Friday 29 February 2008

The Essential Chomsky

Editorial Reviews

Book Description
In a single volume, the seminal writings of the world's leading philosopher, linguist, and critic, published to coincide with his eightieth birthday.

For the past forty years Noam Chomsky's writings on politics and language have established him as a preeminent public intellectual and as one of the most original and wide-ranging political and social critics of our time. Among the seminal figures in linguistic theory over the past century, since the 1960s Chomsky has also secured a place as perhaps the leading dissident voice in the United States.

Chomsky's many bestselling works—including Manufacturing Consent, Hegemony or Survival, Understanding Power, and Failed States—have served as essential touchstones for dissidents, activists, scholars, and concerned citizens on subjects ranging from the media to human rights to intellectual freedom. In particular, Chomsky's scathing critiques of the U.S. wars in Vietnam, Central America, and the Middle East have furnished a widely accepted intellectual inspiration for antiwar movements over nearly four decades.

The Essential Chomsky assembles the core of his most important writings, including excerpts from his most influential texts over the past forty years. Here is an unprecedented, comprehensive overview of Chomsky's thought.

About the Author
Noam Chomsky is Institute Professor emeritus of linguistics at MIT and the author of numerous books including Chomsky vs. Foucault: A Debate on Human Nature, On Language, Objectivity and Liberal Scholarship, and Towards a New Cold War (all published by The New Press). He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Wednesday 27 February 2008

My 100 best ever ever ever novels Listing

ATLAS SHRUGGED by Ayn Rand
THE FOUNTAINHEAD by Ayn Rand
BATTLEFIELD EARTH by L. Ron Hubbard
THE LORD OF THE RINGS by J.R.R. Tolkien
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee
1984 by George Orwell
ANTHEM by Ayn Rand
WE THE LIVING by Ayn Rand
MISSION EARTH by L. Ron Hubbard
FEAR by L. Ron Hubbard
ULYSSES by James Joyce
CATCH-22 by Joseph Heller
THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald
DUNE by Frank Herbert
THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS by Robert Heinlein
STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND by Robert Heinlein
A TOWN LIKE ALICE by Nevil Shute
BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger
ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell
GRAVITY'S RAINBOW by Thomas Pynchon
THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck
SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut
GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret Mitchell
LORD OF THE FLIES by William Golding
SHANE by Jack Schaefer
TRUSTEE FROM THE TOOLROOM by Nevil Shute
A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY by John Irving
THE STAND by Stephen King
THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT'S WOMAN by John Fowles
BELOVED by Toni Morrison
THE WORM OUROBOROS by E.R. Eddison
THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner
LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov
MOONHEART by Charles de Lint
ABSALOM, ABSALOM! by William Faulkner
OF HUMAN BONDAGE by W. Somerset Maugham
WISE BLOOD by Flannery O'Connor
UNDER THE VOLCANO by Malcolm Lowry
FIFTH BUSINESS by Robertson Davies
SOMEPLACE TO BE FLYING by Charles de Lint
ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac
HEART OF DARKNESS by Joseph Conrad
YARROW by Charles de Lint
AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS by H.P. Lovecraft
ONE LONELY NIGHT by Mickey Spillane
MEMORY AND DREAM by Charles de Lint
TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by Virginia Woolf
THE MOVIEGOER by Walker Percy
TRADER by Charles de Lint
THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY by Douglas Adams
THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER by Carson McCullers
THE HANDMAID'S TALE by Margaret Atwood
BLOOD MERIDIAN by Cormac McCarthy
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Anthony Burgess
ON THE BEACH by Nevil Shute
A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce
GREENMANTLE by Charles de Lint
ENDER'S GAME by Orson Scott Card
THE LITTLE COUNTRY by Charles de Lint
THE RECOGNITIONS by William Gaddis
STARSHIP TROOPERS by Robert Heinlein
THE SUN ALSO RISES by Ernest Hemingway
THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP by John Irving
SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES by Ray Bradbury
THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE by Shirley Jackson
AS I LAY DYING by William Faulkner
TROPIC OF CANCER by Henry Miller
INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison
THE WOOD WIFE by Terri Windling
THE MAGUS by John Fowles
THE DOOR INTO SUMMER by Robert Heinlein
ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE by Robert Pirsig
I, CLAUDIUS by Robert Graves
THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London
AT SWIM-TWO-BIRDS by Flann O'Brien
FARENHEIT 451 by Ray Bradbury
ARROWSMITH by Sinclair Lewis
WATERSHIP DOWN by Richard Adams
NAKED LUNCH by William S. Burroughs
THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER by Tom Clancy
GUILTY PLEASURES by Laurell K. Hamilton
THE PUPPET MASTERS by Robert Heinlein
IT by Stephen King
V. by Thomas Pynchon
DOUBLE STAR by Robert Heinlein
CITIZEN OF THE GALAXY by Robert Heinlein
BRIDESHEAD REVISITED by Evelyn Waugh
LIGHT IN AUGUST by William Faulkner
ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST by Ken Kesey
A FAREWELL TO ARMS by Ernest Hemingway
THE SHELTERING SKY by Paul Bowles
SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION by Ken Kesey
MY ANTONIA by Willa Cather
MULENGRO by Charles de Lint
SUTTREE by Cormac McCarthy
MYTHAGO WOOD by Robert Holdstock
ILLUSIONS by Richard Bach
THE CUNNING MAN by Robertson Davies
THE SATANIC VERSES by Salman Rushdie

