"the nostalgia of things unknown"

[eldritchhobbit]

Happy birthday to the wonderful thrihyrne, without whom I never would have come to LiveJoural. Visit her website, Thevina's Mountainous Fanfiction Archive, here. I am sending best wishes to you for the most fabulous birthday - and best year - ever!

Happy birthday also to the fantastic seemag. Visit her website, Unbound, here. Best wishes and many, many happy returns of the day!


In other news, I have been going through the iTunes U offerings in the iTunes Store, and I found a number of free lectures that might be of interest:

iTunes U on iTunes

from Arizona State University:
Nano-Ethics Through the Writing of Science Fiction by Rosalyn Berne

from MIT:
The Craft of Science Fiction by Joe Haldeman

from Seattle Pacific University:
The Lord of the Rings as a Defense of Western Civilization by John G. West
Literary Background of The Lord of the Rings by Janet Blumberg
Tolkien, Man and Myth by Joseph Pearce
Wartime Wisdom: Ten Uncommon Insights from The Lord of the Rings About Evil by Peter Kreeft
Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and the British Literary Tradition by Janet Knedlik
C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien: Scholars and Friends by Christopher Mitchell
Lewis, Tolkien, and Chesterton on Myth by Richard Purtill
"We Gotta Get Outta Here" - How Tolkien, Lewis, and L'Engle Help Us Hope by Jeff Overstreet

from SUNY Cortland:
Reflections on H.P. Lovecraft by S.T. Joshi


Additionally, there is a "Science Fiction and Politics Class" by Professor Courtney Brown of Emory University (a total of 33 lectures) available on iTunes as a podcast (search "Courtney Brown" in iTunes). It is also available here.


January 13 was the birthday of H.P. Lovecraft's friend and fellow fantasist Clark Ashton Smith (1893-1961), so I will use one of my favorite passages by him (which I've posted before, but I never mind repeating) for the quote of the day:

"The nostalgia of things unknown, of lands forgotten or unfound, is upon me at times. Often I long for the gleam of yellow suns upon terraces of translucent azure marble, mocking the windless waters of lakes unfathomably calm; for lost, legendary palaces of serpentine, silver and ebony, whose columns are green stalactites; for the pillars of fallen temples, standing in the vast purpureal sunset of a land of lost and marvellous romance. I sigh for the dark-green depths of cedar forests, through whose fantastically woven boughs, one sees at intervals an unknown tropic ocean, like gleams of blue diamond; for isles of palm and coral, that fret an amber morning, somewhere beyond Cathay or Taprobane; for the strange and hidden cities of the desert, with burning brazen domes and slender pinnacles of gold and copper, that pierce a heaven of heated lazuli."

- from Clark Ashton Smith, "Nostalgia of the Unknown"

Comments

[estellye.livejournal.com]

Wow! Those are some really interesting offerings. I didn't know so many things like this were available for free! Thanks so much, EH! *hugs!*

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

You're most welcome! I'm so glad these are of interest to you. I went through iTunes U near the end of last year, and a lot of these are new. It's really exciting! *hugs*

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for your very thoughtful birthday wishes!! I'm glad still to be here around on this 'ol terrestrial ball, and to be a friend to you, and ever so grateful for the forces which brought and have kept us together. (((hugs)))

The free lectures look great, too! I may download a couple as further inspiration to get me out and walking around these lovely environs I have.

Many thanks, again. And that quote? Beyond gorgeous.

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

I'm glad still to be here around on this 'ol terrestrial ball, and to be a friend to you, and ever so grateful for the forces which brought and have kept us together.

I am so grateful for the very same things, my friend! *huge hugs* I hope you had a most fantastic birthday.

In that quote, "for the pillars of fallen temples, standing in the vast purpureal sunset of a land of lost and marvellous romance" made me think of that beautiful picture you took and framed for me, with the standing stones. :)

[vaklam.livejournal.com]

Wow! That is an awesome list of lectures. Thanks for sharing. Good timing, too. I've been looking for something new to listen to.

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

You're most welcome! I'm glad they're of interest to you, too. There are also four fascinating lectures on Lovecraft here, FYI. I'm in the middle of listening to those now.

[(Anonymous)]

Sweet. Those lectures look great. Thanks for the pointer!

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

You're most welcome!

[loligo.livejournal.com]

That really is an awesome quote.

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you like it, too. Isn't it amazing?

[thepirateship.livejournal.com]

The Jeffery Overstreet and the Joseph Pearce talks are excellent. (I've been reading Jeffery's book, Auralia's Colors, this week too.)

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

I'm very much looking forward to listening to them! I've read some of Pearce's work, which I really enjoyed.

[seemag.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

I hope you had a terrific day! :)

[dracschick.livejournal.com]

that sounds like a cool class. Thanks for sharing:)

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

My pleasure! :)

[re-animating.livejournal.com]

"Science Fiction and Politics" definitely stands out as intriguing. Time allowing, I may have to give that a go. :)

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

I'm looking forward to listening to those, too.