A COSMOPOLITAN LAWYER: JUST SOME READINGS I HAVE ENJOYED LATELY

First, this blog replaces my previous blog, thecosmoplitanlawyerblogspot.com . Second, unlike that earlier blog, the present one is primarily meant as a record of my readings. It is not meant to suggest that others will be or should be interested in what I read. And third, in a sense, it is a public diary of one who is an alien in his own American culture. A person who feels at home just about anywhere, except in his birthplace . . . America.

Saturday, October 11, 2014

LESSONS FROM HUCK FINN

Michael Pitre, Fives and Twenty-Fives: A Novel (New York: Bloomsbury, 2014) ("'You seem overly concerned with the American understanding of authority . . . 'You ask, From whence do the townspeople derive the authority to tar and feather the Duke and the Dauphine? You ask, From whence do the Granderfords gain the right to seek retribution against the Shephererson? Tell me, Kateb, why does authority interest you so? . . . Kateb, Kateb . . . In the end, Huck must learn two very important lessons. First, that civilization is an illusion. Second, that the only authority is one's conscience.'" Id. at 254. Also, see Michiko Kakutani, "Iraq, Dread Is in the Air," Books of the Times, NYT, Thursday, 8/21/2014.).