Michael's blog

The purpose of literature is to transport us, to take us out of the humdrum of everyday life out into the unknown. Modern society often attempts to glorify the ordinary, however, it is my belief that man was not built for the ordinary, but the extraordinary. In prehistoric times hunters used to return to their camps and delight their comrades with tales of adventure in the great unknown, with these stories later becoming the foundation for many of histories greatest works. Odysseus’s mystified and daring travels have fascinated the imagination for generations. As have the tales of Herodotus, Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta, Columbus, Cabeza de Vaca, and countless others.
 
Although much of the world has today been mapped, photographed, and explored, this does not preclude the possibility for contemporary adventure, although it has made it more nuanced. For the stories aforementioned are not only about physical travel, about spatially moving out into the unknown, they are also about the travelers evolving values and emotions. That is the heart of the story.
 
All life is a journey, and all great literature in essence describes a journey, either internal or external. These Journeys can take place anywhere, in the wilderness, in the city, in a middle-class suburb. The important thing is not where they occur, but the journey they reveal.  In a strict sense, much of what we have read this semester is not ‘literature’, but rather historical first hand accounts. They are not fanciful works of creative imagination - with the exception of The Odyssey and The Tempest, of course. However, they are better than most literature in so far as they do better at accomplishing the real goal of literature, capturing the journey. Cadeza de Vaca, in my mind is probably the best example of this, and serves as a rare case of a work demonstrative of both literary and historical merit.
 
I think it is often easy to pigeonhole historical works into the category of simply history, ignoring their literary merit. Many of the books we have read are so extraordinary in their historical accounts, Marco Polo and Cabeza de Vaca being key examples, that their literary merit is often brushed aside. Consigning these works simply to the history shelves, however, ignores the incredible stories of personal transformation they contain. In many of the works we have read it is not hard to see how the traveler’s views change. Marco Polo’s growing admiration for the Great Kublai Khan, Cabeza de Vaca’s growing love of the indigenous people of the Americas, and so forth. For this reason, it is my view that these works should be read more often as we have read them – as works of both incredible historical and literary merit. 

Popular in renaissance philosophy contemporary to Shakespeare was the idea that there are three parts to man: the flesh, the spirit, and the soul. In this line, the flesh represents human weakness and temptation to base desires, while the spirit represents the image and likeness of God which permeates every human person. The soul then, is left to choose between these two forces and represents the free agency and autonomy which makes us human. In this thinking, to follow the flesh is to become a slave to base desires, while to follow the spirit is to mirror God and ultimately be assimilated freely into his being via the Catholic tradition.  In the Tempest, Prospero, Arial, and Caliban each personify one of these three parts of man.
 
Caliban is the personification of the flesh divorced from the spirit, Ariel is the personification of the spirit alone, and Prospero is the personification of the Soul. Prospero enslaves Caliban, the flesh, and ultimately frees Ariel, the spirit, and by this is exalted. In this sense, Prospero’s constant struggle against Caliban represents the constant struggle of man against the temptations of the flesh. It is also interesting to note how Ariel, the personification or Godliness in man, freely serves Prospero while Caliban, the personification of the temptations of the flesh, seems ever in a constant struggle against Prospero’s wishes. Caliban seems to embody the threat of destruction and lose of grace, with one such example of this being his almost successful attempt to rape Miranda. However, Prospero understands that Caliban, the flesh, does serve a proper role as subservient to himself, the soul, and as subordinate to the spirit in making possible the everyday necessities of life.
 
In the tradition of thomistic philosophy, it is held that the flesh is necessary, and indeed good, for it allows the soul to fulfill the calling of the spirit and act upon the divine will. However, the flesh must never be divorced from the spirit, the will of God, and when it is, it is made corrupt. This is the case with Caliban and it is made visible in a variety of ways: his drunkenness, his origins as coming from the union of a witch mother and the devil father, his appearance, and his impure desire. It is also important to remember that before Prospero arrived on the island, Ariel, the embodiment of the Godly spirit in man, was enslaved by Caliban’s corrupt flesh. It is only when Prospero sets Ariel free and subjugates Caliban to his proper role that right order is restored and Prospero is able to prosper.
 

