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2004年11月16日 上午11點24分00秒[IMAGE] Currently Playing 2001: A Space...
 | Currently Playing 2001: A Space Odyssey - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1996 Reissue) By Various Artists see related |
I am never going to finish Leviathan before the seminar
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About yesterday -
In the morning attended a seminar by Graham Rees on Renaissance Science. A decent man of years, he looked just like those scholars in traditional portraits on oil canvas
And I thought he actually looked a bit like William Wordsworth... that kind of look: thin white hair, heavy built, slightly chubby, flushed face, reclining comfortably yet dignified on the arm chair with a calm look in the eyes. He did not have much gestures, and his voice was low, yet learned scholars do not need much rhetoric to help with their teaching - students are naturally drawn into attention. It was interesting to know about the idea of the body in the Renaissance - like the association of Melancholy with Earth (actually came across it in Walter Benjamin's The Origins of German Tragic Drama in Professor Tambling's course before), or the controversies about the body of angels. I was so impressed - could any other science scholars quote Shakespeare as he did? And he was no way unapproachable - we had fun discovering his love for boars and pigs
He had a replica of Francis Bacon's coat of arms - a boar (Bacon). The pig bookstands on the desk were beautiful. There was even that funny toy gun which shot out tiny piggys 
And he also showed us a plate - a gift from Dr Colclough - painted with a pig on top, and the name "Francis" in the bottom - probably a conincidence? I am looking forward to next week's seminar with him again - but before that have to finish the prescribed readings.