The Sight Filled The Northern Sky; The

Tolkien Seems To Me Reactionary, Conservative, Fearful Of A Modern World. Fearful Of Anything That Isn't Sanctioned By The Passage Of Long Eons Of Time. I Think What I'm Doing In His Dark Materials Is Politically The Reverse Of That.

For A Human Being, Nothing Comes Naturally,' Said Grumman. 'we Have To Learn Everything We Do.

Her Last Conscious Thought Was Disgust At Life; Her Senses Had Lied To Her. The World Was Not Made Of Energy And Delight But Of Foulness, Betrayal, And Lassitude. Living Was Hateful, And Death Was No Better, And From End To End Of The Universe This Was The First And Last And Only Truth.

After Modernism, Things Changed. Indeed, Modernism Sometimes Seems To Me Like An Equivalent Of The Fall. Remember, The First Thing Adam And Eve Did When They Ate The Fruit Was To Discover That They Had No Clothes On. They Were Embarrassed. Embarrassment Was The First Consequence Of The Fall. And Embarrassment Was The First Literary Consequence Of This Modernist Discovery Of The Surface. "am I Telling A Story? Oh My God, This Is Terrible. I Must Stop Telling A Story And Focus On The Minute Gradations Of Consciousness As They Filter Through Somebody's.

That's The Duty Of The Old, To Be Anxious On Behalf Of The Young. And The Duty Of The Young Is To Scorn The Anxiety Of The Old.