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Review of "The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance"

Despite the fact that I have a stack of books resting on the stand by my bed ready to be read, when I saw a paperback copy of The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance with a deeply broken spine at the Lake Worth Library book sale I decided to pick it up and place it first in the queue. Weighing in at 848 page, this was no small diversion from previously scheduled reading. I was, however, richly rewarded for my decision. It wasn’t a total surprise, it did win the National Book Award in 1991.

How did it do this? The account successfully manages to illustrate the myriad complex legal changes made in the United States from the 1860s to the 1990s in a manner both informative and stylistically compelling. By describing the actions of Morgan personnel, their competitors, those that would seek to regulate them as well as those that want loans the contributions of Pierpont Morgan, Jack Morgan, Tom Lamont, and many others are placed into a context that allows the reader to see the effects that various flows and concentrations of capital had on the world’s political economic system.

The history of the Morgan Bank is periodized into three distinct periods: The Baronial Age, The Diplomatic Age and The Casino Age. The book explains the reasons for the changes that occurs – whether it be increasing public distrust of banks to self-regulate or the increasing capital powers of companies to raise their own capital – and also gives accounts of the most significant issues the leaders of the various financial service companies that spawned from the Morgan Bank following the passage of Glass-Steagall had to face.
In the Baronial Age – most associated with the aristocratic Rothschilds, bankers relied upon an individual’s character and social connections to determine creditworthiness and competition between banks was moderated by The Bankers Code. The Bankers Code was the set of value–judgments that inhibited bankers from poaching clients and getting involved in cutthroat competition so as to make any services provided not profitable. This was an age when most bankers relied upon their connections to aristocrats to do business and as such were highly cultured. England, then the Financial Capital of the World was where George Peabody first began his transformation from rich to wealthy. Peabody, a miser who financed many British and colonial merchant ventures, was the true “founder” of the Morgan Bank. Taking on a young Junius Morgan in the autumn years of his life, it is only after Peabody’s death that Junius is able to gain greater access to elite and rename the enterprise to J. S. Morgan and Co. An Anglophile to the core with blue-blooded heritage, Morgan is able to become the pre-eminent representative of the American financial market. As a representative of the British Bondholders for capital investments in the United States, Junius was constantly advocating for the financial duties of his clients to be fulfilled. Thus though American, he consistently fought for the interests of what were predominantly foreign investors. This was a logical extension of the Bankers Code, which sought to protect creditors’ investment and thus demonstrate integrity. As time went on and national conflict grew this came to be a ticklish task to accomplish without unduly promoting the interests of belligerent states in Europe. This internationalist position ostracized the Morgan Bank from the domestic political leaders of the time, the smaller domestic banks that lacked access to the British and European capital markets and was one of the reasons that much of the press at the time likened them to a foreign power placing undue duress on American working men. The domestic policies, practices and investments of the Morgan Bank, however, elicited much greater public brouhaha in the news of the day. It was typical for Morgan executives to sit on the board of multiple companies that they had loaned money to – a circumstance that lent themselves to being depicted as a financial cabal running the country. During the railroad price wars, for instance, the Morgan banks involvement in holding companies purchases to help create a monopoly line in the North-East and North-West lead to congressional investigations that went largely nowhere. Chernow here also documents how typical it was for the bankers of this era to be so hard working that many died both rich and young. The work culture that Banks imbued is so taxing that a number of associates and partners die prematurely. Also worth noting is the particularly fascinating scene were J. P. Morgan is able to “save” Wall Street nearly singlehandedly.

During the Diplomatic Age, which occurred following the cessation of the First World War and ended a decade after the second – many of these prerogatives, policies changed due to the new situation on the ground. The bank slightly eased its underwriting policies – previously they has only been willing to underwrite “sure-things” – and became, to an extent, an extension of American diplomatic policy in Latin American and Asia. Innuendos voiced by government officials transformed into guarantees on return. Given the rhetoric and history of U.S. involvement in these places, this is understandable. Conflicts between other banks, previously seemingly small, start to become more heightened. The animosity between the Jewish banks and the Anglophile, Anti-Semitic House of Morgan are a partial cause for a new set of hearings. It is also during this time that the bankers heightened service for his clients is tested. As various foreign powers, such as Italy and Japan, began bellicose campaigns in foreign nations under the aegis of self-defense and development Morgan partners defend those that will soon be enemy combatants. The sections on the creation of an Italian-American news group that re-frames Mussolini’s actions in an American context and that is apologetic about Japanese military action in Manchuria. The Diplomatic Age lasts a little bit longer than the end of the Second World War, though this time instead of directly writing loans to destroyed countries seeking to revivify their industries they play predominantly an advisory role. Not only had experience shown that this was a problematic situation for these banks to operate in but also by this time the American Federal Government has successfully bureaucratized and expanded enough that it no longer needed to rely upon private financiers.

By the time of the Casino Age, the Gentleman’s Banker’s Code is practically out the window. Competition created by the resurgence of the defeated WW2 powers and the increasing ability means that the banks need to offer greater incentives to maintain clients as now large industries are capable of raising funs themselves. As a wide variety of cultural productions such as Wall Street, The Wolf of Wall Street, American Psycho, etc. have shown – this is when a massive consolidation of American industry occurs. The shift from Gentlemen Bankers to hot-headed, rash, ultra-competitive bankers marks a total one-hundred and eighty degree shift in the manner in which business is done. Sectoral shifts in policy are often initiated by the House of Morgan – which by now is a number of enterprises that actively compete against each other.

In Chernow’s depiction of these three epochs there are so many biographical/business stories that makes the world of banking not merely come alive but seem much more interesting than it had before. I enjoyed reading about the work-culture of Wall Street as well as getting to understand the minds working behind the scenes. There were several people that I’d like to learn more about, but considering the name of the bank I’d like to focus some thoughts on Junius Morgan.

