Luna del'Corvo

At times one has the idea that the mission of a university professor nowadays is exclusively that of forming competent and efficient professionals capable of satisfying the demand for labor at any given time. One also hears it said that the only thing that matters at the present moment is pure technical ability.

This sort of utilitarian approach to education is in fact becoming more widespread, even at the university level, promoted especially by sectors outside the university. All the same, you who, like myself, have had an experience of the university, and now are members of the teaching staff, surely are looking for something more lofty and capable of embracing the full measure of what it is to be human. We know that when mere utility and pure pragmatism become the principal criteria, much is lost and the results can be tragic: from the abuses associated with a science which acknowledges no limits beyond itself, to the political totalitarianism which easily arises when one eliminates any higher reference than the mere calculus of power. The authentic idea of the university, on the other hand, is precisely what saves us from this reductionist and curtailed vision of humanity.

I am a big fan of PBS in general. So when a documentary series covering the history of the Inquisition and some of the major heretical movements in medieval Europe showed up on my Netflix recommendations list, I was cautiously optimistic. (I say cautiously because so far, in my experience, history documentaries tend to be dismal in terms of you know, actual history, having instead an alarming and overwhelming tendency to favor sensationalism over fact every time.) But being PBS, I thought the chances of some actual history leaking in were good. Ah, hope springs eternal! Sadly, I was disappointed.

The Visconti Hours, National Library, Florence (Slipcase Edition)

by Millard Meiss

This is a gorgeous volume, not quite a facsimile edition, but a richly reproduced selection of plates from one of the most lavishly illustrated Books of Hours. There is a brief but very informative introduction, which presents not only the manuscript itself, but the background of the Visconti family. It is always good to know background, especially with Books of Hours, as they tended to be customized for their owners, but in this case, the background adds immeasurably to the experience of the illuminations.

The Visconti family employed one of my favorite coats of arms: a basilisk devouring a human child. Not only is this a delightful commentary of the rather ruthless nature of the Italian clans in the middle ages, it survives today, on the front of every Alfa Romeo ever made. So it is particularly interesting that the Viscontis, and this Visconti in particular, motivated by an intense desire to legitimize his position (not quite legitimately attained) as Duke, saw fit to plaster that very insignia all over his personal prayer book, making it rather like a game of ‘Where’s Waldo,” assuming of course, that Waldo is a suitable name for a child-devouring basilisk.

On a more serious note, however, the commentary which accompanies each plate makes this an excellent volume for the study of manuscript illumination, and of Books of Hours. If I have a quibble (and it is a minuscule one), it is that the metallic ink, intended to accent those areas which are embellished with gold leaf in the original, cannot begin to convey the glory to which it refers. I might almost prefer to have the unaccented image, lest the poor pigments available damn the original with faint praise. Then again, photographing gold leaf reliably is notoriously difficult, so perhaps the spot ink serves to clarify rather than dim, in which case, I am happy to have it.

In any case, this is a beautiful book, lovingly crafted with regard to both content and production. It’s a volume that should appeal to those with artistic as well as historic interest in medieval manuscripts.

• Remember to never split an infinitive.
• The passive voice should never be used.
• Punctuate run-on sentences properly they are hard to read otherwise.
• Don't use no double negatives.
• Use the semi-colon properly, always use it where it is appropriate; and never where it isn't.
• Reserve the apostrophe for it's proper use and omit it when its not needed.
• Verbs has to agree with their subjects.
• No sentence fragments.
• Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
• Avoid commas, that are not necessary.
• If you reread your work, you will find on rereading that a lot of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.
• A writer must not shift your point of view.
• Give slang the elbow.
• Conversely, it is incumbent upon us to avoid archaisms.
• Don't overuse exclamation marks!!!!
• Place pronouns as close as possible, especially in long sentences, as of 10 onwards or more, to their antecedents.
• Hyphenate between sy-llables; avoid un-necessary hyphens.
• Write all adverbial forms correct.
• Writing carefully: dangling participles must be avoided.
• Steer clear of incorrect forms of verbs that have snuck in the language.
• Take the bull by the hand: always pick on the correct idiom and avoid mixed metaphors.
• Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
• Never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
• Everyone should be careful to use a singular pronoun with singular nouns in their writing.
• If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times, resist hyperbole.
• Also, avoid awkward or affected alliteration.
• Don't string together too many prepositional phrases unless you are walking through the valley of the shadow of death.
• ""Avoid overuse of quotation marks.""""
• For Christ's sake don't offend your readers' sensibilities.
• Last but not least, avoid clichés like the plague; seek viable alternatives.