Noch einmal für Thucydides

"A nation that draws too broad a difference between its scholars and its warriors has its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools."

--Thucydides, classical era Greek historian

My good friend in Afganistan

This video maybe best explains my mixed emotions about getting out of the military. Joey and I went to Officer Basic Course together and I spent almost all of my free time with him, his wife, and his two boys. I was miserable at the time, since my wife had to stay home and work. As a result, I became very good friends with his family during my four months at Ft. Huachuca, Az. I honestly struggled in the Army. I am not the best around authority figures, the culture often runs counter to my family values, and the Army never fit into my long-term career goals. One of the things we used to joke about together were the "rules" that we developed while at OBC, one of which was, for example, "never confront a military situation with logic." or the Military corolary to Occam's razor: "given two possible solutions in a military situation, all things being equal, the most complcated, dificult to understand option will be the one chosen." Good memories.

Now Joey is in Bagram away from his family for Christmas, and I think pretty lonely. He is not your average soldier--although there are more like him than you would think. Joey is mild-mannered, never seems to raise his voice in anger, a loving father and husband, a democrat (and from Utah no less) and one of the most intelligent people I know. But he has put himself in harm's way and I did everything I could to stay out of it. A fellow ROTC cadet that we both knew, Bill Jacobsen, died a few years ago in Iraq when the mess hall he was eating in was attacked by a suicide bomber. I really appreciate the contrast of the music with the military equipment in the background. He is due home in March. I hope everything goes well and he returns safely.

Is this inter-disciplinary?

Dark Matter and Modernism

Much of my research intersects with issues around modernism. When I get into discussions with people about what I do, I am often asked what modernism is. Answer: I don't really know. In fact, I have sometimes been surprised by the people who have asked me--since I was about to ask them what they thought modernism might be. I suspect, that if modernism is anything, then it is this poem "The Second Coming" by W.B. Yeats:

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

THE SECOND COMING

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand;
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

(1919)



That line in the first stanza "Things fall apart; the center cannot hold" is archetypical of all things modern. I just saw a NOVA program about dark matter. It explained how when a central body is not strong enough gravitationally, the objects around it are able to fly away. This, I think is central motive (if you will excuse the pun) around which modernism rotates: that the things we would like to trust in life --governments, God, our parents-- often aren't strong enough to provide stability in a world that transforms itself too quickly for us to adapt. Certainly this is how Yeats must have felt when faced with the one-two punch of the first World War and the Spanish flu epidemic when so many lost their lives.

The poem makes clear christian references, yet the god of his second coming seems to be an amalgamation of greek and egyptian mythology. Nothing is as it ought to be, nothing makes sense. The poem leaves me empty of everything but respect and awe for Yeat's imagery. Even for those who haven't lost their religion like Yeats or maybe REM,I think this poem creates images that ring true for most people. The ever-widening gyre of the falcon or the beast slouching toward Jerusalem--both connote the increasing uncertainty that we all have to confront if we are to make it.

The second question, of course, is always what is post-modernism? Answer: the center cannot hold, but I am ok with that.

(Picture is The Widening Gyre, by Emily Tellez)

More Anna-Sophie Mutter

For all of my readers. . .

who were wondering about the statue in my profile, it is called "Jahrhundertschritt" by Wolfgang Mattheuer. More information can be found here. The link says the statues are in Leipzig and Bonn, but I encountered a version (unpainted) in a Schlosshof in Halle. Considering it is an example of GDR art, it is quite subversive. I guess it wasn't too hard to fool the censors. Those unschooled cretans!

More things I like

Dû bist mîn, ich bin dîn:
des solt dû gewis sîn;
dû bist beslozzen in mînem herzen,
verlorn ist daz slüzzelîn:
dû muost och immer darinne sîn.

(Unbekannte Dichterin)

As much as I enjoy modern German literature, there is something about the poetry, the stories, and just the pure language of Middle High German that affects me on a very fundamental level. The stories and poetry are both simpler and more complex. I would probably dismiss this same poem in modern english as the lame lyrics spewed by the music industry through pop-rock starlet-du-jour.

But the original, and most of the other texts from the time period feel completely different. I like the minimalism of MHG that is lacking in the modern dialects. There is a proximity to emotion and raw experience that exists in this poem, in Walter von der Vogelweide, Hartmann von Aue, and many many other medevial texts.

