Across My Desk: Sacred Hope

When books intended for disposal cross my desk I try to be attentive to the foreign language editions, always wondering if I might find a Portuguese-language title. True, it seldom happens as the University does not have a great focus on that language, but occasionally something appears and I quickly offer a donation to rescue it from neglect. These books are eventually sent to my relations in Angola to help populate the ISTEL library. Obviously, simply because a book is printed in Portuguese it doesn't mean it's useful to them, but they have so many English-language donations in their library (despite many students there not knowing the language) that I assume giving them any book in Portuguese may have a benefit to someone at some point down the road. After all, among a million-person local population, they have the largest library (and that's still not saying much).

One day I was casually preparing a book for disposal when my eye glanced over the back cover. "Um aniversario," it said. I paused. "A birthday?" I wondered. I quickly flipped through the book; English. I checked the title; English. I checked the author; ...vaguely Portuguese. I checked the country of publication; Tanzania. "Tanzania? Pretty sure they don't speak Portuguese there!" My hand wavered on whether to dispose of the book.

Finally I discovered a neat trick - one you can use in your own home - I read an extract from the book. Suddenly it became clear - this was a collection of poetry by an Angolan author which had been translated into English. Angolan poetry! I came that close to getting rid of it! Happily, I rescued it for my own collection.

The book is Sacred Hope by Agostinho Neto, who ultimately became the leader of the MPLA and president of Angola. I had never actually tried to read books written by Angolans (books dealing with Angola are uncommon in this part of the world) so here was an opportunity for insight into Angolan culture (at least, culture circa 1974).

I can't say that these poems have done much to expand my knowledge of the culture. They are primarily a litany of frustration, expressions of sorrow and outrage at the Portuguese who were then in charge of the country. Neto's thoughts seemed consumed by the struggle he was in (the poems were written from the 50s to the 70s and are very much in a singular tone). Perhaps post-independence Angolan poets had something else to say about their nation but at this time - mostly anger. Perhaps the most surprising thing to note were the many references to slavery, despite it having been abolished well before then. Neto wrote of slavery as something which was, to him, still alive. That holds up with other accounts I've read about life in African colonials - that the colonizers behaved like slave-masters.

The poetry is interesting primarily in an academic fashion and the book - well, it will stand on a shelf with my all-too-few other tomes on Angola.

Across my desk: Bar the Doors

Now here's a feature I haven't utilized in a while.

Some time ago I blogged about the H.G. Wells short story "Pollock and the Porroh Man," a jungle tale set in Sierra Leone on the subject of native witchcraft and revenge - perhaps the first story of its type? It's certainly a story of its time but made for a good radio adaptation on Escape.

Recently a copy of the Alfred Hitchcock short fiction collection Bar the Doors crossed my desk. Not only did the book republish the Wells story but on the back cover for some reason it depicts a map of the story's location:

Now, the map is pretty much useless - there is no point in the story where you are benefited from knowing how one location relates to another. It's enough to know that Sierra Leone is in Africa, frankly. And yet, simplistic as the image is, it was such an unexpected discovery that I find I kind of like it. Shows me for a sucker, eh? You've just got to slap 'Sierra Leone' on something and there I am...

Another story about me and my ego

It's a little strange to me to find myself back in the public eye, years after leaving Marvel, but that's what's happened over the last week and all over a single e-mail intended only for my immediate colleagues.

I helped support the Kickstarter for the book Nelvana of the Northern Lights, which collected all of the 1940s adventures of Nelvana, Canada's first super-heroine. Happily, we at the University of Calgary were asked to help provide material for the book, so I found myself able to support the publication from two separate ends!

Receiving the book last week, I informed my colleagues that University of Calgary Archives had received a special thank you for our efforts; there I thought it would end, but the story grew from there as the rest of campus became interested. As of this writing, it's led to a story at UToday (read it here) and may yet lead to me appearing on radio or television to speak more about the George Morley Collection, which, despite having been in our hands for most of a decade, hasn't received a great deal of attention until recently, largely because of my efforts.

Compared to the days when I had to struggle to get anyone interested in promoting my work at Marvel, I rather enjoy this set-up - people approach me, ask if I'd like to talk to them about comics and voila, the media machine takes over!

