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To A God Unknown
To a God Unknown is a novel by John Steinbeck, first published in 1933.
In this short novel, Steinbeck explores the relationship of man to his land. The plot follows a man, Joseph Wayne, who moves to California in order to establish a homestead leaving his father, who soon dies.
Joseph builds himself a house, and invites his brothers to join him with their wives, and he himself gets married. Although his father has died, Joseph feels that he is somehow still living, in a large oak beside house.
As the land prospers, Joseph starts to establish a pagan-like relationship with the land; completing various ritual type actions from time to time, which he feels will help the land.
Most people around him don't understand what he's doing, and one of his brothers, a devout Christian, understands very well, and is strongly opposed. The same brother kills the old oak, and so for Joseph, kills the father, the land's protector.
Soon after a famine comes to the land, and Joseph, who feels himself intrinsically tied to the land, struggles against it, physically and spiritually.
The novel examines what is meant by belief and how it affects different people. It also portrays the connection between the farmer and the land, a common theme, which appeared also in his later novels, such as East of Eden. It was one of Steinbeck's first books.
Category:1933 books
Category:Novels
Category:John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck
John Ernst Steinbeck III (February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was one of the most famous American writers of the 20th century. A winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962, he is best known for his novella Of Mice and Men (1937) and his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath (1939), both of which examine the lives of the working class during the Great Depression.
Steinbeck wrote in the naturalist style, often about poor working-class people, and his body of work reflects his wide range of interests, including marine biology, jazz, politics, philosophy, history, and myth.
Seventeen of his works, including Cannery Row (1945) and The Pearl (1947), went on to become Hollywood films, and Steinbeck himself achieved success as a Hollywood writer, garnering an Academy Award nomination for Best Writing for Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat, in 1945. In recognition of Steinbeck's work with marine biologist Ed Ricketts, a sea slug species, Eubranchus steinbecki, was named after him in 1987.
Biography
Early life and work
1987Steinbeck was born, of German and Irish descent, to John and Olive Steinbeck in Salinas, California. He had three sisters: two older and one younger. Steinbeck's father worked in county government, and Steinbeck's mother was a teacher.
Steinbeck enrolled in Stanford University in 1919 and attended until 1925, but dropped out and moved to New York City, where he labored at various jobs, including as a construction worker while developing his skills as a freelance writer. He was unable to find a publisher, and returned to California.
Steinbeck's first novel, published in 1929, was the unsuccessful mythological Cup of Gold. He married Carol Henning in 1930 and while he continued to write, he also cared for his ailing parents—his mother died in 1934, and his father in 1935. Steinbeck achieved his first critical success with the novel Tortilla Flat, which won the California Commonwealth Club's Gold Medal. The story of the adventures of young men in Monterey during the Great Depression was made into a film of the same name in 1942, starring Spencer Tracy, Hedy Lamarr, and John Garfield.
Political views increasingly influenced Steinbeck's writing. Carol Henning was a Marxist who took him to radical political meetings in San Francisco and the couple visited the Soviet Union in 1937, a common voyage of American liberal intellectuals hoping to view the successes of the world's foremost communist power. She registered as a member of the United States Communist Party, reportedly over Steinbeck's objections.[http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/steinbeck1.html]
Marriages and children
Steinbeck separated with Henning in 1941 and moved to New York with Gwyndolyn Conger. His divorce from Henning was finalized in 1942. In 1943 Steinbeck married Conger, and the couple had two sons: Thomas "Thom" Steinbeck who was born August 2, 1944, and John Steinbeck IV who was born June 12, 1946. Conger and Steinbeck divorced in 1948.
- John Steinbeck IV was a journalist who received an Emmy Award for his reporting during the Vietnam War, was also heavily involved in drug trafficking and the consumption of narcotics, and was once arrested and charged with "maintaining a public nuisance" after having been found with 22.5 pounds (9 kg) of cannabis in his apartment. He died on February 7, 1991 after complications resulting from back surgery.
- Thom Steinbeck is a fiction writer who lives in Big Sur and who has published a collection of stories, Down to a Soundless Sea (2003, ISBN 0345455770).
Actress Ava Gardner introduced Steinbeck to Elaine Anderson Scott at a dinner party, and John married Elaine in December of 1950 within a week after her divorce from actor Zachary Scott became final. Elaine survived John.
Critical success
Zachary ScottBack in California, Steinbeck found his stride in writing "California novels" and Dust Bowl fiction, set among common people in the Great Depression. His socially-conscious novels about the struggles of rural workers achieved major critical success. Of Mice and Men, his novella about the dreams of a pair of migrant laborers working the California soil, was critically acclaimed, and was rapidly adapted into a 1939 Hollywood film, starring Lon Chaney Jr. as "Lennie" and Burgess Meredith as "George." Steinbeck followed this wave of success with The Grapes of Wrath, (1939), based on newspaper articles he had written in San Francisco, and considered by many to be his finest work. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1940 even as it was made into a famous film version starring Henry Fonda and directed by John Ford.