The sad thing is, as hard as it is for a 2oth-century germanist to find a good job, medevialists have it even tougher, and I am afraid that we will soon loose most of our experts in this field and the middle ages will not be taught to the degree that they once were. And that will be a shame. But at least you can still find it on YouTube

I think I might vote for Obama

First off, my presidential vote in November is not going to matter to anyone but myself. Second off, I am okay with that. Which means even though I believe strongly in the need to participate in democracy, I find my cynicism hard to overcome. My education in the liberal arts and its focus on critical thinking has ruined me for the political discourse in this country. When I listen to politicians and their made-for-TV campaigns, I can think of nothing but the altruism "Every complex problem has a simple, easy to understand, wrong answer." So when the candidates universally propose simple or vague solutions to the problems we face as a country, I am left with nothing to do but check out.

Despite being what I think is a centrist, I have always voted for a republican for president, because generally I believe what they say they believe on many issues: Abortion makes me uneasy, high taxes make me uneasy, I do not feel that more government is the answer to our problems, etc. But since the mid-nineties, the republicans have not lived up to what they say they are for--and when I look at disastrous new programs like NoChildLeftBehind or the Knee-jerk waste of Money that is the Department of Homeland Security (sounds like something straight out of Germany 1936), I can't say if there is much difference in the two parties.

Most of the time I feel like I just don't fit in, because I cannot accept the partisan rhetoric of either side. When I taught my students in Texas, or when I talked politics with colleagues in the Army National Guard, I felt like the most liberal man on the planet, but in some of the University departments I have been a part of, my views seem somewhere to the right of John Birch in comparison. Mostly I feel that the only person that agrees with me is me because I am unwilling to sell my soul whole-heartedly to either camp and I don't believe our problems can be solved with the trite phrases that are all that are reported in the media, nor do I believe that we can accomplish anything as long as the ideas of the other party are rejected out of hand simply because of the source.

In fact, I am not sure how much power the president really holds, and this should be the lesson of the last 20 years. As the "only remaining superpower" America has spent the last 20 years (or more) doing whatever America wants, acting in our own perceived and inevitably myopic self-interest. As long as there was a balancing threat in the Soviet Union, the protection we offered meant that our allies in Europe and in Asia mostly had to go along. But with that threat mostly removed, protection begins to look a lot more like colonialism and empire-building, and resentment grows. This is of course a gross overstatement, but I think a lot of countries look for ways to display their independence from our overpowering financial and cultural influence. I have met many people from other countries who admire us and resent us at the same time. As a whole, these countries are reluctant to simply go along with every policy that comes out of Washington. So even though we are the most powerful nation individually, it is impossible to act unilaterally either as a peacekeeper or as the world's police. This I think was Bush's greatest mistake--Not that he wanted to bring democracy to the middle east, but that he assumed everyone there wanted our brand of democracy, and that he had so alienated our allies even before 9-11, that they were just looking for reasons not to follow along.

Economically the president doesn't have that much control either. Financial cycles have their own interior motors and seem to happen almost independent of policy. At best, the Federal Reserve Board and steer things in a very general way, and what little oversight they receive comes from congress and not the president. Secondly, it is the house of representatives that has to pass the national budget each year. The president can only propose ideas and veto bills he sees as bad. So for me, I find it as difficult to give either Reagan or Clinton credit for the economic upturns during their presidencies as to blame Bush for the ups and downs that have been the economy since 2001. There is enough blame and credit to go around for a lot of people, including the public and personal spending habits.

So what then, is the role of the president? I am not sure, really. But I think politics in the end is a lot about symbolism. Parties and people tend to mean for us what we think they mean. Our lives, our histories, our cultures will determine what we see and what we hear when politicians speak, and the partisanship has become deeply ingrained, not just here, but abroad. In the German newspapers I read, Hilary Clinton had been anointed as the savior of trans-Atlantic relations because many in Europe had a perception, based on little information, of who they think she is and who they think her Husband was. What I hope for in the next president is someone who can help beat back some of the partisanship domestically, and the unilateralism internationally.

