From: Lynn Rutan <lynnrutan>
Date: Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:52:20 -0500

I admire the two Octavian books tremendously. They practically leave me speechless (quite a feat) and I apologize in advance for not being as coherent as I should be. I am not an 18th century scholar and must defer to someone who is. I am dredging up college classes that I took decades ago but I felt that the books reflected the style and sense of Samuel Johnson and Jonathan Swift among other 18th century writers. I believe it was Swift who satirized the scientific endeavors of the Royal Society in England. One of the themes Swift shares with Anderson, I think, is our tendency, both in science and education, to focus on minutia while overlooking the larger issues and often to be mislead by that focus. The scholars of the College of Lucidity weigh Octavian?s feces yet fail to see his humanity. Johnson?s Rasselas, an Ethiopian prince, like Octavian, is disillusioned again and again, and yet he eventually concludes that one should seek the truth and can learn to live with disappointment. That I felt was Octavian?s bit of hope at the conclusion of the books as well. Octavian?s act of opening the forbidden door to the truth of his situation opens a door for us to look upon the collision of philosophy and practice that is actually our nation?s foundation. Certainly, the feelings we experience reflect our 20th century sensibilities but I agree wholeheartedly with Marc Aronson that the books gave me a way to examine our past in a completely new way while still being quite evocative of that time.

I completely understand that these books are not to every taste but what book is? Even the immensely popular Harry Potter doesn?t appeal to every teen. There is an audience for Octavian. It might be small but it exists. I have seen at first hand enthusiastic responses and I think these readers deserve our consideration every bit as much as all the others. I?m not sure why we scorn as elite the types of students who yearn to plunge into a book like Octavian but we do. We would never scorn a student who struggles to read. Why do we assume that our most thoughtful readers should fend for themselves? I completely understand about budgets but I will fight to my last breath about the importance of providing deeply rich thought-provoking and challenging books for teens. I truly believe these two books belong in every high school library.

There is so much to say about these books! The sections on education were so faulous! I wanted to highlight those pages for our administrators ;-) The humor, the emotion, the fabulous language, the sense of time and place. I was so moved by the reading experience and I look forward very much to everyone's thoughts. I also REALLY hope it was Swift who wrote about the Royal Society! You can easily tell that I will never be an elite scholar - my memory is waaay to bad ;-)

Lynn Rutan Librarian Holland, MI lynnrutan at charter.net
Received on Fri 21 Nov 2008 12:52:20 PM CST