He is depicted in the book as practically possessed by the need to collect as much of the “great” European art as he can. A telling statement that Chernow discovered is the fear that art sellers had that when he died the prices for their products would drop by nearly half. While I understand his desire to collect all of the treasures of the past that he thought the most edifying onto American shores so that those less financially endowed as himself could have the opportunity to visit it, I can’t help but wonder what would have happened had he encouraged the most talented artists in both Europe and Asia to relocate as a condition of their patronage.

One of the more interesting insights that I learned about Pierpont’s perspective was his attitude on macro-economic policy. Even thought he is considered the incarnation of finance capitalism today as in his own, his perspective was for a managed economy. At a time when an increasing number of attacks coming from the organs of industry promote political candidates that would enact austerity measures on the economy is worth finding examples of capitalists who THEMSELVES state that macro-economic planning principles are the only sound way with which to manage an already large and continuing to grow industrial economy.

While it may seem that this era has little to do with the present it’s worth noting that while talking about a different book of Chernow’s – Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. – Corey Robin posted a quote from this peer of the Morgan’s to Jodi Dean’s Facebook Profile. That commentators on the current state of political affairs continue to look at this period to contextualize the present indicates how a historical, material perspective is needed to understand the world rather than simply decrying an abstract “injustice”. It’s through understanding the people that lobbied and influenced government policies – as well as understanding how those policies function – that one can better understand both Wall Street and U.S. policies.

Much like Liquidated and To Serve God and Wal-Mart The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance provides a history of Wall Street. I am grateful for Mr. Chernow’s contribution to my understanding of that world that is at the time of this writing so far away and yet having such a huge impact on both the USA and the rest of the world, especially at a time when J.P. Morgan associated banks are paying out more than 30 billion dollars for activities that many are calling criminal.

Review of Kvachi

I first became aware of the the novel Kvachi by Mikheil Javakhishvili after reading this great review by The Millions writer Matt Seidel. As I’ve lately taken to reading picaresque tales and I’ve always had a general interest in books that are banned – for twenty years Soviet authorities prevented it’s publication – I was excited to read this newly translated into English work. I started it with delighted anticipation which grew into bemusement and, as the novel continued, ended with general disappointment. This wasn’t necessarily a failing on the part of the author or the translator but, I believe, due to the nature of the eponymous character of the novel. What do I mean? Read on, but beware of spoilers…

According to the provincial folk wisdom of palm reader Madame Notio, the bad weather during and after the time of Kvachi’s birth and the manner in which he holds things indicated that all of his enemies will be defeated and that he will accomplish personal greatness. As the reader soon sees, however, the character of his enemies and the nature of his abilities don’t make him into a hero crusading in the name of some ideal or even an anti-hero resisting the crushing social mores and habitudes around him. Kvachi is, instead, more a villain that seeks to continuously enrich himself or gain status at the expense of others with little to no thought of the consequences.

Kvachi’s rags to riches to rags to less riches than before story is largely a manner of how he is able to swindle people out of their money or evade police and military officials searching for him. Whether it is obtaining property titles through elaborate ruses, pimping his discarded lovers, stock-market manipulation, exploiting nepotistic government networks or murder – Kvachi cares not. All is fair game, unsurprising to the astute reader that can read the foreshadowing in his first words: “Me, me.” If limited to his small town he would be forced to sublimate some of those grandiose qualities into something more socially useful, a la Edward Limonov’s character Eddie turning to poetry in Memoir of a Russian Punk, however Kvachi has grand ambition. Kvachi manipulate news presses through money and intimidation by his friends/henchmen to help establish the notion of him as the Pierpont Morgan of Georgia. He has people pay to consult him on various matters and uses the knowledge whenever he can to benefit himself and his gang. However he and they leave Georgia and establish themselves in St. Petersburg after they’ve won the heart and mind of Rasputin.

The long section of the novel wherein Kvachi comes to meet, befriend and manipulate Rasputin is, as a non-Orthodox person, fascinating to read. While Rasputin’s role in the actual administration of the final days of the Russian monarchy is largely overwrought and mythical rather than historical, his character in the book gives a portrait with verisimilitude to what transpired. Once in the Tsar’s circle Kvachi takes on the role as the defender of the throne. Once he sees that the Bolsheviks will come to power, however, he then assassinated Rasputin and becomes a leading figure in the October revolution. Unsurprisingly once this force oriented to the people’s will rather than that of the divine comes into power, Kvachi finds his days numbered. There are simply too many people that have been harmed by him and are aware of his schemes for the new government not to notice. He stays in order to gain as much gold as possible for transport out of the country and then starts a series of misadventures across the upper social circles of Europe.

It is in these scenes amongst the upper echelons of “polite society” that the novel shines. Rather than Kvachi exploiting the trusting and ignorant near-poor folk he steals from those that have been born into aristocratic families. Here Javakhichvii satirizes the manners, customs, and attitudes of the people that have gotten there by no other dint than the luck of their birth into it to great effect. They are shown here to be indolent, non-productive back-biters ever willing to exploit others any way they can. It’s these dynamics that complicates Kvachi. While it’s possible to be indignant at him for his crimes against the smaller people and the government, his scamming of these people is shocking but, also somehow fair. Going from county to country, he burns all the bridges in a place then moves on. He has no allegiances except to that of money, a goal which is never sated, and to his comrades.

