Who'll Stop the Rain ?

It would seem the hurricane stalled off the east coast is responsible for our weather. What was supposed to have been a sunny day has remained overcast, with mist and fog.

I’m still working my way through the Iliad and have encountered two sections not included in the latter-day Brad Pitt opus. Something about Achilles battling with a river which appears to have a mind and consciousness of its own. More particularly the encounter between Achilles and Hector begins with the latter being chased three times around the walls of Troy. Considering the size of that city it’s a mystery to me how those men had any energy left to fight one another after running that many miles.

I’ve also made some progress reading Harry Potter—the Half-Blood Prince. The innocence is gone. The difference is like onto that between Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience in William Blake. It’s not so much that the world has changed and people and places that were present of old are gone; it’s the loss of positive outlook on events on the part of the teenagers whose lives we are following. There’s a feeling of foreboding and menace that encircles these young people to such a degree that even they can’t slough it off. That the book begins with a revelation that we’ve suspected for the previous 5 books but is only now made known to us and the disclosure that one of his classmates may be out to destroy Harry adds little comfort to the reader. Hanging over all is the prophesy revealed in that last book that ultimately Harry and “he who must not be named” cannot both survive. Taken overall this read is more nightmare than fairytale.