- 7月 27 週四 202311:17
Book Review: Illness as Metaphor
- 4月 28 週三 202116:29
談《宗教的慰藉》
Reflections on Alain de Botton’s Religion for Atheists: A Non-Believer’s Guide to the Uses of Religion
- 3月 31 週六 201810:17
談《旅行的藝術》
《旅行的藝術》是英倫才子艾倫・狄波頓於2002年的作品。這位才思敏捷、善用哲學角度解讀日常的作者，繼《擁抱似水年華》之後，帶領讀者經歷奇妙的旅行經驗。此書鞭辟入裡探討旅行的心理因素及帶來的生命意義，絕對是哲學及文學的饗宴，非關飲食與景點的實質引薦。書中刻意採英雄冒險之結構，從出發、啟蒙到回歸，帶給我們視覺及心靈的絕佳遐想。作者旅行的範圍橫掃機場、高速公路休息站、阿姆斯特丹、馬德里、英格蘭湖區、西奈沙漠、普羅旺斯等，最後回到他的家鄉--英國倫敦。他在每個停駐點，導入和當地有深刻連結的作家或藝術家。寫到阿姆斯特丹的異國風情，他安排福樓拜當嚮導。描繪英格蘭湖區的美麗寧靜，他請出英國浪漫詩人華茲華斯。要傳遞西奈沙漠的雄偉遼闊，他呼喚聖經舊約中的約伯。而普羅旺斯的最佳代言，非梵谷莫屬。
- 1月 18 週四 201808:19
「少年Pi的奇幻漂流」中的英雄行徑
本論文主要探討「少年Pi的奇幻漂流」符合神話英雄的冒險行徑。理論是根據神話學大師坎伯所著的「千面英雄」。此書蒐羅世界各文化的神話傳說，歸納出英雄冒險的相似軌跡分成三部分：啟程，啟蒙，及回歸。英雄得到某種外在的召喚，離開熟悉的家鄉出發前往陌生的領域，在此期間他必須經歷各種磨難考驗，所幸有外在的神祕力量保護而生存下來，並且得到心靈的成長。最後英雄通過試煉回返家園，把冒險得來的智慧分享給世人。此類英雄的範圍，包含屠龍的勇士甚至如佛陀及基督之類的智者。
- 5月 26 週五 201715:46
Siddhartha (流浪者之歌)
Siddhartha is a 1922 novelette by Hermann Hesse, a German-Swiss poet and novelist awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1946. It explores the spiritual quest of an Indian young man named Siddhartha during the time of the Gautama Buddha. Lyrical and philosophical, the book was influential during the 1960s as it rediscovered Oriental wisdom as an antidote to mechanistic civilization. In a certain sense, Siddhartha is a reflection of Hesse’s yearning for deliverance from the bondage of individuality. However, this keen searching doesn’t always meet with positive response in academia. The objections include Hess as an unintellectual guru, or Siddhartha as a false portrayal of Buddhism combined with Western individualism.
- 11月 03 週二 201511:23
西賽佛斯神話的再定義
- 9月 08 週日 201317:57
Beloved: An Elegy for Mother's Love
It's a story about a quiet, queenly woman who never looked away, a tale to tear the heart of a mother, daughter and the Blacks with slave ancestors.
Here are the fragments of the sad song by Tony Morrison:
A man was nothing but a man. They encouraged you to put some of your weight in their hands and soon as you felt how light and lovely that was, they studied your scars and tribulations, after which they did what he had done: ran her children out and tore up the house.
- 2月 14 週四 201321:40
One True Thing (親情無價)
It’s so much easier to choose to love the things that you have. And you have so much, instead of always yearning for what you’re missing - - - or what it is that you’re imagining you are missing.
(Meryle Streep in One True Thing)
- 10月 27 週六 201210:57
Ten Rules for a Happy Marriage by James Thurber
James Thurber, (1894-1961), was an American writer best known for his humorous stories. As a celebrated wit, Thurber highlighted the comic frustrations and eccentricities of ordinary people in his works.
The following essay is about the ways to sustain a happy marriage. Although its tone is hilarious, it reveals the naked truth of marriage characterized by the twists and turns of confrontation and conciliation. The ten rules, nothing less than the manifesto of Thurber’s idiosyncrasies, are intended to amuse rather than preach.