“It fills me with horror.”

One liberal theologian,when asked what he thought of a Ratzinger papacy, was more direct: “It fills me with horror.”

— from Papal hopeful is a former Hitler Youth, in The Independent

Well, there's one bright side...

I mean, at least he's really old.

Paging Brother William of Baskerville

The previously unknown texts, read for the first time last week, include parts of a long-lost tragedy - the Epigonoi ("Progeny") by the 5th-century BC Greek playwright Sophocles; part of a lost novel by the 2nd-century Greek writer Lucian; unknown material by Euripides; mythological poetry by the 1st-century BC Greek poet Parthenios; work by the 7th-century BC poet Hesiod; and an epic poem by Archilochos, a 7th-century successor of Homer, describing events leading up to the Trojan War. Additional material from Hesiod, Euripides and Sophocles almost certainly await discovery.

— from Decoded at last: the 'classical holy grail' that may rewrite the history of the world, in The Independent

The stuff about this potentially representing 'a second renaissance', I'm gonna pass on, for now. But this is pretty damned incredible, make no mistake.

Naguib Mahfouz

Been reading (in translation, of course; my Arabic is pretty limited) Naguib Mahfouz' The Journey of Ibn Fatouma, this weekend—mostly in such unlikely opportunities as while waiting beside the pool in which my daughter takes her swimming lessons. Mother-in-law brought a whole lotta Mahfouz back from Egypt; figured I'd take the opportunity.

Impressions so far are mostly positive, but only so much so. Ibn Fatouma is blatantly and unapologetically a fable—a broad and unmistakable allegory from cover to cover, and I've only ever had so much patience for that sort of thing. But the protagonist is believable enough despite the artificiality of the situation to give it enough sympathy, I guess, and the parody is deft enough.

Still a bit sick this week. Sucks. Can't seem to get anything done at night before conking out.