Confucius, The Analects: Chinese thought on how to live

So I have had an in depth look over my plan today, and Herodotus, that I've just finished reading, is not scheduled to post until the ninth of August. So there may be some slight changes to the plan coming. I'm not sure exactly what they are yet but it might be as simple as posting more often while we get through the back log. Nothing is set in stone yet and I have a lot of writing to do in the mean time. Watch this space.

Synopsis
The Analects is a brief collection of sayings and writings from Confucius and his disciples. It centers around the Superior Man and how he interacts with society around him. The focus is on "The Way" or the moral and good way under Heaven. The Chapters are told as conversations between the master and his disciples and are considered to be written by the disciples after Confucius' death. It covers, as part of "The Way", Virtue, Ritual and Goodness and how they enrich the Superior Man.

Reflections
We know that the Chinese have taught Confusionism and it shows. I found this an interesting window into why the Chinese are so big on respecting their parents. This text teaches that to do as your parents instruct is part of "The Way" of the superior man.
It is also interesting to see the basic threads of "keeping face" starting to tie themselves together, with its emphasis on acting the part no matter what. This is something we see strongly in a lot of Asian cultures, to differing degrees. There would be nothing worse than to bring dishonour on your family. It remind me a little of Mushu in Disneys Mulan "Dishonour on you, Dishonour on your cow, dishonour on your whole family".

Comparisons
There is not a whole lot to compare the Analects to as it is both my first text from an Asian view point as well as the first philosophical text. We won't see any western philosophy for quite sometime yet. The one way we can compare it is if we consider it a religious text. It has definitely been follow like a religion at times but it does not have a higher power  of any type or heaven. but like a lot of religious texts it does spend a lot of time on how you should live. It focuses on the morality of the Superiour man, while the advice itself is different it is similar to the book of proverbs in the bible in its short pithy statements on how best to live.

Have you read The Analects? If so what did you think of it?

Want to read The Analects but haven't? Hopefully this inspires you to take the time to do so.
Get a copy of Analects.

The Nibelungenlied: A good husband requires bloody revenge

I ordered new books today, this always seems to make me excited even though they will take a couple of weeks to show up, but what do you expect when you order from the UK. I ordered three of the five works by Dante and they will be the only three I can actually read. For the other two I could not easily find an English translation, so I have chosen to remove them from my list.
In other news, my husband just landed a new job and is going to be working weekdays and standardised hours, which will be a nice change after working night shift, or rotating shifts, the last few years.

The Story
The first half of the Nibelungenlied is about Siegfried and how he obtains Kriemhild's hand in marriage by helping her brother Gunther win Brunhild's hand in marriage. After they are married, Siegfried and Kriemhild return to Siegfrieds native Denmark. They are persuaded to come back to Worms, Kriemhilds family seat, for a festival. The two queens get into an argument and Brunhild is greatly embarrassed. Brunhild enlists her kinsman, Hagen, to deal with Siegfried. Hagan then, during a hunt, slays Seigfried; and Kriemhild spends the rest of the first half of the book mourning.

The second half of the Nibelungenlied deals with Kriemhilds second marriage to Etzel, King of Hungary and the surrounds. At first she lives with him and his people and seems happy enough, until a plot for revenge stirs in her heart. She persuades Etzel to invite her brothers, the kings at Worms, and the family to come and visit for a festival. During that festival, she sends troops after troops to slay the visiting party, especially Hagen. The Burgundians from Worms make a good accounting of themselves, but are eventually killed by one of the many forces the Queen sends against them.

Reflections
It takes a bit to get your head around the change in meaning of Nibelung. In the first half of the text it refers to Siegfried's men, from somewhere north of Denmark, while in the second half it refers to the Burgundian, from Worms. This change is noted in the translation notes but it still feels a little odd. It does reinforce the translator's idea that the second half is borrowed from a much older poem.
Kriemhild never takes any responsibility for how she embarrassed Brunhild, which was the catalyst for Siegfrieds death; rather, she continues to set the full blame to rest on Hagens shoulders. Hagen is the one who did the killing but there is more to the story than that.
The fact that Hagen takes Siegfried's sword seems like salt in the wound for Kriemhild and is a demonstration of his absolute lack or remorse and just how justified he believes Siegfried's death was.
The shear amount of troops Kriemhild sends against the Burgundians is preposterous. Etzel seems to be unwilling to stop her at the cost of many of the lives of his men and vassals. The Burgundians strength is impressive,g as they repel wave after wave, only slowly losing the more important men. Eventually, quantity beats quality.