The success of The Grapes of Wrath, however, was not free of controversy, as Steinbeck's liberal political views, portrayal of the ugly side of capitalism, and mythical reinterpretation of the historical events of the Dust Bowl migrations[http://www.newcriterion.com/archive/20/jun02/steinbeck.htm] led to backlash against the author, especially close to home. Of the controversy, Steinbeck himself wrote, "The vilification of me out here from the large landowners and bankers is pretty bad. The latest is a rumor started by them that the Okies hate me and have threatened to kill me for lying about them. I'm frightened at the rolling might of this damned thing, It is completely out of hand ; I mean a kind of hysteria about the book is growing that is not free of christhealthy."[http://www.steinbeck.org/MainFrame.html]
1940s–1960s
Okie
In 1940, Steinbeck's interest in marine biology and his friendship with Ed Ricketts led him to voyage in the Gulf of California, also known as the "Sea of Cortez," where they collected biological specimens. Their account of this trip was later published as The Log from the Sea of Cortez, and describes the daily experiences of the trip as well as considering philosophical questions related to ecosystems and biology.[http://www.ecotopia.org/about/cortez.html]
During the Second World War, Steinbeck served as a war correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune.
He continued to work in film, writing Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat (1944), and the film A Medal for Benny (1945), about paisanos from Tortilla Flat going to war.
His novel The Moon is Down (1942), about the Socrates-inspired spirit of resistance in a Nazi-occupied village in northern Europe, was made into a film almost immediately. It is presumed that the country in question was Norway, and in 1945 Steinbeck received the Haakon VII Medal of freedom for his literary contributions to the Norwegian resistance movement.
After the war, he wrote The Pearl (1947), already knowing it would be filmed.[http://www.steinbeck.sjsu.edu/films/films.jsp], and traveled to Mexico for the filming; on this trip he would be inspired by the story of Emiliano Zapata, and wrote a film script that was directed by Elia Kazan and starred Marlon Brando and Anthony Quinn.
In 1948 Steinbeck again toured the Soviet Union, together with reknown photographer Robert Capa. In the same year he was also elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Following the success of Viva Zapata!, Steinbeck collaborated with Kazan on East of Eden, James Dean's film debut.
Steinbeck was a friend to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.
In 1962, Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize for Literature for his “realistic and imaginative writing, combining as it does sympathetic humor and keen social perception.” In his acceptance speech, he said,
"the writer is delegated to declare and to celebrate man's proven capacity for greatness of heart and spirit – for gallantry in defeat, for courage, compassion and love. In the endless war against weakness and despair, these are the bright rally flags of hope and of emulation. I hold that a writer who does not passionately believe in the perfectibility of man has no dedication nor any membership in literature."[http://www.steinbeck.sjsu.edu/works/NobleSpeech2.jsp]
In 1964, Steinbeck was awarded the United States Medal of Freedom by President Johnson.
Legacy
The Salinas, California area, including the Salinas Valley, Monterey, and parts of the nearby San Joaquin Valley, acted as a setting for many of his stories. Because of his feeling for local color, the area is now sometimes called "Steinbeck Country".
The day after Steinbeck's death in New York City, reviewer Charles Poore wrote in the New York Times: "John Steinbeck's first great book was his last great book. But Good Lord, what a book that was and is: The Grapes of Wrath." Poore noted a "preachiness" in Steinbeck's work, "as if half his literary inheritance came from the best of Mark Twain—and the other half from the worst of Cotton Mather." But he asserted that "Steinbeck didn't need the Nobel Prize—the Nobel judges needed him." Poore concluded: "His place in [U. S.] literature is secure. And it lives on in the works of innumerable writers who learned from him how to present the forgotten man unforgettably."
Political views
Steinbeck's literary background brought him into close collaboration with leftist authors, journalists, and labor union figures, who may have influenced his writing. Steinbeck was mentored by radical writers Lincoln Steffens and his wife Ella Winter, and through Francis Whitaker, a member of the United States Communist Party’s John Reed Club for writers, Steinbeck met with strike organizers from the Cannery and Agricultural Workers' Industrial Union.[http://www.newcriterion.com/archive/20/jun02/steinbeck.htm]
In 1935 Steinbeck joined the League of American Writers, a Communist organization intended to foster ideological support in the literary community.