That the major secondary characters in the novel never receive much character development isn’t surprising. For the author, and just as it is for Kvachi – it’s all about Kvachi’s desires and money and everything else is secondary. This is, for this reader, unfortunate as the lack of real character development outside of retrenchment in the face of adversity is in large part a similar reason that I found Wolf Of Wall Street to be disappointing. Lacking an “Aha!” moment wherein the protagonist comes to realize that their immoral behavior has harmed people and from that realization obtains a greater sense of social responsibility means that Kvachi is merely the account of a sociopath motivated by greed and ambition. Even when depicting his one truly heroic act, leading a nearly defeated band of Russian troops to capture Turkish forces, he is depicted as possessed and not of his right mind.

Considering all of the above I can understand, though not agree with, the Soviet censorship of the novel. In a similar way that Anita Bryant decried the sexual denigration of women and cultural values of urban gangs, one could see in Javakhishvili’s writings 80 years prior and halfway around the world similar views towards women and the lionization of criminal enterprises. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that Kvachi is an early 20th century gangster, but his hustling abilities is what allows him to live a privileged life despite his being born into a poor, provincial family. Considering that his likelihood of upward mobility is so low if he were to play by the rules of the law and polite society and that so many of the people that Kvachi encounters are playing this game or a variation of it as well, it becomes harder to judge Kvachi as a villain pure and simple. In the end, he is just someone who cares only about himself – which is in itself a dangerous concept for a newly formed collectivist government.

Interview with Jacques de Beaufort

You’ve been really involved in the local music scene over the past three years, shooting music videos and even hosting events for bands. Do you think that your interaction with musicians influences your art, and if so how?

I started getting involved with local musicians after I made a couple of videos with the Band In Heaven in 2012/2013. Shortly after directing these videos I opened UNIT 1, which I thought of primarily as a project space without really considering a musical performance component. The first show I hosted, The Esoteric Showcase, featured the art/music collective The Sunny DeVilles and so it was only natural that they performed. They parked their tour bus in the garage and then tagged the gallery up with red spray paint. I was very impressed with them and their opening act, some scruffy kids calling themselves Smith Sundy, and so right away I realized the potential the space had for featuring music as well as art.

I always tried to light the shows very dramatically and we bought a PA system to ensure a great sound. We never charged a cover and luckily most of the bands agreed to play for gas money or free beer. It was a great example of a self-creating community. One of the best things for me was watching the art crowd stick around for the music, or the music crowd come early for the art. I think that we were unique in accomplishing this sort of sociological collision and it might be my favorite thing about UNIT 1.

The UNIT1 sessions videos came about by accident as well- I was thinking about doing a video for Smith Sundy and hanging out with Billy and Rachel from Raggy Monster at the now defunct Coastars Coffee watching Ella Herrera play. It made sense all the sudden to invite all three of these bands over and make some live video recordings all at once almost like a “factory” rather than do individual projects for each one. The first batch of recordings led to another and along the way I continued directing videos for other bands.

I’m not sure the interaction with musicians influenced my art. Rather I saw UNIT 1 and all the associated projects as a type of “conceptual” art piece, if I may use such a belabored term. For me it was re-directing the onanistic energy that is required to create highly meticulous works in solitary confinement out into the world. The “art” was sustained by the collaborative energy and enthusiasm we all had for creating events and videos. I think most of the musicians knew that I was also a painter and filmmaker, but this was not the sensibility that I was bringing to the collaboration. They were the ones being featured and my role was to help them communicate their vision. This was a new way of working for me, and although I greatly enjoyed it, it was not sustainable because I felt that my creative vision was not finding opportunities for realization. There’s only so much metabolic energy that one can generate in a given day, and something has got to be sacrificed for another thing to have life.

I like that sentiment. From reading another interview of yours I know that modern artist Glenn Brown, and older artists Pontormo, Balthus, Richard Dadd, Hans Baldun Grien, and Gustave Moreau are all figures that you feel are worthy of greater attention and influence your work. At a more general level, what periods or movements of art do you find yourself drawn towards?

You’ve done your research, yes those are all my favorites! I’m actually not a huge fan of contemporary art in general. Much of the “Art world” favors attitude above all else, and I think the “correct” attitude is a real shitty one. Let me give you an example. There’s a scene I love in The Big Lebowski where The Dude watches in utter confusion as Maude Lebowski and her video artist friend with the pencil mustache laugh hysterically at an inside joke while talking to an Italian curator over the phone. In a way this scene I think illustrates the prevalent Art world aesthetic. Despite it’s being dismissive of past forms, it reminds me of Mannerist painting, a period of art that came directly after the High Renaissance that was characterized by willful over-complexity, inscrutability, and a general disdain for creating understandable or relatable pieces. It was made by and for a very privileged aristocratic audience, and the complexity was a purposeful barrier of comprehension to ensure that it was only “understood” by the right audience, those that are wealthy and learned. I love Mannerist painting, but it’s reason for existing is complete bullshit.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, movements like Romanticism, Symbolism, or Surrealism are approached with the expectation that the only thing that is required of the viewer is the ability to feel or dream. You can enjoy these works without reading a 10 page explanation of them because their meaning lies primarily in their ability to affect. Similarly I’m drawn, in a rather old fashioned way, to art in which the artists skill or technique is apparent. It’s exciting to me to see the work of a virtuoso-I just don’t get turned on by factory style artists like Jeff Koons who do little aside from sketch out an idea for a fabricator who then employs a crew to build the actual piece. For one day I had a job sanding down the shiny red surface of a Jeff Koons aluminum balloon puppy. It was a 10 hour day of sanding and I only made $120 dollars. I didn’t come back the second day.

I really like your quote in your interview with Anthea Joy Simpson, I’m paraphrasing, “Art is therapeutic, but the patient is human civilization.” Presuming you don’t imagine your work as a panacea, what sort of symptoms do you seek to treat for viewers of your work?

