Serendipitous Events

Christophe

Villedary

" Câlin de Mère Grand "


I mentioned the Mark Taylor interview to a friend of mine via e-mail. Small world. As it turns out, Taylor is an old friend and colleague of his. He mentioned that Taylor is brilliant and that he has to work to keep up with him. My friend is brilliant and I have to work to keep up with my friend. A food chain of intellect, and I'm on the bottom rung!

I remember being in the Little Givens Bookstore in Lynchburg, picking up an old volume of George Santayana's Life of Reason. Santayana is known for several notable quotes, but I was not familiar with his work. As I opened the book, the prose was a thing of beauty. It is one of my favorite books. After pestering many folks about Santayana, I pestered my friend. As it turned out, my friend had done his masters thesis on Santayana. It's very good to have friends such as that!

I think that surrounding ourselves with different people and points of view gives us a background painted with a full palette of colors from which to (in)form our own thinking about this or that. I believe that a monochromatic background yields a monochromatic point of view. Though still pleasing to the eye, it lacks a both depth and vibrancy. I think that the internet helps with

In the Mark Taylor interview, I was interested in his reference to William Gaddis. I'm not familiar at all with William Gaddis, though William Gass--and author who I enjoy very much--has was influenced by Gaddis. But the Taylor interview provided a chance to seek out (if not superficially) Gaddis. I found this 1954 piece,

'Stop Player. Joke No. 4'

that I thought you might enjoy.

Life's intersects provide much potential to enrich our lives, so long as we don't cruise through the crossing without stopping.