My opinion on who will do that best changes from day to day. On practical matters, I think McCain is probably the most qualified, but I am afraid he will have to give in too much to the extreme right of his party to maintain their support. Obama strikes me as simplistic and naive. He seldom speaks about policies with any sort of specifics, but when he does, most of his ideas seem wrong-headed to me. Although I would like to get our forces out of Iraq, doing so too quickly will cause, in my opinion, more harm than good. Hopefully some of the rumblings that he is not as dogmatic on this point as he sounds are accurate. McCain's ideas, even though they were unpopular when he proposed them, seem to be at least partly responsible for the improved situation there. In the end, I suspect there will be little practical difference in McCain's and Obama's policies.

However, as a figurehead, as a symbol, I think Obama is a far superior choice. Electing him would demonstrate to the world and to ourselves that we are working to overcome our racist tendencies, that we really are an egalitarian society in a way that is so absent in so many other countries. I think his relative youth, his optimism, and his overall image of innovation present an opportunity for a fresh start and a change from business as usual--IF-- and it's a big if--if he can avoid pandering too much to the extreme left of his party in his own effort to gain support. His choice of Joe Biden as VP does not give me much hope in this respect (although Biden is better than the indescribably divisive choice Hillary Clinton would have been).

So I have not yet decided if I will vote for a symbol or experience this time around. My only comfort is I think both choices this year are miles ahead of any of the candidates from the last 16 years. I wanted McCain in 2000, and I think things would have been much better now if we had had him instead of Bush. But Obama represents something that no Bush or Clinton or Kerry or Gore, (or Dole for that matter) has offered.

In the end I am optimistic. Our system is far from perfect, but compared to most countries, it is pretty good, and America has the potential to do great things. I suspect that Obama will win with or without my vote. (In Utah a vote for Obama is not likely to make it through the electoral college--but like I said in the beginning, that doesn't matter to me) and even when he makes mistakes, the beauty of our system is that he cannot make them forever. Mugabe and Putin would not be able to cling to power here. So our weakness is our strength: Term limits and elections mean politicians are incapable of caring about consequences beyond the next election cycle. But term limits also guarantee that Obama, good or bad, will not be around forever.

Ein Flugzeug!

Here is one of the things I have been doing this summer.
When I was a student at BYU, I started participating in 1/2A pylon races with the Utah Valley Aeromodelers. I managed to crash my plane shortly before leaving for Cincinnati, and none of the clubs I have been associated with since then in Ohio, Missouri, or Texas have done any racing.
But when I got back to Utah, I eventually decided (this summer) to look back into the racing. When I drove up to the sod farm in eagle mountain where the races were, I saw four planes in the air, and I could feel my adrenaline levels start to rise, and I knew I had to get back into it. It is, as one of the more colorful guys in the club puts it "maybe the most fun you can have with your clothes on." That might be a bit of an exaggeration, but it is an insane amount of fun. Part of the enjoyment for me is designing and building the planes from scratch, tweaking the designs of others to get just a little bit faster or better flying than the next guy.


As you can see, I have covered my plane to look like the thunderbirds, with a few modifications to account for the shape of the wing. I am really happy with how it looks. If you didn't take the time to read the rules I linked to, 1/2 A pylon races involves flying home-built remote controlled airplanes around a course made up of three pylons. Each race is ten laps, with a penalty lap if you cut inside one of the pylons. The engine can only be .049 cubic inch displacement, and the wing needs to have an area of at least 200 square inches. That is about it for rules. I am really looking forward to seeing how this one flies.


















Here are a few more pictures:
This one is my with my oldest son, who sometimes shares my interest in airplanes, and will probably learn to fly before too long.







This picture shows one feature unique to my plane, the up-turned wing tips. I have no idea if it will help the flight or not, but they look cool, even if they were a real pain to cover. The markings are waterslip decals printed from my computer onto a special decal paper that you then spray with clear spray paint to protect the ink. This allows me to create custom decals in any size that I need. I hope the exhaust from the engine doesn't cause them to come off on the first flight.

Once I have flown, I will post an update on how well it flies.

Update: Having read my one reader's blog entry on hunting, I have to add that building a good airplane is a lot like writing too, in that it provides an outlet for my obsessive-compulsive need for attention to detail, the drive for exact precision and complete perfection. For instance, if you look at the bottom view (the one with the birds wings on it) you will notice that one wing is just slightly closer to the trailing edge than the other so that the markings are not quite symmetrical. This drive me batty, even though no one else will notice. But I know.
Building an airplane is exactly not like writing, however, in that I almost always know how I want the plane to turn out before I start. Writing is not like that for me.