I think the symptom is the terminality of human life. It’s horrifying that we are finite beings, the shadow of death looms ominously over our every waking moment. The Arts, above all else, help us to externalize and understand the nature of our finite existence. The creation of a narrative is perhaps the most important function of the humanities, and without it we would be worse than dead, we’d be lost and alone adrift in a sea of meaninglessness. This is why people kill themselves: because they cannot create, or cannot find in the world, a narrative in which they have a part.

Similarly, we get to define our collective narrative and to come to terms with the sublime and destructive historical events that lay waste to all of our human ambitions. For example, I don’t believe for a minute that man will ever conquer space and, in a similar vein, I find people like Elon Musk to be repugnant in their Neo-Randian Techno-Triumphalism. The reason he’s so beloved is not because he’s actually made any money or achieved any concrete successes (last time I checked all his ventures were financed by his involvement in PayPal and loans from the US government), but because he resonates with our overwhelming desire to believe that we are omnipotent beings that spit in the face of any external limitations to our resolve. The movie Interstellar traded similarly on this belief that we are transcendent beings, unbounded and unhindered by something so negligible as a dusty home planet or the 4 dimensions of space-time. We like to think of ourselves as infinite creatures of light, and in a sense we actually are, although I don’t think of it so literally or cartoonishly.

Recognizing that I’m putting you on the spot so you might not remember them all, what local artists are doing work that you respect?

I’ve exhibited so many great artists at UNIT1, and am a fan of all of them so it’s hard to really narrow it down. If you have to twist my arm I think my top five would be Woody Othello, Rob Regis, Adam Sheetz, Bjorn Davidson, and Paul Caprio.

I really liked the female nudes you produced in 2013-2014. Do you use live models or do you go from images?

I do use live models, although I work from the photographs I take of them. So I guess that’s a yes on both accounts. Recently I began a series of drawings of men that’s coming out great so far.

I saw your interview with John David Ebert. You cited him as a seminal thinker in the development of your artistic view of the world. What other writers or schools of thought have you found intellectual affinity towards and, in a few words, why?

John David Ebert is one of the most creative and talented writers that has yet to penetrate the mainstream. What I took most from him was the realization that mythic archetypes are constantly being re-enacted in popular culture and that most contemporary cultural critics are petrified of actually interpreting things in a way that constructs rather than deconstructs meaning. This enabled me to see the potential in my work for accessing these very potent myth forms and not feeling parochial about it. My “education” as an MFA student at CalArts left me feeling terrified of actually creating meaning in my own work because everything that I wanted to do somehow was representative of an evil Patriarchal Oppression. Something as simple as painting the female form without irony or pretense was a heinous crime, and I’m very glad I was able to unlearn all of this intellectual abuse.

In a similar vein, although I’m well acquainted with post-modern and post-structural thinkers, I don’t find them useful. My tastes are somewhat archaic, I enjoy Oswald Spengler and other Romantic thinkers like Goethe, Nietzsche, and JJ Bachofen. I also enjoy the weblogs of John Michael Greer, James Howard Kunstler, and Dmitry Orlov, who all write in what I would consider the “New Stoicism”. Their belief is that human accomplishment is indeed bounded by finite limitations, and although that’s a bitter pill for the American Individualist who spits at the sun in contempt, I find their message to be prescient and somewhat Eastern in its message of collective humility. It’s not wise to go around to parties talking about this stuff though because absolutely no one wants to hear it.

If money were not an option, which museum would you like to visit most?

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, which I’m actually going to in 2 weeks.

Do you feel the numerous Art Walks across South Florida is beneficial for the scene or do you feel that it would be better served if more condensed geographically?

It will be what it will be, so any activity is better than none. I feel like there is too much distance for anything to be really condensed. What’s clear is that Broward and Palm Beach do not have the support or participation that Miami does, which is a bummer. There are some great shows and artists, but it’s not at the frequency and quality that you get in say Wynwood.

Miami art scene: Describe in three words.

Young Sticky Boobs

Since the passage of the Common Core standards there’s been a lot of discourse on the need to emphasize STEM classed (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) largely at the expense of humanities classes. To me this belittling of the Arts denigrates the human condition for while the STEM fields may help us solve problems, without the arts and a notion of beauty and truth informed by cultural literacy and a familiarity with various productions the former is meaningless. As an professor of the arts, how do you feel about this?

I absolutely agree. Nietzsche actually described this when articulating the differences between Greek Kultur, and Roman Civilization. The former as a free flowing dynamic myth-making process full of self-creating energy, and the latter as a rigid and mechanical system of replication with ossified values and an inability to create new culture forms. Our civilization is clearly in decline, and nowhere is this more evident in the insistence by politicians and administrators that education somehow should become a utilitarian business complete with quantifiable metrics. You see this very clearly in the hysterical obsession with STEM disciplines, and it has taken over just about every corner of post-secondary education. I suppose there is a nagging suspicion, which might be partly true, that the University system is not really a value positive endeavor, and this is a rational attempt to hold it to some sort of Randian accountability. I do agree that in general that hyper-specialization is not helping anyone, and that the throughput of a degree is more often its meaning as an indicator of prestige rather than a set of applicable skills, but for our culture at large what it results in is a misplaced focus on the mechanics of a society rather than its ability to generate meaning. You can build the most bitchin’ electronic device possible, but if there’s no music, film or literature for it to display, then its worthless.

Similarly the narrative of the American Dream is winding down, and public policy makers are looking for dome sort of magic elixir to keep the game alive. Clearly the most magical thing today is the irrational reverence that we afford technology, which is seen as being a salvific force of renewal, but in and for its own sake is just a means for creating new and unanticipated problems. The reckless zeal in which we are encouraged to embrace every new thing that comes around the corner has generated more than a few failures. MOOCs, online courses for the masses, were supposed to be what replaced flesh and blood Professors in a techno-topian revolution. After a few years the numbers came back and something like 15% of people who signed up for these things were actually completing them.

