2-1-Q For “The Swerve” by Green Blast (Preface & Chapter 1)

2 Specific details from the reading.

1: On page 5, Greenblatt states “‘Death is nothing to us.’ To spend your existence in the grip of anxiety about death, he wrote, is mere folly.” This in reference to the poem, “On the Nature of Things”, by Lucretius, an old philosopher, that Greenblatt spends most of the preface talking about and is the entire premise of the book. But specifically this quote is in reference to his mother who was always saying she was about to die, and thus Greenblatt has lived most of his life fearing death. Upon reading Lucretius’ poem, however, he finds that the message of living life to the fullest may mean more than he ever believed. He also writes the entire book of “The Swerve” based on this one poem.

2: In the first chapter, “The Book Hunter,” Greenblatt states “Most people at the time signaled their identities, their place in the hierarchical social system, in visible signs that everyone could read, like the inedible stains on a dyer’s hands.” This statement really stood out to me because, despite this book taking place almost 600 years ago, this idea of wearing your identity on your shoulder still rings true. “History repeats itself” is a term I would associate with this, and I do believe that is what Greenblatt is truly trying to say. Despite the movements of our time, wearing your hierarchical status is still true, and it will most likely continue to be true as time continues.

1 connection:

There is a specific part of the preface where Greenblatt talks about how during the renaissance, people had become intimately interested in the ways of the pagans. I noticed how this seems to be true now as well, as paganism is becoming a more common place idea and is gathering a larger gathering than in previous generations.

Questions:

While reading, I noticed a lot of what Greenblatt related not only to the 1400’s time he was writing about, but also to the present day. Was Greenblatt doing this on purpose, as a way to almost satirically speak about issues in the current day?