Comparisons
While the tone and understanding of vassalage is comparable with the Song of Roland and our main character is trying to do everything for the kings good; in the Nibelungenlied, Siegfried is actually a king in his own right from another land rather than a vassal to the local King Gunthar. Also the Nibelungenlied deals with far more homeward focused issues: marriages and festivals. Also, the deaths involved are not in war, but rather in treachery. Both Siegfried's death, by a family member of his wife, and the Burgundian party's attack after they were offered hospitality, are treacherous by the standards of the time and of the setting.
The name Siegfried is in common with Beowulf, both do amazing feats of strength and courage, though their deaths are very different. In the Nibelungenlied, Siegfried is kill by a treacherous uncle. While in Beowulf, he is killed by a dragon, while trying to keep his people safe.

Have you read The Nibelungenlied? If so what did you think of it?

Want to read The Nibelungenlied but haven't? Hopefully this inspires you to take the time to do so.
Get a copy of Nibelungenlied.

First 50 of the AD Literature list: Updated

So here is my updated first 50 list I've added The Volsung saga and the Edda as well as splitting the divine comedy into its three volumes to line it up with how I am doing series in the BC list. As I've said previously I can't get two of my planned works for Dante in English and so I have crossed them off the list.
Also after conversation with my husband I have also added the City of God which I will have to go back to at some point.

500	Augustine	The City of God
1000	Unknown	Beowulf
1100	Unknown	The song of Roland
1200	Unknown	The Nibelungenlied
1200	Unknown	The Saga of Burnt Njal
1265	Dante Alighieri	Inferno
1266	Dante Alighieri	Purgatorio
1267	Dante Alighieri	Paradiso
1265	Dante Alighieri	Convivio
1265	Dante Alighieri	Monarchia
1265	Dante Alighieri	On the Eloquence of Vernacular
1265	Dante Alighieri	The New Life
1220	The Edda	Snorri
1300	Volsunga Saga	Unknown
1300	Everyman	The Everyman and Miracle Plays
1340	Geoffrey Chaucer	The Book of the Duchess
1340	Geoffrey Chaucer	The House of Fame
1340	Geoffrey Chaucer	Anelida and Arcite
1340	Geoffrey Chaucer	Parlement of Foules
1340	Geoffrey Chaucer	Troilus and Criseyde
1340	Geoffrey Chaucer	The Legend of Good Women
1340	Geoffrey Chaucer	The Canterbury Tales
1340	Geoffrey Chaucer	A Treatise on the Astrolabe
1340	Geoffrey Chaucer	Poems
1350	Unknown	Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
1495	Francois Rabelais	Gargantua and Pantagruel
1547	Meguel de Cervantes	Don Quixote
1552	Edmund Spenser	Prothalamion
1552	Edmund Spenser	The Faerie Queene
1561	Francis Bacon	Essays
1561	Francis Bacon	Advancement of Learning
1561	Francis Bacon	Novum Organum
1561	Francis Bacon	New Atlantis
1564	William Shakespeare	Plays
1564	William Shakespeare	Poems
1588	Christopher Marlowe	Doctor Faustus
1608	John Milton	Paradise Lost
1608	John Milton	Paradise Regained
1622	Moliere	The Misanthrope
1622	Moliere	The School for Wives
1622	Moliere	Tartuffe
1622	Moliere	The Miser
1622	Moliere	The Imaginary Invalid
1622	Moliere	The Bourgeois Gentleman
1639	Jean Baptiste Racine	Phèdre
1639	Jean Baptiste Racine	Andromaque
1639	Jean Baptiste Racine	Athalie
1660	Daniel Defoe	Robinson Crusoe
1667	Jonathan Swift	A Tale of a Tub
1667	Jonathan Swift	Journal to Stella