Star Wars according to a 3 year old.

What a story teller.

Gorseinon Cinema NOW CLOSED FOR BUSINESS ~ The usherette has left the building!

Hollywood star pays tribute to tiny cinema’s closing scene
Feb 25 2008 by Robin Turner, Western Mail


A TOUCH of Hollywood glamour was brought to a quiet Welsh street at the weekend when one of the smallest cinemas in the world closed its doors for the last time.

Hollywood actor and film director Kenneth Branagh walked up the red carpet for the final film at La Charrette, the cinema housed in an old railway wagon in Gorseinon, Swansea.
The tiny, 23-seat cinema hosted a world premiere to bow out with acclaimed director Danny Boyle’s highly rated Alien Love Triangle.


Branagh, who stars in the film with ex-Friends star Courteney Cox, said, “This is fantastic. It is a romantic idea and a symbol for why people go to the cinema.”
Walking into the atmospheric cinema, the Belfast-born star said, “This is like the street I grew up on, so I feel completely at home.”
Branagh, who wore a tuxedo for the event and was sporting a moustache, described Alien Love Triangle as a “lost film” by one of “our greatest directors”.
He added, “After 10 years and having seen an uncompleted version of it, I’m slightly nervous about it. I hope people like it. I hope the rest of the world gets to see it.”
Saturday night’s premiere and La Charrette’s finale, which was a black tie affair, was put together by BBC2 film critic Mark Kermode.
He learned of the venue’s closure when it was featured on the BBC’s The Culture Show and was eager to ensure it had a fitting send off.
The film sees Branagh play a physics lecturer who rushes home to tell his wife, played by Courteney Cox, he has perfected his dream of teleportation.
She tops his news, however, with the revelation that she is in fact a male alien disguised as a female human.
After contacting all of the UK’s major film distributors and sending them pictures of La Charrette, Mr Kermode said he received offers of several upcoming movies to bring down the final curtain.
But he decided to ask Alien Love Triangle’s producer Andrew Macdonald for the film because he wanted “something special, something unique, something unattainable”.
The unlikely cinema venue was built by the late film projectionist and Gorseinon electrician Gwyn Phillips.
He had a dream of owning his own cinema after failing to get in to see Tarzan, starring Johnny Weissmuller, at his local cinema The Lido, in 1942.
The doorman told him there were not enough seats.
Later he would establish his first cinema in a redundant coal shed.
Then, in 1955 he bought an old railway wagon – La Charrette is French for wagon – and so began the story of one of the world’s smallest cinemas.
It was only pipped in the “world’s smallest” list by a Nottingham cinema which has 21 seats and The Terrace Theatre in Tinonee, Australia, which has 22.

But, after 53 years, La Charette has become too costly to maintain, because of its crumbling structure. Mr Phillips’s family and friends, who carried on running the cinema after his death, have had to admit defeat to rotting timbers, advancing rust and a leaking roof.
Ron Williams, the chairman of La Charrette said, “We decided we had to close it before it collapsed all around us.”