However, while definitely sympathetic to the political left, Steinbeck's politics were considerably more ambivalent than those of some of his admirers. A fierce individualist, he was never fully convinced with socialism, once stating "socialism is just another form of religion, and thus delusional." [http://www.epinions.com/content_10897559172]
Although the FBI never officially investigated him, Steinbeck did come to their attention because of his political beliefs, and he was screened by Army Intelligence during World War II to determine his suitability for an officer's commission. They found him ideologically unqualified. "Do you suppose you could ask Edgar's boys to stop stepping on my heels? They think I am an enemy alien. It is getting tiresome," Steinbeck wrote to Attorney General Francis Biddle, in 1942. [http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/steinbeck1.html]
In later years, he would be criticized from the left by those who accused him insufficient ideological commitment to Socialism. In 1948 a women's socialist group in Rome, Italy condemned Steinbeck for converting to "the camp of war and anti-Marxism."[http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/steinbeck2.html], and in 1955 an article in the Daily Worker criticized Steinbeck's portrayal of the American Left.[http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/steinbeck2.html]
Works
East of Eden
Steinbeck turned his attention from social injustice to human psychology, in a Salinas Valley saga loosely patterned on the Garden of Eden story. The story follows two families: the Hamiltons--based on Steinbeck's own maternal ancestrage--and the Trasks--a reimagined version of the "first family." The book was published in 1952.
The Grapes of Wrath
1952
The Grapes of Wrath was written in 1939 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1940. The book is set in the Great Depression and describes a family of sharecroppers, the Joads, who were driven from their land due to the dust storms of the Dust Bowl. The title is a reference to the Battle Hymn of the Republic. The book was made into a film in 1940 starring Henry Fonda and directed by John Ford.
Of Mice and Men
Of Mice and Men is a tragedy that was written in the form of a novella in 1937. The story is about two travelling farm workers trying to work up enough money to buy their own farm. It encompasses themes of racism, prejudice against the mentally ill, and the struggle for personal independence.
The Pearl
John Ford
The Pearl is another novella that tells the story about a poor diver named Kino who finds the largest pearl anyone has ever seen. He wishes to use the money to pay for a doctor to treat his son's scorpion sting. His dream for a better life for his family leads to greed, obsession and ultimately, inevitable tragedy.
Full bibliography
- Cup of Gold: A Life of Sir Henry Morgan, Buccaneer, With Occasional Reference to History 1929
- The Pastures of Heaven 1932
- The Red Pony 1933
- To a God Unknown 1933
- Tortilla Flat 1935
- In Dubious Battle 1936 The title is a reference to John Milton's "Paradise Lost."
- The Harvest Gypsies: On the Road to the Grapes of Wrath [newspaper articles, 1936]
- Of Mice and Men 1937 The title is a reference to the Robert Burns poem "To a Mouse."
- The Long Valley 1938
- The Grapes of Wrath 1939 The title is a reference to the American Civil War song "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."
- Forgotten Village 1941
- Sea of Cortez: A Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research 1941 with Edward F. Ricketts.
- The Moon Is Down 1942 The title is a reference to William Shakespeare's play "Macbeth"
- Bombs Away: The Story of a Bomber Team 1942
- Cannery Row 1945
- The Pearl 1947
- The Wayward Bus 1947
- A Russian Journal 1948 with Robert Capa as photographer
- Burning Bright: A Play in Story Form 1950
- Log from the Sea of Cortez 1951
- East of Eden 1952
- Sweet Thursday 1954
- The Short Reign of Pippin IV 1957
- Once There Was A War 1958
- The Winter of Our Discontent 1961 The title is a reference to the William Shakespeare play "Richard the Third".
- Travels With Charley: In Search of America 1962 (a semi-documentary work about his late-life car trip, with his poodle Charley, around the United States.)
- America and Americans 1966
- Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters 1969
- Viva Zapata! the Original Screenplay 1975
- The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights 1976
- Working Days: The Journals of the Grapes of Wrath 1938–1941 1989
Film credits
- 1939 – Of Mice and Men – directed by Lewis Milestone, featuring Burgess Meredith, Lon Chaney, Jr., and Betty Field
- 1940 – The Grapes of Wrath – directed by John Ford, featuring Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell and John Carradine
- 1941 – The Forgotten Village – directed by Herbert Kline, narrated by Burgess Meredith
- 1942 – Tortilla Flat – directed by Victor Fleming, featuring Spencer Tracy, Hedy Lamarr and John Garfield
- 1943 – The Moon is Down – directed by Irving Pichel, featuring Lee J. Cobb and Sir Cedric Hardwicke
- 1944 – Lifeboat – directed by Alfred Hitchcock, featuring Tallulah Bankhead, Hume Cronyn, and John Hodiak
- 1944 – A Medal for Benny – directed by Irving Pichel, featuring Dorothy Lamour and Arturo de Cordova
- 1947 – La Perla (The Pearl, Mexico) – directed by Emilio Fernández, featuring Pedro Armendáriz and María Elena Marqués
- 1949 – The Red Pony – directed by Lewis Milestone, featuring Myrna Loy, Robert Mitchum, and Louis Calhern
- 1952 – Viva Zapata! – directed by Elia Kazan, featuring Marlon Brando, Anthony Quinn and Jean Peters
- 1955 – East of Eden – directed by Elia Kazan, featuring James Dean, Julie Harris, Jo Van Fleet, and Raymond Massey
- 1956 – The Wayward Bus – directed by Victor Vicas, featuring Rick Jason, Jayne Mansfield, and Joan Collins
- 1961 – Flight – featuring Efrain Ramírez and Arnelia Cortez
- 1962 – Ikimize bir dünya (Of Mice and Men, Turkey)
- 1972 – Topoli (Of Mice and Men, Iran)
- 1982 – Cannery Row – directed by David S. Ward, featuring Nick Nolte and Debra Winger
Trivia
To symbolize himself, Steinbeck used the stamp of a Pigasus, a flying pig, and the phrase Ad Astra Per Alia Porci (To the stars on wings of pigs.)
