burg frankenstein

I had visited the grounds of Burg Frankenstein in the outskirts of Darmstadt with my parents years ago—in fact the same day my Mom adopted her little dog Zu-Zu—but never returned, not realising that it (along with a lot of other attractions—we really must get better about breaking away from the routine more often and have PfRC on assignment) was just around the corner, until learning of the transmedia edition of the eponymous gothic novel by Mary Shelley and other events happening over the course of the year leading up to the bicentenary of its first publication.
Hiking through the Odenwald to the hill’s summit, I enjoyed a late afternoon exploring the eleventh century ruins and the chapel—that’s apparently become a rather popular wedding venue—and trying to imagine its history and influence. Though Shelley does not explicitly mention the castle or the legends associated with it, in 1814—a few years before writing the novel—she toured the Rhein and stayed in the nearby village of Gernsheim (an adventure for another day) and perhaps heard tales of one of the infamous residents of Burg Frankenstein: the alchemist Johann Conrad Dippel.

Though the only attested product of Dippel’s experiments was an oil made of pulverised animal bones that was supposedly an elixir of life (there’s also a fountain of youth in the forecourt) but was used as chemical weapon during World War II to taint enemy’s water supplies, side-stepping the Geneva Protocols by dint of being non-lethal, rumours abounded that Dippel was conducting unnatural anatomical experiments and succeeded in resurrecting chimerical creatures and may have been the inspiration for Doctor Frankenstein.
Myths and folktales from this region—Odin’s wood, haunted by measurable magnetic anomalies, the site of a witches dance like in the Harz and was also the setting for some dragon-slaying action of the Nibelungenlied, could have also be communicated to Shelley through her step-mother (who was apparently the archetypal step-monster who didn’t foster her step-daughter’s literary talents in any other regard) Mary Jane Clairmont Godwin that were related to her directly from the ethnographers, the Brothers’ Grimm. Some doubt that any connection exists—Frankenstein being a rather commonplace name and designation, but I like to think there’s a triangulation of traditions focused at this place.

path of totality

This 1982 reflection on witnessing a total solar eclipse by Annie Dillard, excerpted by TYWKIWDBI, is pretty alluring and seductive, making me want to experience the coming eclipse in person too. Although very young and far away in New Mexico from where one might experience civil twilight, I still have a vivid recollection of setting up a pinhole projection with my Mom on our driveway and being amazed to see that little sliver of a shadow bleed over the white disc of the Sun—the colours seeming strangely saturated like watching the skies in the spring two years ago.

It did not look like a dragon, although it looked more like a dragon than the moon. It looked like a lens cover, or the lid of a pot. It materialized out of thin air—black, and flat, and sliding, outlined in flame... You have seen photographs of the sun taken during a total eclipse. The corona fills the print. All of those photographs were taken through telescopes. The lenses of telescopes and cameras can no more cover the breadth and scale of the visual array than language can cover the breadth and simultaneity of internal experience... But I pray you will never see anything more awful in the sky... It is one-360th part of the visible sky. The sun we see is less than half the diameter of a dime held at arm’s length...

The mania is appreciable and can certainly understand the pilgrimages that people undertake. Indulge oneself with the essay printed in its entirety at The Atlantic, available through the day of the eclipse. Make the effort to be there if you can.

me, inc

The collapse of the Soviet Union in the eyes of some economists validated the market principles that are the underpinnings of globalism: the view, as Æon magazine explores (one can listen to the essay at the link, as well), that government exist for the sole purpose of regulating and sustaining constructed markets and should not be in the business of vouchsafing the welfare of its subjects.
Self-interest redresses and supplants those basic services like mass-transit, food safety, libraries, etc. This increasing popular point of view (championed by many adherents including the US Secretary of State and top diplomat Rexxon-Mobil), characterised as neoliberalism by its critics, signals a major shift in how we talk and think about the nature of work and careers, paradoxically not increasing the feeling of loyalty and job security as countries move towards more and more advanced economies, but rather the opposite.  Those marginally engaged in the workforce live in constant worry of becoming redundant at the whims of a corporate entity immeasurably bigger than any single cog (cog perhaps being an over-estimation of one’s importance), and for those fortunate enough to have a more comfortable working arrangement, every position is seen as developmental and an incremental step to the next opportunity.  In short, workers are either terrified into obedience or abeyance flattens hierarchy and creates a class of passionate quitters.

his master’s voice

I fully believe that Nag on the Lake deserves credit for discovering this marketing niche with her tip about a German radio station for canine shut-ins, but it’s pretty nifty nonetheless to learn that there is an audio book guide to help lonely dogs cope with separation anxieties when their humans depart for the day. A renowned animal psychologist conducted research that demonstrated the potential for better unmonitored behaviour in three out of four dogs that were read to (much like humans) and has some recommendations on selecting titles for your pets.