Panic Signs - Cristina Peri Rossi

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Books
Genre:	Literature & Fiction
Tagline:	Loss of Rights & Descent into Terror of an Oppressive Dictatorial Regime

"It is time to say that man, before receiving the benefits of culture, should receive the benefits of order. In a certain sense, it can be said that, historically, the policeman has taken precedence over the teacher." —Benito Mussolini

This is a collection of 46 short texts of poetic prose written just prior to the military takeover of the author's home country of Uruguay in 1972. It is a difficult book, difficult first for its subject matter; it tells of the terrible happenings as a country lets itself slip into a police state, the despair of houses being torn apart in police searches and people being arrested on trumped up charges and presages the horrors that were to come: the disappearances, censorship, repression and torture. The author herself would have her works banned and be forced to leave the country for her own safety, where she lives to this day in Barcelona. 

But the book is difficult for another reason. It is full of metaphor. "Man is a hunter of signs...existence has no meaning without interpretation", but the author's signs are often not easy to interpret. But we are reassured that signs are multiple and this is how it should be. "There is no one reading," she writes "though politicians sometimes do not understand [this], nor even visionaries and mystics." It is understandable if we do not understand, the purpose is to create uneasiness, to evoke sensations of panic through nightmarish visions, and to explore the redemptive power of the erotic and the absurd. 

For example, the reader might rather skip over the horrific description of a body whose organs keep expanding, a metaphor for the organs of the state stifling out all life. The birds in blue feathers represent authority, the higher their rank the more they stink. Blue is the colour of their uniform and is used throughout to symbolize the iciness and desolation of the world outside, unlike the warmth and darkness of the womb. 

"I read your book... It's a bit confusing... Maybe you could explain it to me?" a señora asks an author who is male but represents Cristina Rossi herself (the boundaries of sexuality sometimes blur). "If I knew I wouldn't have written it," he replies, and later "I write it the way I dream." The use of metaphor is supposed to be confusing and alienating, and when the señora asks him if he at least can relieve the uneasiness he has caused by making love to her, he politely refuses and explains why and she is sorry for him. He gives her a ticket to the museum where he will be on display by "state decree", a living image preserved forever of a world in decline. 

This has been a difficult book to explain, to interpret or to review. It is beautifully translated, poetic, satirical, imaginative, multi-layered and Kafka-esque. I hope the above at least gives some idea of the atmosphere of this complex and artistic work.

June Dreams

In her sleep, she dreams
And in her dream, she sleeps.
And in this sleep, she dreams,
She dreams that she is waking,
But in the mirror of her mind
She sees herself still fast asleep.
'Tis but a dream within a dream
In which she opens out her eyes
Feels the world beneath her feet
And shivers with delight.

—okei

Leighton, "Flaming June" (1895)

The above can be considered as a loose translation of the following limerick I wrote as a kid, except in this it's a man who's dreaming in a dream. It was the only poem I ever wrote in a foreign language and also the only poem I wrote that I can remember which is the reason why it's here. One day hopefully I'll unearth where all the other poems I wrote as a child went to, but until then I'll just imagine that they were fantastic.

"homme"=man, "rêve"=dream, "se lever"=wake up, "dans" = inside... you get the gist!

Il y avait un homme qui a rêvé
Qu'il était en train de se lever
Mais il a pensé que c'était
Un rêve qui était
Un rêve dans un rêve qu'il rêvait.
 
—okei (1994)

          Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)     

And finally for a wake-up call!!!
A poem I've loved ever since I discovered it in a book of quotations.

         "Psalm of Life"
    Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
        Life is but an empty dream ! —
    For the soul is dead that slumbers,
        And things are not what they seem.
    Life is real !   Life is earnest!
        And the grave is not its goal ;
    Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
        Was not spoken of the soul.
    Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
        Is our destined end or way ;
    But to act, that each to-morrow
        Find us farther than to-day.
    Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
        And our hearts, though stout and brave,
    Still, like muffled drums, are beating
        Funeral marches to the grave.
    In the world's broad field of battle,
        In the bivouac of Life,
    Be not like dumb, driven cattle !
        Be a hero in the strife !
    Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant !
        Let the dead Past bury its dead !
    Act,— act in the living Present !
        Heart within, and God o'erhead !
    Lives of great men all remind us
        We can make our lives sublime,
    And, departing, leave behind us
        Footprints on the sands of time ;
    Footprints, that perhaps another,
        Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
    A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
        Seeing, shall take heart again.
    Let us, then, be up and doing,
        With a heart for any fate ;
    Still achieving, still pursuing,
        Learn to labor and to wait.

