(The Questions posed by this blog were kept in mind by the composer throughout the creation of the opera. They were considered "important" in the sense that they might have a bearing on the "tone" adopted by the composer, in writing the music. However, the questions can't really be said to have been resolved in any way -- although, to my mind, Solzhenitsyn strongly suggests that "truth" is something which lies outside of the realm of rational thought).
“…Words are but the images of matter, and except they have life of reason and invention, to fall in love with them is all one as to fall in love with a picture.” Francis Bacon, from his treatise, “The Proficience and Advancement of Learning,” (1605).
Solzhenitsyn’s Chapter 32, from “Cancer Ward,” is titled, “The Other Side of the Coin”. It deals with Dontsova, a doctor, who is now being examined and treated as a patient. The chapter jumps ahead in time two days, to her last day of making rounds on the Ward. The chapter ends with Kostoglotov speaking with just released Ahmadjan, who, it turns out, was a prison camp guard and warder. Ahmadjan knows that Oleg is in exile, but does not know that Oleg has been in the camps, as well.
Chapter 33 of, “Cancer Ward,” is titled, ‘Happy Ending…’ It is followed by Chapter 34, titled, ‘…and One a Bit Less Happy.’
‘Happy Ending,’ is Pavel Nikolayevich Rusanov re-uniting with his family, after his discharge from the ward. Oleg receives word from Mita, a nurse, of German extraction, that a general pardon for all exiles is definite. Oleg, who is making arrangements for his discharge, receives invitations from both Vera and Zoya, to stay with them, as their ‘guest’. And, finally, Nellya, once a floor orderly, is celebrating her promotion to food orderly.
The next chapter, Chapter 34, ‘…and One a Bit Less Happy,’ deals with Oleg’s meeting with Elizaveta Anatolyevna, and her problems raising her son alone, and the grief exile has meant for her, and her family. The chapter ends, with Oleg visiting Shulubin, who is in pain, in his bed. At first, Oleg thinks Shulubin is delirious, but Shulubin is reciting verse of a Pushkin poem, reminding Oleg of their conversation they had, before Shulubin’s operation. Solzhenitsyn writes, “He (Shulubin) had said, ‘Sometimes I feel quite distinctly that what is inside me is not all of me. There’s something else, sublime, quite indestructible, some tiny fragment of the universal spirit. Don’t you feel that?”
What is interesting about these words which conclude Chapter 34, is, that, there is no reference of it at all in Chapter 31, ‘Idols of the Market Place,’ which is the chapter where Oleg and Shulubin have their conversation on the bench, outside the ward. Shulubin is in pain, and his words have anger, guilt, and frustration to them. He is emotional, but it is a negative passion, dealing with his frustrated life with family, and his career as a scientest. Their discussion is philosophical.
There is, however, I feel, a connection to the end of Chapter 34, and the end of Chapter 30, ‘The Old Doctor,’ dealing with the meeting of Dontsova and Oreshchenkov, Dontsova requesting Oreshchenkov to preside over her examination the coming Monday. This Chapter ends with Oreshchenkov sitting alone in his study, after Dontsova has left. Solzhenitsyn writes (Quotations from Nicholas Bethell and David Burg's translation, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, NY, 7th Printing, 1999):
“…At such moments an image of the whole meaning of existence – his own during the long past and the short future ahead, that of his late wife, of his young granddaughter and of everyone in the world – came to his mind. The image he saw did not seem to be embodied in the work or activity which occupied them, which they believed was central to their lives, and by which they were known to others. The meaning of existence was to preserve unspoiled, undisturbed and undistorted the ijmage of eternity with which each person is born.
Like a silver moon in a calm, still pond.”
There is some similarity between the ending of these two chapters, Chapter 30 and Chapter 34, to the ending of Chapter 6, an ending that has given me some thought. Solzhenitsyn writes of Oleg, who is leaving Dr. Dontsova, in the short-focus apparatus room, after their discussion of his case history, and his proposed treatment: “As he left the room it seemed to him that he was walking between two eternities, on one side a list of the living, with its inevitable crossings out, on the other – eternal exile. Eternal as the stars, as the galaxies.”
However, the reason why I am writing this particular blog, is, that, I am curious about whether Chapter 31, ‘Idols of the Market Place,’ has a relationship to Chapter 32, suggested by its title, “The Other Side of the Coin”.