Ok I just found this and I like it. Brings back memories. I had forgotten that Peter Schilling was German.

So what am I doing with my life?

So I get this magazine from time to time called Deutschland. When you are a German professor, the publisher just sends it to you. When I thumbed through it the other night I noticed an article on up-and-coming young German authors. At the top of the list was Daniel Kehlmann and his Vermessung der Welt, the guy I am giving a presentation on next fall. But under his picture there was another one from Thomas von Steinaecker. I looked at the picture and thought, wait a minute, I know that guy. Thomas spent a year at the University of Cincinnati getting his master's degree (it took me three years at BYU). The guy even went to church with me once. At first I was surprised that he was a writer, and then I was happy for him that his first book has landed on the German best-seller list. But then I read that he wrote it at the same time he was finishing up his dissertation.

I barely survived writing my dissertation.

Sometimes I wonder how I manage to accomplish so little and what it is that is keeping me from becoming a writer like I have dreamed of doing since I was old enough to read books. So far it has always been and probably will continue to be "one of these days."

How to spend a summer

Starting in about 2 weeks, I will be on summer vacation. Since the Study Abroad thing didn't work out, it will be the first time in about ten years that I have not either moved or taught a class, or both, during the summer. I have been thinking about how I want to spend it. I am afraid it will be all too easy to either A) waste the whole time, or B) set up so many projects that it feels like I never took any time off at all. Here are some of the things I could do with my time.

1. Write my RMMLA paper.
2. Prepare two previous RMMLA papers on Handke for publication.
3. Fly my plane more.
4. Finish repairs to my Mustang and fly it
5. Loose 10-15 pounds.
6. Ride at least 100 miles a week. (See above)
7. Swim twice or three times a week.
8. If I were to do the above two, why not train for a mini-triathalon?
9. Have my head examined for even thinking about a triathalon.
10. Read more books and less internet.
11. Sleep.
12. Prepare a better and more effective study abroad
13. Compose a viable proposal for getting myself to Germany next summer even if Study Abroad bonks out again.
14. Get a summer construction job to pay for a new garage.
15. Re-tile the basement bathroom.
16. Develop a tenure plan and a plan for the growth of the German Program at UVU.
17. Hang out in my sweats and mock my children as they still have to get up early and go to school. (at least through May).

I could do any or all of these but the best plans seldom all come about. If I were to do all of these, I think my summer would be a lot shorter. I do know that I plan on doing that last one though--at least a couple of mornings.

Space is really big

Yesterday I passed 11,000 miles on my bicycle since I began keeping track in September of 2002.

I awoke this morning to the news that science-fiction author Arthur C. Clarke died yesterday at his home in Sri Lanka.

These two events are related.

That isn't to say I killed Clarke with my bike or anything like that, but his death this morning got me to thinking about the things I am trying to say in this blog entry. Clarke, of course, is the author of 2001: a Space Odyssey, the Rama series, and many other science fiction novels. Many of you may know that I am a huge space junkie. In my spare time and in my wasted time I like to visit space-related sites such as this one, or check up on the mars rovers here, or see cool space pics here. I am fascinated by space and the possibility of space travel--not in the Star Trek or Star Wars hyperspace sort of way--but in real, pragmatic ways of getting off this rock. I really hope that I live to see astronauts set foot on Mars. This was they kind of stories Arthur C. Clarke told. So I was sad when I heard about Clarke's death. I know he was 90 years old, so his demise is hardly unexpected, but I will miss his style. His books seldom featured complex or compelling characters, but the ideas were fantastic.

One of the things that interests me about space is that it is so big. I have another (dead) sci-fi author to thank for teaching me this: Douglas Adams. He once wrote in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:

"Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the drug store, but that's just peanuts to space. " The profoundness of this statement is obscured even as it is emphasized by the humorous tone in which it is presented. Back to the bike.



I love my bike. It looks like this:



and I have had it since the spring of 2004. When I passed 11,000 miles yesterday, I was rather proud of myself. I know that real bikers travel much much further each year, but I have been averaging about 2000 miles each year commuting to and from the university. My son, always the one to keep my head from getting too big, said with a great deal of enthusiasm, "Dad, I can't wait till you hit a million miles."