—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1838)

Sizzle and Burn - Jayne Ann Krentz

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Books
Genre:	Literature & Fiction
Tagline:	Very Entertaining Paranormal Romance Thriller

Raine is looking through her late Aunt Vella's house that has been left to her when immediately she makes an unpleasant discovery. She soon finds herself the target of a psychopath and simultaneously gets caught up in a feud between two rival secret organisations, the mysterious J&J and the ruthless and deadly Nightshade, when the über-confident investigator Zack Jones of the former comes knocking at her door.

Raine and Zack share one goal – to find out who really was behind Aunt Vella's death because neither believe she died of a heart attack as supposed. There's immediately a sexual chemistry between the two as they embark on their quest, but their motives are different and J&J's operatives have betrayed her family in the past, so Raine is wary of history repeating itself.

So far, so good – a romance thriller which keeps the reader in suspense as we take a fun, but predictable if a little jerky ride to an inevitable triumph of good over evil. But there is another ingredient here that permeates every fibre of the novel and gives it life, and gives it fire! And that is the paranormal... Raine is sensitive to emotions left behind in objects – they create voices in her head; Zack too, but instead he has visions. Zack also has a rare mirror talent that allows him to anticipate an attack and avoid it, and conversely crowds will part to let him through.

But the enemies have talents too. With talents comes the inner need to use them, with special powers come special responsibilities, and power can easily go to the head. "Burn witch burn," cries the Bonfire Killer, but love triumphs over hate, danger is averted and the history of humanity is re-written. But was it all but a strange dream, entrancing but forgettable? Ooops, the lady Raine heard that as she sits back in the middle of her sofa, arms outstretched, a cat on either side and she gives her characteristic "screw-you" smile. Err... well despite that, it was a fun read, and I think it would make a great movie.

Revision & Exam Technique

I wrote this several years ago... for my brother, lol. For most of us who (like me) are past all this now, sorry for dredging up bad memories. But at least we can count our blessings and think how lucky we are that it's all over. Hopefully...I guess there'll still be interviews though, and trials of other kinds, and also that driving test I might get round to doing one day. I mean if Mr. Bean can get a driving license, can't we all? So for those of us for whom this isn't remotely useful, we can just laugh and enjoy the video of Mr. Bean and his exam. 



_________________________
  Obviously it helps if you know your stuff, so the first key thing is ORGANIZATION. You have a separate file for each subject, you have a course syllabus for each subject and if possible a few past exam papers to get an idea of the kind of questions they usually ask so you know what to concentrate on and what words to look out for when preparing. You take a quick skim at these past questions and all that needs to be done before you even begin.

        Now, you've got this mass of material, papers and books for each subject, the next problem is UNDERSTANDING. In order not to be overwhelmed by the quantity of stuff, you look through the syllabus and understand the structure of the course, like the chapter headings. One chapter at a time, you read through all the information and your lecture notes and if you've got time take your own brief notes or reminders on the material. Your own notes should never be more than a page per lecture and they should be relatively neat. There are other things you know which you do not write down, but might come in useful in the exams - this is only the things which you have to remember which will trigger the rest. They are your notes so they only need to be detailed enough to trigger stuff off in your mind. They might even be completely useless for someone else.

        The previous stage should be quite fun; it's just learning about stuff. The next requires concentration and best with absolutely no music! It is MEMORIZATION. The great danger is to leave this too late; you have to absolutely force yourself to set aside some time and do it (and if possible you should try to come back to stuff you've memorized a week, a month, then three months and then a year later to make it stick in your memory, but this requires great discipline and I never manage to do this). Ok, you understand the subject, now go through your notes sub-chapter by sub-chapter, read and try to repeat as much of the information as you remember, not word-for-word (only the medieval scholars could do that because they were memory gurus!) but all the information and do also bring to mind examples and detailed stuff which were in the books but which you didn't bother writing notes on; check back if you've forgotten anything important in the notes and try again until you have it down pat. Then move onto the next subsection etc.. It's very important to remember (i)  what the sections and subsections are, and (ii) how each-subsection starts, so the rest is triggered. In the exam, you might be asked "Write an essay on Chapter 3", so you just write out a version of your notes with a few other things thrown in that you happen to remember.

        Having finished memorization, if you've still got time before the exams, then you turn to PAST PAPERS which will just cement what you have learnt in your mind and is a way of testing you and finding cracks in your knowledge.