So I think sadly the gig is up in many ways, and that the university system is indeed in a state of attrition. I just hope that the Community and State Colleges do not become trade schools and that we do not turn our backs completely on the Liberal Arts, which have the distinct ability to afford us a Citizenry that is reasonable and well informed if it is operating correctly. So many forces in media and elsewhere are working so hard to erode the capacity of the Demos for critical thought that I fear it wont be too long before America represents the dystopian vision of Mike Judge’s Idiocracy, and if this does happen it will be very easy to pinpoint policy efforts like Common Core and the obsession with STEM as the inception of this decline.

So do you consider yourself a Humanist?

Yes, I do.

What does humanism mean to you?

Humanism, in its ideal sense is something I believe in completely. It means equal rights and opportunities for all people, and it stands for an education and life philosophy on which self-determination, hard work, curiosity, and moral responsibility are encouraged. Unfortunately at the present moment as much as I believe in these ideals, I’m also informed by Cynicism, which is a philosophy in which human actions are often seen as being largely self-interested and influenced by our pre-civilized organic beings. As I’ve grown older my Humanism has been let down too many times, and so the Cynic in me has emerged more and more. Both philosophies are a means of understanding, but I wonder if this understanding is necessarily contingent on the greater circumstances that wish to be understood.

Unit 1 has been a great space for local arts and culture events. Every time that I’ve gone there I was impressed by the quality of work present as well as the fact that it was a space for the intermingling of art buyers with artsy people. Now that you’ve closed it, what projects are you going to work on in the near future?

I’ll be opening Jacques de Beaufort Studio/Gallery where I will create and exhibit my own works, and perhaps a small handful of others, in Fall 2015.

Wisdom of the Day

While attending a meeting wherein three presenters pitched two different journalistic projects that were seeking new submissions, a young man asked the following question: “If we don’t have any writing in that style, what should we submit?”

This is the mentality of the uncommitted and undeserving. Write a piece aligned with the theme of the journal and worthy of being published by the outlet and submit that! The time spent on it at worst an exercise and at best the start of a new game!

On Commitment and Honesty on the Path to Self-Betterment

Freud and Lacan, those seminal figures of psychoanalysis, both conceived of the psychological structures that form our Self as a language. While perhaps not an image that is immediately intuitive, a closer examines reveals similarities. Our perceptions of our environment and ourselves are primarily a series of ordered symbols. We, as we conceive of our Selves, are a series of relations to family, community, friends, work, affinity groups, the future we wish to actualize, etc.

The familial relationship is the primary means by which a concept of the world and our Self is transmitted and due to the reliance of the child upon parents for survival is one readily adopted for fear of rejection and death.

Whether with conscientiousness to the effects that human interactions and language has on the child or not, this provides the basic grammar for a child’s future behavior. How an adult will deal with stress, determine whether someone is an enemy or an ally, what they aspire to accomplish or seek to avoid are just a value of the many values that form the language of human psychology.

It is extremely difficult to understate the impact that these early lessons have on the foundation for future character traits as well as physical and mental health.
As maturity increases into adolescence children gain more autonomy and this language becomes more plastic. Once firmly established as adults they are, normally, no longer dependent on their parents in order to live and this combined with different experiences with various social groups allow them to broaden and determine their own views.

Continuing the metaphor of language, then, personal development is a movement away from the limited, parochial familial or cultural language of what the Self is to one that is more self-styled. For example, perhaps some grew up in a setting that was emotionally muted and expressions of need were met with reprimands or denial. In this case it could be worthwhile to develop one’s connection to one’s feeling as well as learning more The Art of Communicating those feelings with other people. Perhaps those consistent repressions of emotion lead one to bottle up their emotions and then injudiciously express them inappropriate situations. in this case one would want to learn to deal with their Anger. Perhaps one’s early family was all around inhibitive of those admirable traits of human character, in this case it could be worth learning how to turn those negative experiences into strengths via Reconciliation and Healing the Inner Child. Reading, however, is not sufficient to adopt this new language. One must also include other practices. For instance one can decide to respond to writing prompts about the material one is reading such as “How does this relate to what I learned growing up?” or “What would it look like if I’d practiced this today instead of relying on my old habits?” or “Why do I struggle to embody this particular idea?”. This prevents learning from being merely intellectual and being a lived part of the Self. This is not the only obstacle one must face when in the process of adopting this new self-chosen language of the Self. Here are some others, by no means all inclusive, that are also well suited to the language metaphor used by Freud, Lacan and other psychologists and psychoanalysts.

First, just like a new language that one intends to learn, if one does not daily commit to daily practice than the knowledge once consumed does not become as readily accessible. Put more succinctly – if you don’t use it you lose it. For example, several years ago I had enough skill to travel Europe with ease and find temporary employment as a bi-lingual hostel employee in Budapest after having intensively studied German for three years. Now I can only remember and apply a small fragment of the knowledge that I’d once poured over.

Secondly, in order to continue to develop this language of the Self one must re-order tens of thousands of hours of accumulated experience. Consistent actions alone – such as reading a book – is not enough. Language (like the Self) is a social medium and requires people, be it a recovery community or caring partner that has expressed willingness to talk to you about your journey, are needed in order for those new words of the Self to be sounded out. Such places provide a safe space to try on new tonalities of character, inflections of thought and modulation of habits. It allows you to understand other people’s struggles and transitions and thus more accurately determine what sort of future and better Self one can be while also receiving acceptance during the inevitable period of plateau and backsliding inevitable to such a giant task.