Changes to the AD lit list

I was talking to my husband a couple of days ago and he asked when I was going to do the Volsung saga and the Edda. In response to this I had a look through my list and realised they weren't even on it. Then today he asked if Augustine's The City of God, I told him I was leaving the church fathers of Christianity for a separate list. He informs me that The City of God is a vital link in the development of the novel, so I may have to rethink that decision. Maybe I'll add just the City of God to this list and leave the rest of his works for a church fathers list.
The other thing this has made me think about is whether I need a separate list for the holy books of world religions or whether I should be folding them into this list. Folding them in would require quite a rewrite of the list. Not sure that is worth the trouble when I can just put together a separate list later. Of course this won't effect the BC list as they are already integrate because it is not a typed list, its a list of everything BC.

So that means I have 3 books to add to the AD lit. list and a lot more research to do to make sure there are not other additions needed.
Also I found that I can't get two of Dante's works in English so I'll have to take them off the list so that balances things up a little bit.

Look out for an updated version of the AD lit. list in the next few days!

The Upanishads: Hindu Brahma

It beat me, it totally beat me! It's not often I quit at something.

I had real trouble reading and understanding the Upanishads so, in the end, I didn’t actually finish it. To be fair, it had me stalled for over 2 years on this project, so in the end, it had to be passed over to get moving on the rest of the list. As such, this will be a much shorter post, and I will be using the power of the internet to complete my synopsis.

The Story
In a nutshell, the Upanishads is a Hindu text dealing with the concepts of Brahman, or truth, Atman, or self and the realisation of how these two can be joined into oneness or Bhakti. How this results in Karma, or our deeds, and the striving for Moksha the eternal bliss. It also introduces the concept of Om as the divine sound of cosmic energy.

Reflections
Brahma and Brahman have so many similar but nuanced meanings, you just start to get a handle on one and it changes.
Everything comes back to Brahman or Atman in the end. Every time there is a list of how things go together and what is based on what foundation, the final foundation is always either Brahman or Atman.

Comparisons
I found the Rig Veda easier to comprehend. It had fewer twists and turns. Both the Rig Veda and The Upanishads are collections of writings, that can mean the topic and the specific meanings of terms can vary slightly. And this can happen every time you change Upanishad or hymn in the Rig Veda.

Have you read the The Upanishads? If so what did you think?
Does this inspire you to read the Upanishads and succeed where I have failed? If so tell me what you think when your done!

Buy a copy of The Upanishads

Hesiod, The Shield of Heracles: That's one ornate shield

It is so hot today, its midsummer here in New Zealand. But, it is uncommon to have air conditioning at home, so I'm sitting, typing, with a fan beside me on full. My husband and I also bought a paddling pool to cool off in, even though we don't have kids.
The Shield of Heracles was a nice, short work, maybe 10 or so pages long. In some ways, that meant it was no trouble at all. There is still so much in it, even though it is so short, and even though the description of the shield goes for a couple of pages. I enjoyed seeing a bit of the Heracles myth that doesn't directly include his labors. Heracles, of course, also know as Hercules.


Edition
As I said for Works and Days, I purchased a combined edition that also included Works and Days, Theogony and the Shield of Heracles. This was not a penguin classics edition as that only had Works and Days, and Theogony; I also wanted to look at The Shield of Heracles and I didn’t want to buy two editions.


The Story
The predominance of this text is a description of the shield of Heracles, hence the name. Around that description, though, there is a short story.
In the area of Thessaly, there is a tyrant named Cycnus, who is known for killing his dinner guests as well as pilgrims on their way to sacrifice to Apollo. Heracles is traveling with his nephew Iolaus, the son of his mortal brother Iphicles, when he comes across Cycnus and Ares in a chariot going the other way. Cycnus challenges Heracles to single combat. Heracles, as expected, accepts. At this point in the text. we get a huge and glorious description of the shield of Heracles, a gift from and masterwork of Hephaestus. The shield is made of shining gold and ivory and is uncrushable and unbreakable.
Athena warns Heracles that Ares will attack after the single combat. Heracles fights Cycnus and kills him with a shot to the throat. Ares, as predicted, springs on Heracles but his blow is deflected by the shield and Heracles wounds him in the thigh. Heracles and Iolaus strip Cycnus’ armor and take it as spoils. Cycnus is buried, but the monument is washed away by a storm brought on by Apollo.