In recognition of Steinbeck's work with marine biologist Ed Ricketts, a sea slug species, Eubranchus steinbecki, was named after him in 1987.
Bruce Springsteen's song and album The Ghost of Tom Joad are written with reference to the character in The Grapes of Wrath, as is Woody Guthrie's "Tom Joad." [http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~stephan/Steinbeck/grapes.song.tomjoad.html]
The Beach Boys' song California Saga contains the lines "Have you ever been down Salinas way? / Where Steinbeck found the valley / And he wrote about it the way it was in his travelin's with Charley".
External links
- [http://www.synaptic.bc.ca/ejournal/steinbck.htm Critical Resources: John Steinbeck]
- [http://www.steinbeck.org National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, CA]
-
- [http://nobelprize.org/literature/laureates/1962/steinbeck-bio.html Nobel Laureate page]
- [http://wiredforbooks.org/johnsteinbeck/ 1989 Audio Interview with Robert Demott talking to Don Swaim about John Steinbeck, RealAudio]
- [http://wiredforbooks.org/elainesteinbeck/ 1989 Audio Interview with Elaine Steinbeck talking to Don Swaim about John Steinbeck, RealAudio]
- [http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/steinbeck1.html FBI file at The Smoking Gun]
References
- Jay Parini (1995), John Steinbeck: A Biography, Henry Holt & Co.
- "Writer in the American Grain," Charles Poore, New York Times December 21, 1968 p. 31
- "The Other Side of Eden", the life of John Steinbeck IV and Nancy Steinbeck
Steinbeck, John
Steinbeck, John
Steinbeck, John
Steinbeck, John
Steinbeck, John
Steinbeck, John
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Category:Humanists
Steinbeck, John
Steinbeck, John
Steinbeck, John
Steinbeck, John
Steinbeck, John
ja:ジョン・スタインベック
Plot Plot in literature, theater, movies
According to Aristotle's Poetics, a plot in literature is "the arrangement of incidents" that (ideally) each follow plausibly from the other. The plot is like the pencil outline that guides the painter's brush. An example of the type of plot which follows these sorts of lines is the linear plot of development to be discerned within the pages of a bildungsroman novel.
Aristotle notes that a string of unconnected speeches, no matter how well-executed, will not have as much emotional impact as a series of tightly connected speeches delivered by imperfect speakers.
The concept of plot and the associated concept of construction of plot, emplotment, has of course developed considerably since Aristotle made these insightful observations. The episodic narrative tradition which Aristotle indicates has systematically been subverted over the intervening years, to the extent that the concept of beginning, middle, end are merely regarded as a conventional device when no other is at hand.
This is particularly true in the cinematic tradition where the folding and reversal of episodic narrative is now commonplace. Moreover, many writers and film directors, particularly those with a proclivity for the Modernist or other subsequent and derivative movements which emerged during or after the early 20th century, seem more concerned that plot is an encumbrance to their artistic medium than an assistance.
The main plot in a story is called the A-Plot. The B-Plot is another independent plot within the same story.
Elements of plot in a story
- 1. Initial situation - the beginning. It is the first incident that makes the story move.
- 2. Conflict or Problem - goal which the main character of the story has to achieve.
- 3. Complication - obstacles which the main character has to overcome.
- 4. Climax - highest point of interest of the story.
- 5. Suspense - point of tension. It arouses the interest of the readers.
- 6. Denouement or Resolution - what happens to the character after overcoming all obstacles and reaching his goal.
- 7. Conclusion - the end of the story.
