Truth and story are enduring parts of the human experience, so it's no surprise that writers and storytellers frequently appear in these pages. (It's possible that, as a writer and editor, I promote them above their real significance - you judge.) Today we have three writers in the birthday list that each had completely different approaches to truth. Hennepin failed to respect truth, and was so completely disgraced that we don't even know exactly when and where he died. Edward Lear wrote nonsense, and generations have found both truth and delight in it. Farley Mowat submersed himself in one experience after another, and told the facts in a compelling storytelling style.
I find it interesting that the absurdity of Lear is cherished, perhaps because his style threatened no one. In a letter to Evelyn Baring on 19 February 1864 he drew a snail with words written along the outline of the shell, perhaps making him the father of snail mail. His birthday is celebrated by some as Limerick Day.
In contrast, Mowat wrote careful descriptions of life, and managed to land in "the watchbook" listing undesirables that were not to pass into the US. He should be thankful that the INS didn't have SWAT teams back in 1985 when he was turned away.
In religious news today, we have one pope ready to set fashion standards, an order of banker-soldier-priests under attack from a later pope, and the first woman to become a rabbi in modern times.
254 - Stephen I began his reign as the Catholic Church's 23rd pope. According to the "Liber Pontificalis," it was Stephen who instituted the rule that clerics should wear special clothes at their ministrations.
1310 - Fifty-four Knights Templars were burned at the stake as heretics in France. Established during the Crusades to protect pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land, this military order came into increasing conflict with Rome until Clement V officially dissolved it in 1312 at the Council of Vienna.
1985 - The Conservative movement in modern Judaism ordained its first female rabbi, Amy Eilberg, at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City.
Snellman Day, Finland - Commemorates the work of J. V. Snellman, champion of the Finnish nationalist movement. At a time when Finland was a Grand Duchy of Russia and Swedish was the primary and official language, Professor Snellman (1806-1881) worked to promote Finnish.
1626 - Louis Hennepin, A Flemish Recollect (Franciscan) missionary, Hennepin was historian with La Salle in 1675 and was first to describe the upper reaches of the Mississippi and Niagara Falls. After La Salle's death he published some of La Salle's work as his own and was banished from France for his false reports. Died in obscurity, apparently in Rome, probably in 1701.
1812 - Edward Lear, English author, artist - Born in London, he was the 20th of 21 children, raised by older sister Ann, suffered from epilepsy and depression. Artistic career started at age 14 painting birds. Wrote "The Book of Nonsense" for the children of his patron the Earl of Derby. Gave drawing lessons to Queen Victoria. Left England in 1837, returning infrequently, died at San Remo 29 January 1888.
1921 - Farley McGill Mowat, Canadian author, naturalist - Born in Belleville, Ontario, father was a librarian who moved frequently with a household including a menagerie of wild animals. Served in the army in Italy in Sicily in WW II, rising from private to captain. Closely studied and chronicled the native peoples and animals of the Canadian north, wrote distinctly personal books about them. Advocacy for nature and primitive culture apparently classified him as "undesirable" in the US, was denied entry in 1985 for a lecture tour - which led to another book. Currently lives in Port Hope, Ontario.
In every generation there has to be some fool who will speak the truth
as he sees it.
- Boris Pasternak
My own luck has been curious all my literary life; I could never tell
a lie that anyone would doubt, nor a truth that anyone would believe.
- Mark Twain
The simplest schoolboy is now familiar with truths for which Archimedes
would have sacrificed his life.
- Ernest Renan
What the imagination seizes as beauty must be truth.
- John Keats
The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple.
- Oscar Wilde
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Copyright 2000 G. Armour Van Horn, all rights reserved. This document may be distributed freely. Please forward the complete message including this copyright notice.