The Visitor (play)

The Visitor is a 1993 play written by French-Belgian author Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt, first published in France. It consists of seventeen acts of varying length. The play is set in Vienna in 1938, when Nazis were beginning to take control of the city (Anschluss). It explores the inner conflicts within Sigmund Freud as this occurs.
Themes.
Eric Emmanuel Schmitt is known for writing literature that is primarily philosophical. As he himself noted in a French magazine, philosophy and Greek tragedy were invented simultaneously, and tragedy is, in a way, a version of philosophy that is accessible to the public. As a writer, he says his goal is to present and explore philosophical ideas that are simple enough for everyone to understand, and this can easily be seen in "The Visitor", as well as in other works by the author"."
Main themes in this play are the human condition and defects, the belief (or disbelief) in God, the results of war, and Nazism.
Characters.
Sigmund Freud.
Schmitt portrays Sigmund Freud, the Twentieth century psychoanalyst, living in Vienna before World War I. In the play Freud seems very troubled as a result of several inner conflicts. First, the question of living Vienna or not: if he leaves, he ensures safety for him and his family but leaves his fellowmen and the city that watched him grow behind; if he stays, he puts him and his family in danger, but he shows solidarity to the victims and he stays with the city he loves. Then, The Visitor raises another question: is he really God or is he merely a mythomaniac with astounding persuasion powers. Freud desperately wants to believe The Visitor is God, but his reason tells him not to. He is presented as a loving father that would do anything for his children, as a lonely man that needs love from a father he may hate, and as a soft and fragile individual at the brisk of death.
Anna.
Anna is Freud's daughter. Her age is never explicitly revealed on the play, but despite being an adult Freud treats her as a little child. She shows great character strength when she stands up to the Gestapo officer and psychoanalyzes him to account for his disrespectful behavior toward Jews. She is taken for questioning, but she shows no fear, unlike Freud. She reassures him that everything will be fine, and that fear is worthless. She is the voice of reason in her father's life, constantly reminding him to sign the paper that will enable them to leave Vienna and escape the Nazi regime. She proves to be smart and to know how to defend herself.
Nazi/ Gestapo officer.
His character represents the cliché Gestapo officer. Presented in a negative light, he is a violent, brute individual. He is perverse and thirsty for money. He is the one that takes Anna for questioning after she challenges his entire persona and the real reasons why he finds pleasure in humiliating Jews. Although he pretends to be strong, he is weak, full of fears and regrets about the person he is. He returns after taking Anna to get more money from Freud, telling him that he knows about the money he has deposited in other countries. But he flees when Freud, with to the help of The Visitor, notices the great resemblance in his uncle Simon's nose, who was a rabbi, and the officer's.
The Visitor.
Dressed as an opera Dandy, he invades Freud's apartment and refuses to tell him who he is, claiming he would not believe it. After several questions, Freud realizes he is God, but is he really? He bombards Freud with several atheist arguments questioning his own existence, and Freud counterargues saying he must be God, until the Gestapo officer notifies him of a mythomaniac on the loose. He is then referred to as Walter Oberseit, which is the name of the fugitive. Freud then bombards The Visitor with reasons why he cannot be God. However, he isn't Walter Oberseit either. When he is presented to Anna, she sees him as the man that stalks her at the park. Freud, as well as the reader, never knows whether the Visitor is God, or simply a mythomaniac. It is a matter of faith to believe or not.
Plot.
ACT 1.
The reader is introduced to two characters: Freud and Anna. It is the year 1938, the war is about to begin, and Nazis have already invaded Vienna. Freud, like many other Jews, must leave. In order to do so, he must sign a paper stating he has been treated exceptionally by the Nazi regime. Freud is ill. A commentary is made regarding children and adults: children are naturally born as philosophers because they ask questions, whereas adults are boring because they have stopped asking questions.
ACT 2.
A new character is introduced: the Gestapo officer. He has already been to Freud's house before, when he confiscated his books to burn them. Now he has returned to ask for money in exchange of “freedom”. Freud indicates where the money is, and the officer is surprised by its quantity. He insults Freud and all other Jews. Anna is infuriated and psychoanalyzes him to cause embarrassment. As a result, she is taken to the Gestapo for questioning. Before leaving, she reminds her father to sign the paper and reassures him that everything will be alright.
ACT 3.