Plot in printing
A plot is a drawn graphical representation of data, such as the output of a plotter or the process of plotting data by hand. Plots are used in
- Mathematics: plotting the graph of a function
- Meteorology: weather plots - isobar, isotherm, isogon, isotach, isohume, isodrosotherm
- CPU design design: plots of integrated circuits can resemble die photos.
Other meanings
- A small piece of planted ground, as for a garden. A cemetery provides plots for the deceased.
- A plot is a planned conspiracy. E.g.,the Babington plot, July 20 Plot or The Passover Plot.
- Epistemological historian Paul Veyne (1971: 46-47; English trans. by Min Moore-Rinvolucri 1984: 32-33) defines a plot in the following way: "Facts do not exist in isolation, in the sense that the fabric of history is what we shall call a plot, a very human and not very "scientific" mixture of material causes, aims, and chances--a slice of life, in short, that the historian cuts as he [sic] wills and in which facts have their objective connections and relative importance...the word plot has the advantage of reminding us that what the historian studies is as human as a play or a novel....then what are the facts worthy of rousing the interest of the historian? All depends on the plot chosen; a fact is interesting or uninteresting...in history as in the theater, to show everything is impossible--not because it would require too many pages, but because there is no elementary historical fact, no event worthy atom. If one ceases to see events in their plots, one is sucked into the abyss of the infintismal."
See also
- Plot device
- Dramatic structure
- Plot hole
- Georges Polti's The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations
Category:Narratology
ja:プロット (物語)
PaganismPaganism (from Latin paganus) and Heathenry are catch-all terms which have come to connote a broad set of spiritual/religious beliefs and practices of a natural religion, as opposed to the Abrahamic religions. These beliefs, which are not necessarily compatible with each other, are usually characterized by polytheism and animism. Often, the term has pejorative connotations, comparable to infidel and Kafir in Islam.
Kafir labelled their non-Muslim neighbours (such as this Kapsiki diviner) Kirdi, or "pagans".]]
Etymology
Pagan
The term pagan is from Latin paganus, an adjective originally meaning "rural", "rustic" or "of the country". As a noun, paganus was used to mean "country dweller, villager". "Peasant" is a cognate, via Old French paisent. ([http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999%2e04%2e0062&query=id%3dpagus#id,pagus Harry Thurston Peck, Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquity, 1897; "pagus"].
In their distant origins, these usages derived from pagus, "province, countryside", cognate to Greek πάγος "rocky hill", and, even earlier, "something stuck in the ground", as a landmark: the root pag- means "fixed" and is also the source of the words "page", "pale" (stake), and "pole", as well as "pact" and "peace".
Later, through metaphorical use, paganus came to mean 'rural district, village' and 'country dweller' and, as the Roman Empire declined into military autocracy and anarchy, in the 4th and 5th centuries it came to mean "civilian", in a sense parallel to the English usage "the locals". It was only after the Late Imperial introduction of serfdom, in which agricultural workers were legally bound to the land (see Serf), that it began to have negative connotations, and imply the simple ancient religion of country people, which Virgil had mentioned respectfully in Georgics. Like its approximate synonym heathen (see below), it was adopted by Middle English-speaking Christians as a slur to refer to those too rustic to embrace Christianity.
Neoplatonists in the Early Christian church attempted to Christianize the values of sophisticated pagans such as Plato and Virgil. This had some influence among the literate class, but did little to counter the more general prejudice expressed in "pagan".
While pagan is attested in English from the 14th century, there is no evidence that the term paganism was in use in English before the 17th century. The OED instances Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776): "The divisions of Christianity suspended the ruin of paganism." The term was not a neologism, however, as paganismus was already used by Augustine.
Heathen
Heathen is from Old English hæðen "not Christian or Jewish", (c.f. Old Norse heiðinn). Historically, the term was probably influenced by Gothic haiþi "dwelling on the heath", appearing as haiþno in Ulfilas' bible as "gentile woman," (translating the Greek in Mark 7:26). This translation probably influenced by Latin paganus, "country dweller", or it was chosen because of its similarity to the Greek ethne, "gentile". It has even been suggested that Gothic haiþi is not related to "heath" at all, but rather a loan from Armenian hethanos, itself loaned from Greek ethnos.
Terminology
Common Word Usage
The term has historically been used as a pejorative by adherents of monotheistic religions (such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam) to indicate a disbeliever in their religion. "Paganism" is also sometimes used to mean the lack of (an accepted monotheistic) religion, and therefore sometimes means essentially the same as atheism. "Paganism" frequently refers to the religions of classical antiquity, most notably Greek mythology or Roman religion, and can be used neutrally or admiringly by those who refer to those complexes of belief. However, until the rise of Romanticism and the general acceptance of freedom of religion in Western civilization, "paganism" was almost always used disparagingly of heterodox beliefs falling outside of the established political framework of the Christian Church. It has more recently (from the 19th century) been used admiringly by those who believe the monotheistic religions to be confining or colourless.
