these invalids. If you cannot do this, or that, what can I do for you? What you need is prayers.’

35. Abba Anthony said, ‘Whoever hammers a lump of iron, first decides what he is going to make of it, a scythe, a sword, or an axe. Even so we ought to make up our minds what kind of virtue we want to forge or we labour in vain.’

(Slavoj Zizek, Living in the End Times, 2011, p. 52).

Thank you, Alastair!

Understanding the Pre-Digital Book

Helene Cazes, Adriaan Van der Weel, Iain Higgins, and Erin Kelly (with Ray Siemens)

This seminar is aimed at literary scholars, historians, archivists, librarians, booklovers, and others — whether or not they have a digital humanities project in mind — who wish to learn more about book culture in history and contexts from the medieval through early modern periods. Each class session will combine intensive lectures with individual and small group hands-on work with items from UVic’s special collections to focus on the circumstances of production and the continuous reception of objects that were “unique reproductions” (manuscripts) and “repetitive reproductions” (printed books). By providing an overview of textual creation, transmission, and conservation, this seminar will offer digital humanists an introduction to the methodologies and reference tools (historical, codicological, and contemporary) necessary to understand a book in its original contexts and thus to make informed encoding decisions. All will receive a toolkit that enables them to analyze and describe archival materials, facsimiles, and editions in a variety of ways and thus will leave the class ready to read, understand, and produce a bibliographical entry that could accompany a digital edition. Consultations on the bibliographical issues related to individual projects will be available; students who have a particular book (or type of book) they would like to work on are encouraged to contact the instructor before enrolling.

Check it out here.