Oroonoko

I finished Oroonoko today. It wasn't an easy read, though it was short. It made me think about literature and writing and reading. The language has changed so much since the 1600's, when Aphra Behn put pen, no, quill to paper that the nuances are lost. I don't taste this book the way I do modern authors. It makes me think of the temporal nature of literature. So much of it has been lost to time and indifference. Today's bestsellers, thrillers and Oprah's list books will be dust once again as forgotten and difficult to read four centuries from now as Oroonoko is today.

There are constants. Shakespeare I guess and Homer. Just as in science we have Newton and Galileo. Science is as ever changing as literature. I almost caught myself writing that the only constant is science/math/nature but all of it changes as well. The world is not constant. Not a single thing lasts infinitely. I've never felt so physically how true this is until I came to London and walked through buildings that were build before people set foot on North America.

I would think it would be the opposite. That surrounded by such beautiful old buildings, I would feel the ancient stone and be transported through the ages and feel the infinitude. But no. The old buildings on Regent Street are now shops. H&M and Banana Republic even McDonald's. These books, while informative, and thought provoking tell more about a time and a people long past. I read them and noted how strange and quaint the thoughts of the characters are. I do not really identify. Perhaps it's just this story, but the language distracts from the human story, and I guess that's my point. Language evolves to the point where a wonderful story is obscured. It's like looking at a beautiful painting through a translucent glass. It's still beautiful and evocative, but it's faded. Anyway. I did like the story. On to the next one Moll Flanders. Class starts Wednesday, I want to get halfway through Moll by Friday and finish it by early next week. I should go up and visit Andrew at Oxford soon too though.