122. Venice

Previous - 121. In which Hegel fails us

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Candide

Chapter 20. Martin the Manichee. I do like Candide's method for choosing a traveling companion and how he spends his time on a long voyage arguing philosophy -- rather like a Carnaval "The Magic Mountain" cruise. Martin seems to be a fairly one-sided Manichee. The whole appeal of Manicheanism is that it reflects the obvious reality that the world is filled with both good and evil. Unless you're a monotheistic theologian, this view is hard to beat. 

I don't think I wrote about Eldorado, It is always interesting to think about what life would be like without the usual economic concerns (lotto fantasies). Did Voltaire make it clear that it was not wealth but the virtue of the people that made Eldorado special? Gold and gem stones had no inherent value in Eldorado. Also, I can't recall why Candide's last "sheep" is red -- right! This is some confused notion of llamas or alpacas which are also supposed to be faster than Andalusian horses. Why not? 

Alas, no. There is very little about the economy of Eldorado. It is merely given that it is a universally comfortable kingdom. Voltaire seems to be content to leave nobility in its station, though he is happy to take down the monks and priests. In short we are given no clue as to why Eldorado is such a fortunate place. Does Voltaire really confuse gold and gems for wealth? I can't really make anything of this account.

Vertigo

p132 ... The opera, said Salvatore [the character's source of information in Milan], is not what it used to be. [He's referring to La Scala] The audience no longer understand that they are part of the occasion. In the old days the carriages used to drive down the long wide road to the Porta Nuovo in the evenings, out through the gateway, and westward under the trees along the glacis, skirting the city, till nightfall. Then everyone turned back. Some drove to the churches for the "Ave Maria della Sera", some stopped here on the Bra and the gentlemen stepped up to the carriages to converse with the ladies, often till well into the dark. The days of stepping up to a carriage are over, and the days of the opera also....


Since opera (along with rap) is one of the few forms of music I have no interest in, this passage shouldn't affect me, and yet it does. And not just because this reminds me just a little of young Marcel's sightseeing of the carriages of his idols in the Bois. At heart I guess I'm just a very conflicted petit bourgeois boy. 

Venice

Both Candide and Vertigo have progressed chapter by chapter since I last mentioned them but now both stories are in Venice. Vertigo hits Venice every chapter or so. Venice had a very unique status in Europe for centuries, until Napoleon in fact. And even after that the city had a special status in Hapsburg Germany until the Risorgimento. And since then, Venice has still had its spectacular charm, growing ever more wabi sabi over the generations.

I wonder if Hong Kong will continue to maintain its independent identity over time? It's my impression (based on very little) that Shanghai still maintains a hint of the identity it acquired before the Communist takeover, so maybe Hong Kong will survive in that sense.

From what I've read, Venice's continued existence as a true city -- as opposed to a tourist destination and resort for the wealthy (like Aspen) -- is also in doubt. But then that, at least in part, goes back to the question of what people in the future will do in an age of robots and AI. But then, when you read about Venice how often do you learn about what the people are doing? Aside from the arsenal and the glass industry, the public face of Venice has always been the service industry.

Candide p63 [Pococurante is dismissing the whole of classical and contemporary art and literature] -Oh what a superior man, said Candide... what a great genius this Pococurante must be! Nothing can please him...

-Don't you see, said Martin, that he is disgusted with everything he possesses? Plato said, a long time ago, that the best stomachs are not those which refuse all food.

-But, said Candide, isn't there pleasure in criticizing everything, in seeing faults where other people think they see beauties?

-That is to say, Martin replied, that there's pleasure in having no pleasure? ...

Which?

There's a point where it's hard to tell if you're being wisely cautious or just procrastinating and being lazy. I want to return to the gym, but then I find myself dealing with some residue (literally) of my cold or I wake up at 7am and it's freezing cold (for here) and going out in my shorts just seems ill considered. 

It will (presumably) eventually get warmer -- this is usually when we have some of our nicest weather -- and then I can throw myself into getting back in shape. It's not like I'm training for a marathon. But I still feel lazy.

Haguro

I've talked about the Pacific War battles that are great stories, but another way of talking about that war is to tell the story of a class of warships. I've sort of done this already by talking about the role of the U.S.S. Independence class (and of the CVEs) in the American victory, but to tell the story of the entire war the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) Myōkō-class heavy cruisers might be the best choice.

The IJN, as a rule, operated sister ships together so that ships operating together would have similar characteristics (speed and armament, for example). In 1942 the Myōkō-class ships were not the newest or most powerful heavy cruisers in the IJN -- all four had been placed in commission in the late 1920's -- but they were fine examples of the superiority of IJN heavy cruisers over the ships of every other navy of the time. If you had been the commander of a USN heavy cruiser, say the U.S.S. Houston serving with the Asiatic Fleet, you might have been a little concerned that the Myōkō-class ships had 10 x 8" guns in 5 turrets vs your 9 x 8" guns in 3 turrets. What you wouldn't have realized was that those 8" guns were their secondary armament. Their main "battery" really consisted of launchers for the amazing Long Lance torpedo. For the first year of the war Allied ships would suddenly blow up and sink and no one on the Allied side knew why.

The reason the Myōkō-class is perfect for telling the story of the entire war is that all four ships of the class worked together during the invasion of the Dutch East Indies in 1942 and took part in the Battles of the Java Sea where they utterly dominated their Allied foes, and, while having participated in many of the intervening battles and campaigns, all four ships survived into late 1944 when the war returned to the waters of Indonesia and the Philippines. Here they again faced the Allies when roles were completely reversed. Instead of the IJN having all the advantages, as in 1942, in 1944 and 1945 the USN and Royal Navy were dominant everywhere. All four Myōkō-class ships were battered and sunk by the full spectrum of Allied strength: Aircraft, submarines, and surface ships. 

In early 1942 the Allies didn't have a chance. In late 1944 and 1945, the IJN didn't have a chance. The battles in the middle of the Pacific and in the middle of 1942 into 1943 are the most famous because the opponents were evenly matched, but the events before and after are in some ways more revealing.  

Next - 123. Drifting off