Wednesday, June 15, 2005

More Books and Movies! I can't believe that I left off my book list two books by Steven Pressfield: Gates of Fire : An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae and The Legend of Bagger Vance. The first is about the stand that the Spartans took against the invading Persians that may have saved Western Civilzaton, the second is about golf(!). I know that there seems to be no connection between those two subjects, but it turns out there is, at least in the way that Pressfield looks at golf. For him, golf calls forth the same virtues of the warrior as war itself calls forth. Or, maybe it would be more accurate for me to say that Pressfield sees golf as a metaphor for war. (I think golf is a metaphor for total frustration, if you can be totally frustrated while having fun.) Anyway, read Gates of Fire first, then Legend of Bagger Vance, and make up your own mind.

I left off Chariots of Fire from my movie list. Another one is Tarkovsky's Solaris.

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