Freud thinks of the paper. Instead of signing it, he calls the US ambassador to Austria to ask for help regarding the taking of Anna. He promises to pull some strings and reminds him to sign the paper. He begins to sign the paper, but he is insulted by what it says and stops.
ACT 4.
The Visitor appears, dressed as an opera dandy, out of nowhere. Freud is shocked and demands an explanation. Who is he? Where did he come from? What does he want? How does he know Freud? Because he receives no direct answers to his questions, Freud takes out his revolver. The Visitor calms him down and tells him about his future (the publication of "Moses and monotheism", his life in Paris and in London, etc.). Freud is confused because he has not disclosed information about his book with anyone and he is not even sure himself he will leave Vienna. He asks The Visitor again who he is. No response. He attempts to hypnotize and psychoanalyze him. A person without parents, utterly alone in the Universe. Once hypnotized, Freud asks more questions, including when will he die. At that point, The Visitor comes out of the hypnotic state. Freud realizes The Visitor is God. He cannot believe it. To “prove” it The Visitor tells Freud about the time Freud recognized his own existence, which is the same time The Visitor meets Freud for the first time. The latter still does not believe.
ACT 5.
The Nazi returns. The Visitor hides behind a curtain. Freud persistently asks about Anna, but his replies are vague and perverse. Freud is worried, and to make matters worse, the Nazi asks Freud for the bank accounts mentioned in his will. He says that if he provides him with that money, then Anna will be returned. He says it will be a secret between them two. Freud does not know what to do, he wants Anna back, but the money mentioned in his will is what he has saved for all his children. A monologue follows in which the Nazi insults Jews and blames them for his failures. Then he leaves to give Freud time to think.
ACT 6.
The Visitor reassures Freud that Anna is okay. He has a vision. She has something in her hand. Freud knows what it is. They had been thinking about suicide, but Freud told her that was not an option because that is what the Nazis wanted them to do. The vision continues. Anna bites herself to call attention. It works, and she is taken to be interrogated. The Visitor is proud of her, because he knows if she is not interrogated, she will be taken to the concentration camps. Freud is reminded to sing the paper. The Nazi returns, and before he enters, The Visitor gives Freud a picture.
ACT 7.
The picture is of Freud's uncle, who was a Rabbi. Interestingly enough, the Nazi's nose is highly similar to that of the uncle. The situation backfires for the Nazi. He leaves, scared that someone may discover his secret. Before leaving, he tells Freud about a man on the run. His name is Walter Oberseit and he has escaped from the asylum. He is a mythomaniac.
ACT 8.
The Visitor comes out of his cover and closes the window. Freud is infuriated. He cannot believe he was deceived by a mythomaniac and accuses The Visitor of wasting his time. The Visitor says Walter Oberseit, the runaway, lived for years in a cave in isolation. When he was finally able to speak, he would tell impossible stories and pretend to be a great figure in history. The Visitor tries to tell Freud he is not Walter Oberseit. Freud still does not believe and says he no longer believes in psychoanalysis. He explains why he is an atheist and The Visitor replies an atheist is a man in despair. Freud is troubled. He says he is glad the Visitor is Walter Oberseit and not God, because if he were God, he would accuse him of absolute negligence. The Visitor explains, somewhat annoyed, that he created man free. He is not to blame for what occurred or is occurring and claims the reason behind all those things is greed. Freud is somewhat apologetic but soon changes to a reassuring tone and tells The Visitor to return to the asylum for tonight and he promises he will treat him tomorrow. The Nazi returns.
ACT 9.
In a more respectful way than before, the Nazi returns to give Freud his will back. Freud asks where Anna is and he says she is still being questioned but she will be back soon. In addition, he informs Freud that they found Walter Oberseit. Freud is hopeful because The Visitor may actually be God.
ACT 10.
Freud asks again why the Visitor has come. The Visitor explains how boring it is to be God, because you have already seen it all. Outside, a Jewish couple is persecuted and taken to the camps. Freud tells God to do something, but he says he cannot because he is not omnipotent. He lost his omnipotence when he created man and gave him free will. Freud is troubled.
ACT 11.
Anna returns, and Freud is relieved and exhilarated. She reassures him that she is fine and says that when she was questioned, she denied that the International Association of psychoanalysis had political interests. She also informs Freud about the camps were Jews were taken and criticizes them for staying quiet. Freud tells her it is the best thing to do to prevent any further violence against family members. Then, he insists that she meets the Visitor. She is confused because she sees no one and tells Freud that when she came in, he was sleeping. Anna leaves.