Many locals who used the cinema are sad to see it go.
Barbara Rees, of Gorseinon, who did her courting at the cinema, said, “When I started having boyfriends I went to see Gwyn’s films.
“If the picture got a bit boring I would concentrate on the boyfriend but if the picture was interesting I’d concentrate on the picture.”
David and Margo Lewis have been regulars at La Charrette for decades.
Mr Lewis said, “I don’t think we’ve been to another cinema in Britain in 30 years – we get all we want here.”
The event was organised by and filmed for The Culture Show and will be screened on BBC2 on Saturday, 1 March.

Thursday 21 February 2008

Tuesday 19 February 2008

Cinema in Gorseinon to close.........

Branagh and Cox lead farewell to the smallest cinema in Britain

By Ciar Byrne, Arts and Media CorrespondentTuesday, 19 February 2008


Kenneth Branagh does not usually attend film premieres in back gardens, but this Saturday he will make an exception.

Branagh will make an artistic pilgrimage to Gorseinon, near Swansea, to mark the end of an era for La Charrette, Britain's smallest cinema.

The tiny venue, a 23-seat room with flock wallpaper and hand-operated curtains built in a disused railway carriage, has been showing films since 1953 but, with age, has gradually fallen into disrepair. It was to have made its swansong in October last year with a screening of Oceans 13.

That was until Mark Kermode stepped in. When the film critic visited La Charrette for BBC2's The Culture Show, he fell in love and decided to give it a special send-off. After ringing round his contacts, he came up with a unique way to bid farewell to the historic picture house, before it was dismantled and moved to a heritage park in the Gower.

Mr Kermode said: "Our idea was to send it off in fine style; to give it a really good last hurrah."
On Saturday, Branagh is to attend the black tie premiere of Alien Love Triangle, a "lost" film by Danny Boyle, in which Branagh co-stars with the Hollywood actresses Courteney Cox and Heather Graham. It is believed that Cox has also screened a special message for La Charrette.
The 30-minute film, about a scientist who discovers his wife is a male alien, was made by the team behind Trainspotting, including director Boyle, screenwriter John Hodge and producer Andrew Macdonald.
It was originally intended to be released as one of a trilogy of short films, but the other two – Mimic and Imposter – were turned into full-length feature films and Alien Love Triangle has languished unseen.
It will be a far cry from the red carpet in Leicester Square. Instead, La Charrette is approached through a wrought-iron gate, along a residential drive. The cinema was built in 1953 by Gwyn Phillips, an electrician who fell in love with the movies while working as a projectionist in his youth.
In a black and white film interview, Mr Phillips explained the advantages that his cinema had over bigger venues. "I think it's the atmosphere of it all," he said.
Mr Phillips died in 1996, but his widow, Rita, kept his dream alive, much to the delight of regulars, some of whom attended the cinema for more than 50 years.
The films shown at La Charrette were just as mainstream as those at bigger venues. According to a meticulously kept, hand-written record of every film shown at the cinema, the first to be screened there in 1953 was Reluctant Heroes, followed in the same year by Oliver Twist, King Kong and Winchester '73.
In the mid-seventies, the cinema showed the James Bond movie Live and Let Die, The French Connection and the controversial Straw Dogs. More recently, Saving Private Ryan, Elizabeth and The Queen have been shown.
A regular, Barbara Rees, remembered "courting" at La Charrette in its early days. "When I started courting it was going to see Gwyn's films," she told The Culture Show. "If the picture got a bit boring, I'd concentrate on the boyfriend, if the picture was interesting I'd concentrate on the picture."

Donald and Margo Lewis recalled: "In 30 years I don't think we ever went to another cinema in this country. We've seen all we wanted to see here."
Sadly, the decaying structure of the old railway carriage – La Charrette is French for carriage – means the cinema must now close.
Ron Williams, the chair of La Charrette, said: "The structure of the building is rotting away – the timber is rotting, the steel is rotting and the roof is leaking – so we thought it had better close before it collapsed around us."
But not before Branagh has seen it out in style, at a ceremony that will be recorded for posterity and screened on The Culture Show on 1 March.