 
Much like his first expedition to North America, Cabeza de Vaca’s expedition to and subsequent governorship of parts of South America did not go exactly as he had envisioned.
 
The title of adelantado, or governor, gave Cabeza de Vaca supreme judicial, military, and administrative power over all the lands he occupied without having to answer to any other authority.   However, upon arriving in what is modern day Paraguay, he found that his title meant little to conquistadors who were already settled in the area - many of whom had carved out small dominions for themselves.
 
Cabeza de Vaca faced strong opposition to his leadership for opposing the structure and culture of economic exploitation in the lands he now governed. The Spanish inhabitants viewed his rule as arrogant with respect to their standing as having predated his arrival. Moreover, the conquistadors were not about to give-up the spoils of their system. It is for this reason, that Cabeza de Vaca’s government was quickly overthrown.
 
In the statement Cabeza de Vaca submitted to the Court following his removal to Spain (which is available in Spanish via the Bobst library Reference Collection) he outlines how his laws as governor were such that although stern, no man who feared eternal damnation should have any trouble following them, stating of his detractors: “although their crimes be not mentioned here, they will be remembered in the next life.”
 
Through the court documents, it is clear that Cabeza de Vaca’s words of respect for the indigenous people were more than just that, for he bravely put them into action and ultimately paid the price for doing so. Although Cabeza de Vaca died ‘a loser’ in his own time, I believe he is one of the ‘great losers’ of history. He was one of the first Europeans to venture through North America, to visit both cotenants of the new world, and to oppose western exploitation. Thus, although he may have seen himself as a failure – I do not.

Cabeza de Vaca remarks at the beginning of his report to the king of Spain that he returned home from the unknown North American continent with nothing more than his story, and that “this alone is what a man who came away naked could carry with him.” But what a truly incredible story it is. I must confess, this was by far my favorite piece we have read thus far, and yet I am not entirely sure why. Perhaps it is because it is so easy to follow, because the author seems strangely credible even when one shouldn’t think so, or because the idea of such an odyssey seems nothing short of incredible. In reality, I think it is all of these things, and countless more, that makes this little book so fascinating.
 
Few people in history have been through as much as those four men who survived the journey, to have been slaves and enslavers, healers and arms dealers, cannibals and messiahs. I think what makes this story so incredible is the raw perseverance of the men whose journey it chronicles. Just the thought that they managed to make it back to Spain, considering all they endured, is nothing short of miraculous.
 
Beyond the fascinating narrative of European survival, the work also provides an interesting look at the native inhabitants of the region. It is interesting to watch as Vaca adapts to native cultures in order to survive.  It is also interesting to observe how some of Vaca’s thoughts stand in contrast to those of other conquistadors, at least in part, as he writes that peacefully “winning the Indians” for “Christ and king” is the only way to truly ‘conquer’ them.  Even though Vaca does not always follow this idea, he is none the less far more advanced in this thinking than many of his contemporaries to say the least, and it is sad to think how harshly this idea was violated by the Spanish.
 
Another object of note in the text is Vaca’s incredible religiosity. It is apparent early in the text that Vaca’s devotion is real and at the center of his life. It is also, I believe, his drive for wanting to return to the new world after his nine years, to spread the faith and share his love of God with the native inhabitants. Even in the beginning of the text (or in my translation anyway) he never refers to Indians and Spaniards, but only Christians and non-Christians, demonstrating what differentiators Vaca views as truly important.  For in the end, it seemed to me at least in part that Vaca had come to develop a certain love of the native people and their land, perhaps speaking as a testament to how when submerged amongst a people, even when hailing from an entirely different world, one can come to see what unites us all.
 
 

Searching around for pictures for my previous post, I stumbled upon the Knights of Columbus website, and curious as to what this organization was, I poked around their history section. The Knights of Columbus is the largest adult service organization in the Americas. The organization boasts over two million members, has billions in assets, and a perfect credit rating from Standard & Poor’s. The organization consistently donates in the hundreds of millions annually to other charities, donates over half a million pints of blood every year, and provides just under a hundred million hours of service annually.
 