        On the night before or morning of the exam, you just do a quick RECAP of all your mini-notes.

In summary,
ORGANIZATION, UNDERSTANDING, MEMORIZATION, PAST PAPERS & RECAP.

The first three are the most important!!

        If you've done all this, you go to the exam knowing you're going to do ok, so you arrive on time, you're relaxed and you just want to do as well as possible. Many exams are based on mark schemes, so the key is to give as many points of information and facts as possible because each fact is rewarded with marks. For any exam question, you think "what parts of the course is this testing me on?" and this will help you to answer their question even if it requires a lot of thinking, e.g. you know it's a question related to Ch.4 but you don't see exactly how it's related, so you go through Ch.4 in your mind and suddenly see what might possibly be useful.
_______________________

        For the exam itself, the first thing is TIMING. Read instructions, work out which questions you want to answer and estimate how long you want to spend on each question, e.g. 4 questions in 2 hours means half an hour each, or if some questions are worth more you alter accordingly. Inevitably you might be taking longer than half an hour on the first question, but you notice that this is happening and you turn up the pressure inside you to get a move on to the next question so you definitely won't take more than 40-45 minutes and you'll really make sure you make back some of that lost time on the next question. At least you can be flexible like "just a couple more paragraphs please and I'll be done" but the stop-clock to finish at the end is not so kind. Start with the questions that you're best at, but if a question will require you to sit down and think and prepare e.g. "the long essay question", don't leave
this to right at the end because that is the most pressured time and this time is best used for writing "everything you know" in a hurry.

        The second thing is HANDWRITING and STRUCTURE. Write legibly and in clearly marked paragraphs so the examiner can take one look at a paragraph, read the first sentence, skim through the paragraph and see you've used that key word or phrase he's looking for and give it a tick without even bothering to read it. Illegible handwriting puts the examiner in a bad mood because even if he could make out what you're saying, the effort is hurting his head. So, when you're in a rush at the end, just scribbling down extra things that might earn extra marks, it might not be a bad idea to write in bullet points, and underline important words. Structure is of course easy if you're just writing out a version of your notes, or when writing an essay if you've taken out a couple of minutes to prepare the form of the essay.

        The final thing is CONTENT. Don't go off on tangents, but stick to the parts of the notes or books which directly answer the question (unless you run out of things to say). Remember you're trying to "get" the question, i.e. get what is on the examiner's mark scheme, so it's very predictable stuff most of the time.

In summary,
TIMING, HANDWRITING & STRUCTURE and CONTENT.

Harness of Transmutation

Suspended helpless, wrapped in gauzy thread
She stretches, pulls a strand above her head,
Resistance, firm, it binds her naked will,
Relenting, she surrenders and holds still,
Love's potion drunk, she climbs the narrow stairs
And by the garden pool forgets all cares,
The Universe and consciousness in One,
Together as the sun sets, let us run!

—okei

Yeke Yeke (Mory Kanté)

I wish I knew what the lyrics were saying in English, but maybe it's best to just enjoy...

Ariadne

Reader, let me recall a tale, 
A tale you'll think you've heard before
Of joy and sadness, love and loss,
The ever-changing whims of fate,
How the thread that binds can set us free
And love be rapt in its reflection.

I think of princess Ariadne
And how she helped young Theseus
To slay the Minotaur and flee
With her from the shores of Knossos,
Where youths and maidens both alike
Lost their lives in the labyrinth.

But stopping at Naxos she slept
And there he left her and went home,
Confused and weary, sad and lost,
The black sail bore a tale of grief.
Aegeus jumped into the sea
And Athens thronged to crown him king.

But how had love's sweet grapes turned sour?
And what of stranded Ariadne?
Could one forget a girl so fair?
We can but trace back through the maze
And smell the vines of ancient Crete
And dream of how it might have been.

—okei

J. W. Waterhouse, "Ariadne" (1898)

I think a dolphin long ago
Swam into Amnissos Cave
When the seas swept higher than now
(but gently like the beat of women dancing),
Swinging him to the hidden place
Where Ariadne kept her secret snake.

Libation from that ancient intercourse
Seeped from the island cave
Throughout the labyrinth of time and space
Threading the rigid world of Then and Now

So that whenever we may live or where,
A pathway may be dimly sensed
Or followed in the lightning flash of dream
Back to that source and spring of certainty,
Giving unspoken knowledge of each other
    And ourselves.

—Mary Reid (1953-2003)