ACT 12.
The Visitor excuses himself by saying that he had to go to the bathroom. Freud tells him that he must meet Anna. He is reluctant, but Freud convinces him.
ACT 13.
Anna returns and acts as if she already knows The Visitor.
ACT 14.
Freud demands an explanation from The Visitor, but he seems as confused as him and denies knowing Anna.
ACT 15.
Anna says The Visitor is the man that stalks her when she goes to the park. The Visitor and Freud seem surprised, while Anna is annoyed by the presence of The Visitor and leaves again.
ACT 16.
Freud doubts again. The Visitor explains that everyone projects in him the image that they want to see. He says he must leave, and he thanks Freud for listening to him. Freud desperately wants a definitive answer and tells him not to go out through the window but to disappear in front of his eyes. Despite Freud's wishes, he leaves through the window.
ACT 17.
Desperate, Freud reaches for the revolver and shoots, but he misses. The Visitor is gone.
Background.
Eric Emmanuel Schmitt received inspiration from this play one day after listening to more bad news on the radio. From his account, he was feeling like Freud (one of the main characters of the play), wondering why God would allow such things to occur. When Schmitt finished writing the play, he read it to three people, and one of them discouraged him from publishing it. For several years it was kept in a drawer, until upon the insistence of various people, it was performed on stage. From that point on, the play and the author have received great praise from the public.
The play also refers to something even The Visitor, who spoke as if he were God, considered ultimately beautiful: Mozart's music. In a podcast the author expressed how this music inspired him to write.
Critical reception.
As many other works written by Schmitt, "The Visitor" was greatly acclaimed by the public. Many important newspapers in France and elsewhere qualified the piece as brilliant, intelligent, captivating, and much more. Stage Door, a long lived website for theater review in Ontario, also offered a positive review of the play but shamed down on the textbook-like philosophy it presented.
The play received three Molières and has been staged in several countries around the world.
Oftentimes, the works by Schmitt do not receive great attention from elite scholars. His books are often dismissed by this group as too traditional, too popular, and such.
Stage productions and translations.
The Visitor has been staged in several European countries as well as other countries. Among the list appear France, Italy, Germany, Canada, and the UK.
The play has also been translated into several languages, including English, Catalan, German, Greek, Italian and Polish.


Bruce Weinstein

Bruce Weinstein is an American ethicist who writes about ethics, character, and leadership for "Fortune". He also writes for and sits on the editorial board of the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics. Much of Weinstein's work involves helping business leaders, members of professional trade associations, and students appreciate the role that ethics plays in everyday life. This work often takes the form of interactive keynote addresses to corporations, universities, and other organizations.
Early publications.
Weinstein published his first book in 1985 at the age of 25 while a graduate student at Georgetown University. "Ethics in the Hospital Setting" contains the papers presented at the first state conference devoted to the issue of what was then called hospital ethics committees, which are now known as institutional ethics committees. Weinstein is credited as the editor of the volume. Portions of Weinstein’s doctoral dissertation, "The Possibility of Ethical Expertise" (Georgetown University, 1989) were edited and published as the articles “What is an Expert?”[Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics (Vol. 14, No. 1), pp. 57–73] and “The Possibility of Ethical Expertise”[Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics (Vol. 15, No. 1), pp. 61–75.
Weinstein’s second book as editor, "Dental Ethics", is a collection of articles co-authored by ethicists and dentists. His third book as editor, "Ethical Issues in Pharmacy", contains essays co-authored by ethicists and pharmacists.
Later publications.
After editing three books for health care professionals, Weinstein decided to write his own books and broaden the scope of his work to include businesspeople, general readers of adult non-fiction, and students. His first book in this project was, "What Should I Do: 4 Simple Steps to Making Better Decisions in Everyday Life." He applied the four-step protocol used by institutional ethics committees to ethical issues that people outside of health care face. This protocol is:
The book was a Finalist for the Books for a Better Life Award.
Weinstein's next book was published in 2005 by Emmis Books, a division of Emmis Communications. "Life Principles: Feeling Good by Doing Good," was an application of Tom Beauchamp and James Childress's "Principles of Biomedical Ethics." The basis of the Beauchamp/Childress work is principlism, an ethical framework that uses principles as the foundation for ethical decision making. The four principles that form the core of the Beauchamp/Childress work are:
Weinstein's work simplifies the principles, so that, for example, the principle of nonmaleficence becomes "do no harm", and the principle of beneficence becomes "make things better." Weinstein also applies the principles to areas beyond health care and biomedical research.