So what, if anything, does this modern day charity have to do with Christopher Columbus? Well, the charity was founded on the 400th anniversary of Columbus’s landing in the Americas. In a time of renewed interest in the historic figure, many American’s looked to Columbus as ‘an American Hero.’ In the Catholic community of the day (the Knights of Columbus is a Roman Catholic organization) Columbus was viewed as a great ‘new world’ Catholic. At a time when many Anglo-Saxon Protestants actively discriminated against Catholic immigrants from Italy, Ireland, and Eastern Europe, Columbus was viewed as a sort of symbolic hero. Columbus, of course, was in a sense the first Catholic immigrant. Thus, the organization which was founded originally to aid and serve recent Catholic immigrants from Europe, took on his name. This was not only a symbolic gesture, but also intended to rebuke the general anti-catholic sentiment of the time, by showing that Columbus, who was then one of America’s most popular historical figures, was also a Catholic.

The surface reasons for Christopher Columbus’ quest to find a faster route to Asia are well known. He was doubtlessly motivated by wealth. Columbus’ arrangement with the Spanish crown was that he would receive one tenth of all profits derived from the route if he were in fact able to find passage to Asia. This would include ten percent of all trading profits, mining profits, and so forth, not just from his voyages, but from every Spanish voyage to Asia during his lifetime. In short, his potential profits if successful would dwarf those of any other non-sovereign in Europe.
 
Beyond this, it is apparent from his own writings that he hoped to spread the Catholic faith, gaining as many souls for the true religion as possible. In Columbus’ mind, this would undoubtedly place his name among the great evangelists of the Catholic faith, casting his name amongst those of such great missionaries as John and Paul.
 
Aside from this two primary motivation, I believe Columbus was also motivated by the burning desire to prove his theory correct and all detractors wrong.
 
These explanations however only outline Columbus’ benefits if successful, and ignore what I see as the more important question of, ‘why did he believe he could do it?’ Certainly everyone else was aware of the benefits if such a mission were to succeed, but what lead Columbusto actually do it. Aside from blind faith, I feel it was the underlying idea that he was ordained by God to do so. That God had in fact made him for such a purpose and that God himself would see to his success. Fundamentally, I think the evidence indicates that it was Columbus’ mystic belief that God had chosen him to sail the Atlantic Oceanin order to spread the Catholic faith that drove him. The fact that Columbusextracted versus from the Bible and openly expressed that he believed some of them pertained to his mission of discovery are to this point. Columbusbelieved that he was fulfilling God’s divine mission for his life when he set out across the Atlantic, and thus despite a couple brief lapses, never doubted his destiny     

The Hajj, which was the initial inspiration for Ibn Battuta’s travels across the Islamic world, was a major driver of cultural and commercial exchange in his time. Hundreds of thousands of Muslims traveled to Mecca to fulfill the Hajj during what has been termed the ‘Islamic Golden Age’ in which Battuta traveled. Many historians believe it was this migratory force that not only worked to spread the Islamic faith, but also Islamic culture and trade throughout the Middle East and beyond.
 
All of this travel is believed to have facilitated tremendous advances in medicine, with various medical practices from different regions coming together, along with the establishment of the first major system of hospitals which was put in place to care for ailing pilgrims. The pilgrims also spread philosophical and legal knowledge, which helped to advance the Islamic intellectual tradition. In addition, knowledge of science, agriculture, and engineering spread, leading to the scientific method becoming widely applied throughout the Islamic world.
 
In conclusion, I think all of this speaks volumes to the tremendous advantages travel and cultural exchange can bring, providing an ancient example of how knowledge without boarders can change the world.  
    

What first struck me upon reading The Travels of Ibn Battuta was his emphasis on the religious figures he encounters and stays with while on his travels. The text is highly religious in nature, and Ibn Battuta pays much greater attention in his account to these religious figures oftentimes than say, the cultural nuances of the places he visits. This in some ways can be frustrating to the contemporary reader. I often found myself wishing he had chosen to relay some of the elements that would be of perhaps, greater interest to myself. However, upon second examination I think it is important to bare in mind the audience for which Battuta was writing.
 