"Pagan" came to be equated with a popular, Christianized sense of "epicurean" to signify a person who is sensual, materialistic, self-indulgent, unconcerned with the future and uninterested in sophisticated religion. The word was usually used in this worldly sense by those who were drawing attention to the limitations of paganism, as when G.K. Chesterton wrote:
"The pagan set out, with admirable sense, to enjoy himself. By the end of his civilization he had discovered that a man cannot enjoy himself and continue to enjoy anything else."
Perhaps such usages reflect more light on Victorians than on the world of Antiquity.
Heathenry
"Heathen" (Old English hæðen) is a translation of paganus. The term is used for Germanic paganism, or Germanic Neopaganism, in particular. Originating with the Jastorf culture, the Germanic tribes were distributed over Eastern and Central Europe by the 5th century, and their dialects ceased to be mutually intelligible from around that time. Christianization of the Germanic peoples took place from the 4th (Goths) to the 6th (Anglo-Saxons, Alamanni) or 8th (Saxons) centuries on the continent, and from the 9th to 12th centuries in Iceland and Scandinavia.
Pagan classifications
Pagan subdivisions coined by Isaac Bonewits [http://www.neopagan.net/PaganDefs.html]
- Paleo-Paganism: A retronym coined to contrast with "neopaganism", denoting a pagan culture that has not been disrupted by other cultures. The term applies to Hinduism, Shinto, pre-Migration period Germanic paganism as described by Tacitus, and Graeco-Roman religion.
- Meso-Paganism: A group, which is, or has been, significantly influenced by monotheistic, dualistic, or nontheistic worldviews, but has been able to maintain an independence of religious practices. This includes Native Americans and Australian Aborigine Bushmen, Viking Age Norse paganism, Freemasonry, Rosicrucianism, Theosophy, Spiritualism, as well as Sikhism, and the many Afro-Diasporatic faiths like Haitian Vodou, and Santería.
- Neo-Paganism: An attempt by modern people to reconnect with nature, pre-Christian religions, or other nature-based spiritual paths. This definition includes such religions as Ásatrú, Neo-Druidism, and Wicca.
Pagan religions
- Ancient Greek religion
- Roman religion
- Finnish paganism
- Ancient Near East Paganism
- Paganism in the Eastern Alps
- Uniterranism
- Asatru
Neo-pagan religions
Neopaganism
In another sense, as used by modern practitioners, paganism is a polytheistic, panentheistic or pantheistic often nature-based religious practice, but again can be atheism sometimes as well. This includes reconstructed religions such as revivalist Hellenic polytheism and Ásatrú, as well as more recently founded religions such as Wicca c. 1960, and these are normally categorised as "Neopaganism". Although many Neopagans often refer to themselves simply as "Pagan", for purposes of clarity this article will focus on the ancient religion, while Neopaganism is discussed in its own article.
This also includes religions such as Forn Sed, Celtic Neo-druidism, Longobardic odinism, Lithuanian Romuva, and Slavic Rodoverie that claim to revive an ancient religion rather than reconstruct it, though in general the difference is not absolutely fixed. Many of these revivals, Wicca, Asatru and Neo-druidism in particular, have their roots in 19th century Romanticism and retain noticeable elements of occultism or theosophy that were current then, setting them apart from historical rural (paganus) folk religion. The Íslenska Ásatrúarfélagið is a notable exception in that it was derived more or less directly from remnants in rural folklore. Still, some practitioners even of syncretized directions tend to object to the term "Neopaganism" for their religion as they consider what they are doing not to be a new thing. It must be said, also, that since the 1990s, the number of reconstructionist movements that reject romantic or occult influences has increased, even if those Neopagans who make a conscious effort to separate pre-Christian from romantic influences are still a minority.
Modern nature religion
Many current pagans in industrial societies base their beliefs and practices on a connection to Nature, and a divinity within all living things, but this may not hold true for all forms of paganism, past or present. Some believe that there are many deities, while some believe that the combined subconscious spirit of all living things forms the universal deity. Paganism predates modern monotheism, although its origins are lost in prehistory. Ancient paganism, which tended in many cases to be a deification of the local deity, as Athena in Athens, saw each local emanation as an aspect of an Olympian deity during the Classical period and then after Alexander to syncretize the deity with the political process, with "state divinities" increasingly assigned to various localities, as Roma personified Rome. Many ancient regimes would claim to be the representative on earth of these gods, and would depend on more or less elaborate bureaucracies of state-supported priests and scribes to lend public support to their claims. This is something paganism shares with more 'mainstream' revealed religions, as can be seen in the history of the Catholic church, the Church of England and the ancient and current trends in Islam.