Britain's small screens
The Old Market Hall, Shrewsbury
This building has served as an auction room, an air-raid shelter and a courthouse since 1596, and is now a (very) small cinema.
The Ritz, Belper, Derbyshire
Holding only 99 seats, it has served as a picture house since the 1930s.
The Electric Palace, Hastings, East Sussex
Has 52 seats and shows classics and foreign cinema.
The Palace Cinema, Broadstairs, Kent
This is often wrongly believed to be Britain's smallest cinema because of a very small exterior but it has seating underground for 111.
The Ultimate Picture Palace, Oxford
Another well-loved and cosy place showing cult films and classics. It seats 80 people.
The Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre, Dumfries, Scotland
Has 69 places and is well-loved by its local community.

Mohamed Fayed's Day in Court

Blair 'part of Diana conspiracy'

Tony Blair, the man who dubbed Diana the "People's Princess", has been accused of being part of an alleged conspiracy to murder her.

Mohamed al Fayed claims the former prime minister sanctioned the "momentous and horrific action" that saw his son Dodi Fayed and Diana, Princess of Wales killed in a car crash in Paris, their inquests were told.
The Harrods boss - described to the hearing as both a buccaneering businessman and a grieving father - entered the witness box and implicated many establishment figures in the plot to kill or cover-up the murder of the couple.

Everyone from the security services, including MI6 and the CIA, the French authorities, former Metropolitan Police chiefs Lord Condon and Lord Stevens and even Diana's own sister Lady Sarah McCorquodale came under Mr al Fayed's veil of suspicion.

The Duke of Edinburgh was placed at the centre of the allegations as Mr al Fayed believes he ordered MI6 to orchestrate the crash that killed Dodi, Diana and their driver, Henri Paul, on August 31 1997.

Asked by the coroner's counsel Ian Burnett QC if he still stood by the claim made in his statement that "I'm in no doubt whatsoever that my son and Princess Diana were murdered by the British security services on the orders of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh", Mr al Fayed replied: "Yes."

Many powerful and high profile figures were verbally attacked from the witness box by the Egyptian businessman. Describing Diana's life with senior royals, he said: "She suffered for 20 years, this Dracula family."

While the Prince of Wales's wife the Duchess of Cornwall was compared to a reptile.
Commenting on his belief that Charles was part of the conspiracy to kill Diana, he said: "They finished her, they murdered her and now he is happy. He married his crocodile wife and he is happy with that."
The most scathing comments were reserved for Prince Philip who was labelled a "Nazi" and "racist" by the tycoon. He told the hearing: "Here is an article. I would like to show it to you, walking with a Hitler General when he was 15 years old. Here it is. You want someone like that, growing up with the Nazis, accept(ing) my son? "There is no way. This is the proof again."