Ibn Battuta’s initial call to travel came from his desire to fulfill his obligation as a Muslim to visit Mecca. It is clear that Battuta’s travels are centered upon religious growth from the beginning. Even after his time in Mecca, Battuta continues to be motivated by religious and economic benefit. Battuta’s travels serve a two prong purpose, to learn and delve more deeply into his faith, while also developing the scholarly resume necessary to become a more respectable theologian judge. It is made clear in the text that by staying with these various wise men Battuta builds his credentials at least in part with the intention of expanding his employment prospects, which he ultimately does.
 
Beyond this, Battuta’s writings focus on the religious elements of the places he visits because in large part, religion is what likely motivated most of his reading audience to read his text in the first place. The Travels of Ibn Battuta was almost undoubtedly read primarily by religious scholars across the Islamic world, and thus was logically veered toward the details and elements that would be of greatest interest to them. 
 
One other point I thought was of interest, is the fact that Battuta did not proceed from Morocco to Mecca by the most direct route. Rather, he takes a short, unnecessary, detour to the North which provides the reader with the fist indication that at least to some extent; Battuta desires to travel for reasons beyond those that are strictly religious. This may in part evidence the intrinsic motivations that lead him to also, at times, relay interesting cultural details in his work.

While some prominent scholars have argued that Marco Polo never even went to China, there are still others (albeit few in number) that go equally far in the other direction, claiming that Marco Polo actually crossed the barring straight into North America. The evidence for this argument is a map, supposedly brought back to Venice by Marco Polo and rediscovered in 1933 by an Italian American historian. The document is now housed in the library of congress in Washington DC and has in fact been largely authenticated. The document apparently contains charts showing parts of India, China, the East Indies, Siberia, and what looks like the barring straight. 
 
Proponents of the theory argue that scientific evidence suggests that the gap between Modern day Siberia and Alaska was frozen over and passable in the time of Marco Polo’s visit, and that judging by the charts discovered, he may easily have traveled across the straight into North America, perhaps discovering it without his knowledge.    
 
In response to those who argue that if this were true, Marco Polo would have mentioned it in his writings Thierry Secretan, a historian and proponent of the theory simply recounts Marco Polo’s final words: “I did not write half of what I saw.”

Marco Polo’s travels are nothing short of incredible, and without question, Marco Polo is one of the most notable travelers of all time. I think the success of Marco Polo’s writings is in large part due to the fact that he spent the majority of his life in far off lands. This, I believe, allowed him to experience Asia with a less Eurocentric perspective. Moreover, Marco Polo’s enthusiasm for new lands, cultures, and geographies is immediately apparent through his writing.  There are simply so many things to marvel at in Marco Polo’s writing, many of which hold relevance for a variety of disciplines, from geography to economic history.  
 
What I found most interesting in the text personally, was Polo’s emphasis on cultural traditions and myths. These stories not only give the contemporary reader and interesting look into what these various cultures valued, but also what was seen as astonishing to Europeans of the time.  
 
One other thing I also thought was of note in reading the text, is Marco Polo’s highly religious nature. In relaying stories such as the building of the great church of Saint John the Baptist or the stream of Saint Leonard’s Monastery, which is miraculously filled with fish only during the forty days of lent, Polo demonstrates his regard for the saints and the Catholic faith. His story of how the Church of Saint John was saved from the Saracens by the miracle of the suspended column is even more to this point.
 
In conclusion, The Travels of Marco Polo is an incredibly rich text and one from which many interesting avenues for further inquiry can be derived.

In many ways the image of Egypt we imagine in the west is an artificial construct. Stories and images ranging from Disney animations to pieces by Eager Allen Poe work to create this image, which is deeply embedded in our cultural understanding of the ancient Mediterranean world.  As the famous Egyptologist Erik Hornung has remarked, “most people in the west view Egypt as a profound source of all esoteric lore. This Egypt is a timeless idea bearing only a loose relation to the historical reality, with this fallacy being as far reaching as Herodotus” (p. 27).    
 