In one well-established sense, paganism is the belief in any non-monotheistic religion, which would mean that the Pythagoreans of ancient Greece would not be considered pagan in that sense, since they were monotheist, but not in the Abrahamic tradition. In an extreme sense, and like the pejorative sense below, any belief, ritual or pastime not sanctioned by a religion accepted as orthodox by those doing the describing, such as Burning Man, Halloween, or even Christmas, can be described as pagan by the person or people who object to them.
See also
- Neopaganism
- Pagan activism
- List of Pagans
- Idolatry
- Shirk (idolatry)
- Mother Goddess
- Uniterranism
- Pagan beliefs surrounding Christmas
- Unitarian Universalism
- Christian anarchism
External links
- James J. O'Donnell, "[http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jod/texts/demise.html The Demise of Paganism]," Traditio 35(1979), 45-88
- [http://www.wwpn.org/Pages/pagan_faq.htm WorldWide Pagan Network Paganism FAQ] (neopagan)
- [http://www.paganassociation.co.uk Pagan Associatin UK] (neopagan)
- [http://www.uniterran-church.org The Universal Terran Church]
- [http://www.religioustolerance.org/ Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance]
- [http://www.cuups.org/ Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans] (neopagan)
- [http://paganwiki.org/ Pagan Wiki]
- [http://www.sacredhearth.com/Whatispagan.html What is Pagan Religion?]
Category:Christian history
Category:Paganism
East of Eden
East of Eden is a novel by Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck, published in September 1952.
Often described as Steinbeck's most ambitious novel, East of Eden brings to life the intricate details of two families, the Trasks and the Hamiltons, and their interwoven stories. The novel was originally addressed to Steinbeck's young sons, Thom and John (then 6 1/2 and 4 1/2 respectively). Steinbeck wanted to describe the Salinas Valley for them in detail: the sights, sounds, smells, and colors.
According to his last wife Elaine, he considered this to be a Requiem for himself - his greatest novel ever. Steinbeck states about "East of Eden": "It has everything in it I have been able to learn about my craft or profession in all these years." He further claimed: "I think everything else I have written has been, in a sense, practice for this."
Elaine, in looking back on the year that he worked on the book, said that his work on the novel affected him deeply. Perhaps the best way to put it would be to say that it was the last stage in putting himself back together after the years that had torn him apart.
Storyline
The story is primarily set in the Salinas Valley, California, between the beginning of the 20th century and the end of World War I. Samuel Hamilton and his wife Liza, immigrants from Ireland, raise their nine children on the rough unfertile hillside. As their children leave the nest, Adam Trask, newly wed and newly rich after a tumultuous childhood in the East and years of military service and wandering, moves into a large and fertile valley plot nearby, aided by the wealth of his deceased father.
The book treats of depravity and beneficence, love and the struggle for acceptance, greatness and the capacity for self-destruction, and especially of guilt and freedom. It ties these themes together with references to and parallels with the story to Genesis and the Bible. Steinbeck's inspiration for the novel comes from the fourth chapter of Genesis, verses one through sixteen, which recounts the story of Cain and Abel. The title, East of Eden, was chosen by Steinbeck from Genesis, Chapter 4, verse 16.
The book did not go well with the critics, who found the novel heavy-handed and unconvincing in its use of Biblical allusion. Nevertheless it became an instant best-seller in November of 1952, a mere month after it was released, and by now half a century after it release it is considered as one of Steinbeck's finest achievements.
TV and Movie Adaptations
The book was adapted for cinema in the 1955 film East of Eden by director Elia Kazan, and starring James Dean, Julie Harris, Richard Davalos, Raymond Massey, Jo Van Fleet, and Burl Ives. The movie deals with the second half of the book, hence Dean acts the part of Adam's son Cal while Davalos plays Aron, Cal's twin brother.
In 1981, a TV miniseries was aired, more faithful to the novel. It starred Timothy Bottoms, Jane Seymour, Bruce Boxleitner, Karen Allen, Warren Oates, Howard Duff, and Anne Baxter.
Academy Award-winning director Ron Howard is set to direct another remake of the novel, set to be released in 2006. No cast has been announced as of yet, but Howard is rumored to be considering the following actors as Cal: Tom Welling, Ben Mackenzie, James Franco, Paul Walker, Oliver Hudson, Jimmy Fallon, and Jason Bateman.
External link
- [http://www.pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/monkeynotes/pmEastEden01.asp Free MonkeyNotes Study Guide] at [http://pinkmonkey.com PinkMonkey.com]
-
- [http://webpages.charter.net/thejacowskis/eden/ East of Eden] a book discussion/review
- [http://www.thegoldenyears.org/eden.html Classic Movies: East of Eden (1955)]
Category:1952 books
Category:John Steinbeck
Category:Oprah's Book Club
ja:%E3%82%A8%E3%83%87%E3%83%B3%E3%81%AE%E6%9D%B1
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East of Eden is also a band who had a hit with the single "Jig-a-Jig" in 1970.
