Hah, I am now reading scenes that are set almost exactly on today's date (March 26/27) and right before Palm Sunday, which is the day after tomorrow! Nice coincidence!
"and when one day Peachy came home to find him in the kitchen and asked what on earth he was doing, he said he was making scones for the glory of God."
Something to aspire to, I guess.
"The life of the intellect should be lived, if not in solitude, at least in the absence of domestic concerns."
This comes from a time where running a household, for those privileged enough to pursue a life of the intellect, was a full-time job. But it's certainly appealing even today.
I don't think it's necessarily true, though. Thinking without community, without doing, without dispute, becomes ungrounded and empty.
I know I quoted this before, but it's just so funny 😂
“She’ll study the morphology of the verbs or something, Peachy, you fool,” said Mr. Underhill. “She’s not doing her Master’s thesis in experimental pagan mysticism. One hopes.”
Couldn't decide which book to read next, so I'm re-reading Alice Degan's "From All False Doctrine". Don't know whether I'll post notes 🤷🏻
So I'm still thinking about Elsa's (and Kit's) conversion in "From All False Doctrine". At first, I thought it felt unrealistic: her problems with the faith she was brought up in were so intellectual (she didn't get answers to questions she had, it was all hollow enthusiasm to her) - but then she's basically converted by aesthetics, just like Kit, even before seemingly successfully casting out a demon? Where's the intellectual satisfaction?
(1/n)
So, Alice Degan's "From All False Doctrine". Set in Toronto in the 1920s, it's surprisingly difficult to categorize. There's an obvious romance aspect: we follow four people, who organize themselves into two couples early on. Harriet, a heiress, and Elsa, a farmer's daughter and an atheist, are university students and friends; Peachy, a chaotic musician and composer, and Kit, a priest, are brothers and friends.
(1/n)
"he said, ‘You’re right, and I know you only have my best interests at heart because you love me.’ And then all three of them laughed about it—‘Yes, we love you, isn’t it tiresome? [...] it was a revelation: They work at it. They try, they do the right things, most of the time, and the result is this beautiful place where love presides even over stupid arguments."
How I wish I could do that, and how I fail.
Underhill's background, somewhat weirdly, is very similar to Jon Snow's in "A Song of Ice and Fire", isn't it? Right down to the celibacy. Huh.
Long time, no reading notes from me. I did read, but it was test-reading a mutual's novel, so no notes here.
But now! I'm starting Alice Degan's "From All False Doctrine", recommended by @irina.
Ancient manuscripts, cults, and academia in the 1920s.
Jules