Now I have to point out that my 11000 miles puts me nearly half way around the world from where I am now (somewhere in the outback of Australia, I believe), but because space is so incredibly big, I might as well be in my own back yard. So, at my average of 2000 miles a year, it will take me 50 more years to reach 100,000 miles, which is the point at which my bicycle odometer turns over. My wife thinks this is a reasonable goal. To reach my son's goal of 1,000,000 miles, I will have to ride 2000 miles a year for the next 500 years. Now, at its closest, Mars is approximately 34 million miles away. Which means that to get to Mars, our closest neighbor (not counting the moon, which is gravitationally tied to us), it will take me another 17,000 years--at the rate I am currently riding. This assumes that Mars will again be at its closest approach with us at that time.

Just to put things into perspective.

Progress

Not a lot has been made on papers. But: My RMMLA proposal on Daniel Kehlmann was accepted. Now all I have to do is write it. Good thing I just finished all of the curriculum work on the new integrated studies Program in German. Now I can go back to concentrating on teaching, preparing Study Abroad again for next year, concurrent enrollment coordination with the high schools, internships, and writing a paper or two. Nice to know my plate is that much less full today than it was yesterday.

In other news, it looks like progress is finally being made in my article in Colloquia Germanica. Ted Fiedler replied to my e-mail today and has done some actual editing. Maybe I will see it in print before I am up for tenure.

still alone, cool video

Looks like I still haven't been found, which makes my corner of the net a nice quiet backwater eddy in the cyberspace sea. Is it possible to be completely anonymous and obscure while posting thoughts for all to see? Blogging seems to me to be an expressly exhibitionist activity. Yet here I am, the proverbial falling tree in the woods that no one hears. Fine with me. I like my peace and quiet.

I found this video the other day. I will link to it since I can't seem to put it right in the entry



Looks like I figured it out after all. We had a brief culture thing in my class about Anne-Sophie Mutter, but I decided not to use it. A few days later I stumbled across this video on YouTube, and decided it was too good not to share with the students. It is a lot less dry than just reading about a musician. and since the music I usually bring into the class looks more like this:



It was a nice change up. I prefer the Culture with a capital "C" to the "c" culture anyway.

a new paper proposal

I want all of my readers out there to comment on the idea I am working on for a new conference proposal. I recently read a book by Daniel Kehlmann called Die Vermessung der Welt. It is a novel about the natural scientist/ explorer Alexander von Humboldt and Mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauß. The book takes a somewhat satirical or humorous look at the lives of these two Gentlemen, and the ways in which their lives intersect.

Compared to many works of German literature, Die Vermessung der Welt is refreshingly open and positive, while it avoids being frivolous or "fluffy." In other words, I think it is successful in appealing to a wide audience--i.e. casual readers as well as those who are more literary minded. This is unusual in the bulk of what is considered literature in Germany. Much of the high modern and post-modern and hermeneutic works still have a great deal to offer if you are interested in philosophy, literary theory, politics or other specialized topics, but it isn't what I would call entertaining. (Recent nobel winner Elfride Jelinek being an exeption--her work has neither entertainment nor intellectual value for me.) Peter Handke, for example, is not very entertaining, even though I find his works both challenging and stimulating intellectually.

Mind you, I think the best stuff is able to transcend the typical German stodginess. Today I introduced my class to a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe entitled Grenzen der Menschheit:

Wenn der uralte
Heilige Vater
Mit gelassener Hand
Aus rollenden Wolken
Segnende Blitze
Über die Erde sät.
Küss´ich den letzten
Saum seines Kleides,
Kindliche Schauer
Treu in der Brust.

Denn mit Göttern
Soll sich nicht messen
Irgend ein Mensch.
Hebt er sich aufwärts
Und berührt
Mit dem Scheitel die Sterne,
Nirgends haften dann
Die unsichern Sohlen,
Und mit ihm spielen
Wolken und Winde.

Steht er mit festen,
Markigen Knochen
Auf der wohlgegründeten
Dauernden Erde,
Reicht er nicht auf,
Nur mit der Eiche
Oder der Rebe
Sich zu vergleichen.

Was unterscheidet
Götter von Menschen?
Daß viele Wellen
Vor jenen wandeln, ein ewiger Strom:
Uns hebt die Welle,
Verschlingt die Welle,
Und wir versinken.

Ein kleiner Ring
Begrenzt unser Leben,
Und viele Geschlechter
Reihen sie dauernd
An ihres Daseins
Unendliche Kette.