This turns out to be a pretty hefty undertaking. The English philosopher and statesman, Francis Bacon, (1561-1626), who coined the phrase, “Idols of the Marketplace,” in his philosophical work, titled, “Novum Organum,” argued for a process of inductive reasoning to interpret and examine nature. The work is considered to be important and critical in the historical development of the scientific method.
Bacon’s use of the word, “idol” is not in a theological sense, of false God, but, is, (we are told), used in the philosophical sense of the Physics of Epicurus, who developed his views shortly after Aristotle. Epicurus is a key figure in the development of science and the scientific method because of his insistence that nothing should be believed except that which was tested through direct observation and logical deduction.
Epicurus' theory of sensory perception postulates that external objects send off emanations or "idols" (eidola) of themselves that travel through the air and impinge upon our senses, leaving behind trace versions of the external world (auditory and olfactory as well as visual) that can be apprehended and stored in memory.
Bacon’s doctrine of “idols,” is found in Book I of the Novum Organum (Aphorisms 39-68). One aspect of the work that I find interesting, is that the work is written in Latin.
It is not clear to me, at this stage of my preliminary investigation, whether Epicurus himself talks about "idols," or whether it is something which was used by the Roman poet and philosopher, Lucretius, in describing the philosophy of Epicurus. Because only a few fragments and letters remain of the written work of Epicurus, Lucretius is considered to be our primary source of information on Epicurean physics,which is the topic of his single known work, the philosophical poem, "De Rerum Natura". ("On the Nature of the Universe").
The poem's purpose is to free mankind of superstition and the fear of death, and Lucretius argues Mankind owes Epicurus for delivering it from unfounded terrors and an empty, joyless and servile life.
Lucretius was the first Philosophical poet to write in Latin, (as opposed to Greek). The opening hymn to Venus as the force inspiring birth and life, is considered to be among the best examples of the Latin Literature.
There is a direct reference to Epicurus in Chapter 19, "Approaching the Speed of Light," where the young geologist, Vadim Zatsyrko, contemplates his ability to accomplish his work in the calculus of Cancer. Solzhenitsyn writes:
"....In his musings during the past few weeks Vadim had discovered an important and at first glance paradoxical point: a man of talent can understand and accept death more easily than a man with none -- yet the former has more to lose. A man of talent craves long life, yet Epicurus had once observed that a fool, if offered eternity, would not know what to do with it."
This is a reflection thematically, to the end of the Second Chapter, «Образование ума не прибавляет», (Translated by Bethell and Burg, as: "Education Doesn't Make You Smarter"), where Yefrem Podduyev tells the Uzbek, Ahmadjan, the anecdote about Allah, granting creatures the number of years to live.
One other interesting thing regarding Epicurus and his thought should be mentioned, and, that is, that, the Doctoral Thesis of Karl Marx, accepted by the University of Jena in 1841, was titled: "Differenz der demokratischen und epikureischen Natur-philosophie" -- that is, "The Difference Between the Democritean and Epicurean Philosophy of Nature". I am left with the impression that it was submitted in a dual language form -- Greek and German.
To resolve the question, whether the chapter with the title ‘Idols of the Market Place,’ has a relationship to the chapter with the title, “The Other Side of the Coin” might depend more on the argument of Lucretius, however, than Epicurus, or, even, Marx.
The arguments of Lucretius are, summing broadly, that, 1) the operations of the world can be accounted for entirely in terms of natural phenomena -- the regular but purposeless motions and interactions of tiny atoms in empty space -- instead of in terms of the will of the gods.
And, 2) according to Lucretius, the fear of death is a projection of terrors experienced in life, of pain, that only a living mind can feel.
My main online sources for the subject of Francis Bacon, were two, often quoted liberally, without quotation marks:
1. Wikipedia
Web address:
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Bacon
2. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP)
Web address:
http://www.iep.utm.edu/bacon/
Author: David Simpson, DePaul University, (Chicago, IL)
Email: dsimpson@condor.depaul.edu
My main online source on Epicurus, and Epicurean Physics, also often quoted word for word, without quotation marks:
http://www.philosophy.ucdavis.edu/mattey/phi143/epiphys.htm
Author: G. J. Mattey, University of California, Davis, c. 1999
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