Sunday, February 22, 2015
The Writers and the Scientists
There is a very interesting moment in the memoir that captures Miller's world view. Look at pp. 90-91 again, the scene where Miller and his friend Lawrence Durrell go to an observatory in Athens. The view of the heavens means something entirely different to the authors than it does to the scientists, doesn't it? What do you make of Miller as a person when he says, "Speaking for myself, facts and figures have always left me unimpressed." Is this a person who is unimpressed or uninterested in the world? Remember: this is the guy who is so effusive over the Greeks invention of the alphabet (p. 107). If he's not interested in "facts and figures," what is he interested in? I think this raises interesting questions about why the book is the way it is. How would this book be different if it were written by a travel guide? An historian? A scientist? What is Miller and why is his viewpoint different? What are your own attitudes toward "facts and figures"?
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What I think Miller means by this is that he always looks at the world differently then others do. He appreciates things for how they are and doesn't look into the science of this such as the distance away a planet is or what it is made of. For all he knows Saturn with its rings represents gloom and everything negative about the human race. He is impressed more by the wholesome of things and not the minute things that aren't even viewable if not for a telescope or other various scientific instruments. He mentions that he is bewildered that these scientists have to use these telescopes and looks to the heavens to appreciate things when there are things on this Earth that are within arms reach that people don't even notice for its beauty or appreciate enough.
ReplyDeleteGood response, Athena. This is all true, but it seems that he and Durrell get pleasure from looking through the telescope. How is their pleasure different from the scientists' doing the same thing?
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