Great moments in decision making

When I worked in oil & gas, I found the business involved a lot of penny-pinching from the top down; I spent a lot of time looking for solutions which would save the company money. In my new job, the emphasis lies more upon spending money wisely, rather than miserly.

So it was I found myself at Alibris, trying to choose between two copies of a book which were in the same condition:

How am I supposed to make a responsible decision when the only thing setting these two copies apart is... hm, $6,359?

Across My Desk: "Are Comics Better or Worse?"

My work as a librarian occasionally leads me across some fascinating detrius in the history of comic books... such a post is this. From the August, 1955 issue of Parents Magazine, I offer you this 3-page article:

If you're familiar with your comic book history, then you know this was published a year after Frederic Wertham had helped spur on the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency hearings and only shortly after the Comics Code Authority shield began defacing comics on the racks. The CCA resulted in tepid, lifeless comic books because of the restrictions on what was considered "in good taste," as though crime, horror and funny animal comics should each play according the same rules for the same audience. The stigma generated against comics by the hearings and CCA is still felt by comic book fandom today.

In another sense, this is all in the past and thus safe for us on the other side of history to look back and guffaw. Certainly this article's criteria for judging comic books is baffling. The "No Objection" list includes much of what Archie and Dell were publishing at the time - in fact, the list is almost entirely comprised of teen humour comics, funny animal comics and romance comics. And yet, what grants Superman No Objection but Action Comics & Superboy Some Objection? Why does the Lone Ranger warrant Some Objection while the spin-off comics Silver and Tonto are clear?

There's also practically no daylight between the Riverdale teens of Archie and the company's Katy Keene, yet Katy is Objectionable! It ranks a "2," which... hm, let's check the standards... Moral Area... ah, yes, "The portrayal of drug addiction or excessive use of alcohol."

Actually, Katy and the similar Millie the Model were probably written up over "Any situation having a sexy implication" and/or "Persons dressed indecently or unduly exposed; costumes not appropriate to the occasion." Yet how was Dan DeCarlo's Millie substantially different from Dan DeCarlo's Betty & Veronica?

Perhaps the most baffling Objectionable comic to me was Rin-Tin-Tin, who earned a "3" for Morbidly Emotional (as did the similar Rex the Wonder Dog). How could Rin-Tin-Tin differ much from the clean-as-a-dog's-mouth Lassie? Perhaps the objection was over "Kidnapping of women or children, or the implication of it," but that must be the most unhelpful criteria ever invented. The "implication" of kidnapping? Who determines when kidnapping is implied? How? What is a super dog like Rinnie supposed to do for a living if he's not allowed to rescue women and children in peril? Is he only allowed to rescue adult men? How emasculating for them.

As a fan of Atlas Comics, it's interesting to note how few Atlas comics listed under "No Objection" - just Patsy & Hedy, My Own Romance & Homer the Happy Ghost. None of their adventure comics made the cut, while DC at least scored with Superman and Tomahawk. It's strange to see the various Atlas fantasy books listed with different objections as their content was virtually identical and all of it rather bad; that's the really galling part - even after cleaning up their horror comics into fantasy comics, Atlas was still told their material was too "morbid." Check out this from the article (emphasis mine):

"Horror and crime comics are less numerous and somewhat less offensive according to this year's review than formerly: yet a new subtle type of mystery story has appeared on the scene. To some parents it might seem even more objectionable than the obviously fantastic and weird stories of other years. These new mystery stories present arson, walking dead, and even in some cases horribly disturbing incidents that seem a threat to civilization."

I would love to understand what the bold type refers to. "Seem a threat to civilization?" What, like a science fiction story about the end of the world? Was two-year old Alan Moore already publishing stories which promoted anarchy?

How about the wild "Crime stories unless they relate to folklore or classical literature." So, that's fine for Classics Illustrated, but what is a "crime story?" Wertham considered any comic involving crime (even in Looney Tunes) to be a "crime story," so what's their definition? Superman certainly seems exempt, despite being a crime fighter.

