December 2024

EP #16: Letters, Oliver Sacks

December 2024 – April 2025

This is book # 16 in the no-longer-very-aptly named Essays Project. Though perhaps, having detoured into the wilds of Shakespeare, a tour of the letters of Sacks, who is a formidable essayist, is steering us back towards the main track. Of course, letters are not essays, but their relative brevity and personal cast, as well as the wide-ranging nature of Sack’s epistles, give them a familial resemblance.

The book is edited by Kate Edgar, Sacks’ assistant and editor of several decades; she also contributes a brief preface which offers her perspective on Sacks’ compulsive writing process. Alas for her brevity; I believe she could offer a lot of insight on Sacks. But perhaps his letters will serve. Onward!

Preface and Editor’s Introduction

Sacks loved correspondence. He felt one ought to reply to letters, immediately if possible. He corresponded with, literally, thousands of people, from school children to Nobel laureates. Sacks took pains to preserve his letters with carbon sets, drafts, or later, photocopies, though by no means does all his correspondence survive. But that part which does runs to about 200,000 pages, or about 70 bankers’ boxes.

Cymbeline

Precis

Act 1: Cymbeline turns against Imogen and Posthumous; as does Iachimo; Queen plots.

Cymbeline, angry that Imogen has wed Posthumos, banishes Posthumos and imprisons Imogen. Posthumos, in Rome, encounters Iachimo who sets out to to prove Imogen unfaithful. Queen requests a poison from her doctor, who gives her a fake one.

The Winter’s Tale

An interesting one. The first part is a tragedy; the second transforms it into a comedy. There are a lot of loose ends that are, mostly, tied up in the penultimate scene, in a series of disclosures to Autolycus, offered for unclear reasons.

I find Autolycus are curious character — a villain who morphs into a trickster. Paulina is, in my view, the hero of the story, though it is disappointing that she is married off at the end after she declares she is going to morn for her dead husband. Apparently marrying everyone off is de rigueur for a comedy.

Snow Crystals, Kenneth Libbrecht

Snow Crystals: A Case Study of Spontaneous Structure Formation, Kenneth Libbrecht, 2022

This is Libbrecht’s magnum opus, at least on snow; this goes deep into the science. …and I love that he has ordered the references by date, so you can see the history of the science leading up to Libbrecht’s work.

Notes still in progress…

Macbeth

See course notes for general material about Macbeth.

I continue (post Othello) not to be terribly keen on the tragedies, but liked this more than Othello.

Precis of Macbeth

Macbeth encounters three witches who prophesy that he will become Thain of Cawdor and King of Scotland, and that Banquo’s descendants will be kings as well. Shortly thereafter Duncan appoints Macbeth as Thain of Cawdor, but announces that he will appoint his own son as crown prince. Macbeth is ambitious, and toys with the idea of murdering King Duncan. However, he has reservations – Duncan is his lord, a kinsman, and a guest in his household. However, Lady Macbeth – who appears to have summoned evil spirits to give her resolve – shames Macbeth into going forward with the plot. So Macbeth murders Duncan, and pins the murders on drunken watchmen (whom Lady Macbeth has used a potion to put to sleep), and then has them killed, and blames Duncan’s sons for the murder.

Macbeth is crowned, but becomes increasingly unstable (as does Lady Macbeth( and paranoid). He seeks out the witches, who warn him to be wary of MacDuff, but assure him that no man borne of woman can kill him, and the he will not be defeated until Birnam Wood moves to Dunsinane Hill. After this, Macbeth goes on a bit of a killing spree, arranging the murder of his friend Banquo (to eliminate his descendants the witches said would inherit the throne – except Banquo’s son escapes) and the family of the nobleman Macduff. Plagued by ominous visions—such as Banquo’s ghost appearing at a royal banquet—Macbeth’s grip on power loosens.

Meanwhile, Macduff and Duncan’s heir, Malcolm, raise an army in England and return to overthrow the usurper. Macbeth tries to avoid fighting Malcolm, but upon Malcolm’s pronouncement that he will take Macbeth captive and parade him about, Macbeth fights, and is slain and beheaded. Order and justice is restored.