Wednesday, February 27, 2002

Enjoying much The Aztec Treasure House by Evan Connell, a collection of essays on figuring out things (or failing to) from the debris of the past: origins, descent, languages, scripts. A comedy of (mis)rememberance and (mis)interpretation; how our ability to recognize and associate patterns can lead to great insights (decoding Linear B) as well as sad dellusions (the lost land of Mu). Opening of Syllables Here and There: "Those of us who are not overly familiar with the nuances of Ugaritic, Luvian, Hittite, Mesopotamian cuneiform, Palaic, or Creto-Mycenaean Linear B do know a little something, nevertheless, about the Rosetta stone. Ah yes! -- the Rosetta stone! Of course, of course. Haven't thought about that in years. Let's see now, they dug it someplace. The thing was covered with hieroglyphics. Yes indeed, the old Rosetta stone." 8:30:03 PM