Thirdly, it’s best to steer clear of those people, places and situations that evoke use of that first, inherited language. This means avoidance or cessation of relations of those that bring to mind the Self that one seeks to avoid. One can’t learn a new language if one is always listening to speakers of the one already known. As it relates to situations, for a lot of people this typically means avoiding places centered around consumption of alcohol as this was a component of maladaptive behavior and thought acquisition. For many people in today’s economy this can be problematic. More and more millennials are returning home and for those there this have a devastating on their quest for self-betterment.

Without consistent practice of new habits beyond mere consumption, maintaining regular socialization with people aligned with one’s goals, and avoidance of those restimulative people, places and situations a kind of atrophy sets in which leads not only to a reversion to old patterns but oftentimes a denial of them. Denial itself is bad enough, but in the light of the old Self, those that once had helped to facilitate the acquisition of this new language of the Self can come to be seen as enemies. After all the Ego, always seeking always to be right, superior and unharmable, sees such people as a threat because they can recognize the hurt and pain underneath the composed exterior.

In the path to self-betterment, it is important to be committed and honest with oneself when one is temporarily unable to work to acquiring the new language of the Self. Committing to the daily work and remembering whom one’s allies are can certainly be difficult – however being honest means sometimes listening to those that have already gone through like or a similar struggle and thus not allowing that old language of the Self to come back. Additionally one must truly commit to this path for there are no half-steps possible. Commitment to a new conception of forgiveness or love, for example must mean that one TRULY acts in accordance to this new language. It is the only way that fluency will be achieved and the old language can be refuted and unlearned.

Why Beyoncé Should Have Won Album of the Year

Following Beck’s winning Album of the Year my Facebook feed was filled with multiple posts validating this as the correct choice. Many people I know reposted memes dealing with the below issues as well as linked to this BuzzFeed article. I, however, found myself in disagreement over this sudden solidarity and especially with BuzzFeed’s article. After all, two of the five claims made in the list (He’s deserved an Artist of the Year award since 1995 and he threw a shoe in an interview with Thurston Moore in 1995) literally have nothing to do with anything Beck has produced in the past year while the memes have a notion of artistry that are very limited and thus refute below. That said, here’s the five reasons why Beyoncé ought to have been the true winner for Album of the Year!

1. Beck is just a musician, Beyoncé is an artist.
Beck isn’t even on the same level as Beyoncé. Beck released a CD of audio recordings while Beyoncé released a visual album. These are not just music videos that she released, but a thematically coherent and visual choreographed creation. Beck has a single video to support his album. If music is a vehicle for education, entertainment, and edification than the album Beyoncé is a spaceship while Morning Phase is a dinghy.

2. Beyoncé’s art has greater mass appeal.
At the time of writing this Beck has sold only 330,000 copies of his album Morning Phase while Beyoncé has sold over three million. Beyoncé has over seven million followers of her YouTube Channel. Beck does not even have eighty thousand. I’m not so naïve as to mistake sales and followers for great art – after all Nickleback and the Twilight movie series both had high sales. Sales are, however, a consideration that with the others prove she is the greater artist and that her album is better.

3. Beyoncé’s art has greater niche appeal.
Due to the nature of art that Beyoncé produces . For instance shortly after the publication of her her video for Run with husband Jay-Z’s discussion about elements of it were featured on Critical Theory magazine, Glenn Beck and a segment of NPR. Lest I be accused of overly emphasizing one particular video that managed to resonate across various minor sphere’s I would also encourage you to check out once of many websites that document the “Illuminati” imagery and purported history of the artist. This is because she is an audio-visual artist. Perhaps there are some corners of the internet that go into similar dissections of Beck, but I was not able to find any.

4. Beyoncé’s avowed inclusion of other artists into her production process is an item in her favor, not against it.
The production of art is not some isolated event created out of some magical sphere of inspiration. Musicians are constantly influenced by the people they meet, the places they go and the art they consume. As Picasso said, good artists borrow, great artists steal.While it may be difficult to quantify at times that doesn’t meant that given enough time and effort such influences can’t be found. Bey is giving us a list of artists that she thinks are worthy enough to work with her and thus encouraging us to expand our audience!

5. Beck is falsely lauded for introspection.
Some of the comments that I’ve read and the images like those above falsely place Beck’s introspective lyrics above what are wrongly presumed to be Beyoncé’s more lighthearted pop verse. Beyoncé deals with serious issues such as feminism, monogamy, parenthood, self-esteem and more but all in a way that is empowering rather than maudlin. To presume that because a few songs on it are lighthearted dance songs means that it is not sufficient to be “high music” is to denigrate some of the most important emotions of the human condition.

Conclusion

Beck winning was a legacy nod rather than an actual win and his doing so is more a comment on the nature of award-granting institutions than any real reflection of what is “Album of the Year”. After all, the only reason that the Grammy’s are granted any credibility as a curator of good taste in an age that makes it easier for consumers to grant similar accolades is due to their age which – 50 years – in the grand scheme of things is no long stretch of time. The composition of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences after all is but a small number of self-selected personages able to pay for membership and meet a criteria that my even my father, no music industry insider or player, is able to be a member of. The Grammy’s provide no rhyme or reason for their choices, but rely solely upon consensus of their members. I however disagree and wrote the above to refute the cases that I’ve encountered in Beck’s favor. Don’t agree with me? Decide for yourself after experiencing Beyoncé and listening to Morning Phase, make a case and share it with me.

Review of Zalacain the Adventurer

I first came across Pío Baroja y Nessi in connection with Ernest Hemmingway. A famous anecdote states that while on his deathbed Ernest visited him to state that he should have won the Pulitzer Prize for literature. Baroja’s response to him was to the effect of, “Claro, tonto.” After reading online reviews I decided to pick up Zalacain the Adventurer, the short, picaresque novel of Martin Zalacain’s exploits leading to and during the period of the Carlist Wars in Spain.