Some titles on the Objectionable list hit the coveted 3-in-one in culture, morals and morbidity! These are Authentic Police Cases (St. John), Blue Beetle (Charlton), Crime and Justice (Charlton), Crime and Punishment (Lev Gleason), Don Winslow (Charlton), Mad (EC), Outlaw Fighters (Atlas), Outlaw Kid (Atlas), Piracy (EC), Rugged Action (Atlas), Straight Arrow (Magazine Enterprises) & T-Man (Quality). DC doesn't list a single title under all three, although it's interesting to see Batman came close, missing only on culture. I suppose Robin's shorts won them a moral objection for "costumes not appropriate to the occasion."

It's a small wonder to see EC's Mad on the list, although they were already headed to their magazine format by the time of this article. What is surprising is to find Charlton's Mad rip-off Insanity considered clean!

In other "EC can't catch a break" headlines, Valor is written up for culture and morbidity. Again, a company tried to clean up their content into something less sensational with decent values, only to be slighted.

In all, a portrait of the times; the US public eventually tired of poking their nose into people's comic book habits. They retain an insatiable appetite for intruding in people's religious, political and sexual background, however.

Across my desk: Devil's Advocates - Saw

"Like all game changers within the horror genre, it was an independent success, a low-budget champion that flourished without the patronage of a big studio."

Apparently Psycho wasn't a studio film? Frankenstein was low budget? Jaws lacked big studio patronage?

There's nothing wrong in this quote changing "all" to "most" wouldn't have fixed.

It's come to this though, eh? Critical appreciation of Saw. If I stay with the university long enough, I'll be receiving appraisals and course materials for the study of Michael Bay's Transformers.

The enlightened man, circa 1935

Beware - non-PC language below!

From One Night on TV is Worth Weeks at the Paramount : Popular Music on Early Television, by Murray Forman:

"We should eliminate the word 'nigger' whenever possible. Of course, these darkies put a lot of pressure on us and they are sometimes too exacting, and there are certain songs where the word 'nigger' must be used. However, it is wise to cut it out as much as possible."

-John Royal, vice president of programs at NBC, 1935.

History does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme.

Found in 15 Disturbing Things We Need to Know:

"Yet to displace [the Democratic Party] with a Republican regime embracing a philosophy that lacks political integrity or intellectual honesty would prove equally disastrous to this nation. The nation sorely needs a Republican victory. But I don't want to see the Republican Party ride to political victory on the Four Horsemen of Calumny — Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry, and Smear."

"I doubt if the Republican Party could - simply because I don't believe the American people will uphold any political party that puts political exploitation above national interest."

- Margaret Chase Smith, 1950.

An open plea to poli sci authors

Stop being "clever" with your titles, okay? In a single day I saw these three books grouped together, each from different authors and publishers:

FROM POLITICAL WON'T TO POLITICAL WILL: BUILDING SUPPORT FOR PARTICIPATORY GOVERNANCE

FROM SOCIAL SILENCE TO SOCIAL SCIENCE: SAME-SEX SEXUALITY, HIV & AIDS AND GENDER IN SOUTH AFRICA

FROM THE SLAVE TRADE TO 'FREE' TRADE: HOW TRADE UNDERMINES DEMOCRACY AND JUSTICE IN AFRICA

What next? "From Democracy to Mediocracy?" "From Liberty to Library?" "From White House to Outhouse?" Just...no more.

Across my desk: A Study of History

Today I was working on a copy of A Study of History by Arnold J. Toynbee (1957) and I randomly opened it to page 177 to see this:

"Of all the sombre ironies of history none throws a more sinister light on human nature than the fact that the new-style nationalist Jews, on the morrow of the most appalling of the many persecutions that their race had endured, should at once proceed to demonstrate, at the expense of Palestinian Arabs whose only offence against the Jews was that Palestine was their ancestral home, that the lesson learnt by Zionists from the sufferings which Nazis had inflicted on Jews was, not to forbear from committing the crime of which they themselves had been the victims, but to persecute, in their turn, a people weaker than they were."

I had two reactions upon reading this:

1. I've had the same thought more than once. I doubt I'm alone.
2. That is one long, wickedly rambling sentence.