Reflections
Heracles seems to be a braggart in this story. He is so sure of his victory, even before the fight has begun. The fact that he was fighting a son of Ares didn’t seem to phase him - but then he is the son of Zeus. At first glance, he seems to get into the fight rather rashly, only needing a challenge to get his fighting blood up. We do not know if he is aware of the misdeeds of Cycnus. If he is, he has good reason to agree to single combat; if he is not, it is a rash act, but as always it goes Heracles’ way.

We see the anger of Apollo only in the dying breaths of the text, which comes as a bit of a surprise to me. I’m getting used to seeing gods take offence at small slights, but Apollo does nothing about the killing of worshipers on the way to sacrifice to him; and yet we see him call up a storm to blot out Cycnus’ memory by destroying his monument at the end.

Comparisons

The Shield of Heracles borrows from the Iliad in how it describes Heracles’ unbreakable shield. Some lines are alluded to, and others are directly copied, from the earlier text.

Again, here in the Shield of Heracles, we see Athena as the god of providence, whisking away heroes from danger and death. In the Iliad, we see this happen as one of the Trojan heroes gets too close to death.
Apollos involvement with protecting his temple pilgrims seems to be very limited (as I stated earlier) and his revenge is almost retrospective. By comparison, in the Odyssey, we see Poseidon have a long running quarrel with Odysseus and his revenge is wrought over and over again. Or by comparing it with Zeus’ revenge on Prometheus in Theogony which is ongoing torture day after day.

Have you read the The Shield of Heracles? If so what did you think?
Does this inspire you to read the The Shield of Heracles? If so tell me what you think when your done!

Buy a copy of The Shield of Heracles

I'm back for a New year of even more books!

Hello 2019, though it is a little late for new years resolutions, this is my mid January resolution. My goal for 2019 for this blog and for my self education project in general is:
Make it through to the start of Aristophanes by 2020 on the BC List
Now this might be over reaching as it goes beyond the first fifty list that I have posted, but as I have previously stated my total list is over 300 works long, though you have probably noticed by now some of those are very short.
To this end I have put in some serious time into reading Herodotus' Histories as I have been working on that work far too long and need to move on. I'm hoping to be finished reading it tomorrow and to have written its blog post by the end of the week.
I will be posting from here on on Fridays and I will stay in the order of the list.
The first week of the month I want to dedicate to the AD lit list and the other 3 or 4, depending on the month, will be the BC list. In other words my other goal for this project is:
Complete 11 works from the AD lit list by 2020
January is already half over so it will only be fore the rest of the year. This will put me a few works into Chaucer by 2020.
Again this might be over reach but it's work taking a good crack at.
So here is to a productive and focused year!

You might be wondering what happened last year that had this come to a halt, so let me fill you in. I had mentioned that I had a new job and that, optimistically, I would have time to read and write at work as it had a lot of down time. I was working on a newly opened dairy factory and as that had its teething issues and other problems my time got very fragmented and it became hard to read anything longer than an article without having interruptions.
Also the hours being 12 shifts 5 to 6 days a week there was little time outside of work to keep the reading and writing up to date.
I have since had to quit for health reasons, night shifts and I don't go together very well, and then spent December resting and getting back to my normal self.

I did some thinking before recommitting to this, just making sure this is really what I want to do and my previous reasons still stand. I still want to become more than just the Science major that I was in University. I still want to broaden my horizons and learn more about what has come before, to better understand what is now. I want to finish these list so I can move on to writing new AD lists, like Science fiction, Biography or History. This is why I continue to pursue these lists.