Thursday 7 February 2008

Keep your nose out of British law

Archbishop sparks Sharia law row


Dr Williams made his comments in a BBC Radio interview Dr Williams interview


Leading politicians have distanced themselves from the Archbishop of Canterbury's belief that some Sharia law in the UK seems "unavoidable".
Gordon Brown's spokesman said the prime minister "believes that British laws should be based on British values".
The Tories called the Archbishop's remarks "unhelpful" and the Lib Dems said all must abide by the rule of law.
Dr Rowan Williams said the UK had to "face up to the fact" some citizens do not relate to the British legal system.
He said adopting parts of Islamic Sharia law could help social cohesion.
For example, Muslims could choose to have marital disputes or financial matters dealt with in a Sharia court.
'Changes'
But the prime minister's official spokesman said Sharia law could never be used as a justification for committing a breach of English law, nor could the principle of Sharia law be applied in a civil case.
He added that Mr Brown had a good relationship with the archbishop, who was perfectly entitled to express his views.
The spokesman also said: "There are instances where government has made changes for example on stamp duty but the general position is that Sharia cannot be used as justification for committing breaches of English law nor can its principles be used in civil courts."
All British citizens must be subject to British laws developed through Parliament and the courts Baroness Warsi Conservatives
Home Office Minister Tony McNulty said: "To ask us to fundamentally change the rule of law and to adopt Sharia law, I think, is fundamentally wrong."
He also said: "I don't think there's any place in the body of UK jurisdiction for Sharia law at all in those terms."
For the Conservatives, shadow community cohesion minister Baroness Warsi said: "The Archbishop's comments are unhelpful and may add to the confusion that already exists in our communities.
"Of course the important principle is one of equality and we must ensure that people of all backgrounds and religions are treated equally before the law. Freedom under the law allows respect for some religious practices.
"But let's be absolutely clear. All British citizens must be subject to British laws developed through Parliament and the courts."
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said: "Whilst having an enormous amount of respect for Rowan Williams, I cannot agree with his conclusions on this issue.
"Equality before the law is part of the glue that binds our society together. We cannot have a situation where there is one law for one person and different laws for another.
"There is a huge difference between respecting peoples' right to follow their own beliefs and allowing them to excuse themselves from the rule of law."
'Sensational'
Dr Williams said Muslims should not have to choose between "the stark alternatives of cultural loyalty or state loyalty".
In an interview with BBC correspondent Christopher Landau, Dr Williams argued this relied on Sharia law being better understood. At the moment, he said "sensational reporting of opinion polls" clouded the issue.
He stressed that "nobody in their right mind would want to see in this country the kind of inhumanity that's sometimes been associated with the practice of the law in some Islamic states; the extreme punishments, the attitudes to women as well".
But Dr Williams said an approach to law which simply said "there's one law for everybody and that's all there is to be said, and anything else that commands your loyalty or allegiance is completely irrelevant in the processes of the courts - I think that's a bit of a danger".


HAVE YOUR SAY

There is, and should only be, one law which covers all people and to suggest it can be otherwise is to seriously damage our rights Patricia London, UK
"There's a place for finding what would be a constructive accommodation with some aspects of Muslim law, as we already do with some other aspects of religious law."
Dr Williams added: "What we don't want either, is I think, a stand-off, where the law squares up to people's religious consciences."
"We don't either want a situation where, because there's no way of legally monitoring what communities do... people do what they like in private in such a way that that becomes another way of intensifying oppression inside a community."
Multiculturalism 'divisive'
Under English law, people may devise their own way to settle a dispute in front of an agreed third party as long as both sides agree to the process.
Muslim Sharia courts and the Orthodox Jewish courts which already exist in the UK come into this category.
Mark Pritchard, Tory MP for the Wrekin, in Shropshire, said the Archbishop's comments were "naive and shocking" and he accused him of "pseudo-theological appeasement".
He said: "The Archbishop should be standing up for our Judeo-Christian principles that underpin British criminal law that have been hard fought for.
"He should be concentrating on winning souls into the Church of England rather than getting involved in politics."
Last month, one of Dr Williams's colleagues, the Bishop of Rochester, said that non-Muslims may find it hard to live or work in some areas of the UK.
The Right Reverend Dr Michael Nazir-Ali said there was "hostility" in some areas and described the government's multicultural policies as divisive.
He said there had been a worldwide resurgence of Islamic extremism, leading to young people growing up alienated from the country they lived in.
He has since received death threats and has been placed under police protection.
Do you have any experience of how Sharia Law is used within the community where you live? Send us your experience by filling out the form below.
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Comments ...............................WELL I THINK HE'S A PLONKER.............


Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7233335.stmPublished: 2008/02/07 17:24:34 GMT© BBC MMVIII

Friday 1 February 2008

Daniel Donaghy

Rally
A third day of wet gray skies, a stalled chill pressing on me like a hand
three years after my mother's deathduring a blizzard that shut down
my town two hundred miles north, gray skies unloading
until the airports closed, the roads, until she ran out of breath
the same day she'd called to tell me she was all right, wait out the storm,
her voice strong with what doctors called her rally to say good-bye,
common, they see it all the time, her voice so clear in my head today
I want to answer it, so I do, with a few words to the empty house
and with her hard life burning in my stomach when I imagine her
looking out past her walker to the gray sky outside,
and beyond that to my father, her parents, the God she'd prayed to
all her life, especially at the end, those rosary beads still wrapped
around her fingers when I got there an hour too late.
Fall 2007

Ian Duhig ~ The Speed of Dark ~ Reviewed

Ian Duhig: 'The Speed of Dark' (Picador, 2007)Review by Katy Evans-Bush

As the notes at the back of Ian Duhig's new collection tell us, Umberto Eco has said that 'all the problems of the Western world emerged in the middle ages'. This statement looks compelling, post-9/11: the problems of the Middle Ages have indeed come back to haunt our post-Enlightenment dream. It is time to reconnect.