And now the translation, since I can't manage to print them both in two columns:

The Limits of Humanity

When the age-old
Holy Father
With a tranquil hand
Sows blessed lightning
Over the Earth
From rolling clouds.
I kiss the last
Hem of his gown,
A child-like thrill
Staunch in the breast.

For with the gods
Should not be measured
Any man.
If he lifts himself upwards
and touches
The stars with his head,
Then nowhere hold fast
his uncertain soles,
And with him play
Clouds and wind.

If he stands with firm
Marrowed bones
On the well-grounded
Abiding Earth,
It is enough to compare
himself only
with the oak
or the vine.

What distinguishes
The gods from man?
That the countless waves
Continue before Them, an eternal stream:
Us the waves lift,
They swallow us,
And we sink away.

An insignificant ring
Delimits our life,
And many generations
Link continually
To the existence of its
Unending chain.

Maybe not a very good translation, but I think fairly accurate. I really like this poem. It is very humanistic and beautifully captures the relationship between the mortal and the immortal without really devaluing either of them. We mortals have our own version of eternity in which we participate every day. It is just that we have a different perspective than the gods, and we should appreciate where we are at the present time. I do not think this poem contradicts what I believe as a latter-day saint--that I have a potential for eternal progression and may one day participate in godhood. The unending chain reminds me very much of our concept of eternal families bound one to the other throughout the ages. This realization allows me, like the poet to wonder at the greatness of God's creation, even though I don't comprehend even a fraction of it.

But I have gotten off track. My interest in the moment is Kehlmann's novel. Perhaps not completely off track, however. Denn mit Göttern /Soll sich nicht messen/ Irgend ein Mensch reverberates not only in the Vermessung of the title of Kehlmann's novel, but throughout the text as well. Kehlmann describes a time when greatness walked the earth. Looking back it seems impossible to turn around in Germany at the end of the 18th century without running into one genius or the other: Goethe, Schiller, Kant, Gauß, von Humboldt, and others were making discoveries and expressing ideas that still affect us today. It was a time when it was still thought possible to know all there was to know, to be truly and comprehensively educated. Theirs was a time of the pioneering discoveries, we are left with the mere task of filling in the minor details.

The irony is, of course, that we are expanding humanities knowledge at a pace beyond the comprehension of the explorers and thinkers of the 18th century. The further irony is that today's discoveries would not be possible if we were not standing on the shoulders of the accomplishments of the earlier generations (another link in Goethe's chain, perhaps?). The third irony is (also of course,) that Kehlmann's description of Germany's golden age and his representative heroes is a work of fiction. It gives the impression of historical veracity while flagrantly inventing and reinventing characters and events to suit the needs of the story. Daniel Kehlmann is aware of and exploits all of these ironies in his book. He readily admits sacrificing reality for the sake of his definition of truth. It is clear that the author is aware of the irony as he invites the reader in numerous literary winks to join him in the joke.

My interest in this book centers ongoing interest in Germany in the classic period and with the apparent fascination with the cult of the genius. Obviously, the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century marks the German Blütezeit, its golden age, and it is natural that The Germans as a people would look to that time with a certain degree of nostalgia. What Die Vermessung der Welt reveals, I think, is that the modern desire to connect to this era, which appears from our perspective to be a time of giants, runs deeper than one might have expected.

In my paper, I explore the manner in which Daniel Kehlmann describes Germany's golden age and the cult of genius. I also trace the German fascination with greatness through Nietzsche, Mann and others up to the present as I examine how Kehlmann taps into the modern reader's desire to link one's self to past greatness and the irony involved in the process of doing so.

Is anybody out there?

I am starting this blog in part to see how long it is until anyone I know happens onto it. I have a number of friends, including my wife, who blog regularly and who have a sort of informal network going. I don't intend on posing regularly, but that may change. This space may provide an opportunity for me to improve my writing skills, work out some goals I have in writing, and provide a space to clarify my thoughts. I do not plan on putting too much identifying information on this blog, but I am sure from time to time things will slip.

as an explanation for why the blog is in German--like my title suggests, I teach German. A few days ago I tried adding a plug-in to Firefox while viewing a german site and ended up downloading the entire German version of firefox. Since I understand it just fine, I don't see any reason to change. It may be that if you are viewing this blog from an english language browser, everything appears in English. I can't tell. If you don't like it, tough. It's not your blog.