Barsoom

Another of the books I picked up at Books-A-Million was an omnibus of the first three of E. R. Burrough's John Carter books. Of course, I'm familiar with many of the things that originated with Burroughs - Tarzan, Pellucidar, Barsoom; I think the first time I encountered the last of these was in a book on variations on chess, which included a description of Martian chess. But I'd never actually read any Burroughs.

I've finished A Princess of Mars and am about halfway through Gods of Mars. They aren't terrifically nuanced books; there are heroes and there are monsters, and precious little in between. (Some people - e.g., Tars Tarkas - appear to be the latter but are eventually revealed as the former.) Nor are the "surprises" all that surprising; I recognized who John Carter's fellow prisoner in Gods of Mars had to be almost immediately. Still, Burroughs tells a pretty good story, He's actually a bit better at characterization, in my judgment, than H. G. Wells, though Wells is in most other respects a better writer.

Is it obvious that John Carter's physical superiority to the Martians, owing to his originating on a heavier planet, is a direct precursor to Superman, especially as originally conceived? ("Able to leap tall buildings at a single bound" could apply to Carter perfectly well....)

An interesting read; flawed, as most seminal works are flawed, but entertaining.

Addendum re Superman: I just ran across the following passage.

[A]ccept from John Carter upon his sacred honor the assurance that he will never call upon you to draw this sword other than in the cause of truth, justice, and righteousness.

Sunday Music: Mariah Carey, Emotions

Album Title: Emotions

Why I Bought It: I became interested in Carey's music after hearing "There's Got To Be a Way"; I liked the song, and I liked her range - her ability to hit, hit hard, and hold high notes in particular. I bought the album with that song, and later added this one.

What I Like (Mournful): "The Wind". Songs of farewell to a late friend are fairly common; some appeal to me (Linda Ronstadt's "Adios"), and some don't (Celine Dion's "Fly"). This one does. Carey is breathier than usual, but the subdued tone is entirely appropriate.

What I Like (Optimistic): "Make It Happen". Acoustically, a driving rhythm; in content, a song of faith and triumph, as the singer rebounds from a low point to success. If her notion of the things one ought to pray for is a bit materialistic, well, what do you want from pop music? (I'm trying to envision a pop analogue of, say, "Invictus"....)

What I Like (Joyful): "Emotions". A love song, and a song of joy. Her voice is a little shrill on the chorus, but I can forgive that. It's fun to listen to.

Overall: I once said of Sheena Easton that she had a magnificent voice, but only rarely sang anything worthy of it. That was a bit unfair to Easton, but it applies to Carey as well, if not more strongly. That I only bought two of her albums speaks to my discontent with her. It's a decent album, as is the other of hers that I have, but I have no real inclination to get any more of Carey's work.

Chopped Liver

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) recently announced her endorsement of Hillary Clinton for president in 2016. A disgruntled constituent complained of this to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. I don't object to his doing so, but I am bothered by one segment of his letter:

We know there are ultra-progressive locales along the coasts and in a rare few other pockets throughout America, but Americans do not like (nor want) the size and the scope and the reach of the government as Sen. McCaskill has engineered it.

People who live in the midsection of the country complain, with some justice, of being called "flyover country"; but those "ultra-progressive locales" along the coasts represent more than a quarter of the population of the US, and those "rare few other pockets" - otherwise known as "big cities" - contain an additional large segment. Does the author of this letter claim that these people - who have outnumbered their opponents in five of the last six presidential elections - are not Americans?

Get a grip. A very large number of Americans - full-fledged citizens, most of them even native-born - do, in fact, support the programs which Ms. Clinton and Sen. McCaskill (the latter however reluctantly) espouse. Another very large number reject them. Failure to acknowledge both facts is at best willful blindness, and at worst flat lying.