Hornung’s book, The Secret Lore of Egypt chronicles in part how much of what the Greeks came to view as exotic and mystical about Egypt actually stemmed from Hellenistic traditions that the Greeks  managed to forget and later re-attribute as Egyptian. Herodotus was overwhelmingly impressed by the strangeness of Egyptian culture, by its bizarre animal cults and the antiquity of its people. He was impressed by the pyramids among other things, but according to Hornung, consistently attributes practices to the Egyptians that were either not Egyptian, or had their origins in the Persian or Hellenistic worlds.  
 
In conclusion, much of what the west has viewed as ‘Egyptian’ has likely been wrong for thousands of years. However, this is really a flattery, that the west has been so obsessed with the Egyptian history and culture for generation upon generation that it gladly re-labels many of its own great accomplishments as ‘Egyptian.’

In his piece on the philosophy of poetry, Aristotle casually remarks that “poetry is more philosophical and more worth-while than history, for poetry speaks in general terms, while history concerns itself with detail.”  In his work, Aristotle offers little to nothing in defense of this statement, instead asserting it as a matter of common knowledge. The partition between philosophy and history then, was a recognized fact in Herodotus’ time. It is thus the somewhat sad fact that philosophers, not historians, defined the early role of the discipline, placing it far below their own.
 
History is, in a general sense, the faithful recount of past events paired with some reasoned explanation of why those events preceded as they did. From this then, I believe Herodotus is rightfully credited as the first real historian. Prior to Herodotus, such writing, with the Odyssey perhaps working as a somewhat functional albeit imperfect example, worked to advance the prestige of a people, a ruler, a society, a culture, or some other entity which the author felt compelled to advocate. This however, is not the case in Herodotus’ account of Egypt. Herodotus, it seems to me, tries his very best to accurately convey what he sees to the reader, and when something he relays is based on secondhand information, he is not afraid to share that with the reader. Moreover, any criticism of Herodotus’ accuracy overlooks the tremendous constraints he was under in terms of cultural barriers and his reliance on guides for explanation.     
 
One point of note also is that Herodotus was in exile when he wrote his history of Egypt, and thus can be seen as a historian more neutral than most in that he likely held no deep nationalist persuasions. Rather, Herodotus observes, explains, and then looks to others in order to better understand the Egyptian world, all of which being hallmarks of the historian.
 
Finally, Herodotus’ history does provide a fascinating look into the Egyptian world, from his description of the native animals to his speculation as to the methods of constructing the pyramids; all of his writing provides fascinating insights not only into the Egyptian world but also the Greek perspective.

The Odyssey is without question an epic journey, with its very title coming to embody this meaning. However, it is a unique sort of epic when one really stops to think about it. In the Odyssey, the end destination is not some exotic land, or a long lost treasure hidden on some remote island. Rather, the final destination for Odysseus is simply his own bed, his own wife, and his own home.
 
Moreover, the Odyssey seems to encapsulate two central themes, one being the triumph of intelligence and strength over adverse circumstances, and the other, perhaps more important theme, of reminiscence which gives color to much of Odysseus’s story. This reminiscence or melancholy is a source of pain in the epic, and no mater how promising a situation Odysseus finds himself, he still remains joyless. The only thing that can remove the pain and longing Odysseus is feeling is his own home.
 
In addition to this central theme of returning home, much of the Odyssey is relayed via memory, with every one of these memories being steeped in a sort of nostalgic wistfulness. One example of this is the nymph goddess Calypso, who despite offering Odysseus immortality is unable to abolish his overwhelming desire for home. In rejecting Calypso’s offer and instead staying steadfast to his mission of returning home to Penelope, Odysseus undoubtedly opens himself up to the painful thoughts of what could have been if he had stayed, especially as he enters his later years. Odysseus trip to the underworld also congers up many a nostalgic memory from the past that is doubtlessly painful, especially in the case of Ajax. 
 
All of this works to build the essential atmosphere of the epic, which is essentially characterized by pain, longing, and nostalgia.

As I may have mentioned in class, my uncle is a documentarian and free lance travel journalist. He has lived in dozens of countries from Ireland to Thailand and is a self-proclaimed vagabond. Over the last few years, I have had the pleasure of traveling with him across much of America during my summer vacations. We have explored America together from the Florida Everglades to the peak of Mt. Hood Oregon, encountering many fascinating people, places, and ideas along the way. In my conversations with him, my uncle has often given me advice on travel and in particular, being that he is a travel journalist, on writing about ones travels. Much of what he has told me I think is quite valuable, and so I thought I would share a few of his tips in my open topic blog post.