Ever since his first collection Duhig has had an ear to the keyhole of the middle ages, listening to its echoes of meaning in our language, our symbols. The Speed of Dark takes this on as a whole collection — a collection which does not in any way feel dry, or learned (though it is very learned).

This book is funny, dark, brutal and sophisticated, adopting the often dialectical religious world-view, the transgressive satire, the modernness of the medievals — and by extension the medievalness of us — via two 14th-century French manuscripts.


The book revolves around the character of Fauvel, the transgressive, anti-heroic mocker and sneerer, half-man, half-horse, from a medieval satire called Le Roman de Fauvel. Fauvel can say what other characters can't: he is above the notion of goodness; his name echoes 'false veil', is an acrostic for 'avarice' and 'vilanie' among other things, and is closely related to the colour fawn, 'a colour of evil narcissism'. Fauvel exposes the hypocrisies and falsenesses behind other veils.
Duhig sets the stage with a three-page tour de force in satirical rhyming couplets:
Seigneurs et dames, you're welcome all!I'm just flown in from Charles de Gaulle, your man-stroke-horse-stroke-King-Fauvel — your interlocutor as wellwith hopes my new verse may enhancethis show from medieval France…


… Europe's seen enough of schism:two Popes, you prods; its left and righttook turns to reign as day with nightto chase some ism with a wasm.

'Fauvel's Prologue' also pillories…

… politicians, literati,businessmen, the arty-farty,churchmen, coppers, dons and judges,civil servants — none begrudges:all stroke and comb me just the same,as 'fawn's one meaning of my name,they fawn upon my rough fawn coat…

In the Roman de Fauvel, Fauvel wants to marry La Dame Fortuna — Lady Luck — so she won't cast him down again as her wheel turns. She, however, as Duhig writes, instead palms him off with Vainglory: 'my delinquent daughter:/ if you're a rip, then she's a snorter./ And since you'll argue black is white/ then marry her in widow's silk…'. This turning of fortune's wheel — first up, then down — represents another prominent dualism in the book. In the notes (which are interesting, and add much to one's understanding, but are certainly not necessary to enjoy the poems) Duhig explains that Fauvel attacks 'hybridity, distinctions dissolved, things becoming what they should not'. The whole book has a distinctly Manichean flavour, with everything contained in, or expressed by, its opposite. Even Duhig's image (borrowed, of course, from Barbara Tuchman) of the Middle Ages being a mirror results in a reversed view of ourselves. It's a dark view, and fierce, but none the less joyous for that.

What we see in this reversed view is a world today in which we are once again caught between the warring orthodoxies of the three religions ('people of the book' is an apt appellation, here).

This is not a new subject for Duhig any more than the middle ages are — I suspect he gets a kick out of schism — though it takes on a fuller shape here than previously. All three religions get a look-in in this book — epigraphs from the Qu'ran underline the contemporaneous message — and, placed in this medieval proximity, their centuries-old rivalry feels more and more like the sibling variety.

The 'one-eyed king' referred to several times is Islam's anti-Christ figure, the one-eyed Dajjal. The poem 'Eye Service' ends:
The die is cast in Caesar's Palace;slot-jockeys, we're on Fauvel's string,our silks all spun by Saadi's spider,our race the sport of a one-eyed king.
(The double-entendre there doesn't hurt.)

