tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061009.post115213340270977303..comments2023-08-19T14:12:52.220+02:00Comments on Reflection & Inquiries: A diversationGeoffrey Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04041450398780043453noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061009.post-1154446361411136572006-08-01T17:32:00.000+02:002006-08-01T17:32:00.000+02:00Thanks for the info, Douglas. I see you've updated...Thanks for the info, Douglas. I see you've updated your web page (fewer exclamation points). Looks much spiffier. Good luck with the book.Geoffrey Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04041450398780043453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061009.post-1154375389220468712006-07-31T21:49:00.000+02:002006-07-31T21:49:00.000+02:00Sorry I didn't get back to your blog for awhile.I ...Sorry I didn't get back to your blog for awhile.<BR/><BR/>I didn't think I had included more than one exclamation point. The point of it (or them) is that the parallels may not be obvious to many.<BR/><BR/>The novel that got me started on this project was: Attila: as Told to His Scribes. I was researching the fifth century, and about him, and the more I read, the more it sounded like our own times. I wrote another novel set in the same era, one around a personality who popped up in one of the Roman on-the-scene narratives of Attila. That novel is: I, Zerco, in which the eponymous hero follows an interesting life from Berber chieftain's son, to bestiarius, to partially crippled stupidus to the Huns' court jester, to magician. They are currently with a foreign agent who is looking for an American agent to work with.<BR/><BR/>Steeped in the fifth century, I kept on seeing parallels with our own troubled times, so I wrote a book: The Selfish Class, and now am designing the website, www.roman-empire-america-now.com which will be it's portal. The Website currently holds topical essay pages that link to chapters related to them, and also has a page that will link (eventually) to all the chapters in the book. I also intend to sell paper or electronic copies of it, if there appears to be a demand for same.<BR/><BR/>And what is the premise of the Selfish Class? That the ruling class of the fifth century, more so than in any of the preceding centuries of empire, was a selfish class that kept all wealth and power to itself, and even connived in the western Empire's overthrow (in 476) rather than agree to pay taxes--which does present certain parallels with our current "conservative" ruling class, doesn't it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061009.post-1152192625409595562006-07-06T15:30:00.000+02:002006-07-06T15:30:00.000+02:00Yes, I'm becoming more and more convinced that "co...Yes, I'm becoming more and more convinced that "conversation" is the wrong model for this medium. I know what real conversation is, where several people are actually listening to and reacting to one another, sometimes playfully, sometimes nastily, sometimes compassively. It's always f2f, and it happens all the time in a little town like Carboneras, or in New York whenever we bring a group of friends over for dinner. Exchanges on the Internet (email, comments on blogs, listservs) can be very useful, but the are not like those f2f encounters at all. Which is why Susana & I have been organizing so many get-togethers now that we are (for the next couple of months) back in New York -- we miss the spontaneous and often surprising conversations that just happen naturally in the little Spanish town that is our other home.Geoffrey Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04041450398780043453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061009.post-1152176715744161682006-07-06T11:05:00.000+02:002006-07-06T11:05:00.000+02:00I think that some readers enjoy commenting, others...I think that some readers enjoy commenting, others are (as they say on email lists) confirmed lurkers. And others, like my family members, prefer to make their comments privately.<BR/><BR/>My observation of other blogs indicates that, as you say, controversial or software topics get a lot of discussion. Personal or somewhat personal blogs read by the blogger's friends also get comments (for example the various comments on my blog relating to the outfit I got to wear for last week's conference--all comments, not surprisingly, were either by my friends or by other regular readers).<BR/><BR/>As for the avantgardists mentioned at the top of my blog, I know I should settle down and write a description of each one at some point. But just the fact that I research these people doesn't seem to translate to blogging about them.<BR/><BR/>Anyway, my doorbell will be ringing any minute, better go now rather than in mid-sentence!Karlahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09925546212345361041noreply@blogger.com