On writing about ones travels:

-Live and the stories will follow. The first step to travel writing is “living the story.” Seek out new and exciting experiences that interest you. Think of yourself as the “producer, star, writer, director, and editor of your own story”. Seek out unique and fascinating people for your production. 
-Take photos and notes. “Record the adventure while it’s happening” and don’t be shy, most people love being asked to have a picture with them; this has proved true in my own experience as well. Enjoy meeting people and let them know how much you enjoyed meeting them.
-“Shoot first and ask questions later.” Snap lots of photos and sort out which ones you want to keep later. You can always delete a photo off your memory card but you can never add one that was never taken.
-Try to find the extraordinary in the ordinary. When you travel you are an outsider, giving you a fresh view and take on things. Try to see beyond the obvious and dig beneath the surface.
-“Don’t write about what you had for breakfast unless it was truly amazing, people just find that annoying.”
 -Never write over your photos. If a picture is worth a thousand words it is not necessary, and if it’s not why have the picture to begin with.
-“Write from your heart.”  Try to write about how a place affected you. That is at least as important as the place itself.
-Share your experiences with others.  “You’re lucky to be a free range human roaming outside a cubicle. Share all the wonder with those who can only live it vicariously for now.”
-Read great travel writing, like in this class. Reading great travel writing inspires the human spirit and teaches you how to write well.

So, there are a few thoughts on travel and travel writing from my uncle the travel writer. I apologize for crudely summarizing them, but hopefully you found them as insightful and useful as I have.
 

In The American Roadside, James Agee discusses the roadside cabin camps which first took-off during the 1930’s. This immediately caught my eye as an interesting subject, especially in relation to the role of cabin camps relative to traditional large scale hotels. Last summer I worked as an economic consultant and briefly conducted some industry research into hospitably revenues on a macro-level. Much in keeping with Agee’s presumption that the cabin camps were here to stay, I found that motels and microtels actually make up a majority of hospitality revenues and profits in the United States today. So why did the microtel succeed? Well, I think Agee hits on most the main reasons in his piece.
 
The first is that there are few barriers to entry and relatively low overhead required, at least back in the day, to start a cabin camp. As Agee says, you might come across one such cabin camp with “a small clean room, perhaps twelve by eleven feet. Typically it’s furnished with a double bed…a table, two chairs, a small mirror, and a row of hooks in one corner and a half opened door to a toilet in the other.” (47) Agee then goes on to say that it was not uncommon for such cabins to be furnished out of “an old chicken coop” (50) or the like, with many having been cheaply yet practically constructed. Moreover, Agee stresses how such establishments often used their own profits to fuel expansion, perhaps adding more cabins, a dinner or a fueling station, all built up in an efficient and cost effective manor. This low cost and convenient service model, one large-scale hotels such as Radisson and Hilton had a hard time following, turned out to be incredibly attractive to motorists, leading many such firms to buyout or invest in their own microtel lines.     
 
Secondly, as Agee stresses in his piece, the demand was extraordinary, with the mass appeal of the automobile people were no longer chained to train lines and major cities, or even small towns, they could drive anywhere the road could take them and oftentimes saw little need to deal with the headaches of driving into a town and checking into a large hotel. The cabin camps, or modern day motels, offered convenience, accessibility, and in the 1930’s a tremendous degree of independence in which you got your own little roof, all to yourself for the night.
 
Finally, Agee makes the point that cabin camp owners could easily construct a few more cabins once the initial camp was in place at relatively low cost. This made the cabin camps uncommonly scalable for the industry, as additional cabins could be added and converted with relative ease as needed, a level of flexibility completely foreign to large scale hotel planers.
 
In conclusion, I think the accuracy and astuteness with which Agee presents the cabin camp movement is remarkable. The idea of cabin camps is distinctly individualist and appealing to many Americans, and Agee did a remarkably job of describing its appeal and recognizing its potential.