Reading: Aha! I've begun The Name of the Rose.

Learning: This empty spot is why I began this section, to force myself to recognize what I'm learning. Apparently not much.

Listening: Not Outlandos d'Amour, despite whose wedding I've been writing about.

Viewing: A wonderful sunset, though pollution-induced. Magpies.

Moving: Two-thirds of our regular walk the 19th; our whole walk the 20th.

19-20 November 1999: Settling back in

More of LIM's convergences: I have been peeved at Dante since I read in Forbidden Knowledge and remembered that ol' Dante shoved Odysseus into his inferno because Odysseus sought too much knowledge, according to Shattuck's reading of Dante. Now in The Life of God:

Later I told him the story of Odysseus, meaning to hold up the Greek hero for Dante's admiration. I told him that, after returning to his faithful Penelope, Odysseus had once again departed, this time to see the world that lay beyond the columns that Heracles raised in Gibraltar to prevent man from venturing beyond. I was trying to make him see that this was an example that should be emulated; people ought to consider carefully the true essence of their nature and follow their yearning for knowledge. Dante became excited over my story and rushed off to write his version, in which I punished Odysseus because of his excessive daring as a navigator. According to Dante, I caused Odysseus to sink into the sea at the very moment when new land was sighted. Poor Odysseus was added to the phalanx of those damned in hell, and thus was extinguished my attempt to educate Dante in pagan values.

What I like about Ferrucci is that his God is always disappointed in how humans misinterpret him. And that God is forgetful. What a great opening line: "For long stretches at a time I forget that I am God. But then, memory isn't my strong suit. It comes and goes with a will of its own."

I finished that in bed this morning, then spent the day cleaning and scanning and finishing these entries. RDC made pancakes for supper with Charenton syrup and lit a fire for the first time and I am anxious to join it with him and Umberto Eco so I'm off.