Tuesday 15 September 2015

"The Republic Of Letters Is One"

Charles Monteith of Faber and Faber once said that "The Republic of Letters is one" when referring to James Blish's adaptations of Star Trek scripts. Until I googled this phrase today, I had not realized that the phrase, "the Republic of Letters," was used in the seventeenth century. See here.

On the floor beside the couch where I sit with my laptop, a pile of books gathers, works that either are being read or have been referenced and not yet returned to the shelves. Currently, this pile comprises:

two translations of the Bible (I mention them first out of respect for scripture);
Virgil's Aeneid;
three Marvel Comics graphic works featuring Thor and Loki;
Poul Anderson's entire Time Patrol series;
one volume each from Anderson's Psychotechnic and Technic future histories;
David Lagercrantz, The Girl In The Spider's Web (continuing Stieg Larsson's Millennium series).

This last item is very good and I need to get back to it when I can stop myself posting here.

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

In a tiny way, I have something analogous to the books you keep near your couch. On the table behind me, where I sit at my computer, I have the RANDOM HOUSE DICTIONARY, Stirling's THE DESERT AND THE BLADE, and the latest issue of NATIONAL REVIEW magazine. And on the chest I use for a night table next to my bed I have Kipling's THE LIGHT THAT FAILED, and Consolmagno/Mueller's WOULD YOU BAPTIZE AN EXTRATERRESTRIAL?

But, just now, I don't have any of my Bibles at either location! Which translations happened to be near you? I'm pretty sure one of them is probably the Anglican Authorized Version.

Sean

Paul Shackley said...

Sean,
Revised Standard Version and Good News. I have discussed before how I used both of these in teaching.
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Yes, I remember that now. For its dignified style I like the 1941 Confraternity New Testament. And since the entire Old Testament of the New American Bible has been revised, I really need to get the NAB, Revised Edition.

Sean