The poem 'Et de Man Sale', with its epigraph from Paul de Man ('Nowadays we are less than ever capable of philosophical generality rooted in genuine self-insight'), begins 'The fascist regime grants/ complete freedom to the poet' (italics original), and finishes its description of a suitable crest with the line: 'his sinister eye, just plucked out'.
This one-word suggestion of the 'I' of self-insight as the thing that is missing from the eye of Dajjal encapsulates one of Duhig's major themes: the meanings of words themselves, and how many meanings can be expressed through one word. (Back in 'Eye Service': 'No motets praise the Trinity'/ our choirs just babble monologues,/ each lyric 'Je' sans frontiers…') Words in this book, not surprisingly, seem to melt into their meanings through etymology, sound, suggestion, placement against their opposites. This book is about not only meaning but the significance of meaning in a world where everything's upside-down. And meaning can be twisted.
'Laisse II' of the gruelling 'Chanson de Charlemagne' puts this into practice with the lines 'Wounds made a dovecote of our Saviour's flesh,/ so those who give wounds are the Dove's true friends'. (This reprises the selfsame image of 'the dovecote of Christ's body' from Duhig's earlier poem, 'Margery Kempe's' —Margery Kempe having been a 14th-century mystic.) Thus is characterised the hero of France, the supposed king of Peace. The poem also describes the ingeniousness of Charlemagne's cruelty.

Poems set closer to home show that these concerns are not cosily tucked-up in the past: film noir 'turned film blanc', Chinatown with its 'private eye' and Faye Dunaway's character who dies, shot through her bad eye. 'Walk the Line' describes Johnny Cash's wearing of black to represent the poor, while the very funny 'Communion' describes a gruesome Vatican film called 'The White Suit' — about a boy happy to suffer mutilation if it means he can wear a white suit to his first communion — shown by a nun to a catechism class:

Most of the class had weeks of nightmares. Parents complained. One day, without a word, the nun was gone. To me she'd never beenquite there, less real than Giacomo's moustache,my phantom limb itching in its flesh imposteror my grasp of sacramental transubstantiation.
Transubstantiation is the subject of the wonderful 'Mencken sonnet', about the mystery of the perfect martini, '…its French vermouth/ dying out like harmonics of the lost chord:// Dean Martin just had waiters mention it nearby;/ Churchill merely bowed in the direction of France.' This poem's poised elegance acts as its own vehicle of transubstantiation.

This is a poem that could almost, in its metaphysical and formal perfection, been written by the late poet Michael Donaghy. And indeed, Donaghy is a presiding spirit of the book: 'But I felt in his work's shadow, brilliant, with epigraphs in the original French — ', Duhig writes. The first poem in the collection is a play on Donaghy's book on poetics, Wallflowers, and the second — 'Moshibboleth' — on his poem 'Shibboleth.' Later in the book, the prose poem 'Midriver' alludes to Donaghy's own 'Midriver'; the word echoes 'midstream', a place in which, in another poem, Duhig can't change horses — i.e., midway through this life. (It's worth noting, in this context, that Donaghy died at 50.)

Duhig shares with Donaghy an apprehension of poetic form as a vehicle for wit - as well as enough wit to require a vehicle. This book contains much rhyme: full, slant and off; quatrains, couplets, a sonnet, accentual trimeter quatrains, accentual blank verse, nonce forms. In 'Coda' the rhyme disintegrates just as the fishing nets he's describing do. 'Use Complete Sentences' is made of five beautifully-rhymed couplets in iambic pentameter. But, like Donaghy, Duhig is not a Formalist-with-capital-F. The use of form is not at all dogmatic or 'textbook', but flows as naturally (note, this does not mean effortlessly!) as playing music.

Some sections of the book seem a little slow — for this reviewer, maybe the several-poem-long riff on black and white could have been eked out with more reflection on other forms of being/not-being, seeming/not-seeming. The book is idea-heavy and Duhig has a job on his hands keeping the specifics straight in the reader's mind from poem to poem — most of us being slightly less versed in medieval heresies than he is.

One strength of the book, though, to my mind, is the absence of trite reference to the twin towers or any similar angle; a sentence in the notes connecting George Bush to both the Knights Templar and Dajjal, '(though these sites change quickly and are subject to security monitoring)', tells us all we need to know there.

What Duhig shares with Donaghy is an absolute, saturation-level engagement with this world, the one we live in every day, held in robust balance with a very living awareness of history. We, this book says, are definitely part of history, but no more than that — and no less than that. History is a dance in which we are a step. This book feels the perfect point for Duhig to have arrived at, a fusion of these two elements and culmination of something he's been approaching for years. He needn't fear the 'felt mute' of the bodhran: this book is like a song of complexity, wit and verve.