In the tradition of The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane, Baroja introduces us to a anti-hero that through his wit, daring, and ability to address people at the proper social register is able to make a fortune while having a number of exciting episodes. While I don’t have as much knowledge of the period as the translator James Diendl has, from my having spent some time in the northern region of Spain (Catalunya) and reading about the political turmoil there in the 1930’s I would concur that Zalacain does seem to typify the “Basque character”. He is poor, living in penury at the beginning of the novel until his grandfather take him under his wing, but proud, is energetic, individualistic, has a resilient character in the face of obstacles to his wishes and is able to “pass” as a number of different identities because of his awareness of the social milieu. Diendl states that this characterization stems from Nietzsche’s influence and once again I trust him as it is clear within the text.

The reader is first introduced to Martin during his formative years in the small town of Urbia. Martin foregoes a traditional education and instead learns about the nature and the land around him. He is able to set and later inherits various gardens that allow him to forego entering into the market economy, but later decides that he will do so in part in order to win the affection of a girl in the town named Catherine. While not fully giving up the vagabonding life that Tellagorri, his grandfather, schooled him in he decides to get into trading. This is an especially lucrative business given the region is an intermediary zone between Castilian-Spain and France. The relative peace that he has, when not avoiding border agents and tax collectors, is shattered however with the crisis over who is to be the proper regent of Spain. The details of the Carlist Wars are complicated. As it relates to Zalacain, the conflict leads to many developments that upsets the lassitude of this otherwise sleepy, sheltered town.

The war makes the business of smuggling goods more dangerous and thus more profitable. As representative of various armed factions come calling for people to join them, this also leads to heightened tension between the various classes and the church. One highlighted conflict is between Charles Ohando, the fey-aristocratic brother of Martin’s love interest Catherine, and Zalacain. Three generations back, the great-grandparents of these men fought each other in the first Carlist war and Martin’s great grandfather was killed in the exchange. Thus while bad blood is the norm, during the period of peace Zalacain is able to come out on top and even avoid one of the traps Charles sets.

As might be expected by his being on the periphery of the exchange economy, Martin doesn’t really care about who wins and sees the exercise not based upon any grand sentiment other then disguised greed for power. When faced with antagonists to the Pretender, he and his friends fool the troops as to their political sympathies. This causes him to be briefly pressed into service, a fate far preferable to death.

From here a cat and mouse game ensues between those he’s escaped. Following his freeing he learns of his loves deliverance to a nunnery on the order of her older brother. Before leaving to search for her, however, he gets contracted by a merchant to get requisition documents delivered to a Pretender general. This while searching for Catherine, he must now also deliver these documents and obtain signatures without being recognized as a deserter or of being suspected as sympathetic and in collusion with the other side. I won’t provide any more plot points that might spoil it for the person that hasn’t read it other than to say that a number of funny and tense scenes entail that highlight the hatred that exists between the numerous regions of Spain and the conniving powers of Zalacain.

Interspersed throughout the travel narrative are jokes and songs and poem fragments. In the taverns I found some of the characters described to be quite funny and the dialogue to be especially compelling. Here is an example of one that exemplifies Zalacain’s realpolitik worldview:
“You shouldn’t talk, Capistun, because you’re a trader.”
“So what?”
So you and I steal with our account books. Between stealing on the road and stealing with an account-book, I prefer those that steal on the road.”
“If business were there, there wouldn’t be any society.” Gason replied.
“So?” Martin said.
“So there wouldn’t be any cities.”
“As I see it cities are made by the wretched and are used as objects to be sacked by strong men,” said Martin, violently.
“That is being an enemy of humanity”
Martin shrugged his shoulders.

The novel is short, I read it in two sitting, but I found it to be a quite enjoyable tale of a Basque individualist dealing with tragic/humorous situations. I’m not quite sure from this particular work that Baroja was correct in asserting that he should win the Pulitzer Prize for Literature, but having read this I’m definitely interested in reading more of Baroja’s work.

Review of A Wizard of Earthsea

I’d first read Ursula K. LeGuin’s book The Dispossessed several years ago. Though I loved the book, I’d departed from my normal habit – once I’d find an author I like I read all their books – as I’ve never wholly resonated with fantasy literature. Despite my reservations and with some encouragement, I decided to read A Wizard of Earthsea.

The novella is in its essence a variant of the hero’s tale as described by Joseph Campbell as well as a journey story. Le Guin, however, expands upon Campbell’s model by making ingenuity and erudition as components of a heroes’ development. I resonate with this as despite its fantastical setting these are indeed the components required for modern heroes. Super strength, agility and other such brute qualities may make up the majority of the “hero” tales of Hollywood cinema, but such an emphasis in cultural production ignores the greater life conditions win by hard and social scientists.

The plot itself is rather simple. A “special” young boy, who earns the nickname Sparrowhawk, attracts the attention of an older, wiser magician following his use of a simple spell to save his village from invaders. He goes off for training due to a number of “innate qualities” that only the older magician is able to see and despite that latter’s reservations (Star Wars?). After a major accident that disfigures him and kills another, he adopts a new humility and gains a new sense of responsibility (Spiderman?).

This simple distillation of plot, however, ignores the imaginative descriptions of the various places and peoples that live on the archipelago of the Earthsea. Part of my aversion to fantasy in general was the supernatural elements – as I prefer social realism and science fiction – however the magical framework that Le Guin describes has an aura of basic plausibility to it that makes it easy to suspend my normally incredulous disbelief in the bizarre and paranormal.

