Reading while the world burns

First, I have a poem for you.

Covers

Don't judge a book by its cover
Unless you are looking for something specific
Then you can judge for yourself.
If you’re looking for a bit of light-hearted fun
Then look for the cover that’s bright with whimsy
Whose vibrant hues practically squeal delight.
Or if you're in the mood for a spot of mystery
Then go to the shadowy tones and shapes
And perhaps a title that asks a question?
Perhaps your preference lies with sci-fi
Speculative and sparse, and perhaps a bit starry
These covers are sure to intrigue.
Do you want to be heartbroken or mended
Literary covers with nebulous titles will surely attract
And artwork designed with that in mind.
It could be a subject that you wish to learn
In which case the subtitle is the thing that will earn
Your attention from the rest of the shelf.
No matter how you look at it
You judge every cover just a little bit,
And guess what? That’s okay. 

~ Original poem by Caitlin Mallery

Next, I have a new word that I learned in my recent reading.

Jingoism - an extreme form of nationalism or patriotism, especially in the form of aggressive or warlike foreign policy.

This word was developed and used during Russia's transition from imperial power to socialism and communism at the beginning of the 20th century. For me, it feels like the most correct word to define the characteristics of the current American administration and its followers. So I would like to bring it back into common parlance. I came across this word while reading Dr. Zhivago by Boris Pasternak.

There have been plenty of people drawing correlations between various dystopian novels and the present situation. Books like Farenhiet 451, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Hunger Games, and 1984 are often referenced with good reason. But the disservice of dystopian speculative fiction is that it really does not tell us how to live when the world crumbles around our ears. Dr. Zhivago offers many parallels to our current reality. He and the other characters are thrust into a world where morality is determined by the government, which can change rapidly. The mercurial nature of revolutions it such that ordinary people find themselves deeply unsettled and apprehensive at all times. Dr. Zhivago’s fears and experiences of arrest, conscription, and family upheaval are often set against his keen awareness of the beauty of nature and love. There are so many quotes that I marked in my book.

“As long as the order of things had allowed the well-to-do to be whimsical and eccentric at the expense of the deprived, how easy it have been to mistake for a real face and originality that whimsicality and the right to idleness which the minority enjoyed whiel the majority suffered!
Bus as soon as the lower strata arose and the privileges of the uper strata were abolished, how quickly every faded, how unregretfully they parted with independent thinking which none of them, evidently, had ever had!” page 204

“It is only in bad books that living people are divided into two camps and don’t communicate. In reality everythings so interwoven!” page 354

“The death of a man at the hands of another was a rarity, an extradornary phenomenon, out of the common run. Murders it was supposed, happened only in tragedies, in detective novels, and in newspaper chronicles of events, not in ordinary life.
And suddenly this leap from serene, innocent measuredness into blood and screaming, mass insanity, and the savagery of daily and hourly, lawful and extolled murder. The social delusion was all enveloping, contagious.” page 479

There are many moments in the story of Dr. Zhivago that illustrate the challenges of living in a world turned upside down. The importance of pausing to listen to the birds, to smell the flowers, to linger in the embrace of those we love. These are not things any of us should take for granted, and they will help us maintain our sanity and humanity in chaos.

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This is not the first book I have read about this period in history. Some years ago, I read The Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain, an autobiography that addresses the significant ways in which World War 1 changed the lives of so many. I may go in search of others, specifically those who examine how people of color experienced social upheaval in the post-war period.

I also think that Moon of the Crusted Snow and Moon of the Turning Leaves by Waubgeshig Rice provide some insights into how we live when things fall apart. These dystopian novels are from an Indigenous perspective, highlighting the constant upheaval that so many indigenous people have had to go through over the past four centuries.

As a patriot, whose ancestors made choices that led to the United States of America being my home, I want to honor the land I live in. The best way I know how to do so is to read and listen to the stories of people from all walks of life. In order to maintain hope in the face of war and social unrest, I must look to those who have walked such things before. And I do not mean the winners, the powerful, or the wealthy. Those parasites survive by causing destruction. The stories I want are the ones that almost break, but come out the other side more compassionate, more resilient, and more determined to create a better world for those who followed. It may sometimes seem as if they failed, but if I am here writing this, and you are here reading it, then there is still hope.

May this week bring patience to your senses and your soul.