Multitasking the holidays

And now the  holidays have begun.

This is a time in which most people sigh in relief, safe in the knowledge that the only writing and reading they shall be doing will be on tiny-screened communication devices, but not me. For me this is a time when I can totally immerse myself in any and all words of my choice.

The holidays are a time when I can choose my own literary intake and am not limited to set-work novels and textbooks chosen by someone I'll never meet because someone told him everyone should have a knowledge of  a Shakespearean tragedy or an allegory on Communism and that they should know how plants operate and how this came about. I'm not disputing the work of Orwell or Shakespeare and I'm  not saying that auxins and evolution do not interest me, I'm just stating that had I a choice these would not be the topics I'd look into at the moment

For the next few weeks my reading material shall consist of an old book on Living fossils, 2 Bond novels and The Sign of Four, a Sherlock Holmes tale. I shall, of course be reading them all at the same time.

In fact all four of the novels will be lying open on my bed alongside my ancient Dell laptop, a copy of popular mechanics, my 4 notebooks (Manuscript for novel, ideas for novel, non-novel stuff and pocket book), my sketchbook and probably a discarded banana peel whenever I am awake. When I am not awake my things shall be relocated to the floor, desk and bedside table in equal measures where they shall stay until I wake up  again and they can re-colonise the bed. I also have a bag big enough to fit them all for when I am away from my place of rest. Let it be said here and now that I will not spend any amount of time without a pen, a pencil, a paintbrush and a piece of paper within reach. Exams start soon after these holidays and so there shall be nothing exam themed in them at all.

The Story of Adolf Hitler is a Shakespearean tragedy

A tragedy is a very specific branch of Shakespearean literature. It requires a number of things to happen, including a fair amount of death and the hero of the play has to be a tragic hero; one who is likable and has many positive qualities but is also governed by a fatal flaw that ultimately leads to their demise and sets the closing scenes of the tradegy into motion.

Othello, for example was a decorated war hero, well liked by the people of Venice. He had found himself a beautiful wife whom he loved despite her father's wishes. His one weakness was his jealousy and it was this that lead to him being tricked by his ancient into killing his wife and himself one evening.

Hitler was also a decorated war hero well liked by the people of Germany. He found himself a good spot in the German government despite the wishes of the Jewish socialists. His weakness was the dislike of said Jews and this lead to him being hated by the world at large and allegedly killing himself in a bunker one evening.

So yes Hitler at the beginning of his story was very likable; he was a boy from a middle class family who was a true patriot. He had stood up for his beliefs in the great war and had spoken strongly against beliefs he didn't believe in. People liked him and that is the first mark of a tragic hero. He had a flaw which is the second mark and he died in the end; the third mark.

Yes, you might tell me, but these are stories. There are no real tragic heroes. You'd be wrong of course: Julius Ceasar was both a real person and the star of  Shakespearean tragedy. So were Anthony and Cleopatra. If they could be tragic heroes then why not Hitler?

I like the tale of Adolf Hitler a lot as the hero is probably the most spectacularly human person of all times: He was creative, bright but far too destructive. Potentially a good man but ultimately evil. It sums up our civilization in such an amazing way if you think about it. Here we are, apex predator of the world, the only creature with such a thing as a civilization but we're screwing everything up with our predisposition toward violence. That, however, is a story for another day. Here is a picture I drew for a friend of mine, the caption means "'Top hats' make everything better." It is naturally in German.