One of the components that I enjoyed of the book was the good use of foreshadowing. Long before the main confrontation I’d figured out the symbolic meaning behind the evil that Ged had unleashed. Even prior to that specific incident there are many moments where the narrator make a brief assessment of Ged’s potentially problematic characteristics. Once the significance is revealed the prior instances of struggle – between Ged and a dragon, between Ged and another magician under the influence of a devious Old Power – take on more clearly moralistic characteristics that echo other instances of temptation.

I’d read in several reviews of Le Guin’s work that her dragons represent a meaningful divergence and complication of their normal depiction in literature. As I only read one brief exchange between man and dragon here and as I deeply enjoyed the story, the setting and the characters I am now interested in reading the rest of the saga.

Review of Billy Bathgate

E. L. Doctorow’s novel Billy Bathgate is a first person point of view account of a 15 year-old Bronx boy who has been raised by his mother as his father abandoned him. Set in the 1930s, Billy is distinguished from his peers by his cleverness and daring. While juggling one day, a metaphor for his dexterity and speed both physically and mentally, he comes to the attention of the most notorious local gangsters, Mr. Schultz, who is known colloquially as The Dutchman. Billy’s receipt of ten dollars for his skills starts him on a path away from his childhood friends into that gang soon even becomes Mr. Schultz’s protégé. Billy’s fondness for the criminal syndicate that he soon enters is clearly linked to his upbringing in grinding poverty, his lack of father and feelings of distinction from those in his neighborhood.

One of the things that I enjoyed about the book was the manner in which the narrator, Billy, is able to express a complexity of thought that is unlikely for him to have without it seeming unrealistic. It makes for more compelling introspective monologues and makes the other characters increasing reliance upon a child seem more believable. While this is part of his carriage as a character – someone smarter and more able than other – he is not some untouchable character on a wholly upward ascent. It is there, in those moments when Billy’s ego is hurt that allows him access to the greatest insight. He sees what’s going on as an outsider, a child not yet fully involved in the decision making apparatus that he’s attached himself, yet also as an insider for he has greater access to what’s going on than most. This tension is both a sort of anxiety for him and, in the end, a source of security.

If I were to give the book a feminist reading I’d say that the relationships that Billy and the other male characters have with women all fit into the category of plain objectification. But I would also qualify this as endemic to the time and complicated by a variety of circumstances. For instance Drew, the lover of Bo, Mr. Schultz and later Billy, presents a complicated case requiring more depth of analysis. While she does seem to be the typical rich party girl in the mix with the wrong crowd, she is also able to exercise a large degree of autonomy and prescience over her situation. Thus she knows that at times she is in danger, she still continues to stay amongst them out of an affected, privileged boredom until her position there is no longer tenable. Billy’s mother, in contrast, suffers from some mental derangement, is largely absent once he begins this new life and then is someone that needs to be taken care of rather than is able to take care of Billy. The brief “love” between an adolescent prostitute and Billy also bolsters this notion of women as objects but also is complicated enough so as to blur any clear classification.

One of the more interesting aspects of the novel to me is that as I’ve just finished writing my novel’s first part on Jesse, I see so many overlapping plot elements within our two works. Now there’s a number of major differences and the stylistic elements between my and Doctorow’s work is great – but I’m still amused by this. I think in a way it has to do with something that is propounded by Otto Berman in the book. When he is speaking with Billy he tells him how all the number in the books that he has with information related to Dutch Schultz’s various illegal doings could be thrown up into the air and then come back down on the page and tell a whole other story. I’m dealing with many of the same variables so there’s really only a limited number of ways that the interactions can come together. Additionally, that this story can be considered literature while having many of the same elements that I have in mine, though admittedly not in as graphic detail as I use, gives me premature hope against imagined future detractors.

Reading by Roxane Gay

Today I went to see Roxanne Gay read several selections from her books Bad Feminist and An Untamed State at Florida Atlantic University. I enjoyed the readings from the novel very much and intend at some time in the near future to buy and read An Untamed State. The readings from Bad Feminist were compelling and yet light-hearted, playfully witty and yet with an implied gravitas.

I was most amused by her cavalier attitude towards the questions that followed her reading. The MFA students all asked about her writing process, which she was quick to answer dismissively. Another asked about her relation to Haiti, where her parents are from. I was simultaneously pleased and disappointed with her identification as a privileged person unable to speak about the realities there. True she can’t authentically speak as an envoy of some sort as it relates to the conditions of the major underclass there as her family are part of the elite, but this does not mean that she is unable to speak about such realities. Physical location of birth, a point which Gay referred to thrice in her identification as “Haitian-American”, and class do not themselves prevent people from speaking about others realities – otherwise there would be exceptionally prohibitive limits on various academic disciplines such as History, Political Science, Art, etc. They are, however, qualifiers that contextualize the discourse about speech acts made about the region/time.

With this in mind I think it would have been interested to discuss with Roxane about how it is that her novel An Untamed State came into being as Mireile, the novel’s protagonist, seems to be almost a stand in for her own fears from having visited the country repeatedly and being unable to hide from herself that her family was part of the ruling elite. From her reading and my subsequent perusal of articles detailing the plot of the novel, this makes the depiction of Haitians as a people of extreme violence take on an interesting valence. She is telling a story, yes, but perhaps projecting her own fears of location. Perhaps this is why she does not make the effort to learn about events there, it is “that which shall not be named”. At the time, however, I didn’t ask this. Instead I followed up on her comment that she liked the Ying Yang Twins by asking what other rap artists she liked – especially fitting as I was wearing my Run The Trap hat due to the frigid air outside. She said that she liked Common, Lil John and Usher and then proceeded to make multiple humorous comments about the narrative implausibility of Usher’s song “I Don’t Mind”.