East of Eden is also an award-winning English/French travelogue site, which follows Mair Hyman and Marie-Do Boneu on their trip from France to Vietnam by Land Rover. See http://www.eastofeden.com.fr
Category:1933 books
Category:Novels
Category:Books by genre
Category:Fiction
ko:분류:소설
ja:Category:小説
Category:John SteinbeckJohn Steinbeck was an American novelist.
:See the main article on John Steinbeck for more information.
Steinbeck Przysięga olimpijskaŚlubowanie olimpijskie jest składane przez jednego z zawodników oraz jednego z sędziów podczas ceremonii otwarcia Igrzysk Olimpijskich.
Sportowiec, reprezentujący kraj organizujący igrzyska, trzyma róg flagi olimpijskiej i składa następującą przysięgę:
:W imieniu wszystkich zawodników ślubuję: respektować zasady obowiązujące w sporcie, przestrzegać zasady szlachetnej rywalizacji i zawsze postępować zgodnie z duchem fair play; wszystkie dążenia, umiejętności, talent i siły woli poświęcić osiągnięciu najlepszego wyniku sportowego bez żadnego dopingu..
Sędzia, także z kraju goszczącego olimpiadę, składa następującą przysięgę:
:W imieniu wszystkich sędziów i organizatorów ślubuję całkowitą bezstronność i respektowanie obowiązujących reguł dla dobrego imienia sportu.
Historia
Pierwszą wersję przysięgi olimpijskiej ułożył Pierre de Coubertin, a złożył ją zawodnik Victor Boin w 1920 r. podczas Letnich Igrzysk Olimpijskich w 1920 r. w Antwerpii. Sędziowie pierwszy raz składali przysięgę w czasie Letnich Igrzysk Olimpijskich w 1972 r. w Monachium.
Tekst przysięgi z 1920 r. był następujący:
:Ślubujemy wziąć udział w Igrzyskach Olimpijskich w duchu walki, dla zaszczytu naszego kraju i chwały sportu.
W późniejszym okresie, słowo "kraj" zmieniono na "drużynę". Ostatnio część ślubowania, dotyczącą dopingu, dodano w czasie Letnich Igrzysk Olimpijskich w 2000 roku.
Mówcy
Lista zawodników i sędziów, którzy składali ślubowanie olimpijskie znajduje się poniżej. Jako że konkurencje hipiczne w 1956 roku odbywały się w Sztokholmie (igrzyska odbywały się w tym roku w Australii), przysięga była wygłaszana przez 2 osoby.
Kategoria:Igrzyska Olimpijskie
ruletka gry rpg tablice sprzet Sepsa
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Nankino
Geografio > Azio > Ĉinio > Nankingo < Urboj
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- loko:32.03 Norde, 118.47 Oriente
- horzono: GMT+8h
- areo: : 976 km²
- loĝantaro: ĉirkaŭ 1.800.000 en la urbo
- loĝantaro: ĉirkaŭ 5.300.000 en la aglomeraĵo en 2000
Nankino (en Literaturo > Hispanlingva literaturo > Miguel de CERVANTES > Don-Kiĥoto el Manĉo
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"Don-Kiĥoto el Manĉo" (hispane, El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha [el inĥenjoso idalgo don kiĥote de la manĉa], Quixote laŭ Cervantes-tempa ortografio) estas romano de la hispana aŭtoro
La Ponto Humber estas grava unuopspana pendponto en Anglio.
Ĝi ligas la du flankojn de la rivero Humber – precipe la urboj Hull kaj Grimsby ().
Ĝi superarkis la riveron inter Barton-upon-Humber sur la suda flanko kaj Hessle sur la norda flanko.
Ĝi estas pagponto.
Planoj por la ponto estis
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Humber Ponto
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La Ponto Humber estas grava unuopspana pendponto en Anglio.
Ĝi ligas la du flankojn de la rivero Humber – precipe la urboj Hull kaj Grimsby ().
Ĝi superarkis la riveron inter Barton-upon-Humber sur la suda flanko kaj Hessle sur la norda flanko.
Ĝi estas pagponto.
Planoj por la ponto estis
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Elsene
Geografio > Eŭropo > Belgio > Brusela Ĉefurba Regiono > Elsene
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Elsene (nederlande:[ELs'ne]) aŭ Ixelles (france:[ikSEL']) estas komunumo en Belgio.
Elsene estas dividita en du partojn per la strato "Louizalaan"(nederlande) aŭ "l'avenue Louise"(france) kiu apartenas al la komunumo Bruselo.
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