Elizabeth Kerns > Recent Status Updates

CINEMA. lily king does interpersonal conflict SO well

part one felt a little too much like The Idiot to truly have me in its grip—but the moments before part two. my gosh. Ms. King, you have my attention

this is like if the government in lois lowry’s Gathering Blue knew about catholicism… and also the world was poisoned. fascinating and very disturbing

discursive but love the rhetorical framing & am really getting into this

rapidly developing a dorothy sayers obsession

good riddance but why am i feeling nothing 🤨

it might just be because i’m currently reading sections of the Summa, but the problems of spirits in hell who don’t want to die (cease to be) rather clarifies Thomas’ view of the distinction between being and goodness as only of desirability—ie being (here, God) is goodness & the distinction is just in relationship. all participate in being, the desire for goodness is caught up in the desire for being…

the idea of a rebel citadel in hell is so funny to me but also,,, kinda has some juice. the metaphysics of this book are consistently messy but the moral order is intriguing, even if the explicit moral philosophy of the main character isn’t

alice might be a linguistic philosopher/magician, but she’s a terrible moral philosopher. girlie cannot do anything but all or nothing thinking/determinism/lack of agency re culpability. this is actually her biggest flaw as a protagonist

“Always they had been bodies hurtling just out of one another’s orbit, when all it would have take. was an honest word. But that was precisely what magicians lacked.”

clearest dynamic presented… though the necessary dualism of the magic system is sort of fascinating… especially if the Biggest Thing You Can Do is go to hell

Elspeth’a theory of karma feels to me like the most philosophically and morally coherent thing present in this text thus far

these people are so much more insufferable than jane’s other characters

the past sections are definitely the more compelling… i do think that i’m not fond of Alice. not because she’s overly intellectual or rather misogynistic—but because she’s passive. she has a Rooney-esque inability to say what she thinks or needs, but without the suppressed inner life that makes such an inability coherent. it makes the whole thing drag

this is a deeply untheological work, but i do think Kuang gets at something often overlooked in mainstream discussions of lust: the narcissism of it. as a sin, it’s disoriented from God… but also from other people. it’s masturbatory in that the other, the relationship(s) which are the good of desire, are forgotten in/for the self. a review complained it wasn’t erotic—and yeah. it’s not. for the better.

chekov’s trapdoor in the cellar

“‘Secrecy is seldom important to a man who confesses, even when it’s to a priest. He has other motives.’
‘To cleanse himself?”
‘Not always. Sometimes he only wants to see himself clearly as he is. Sometimes he is just weary of deception.’”

“Unfortunately, the innocent are always involved in any conflict. Always, everywhere, this is some voice crying from a tower.”

reread the introduction too. if i’m going to lecture on this book in a few weeks… better start thinking about what i’m going to say lmao

“There is a saying that to understand is to forgive, but that is an error, so Papa used to say. You must forgive in order to understand. Until you forgive, you defend yourself against the possibility of understanding.”

this has taken turns but MAN does this remain relevant

once again reminded i’m not 16 by the HORROR with which i behold kristin’s choices

rarely seen self-oriented “get thee to a nunnery”! (this book now has me in a chokehold)

BC jumpscare!

quoting Evagrius, “Endurance cures listlessness, and so does everything done with much care and fear of God.”

this is like baby trapping but with a crappy ring

reading this at my sister’s behest ahead of the final season dropping next week… already annoyed with everyone in this book lmao