Dogless & Loveless
Newbie
Karma: +2/-0
 Offline
Posts: 13
|
 |
« on: October 24, 2006, 04:10:19 AM » |
|
How the Irish Saved Civilization -- by Thomas Cahill
Remember the Dark Ages? Well, we probably wouldn't have the privilege of doing so -- because they'd still be ONGOING -- if it weren't for the Irish. Yeah, if old St. Patrick and his loyal McMonks had not taken it upon themselves to transcribe most of Western literature prior to the collapse of the ROman Empire, we'd still be living in mud huts and thoroughly bubonic, not to mention aspiring to leech treatments instead of botox. The previous sentence pretty much summarizes the thesis of HTISC. It's a pretty bold theory, and (like many Irish things) a bit of a stretch. But Cahill does a fine job of explaining both HOW and WHY the Irish saved the whole fucking universe. Here's the WHY: Because of their insatiable lust for language (another topic much discussed in the book), the Irish, unable to write enough of their own material, went foraging into the wildes, where they would, upon finding new texts, spend months copying them by hand. They then brought these back to the Emerald Isle, where they (the books) remained unburned during the Darkest Ages of man.
It's an interesting story. In addition to this main theme, Cahill also talks about related subjects, such as:
1) Unholy Ireland -- prior to Christian influence. The origins of the Irish imagination.
2) The collapse of the Roman Empire. Why Christianity and taxation made it inevitable.
3) Sheela-na-gigs -- what they are, and why Polly Jean Harvey aspires to their aesthetic.
(NOTE that Cahill doesn't actually mention Pajama Harvey. That's just me stating the obvious!)
|
Author