The follow-up to "Life Principles" was a book for 10-14-year-olds entitled, "Is It Still Cheating If I Don't Get Caught?" Published in 2009 by Roaring Brook Press (a division of Macmillan), The book is an application of "Life Principles" to the issues that young adults face with teachers, fellow students, parents, and friends. It received the strongest reviews in Weinstein's career up to that point.
In 2011, New World Library published Weinstein's "Ethical Intelligence: Five Principles for Untangling Your Toughest Problems at Work and Beyond." The book expanded much of the work Weinstein had done in his columns for Bloomberg Businessweek on such topics as the outsourcing of customer service, the ethics of taking vacations, and how to give and receive criticism. In 2012, ForeWord magazine selected "Ethical Intelligence" as a Silver Winner in its annual Book of the Year Awards in the self-help category.
Weinstein's letter to "The New York Times" calling for honesty in politics was chosen as the basis for its weekly Invitation to a Dialogue feature. The letter was originally published on July 7, 2012, after which readers were invited to submit responses. The letter was then republished on August 11, along with several reader responses and a rejoinder from Weinstein. The basis for the letter was Warren Beatty's 1998 film, Bulworth, a satire predicated on the idea that a politician telling the truth would be the stuff of comedy.
Media appearances as ethics analyst.
Weinstein has offered ethical analyses on CNN's The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer (on such issues as the Harvard cheating scandal of 2012), Anderson Cooper 360 (debating with David Gergen about the ethics of publishing kiss-and-tell books in politics), and "Issue #1" (an ethics quiz he developed); NBC's Today (the ethics of going to work sick); ABC's Good Morning America (the ethics of tipping and regifting); ABC News Now (ethical dilemmas in the workplace); WNBC's Today in New York (five principles for making ethical decisions); CNBC's "Surviving the Market" (scandals in business);, WNYC's Leonard Lopate Show (the ethics of apologies);, FOX News Channel's O'Reilly Factor (the ethics of producing and watching reality television shows); and other television and radio programs. Weinstein promotes himself as "The Ethics Guy".


Retarded position

Einstein's equations admit gravity wave-like solutions. In the case of a moving point-like mass and in the linearized limit of a weak-gravity approximation these solutions of the Einstein equations are known as the Liénard–Wiechert gravitational potentials. Wave-like solutions (variations) in gravitational field at any point of space at some instant of time t are generated by the mass taken in the preceding (or retarded) instant of time s < t on its world-line at a vertex of the null cone connecting the mass and the field point. The position of the mass that generates the field is called the retarded position and the Liénard–Wiechert potentials are called the retarded potentials. Gravitational waves caused by acceleration of a mass appear to come from the position and direction of the mass at the time it was accelerated (the retarded time and position). The retarded time and the retarded position of the mass are a direct consequence of the finite value of the speed of gravity, the speed with which gravitational waves propagate in space.
As in the case of the Liénard–Wiechert potentials for electromagnetic effects and waves, the static potentials from a moving gravitational mass (i.e., its simple gravitational field, also known as gravitostatic field) are "updated," so that they point to the mass's actual position at constant velocity, with no retardation effects. This happens also for static electric and magnetic effects and is required by Lorentz symmetry, since any mass or charge moving with constant velocity at a great distance, could be replaced by a moving observer at the same distance, with the object now at "rest." In this latter case, the static gravitational field seen by the observer would be required to point to the same position, which is the non-retarded position of the object (mass). Only gravitational waves, caused by acceleration of a mass, and which cannot be removed by a change in a distant observer's inertial frame, must be subject to aberration, and thus originate from a retarded position and direction, due to their finite velocity of travel from their source. Such waves correspond to electromagnetic waves radiated from an accelerated charge.
Note that for gravitational masses moving past each other in straight lines (or for that matter for electromagnetically charged objects), there is little or no retardation effect on the effect from them, which is mediated by "static" components of the fields. So long as no radiation is emitted, conservation of momentum requires that forces between objects (either electromagnetic or gravitational forces) point at objects' instantaneous and up-to-date positions, and not in the direction of their speed-of-light-delayed (retarded) positions. However, since no information can be transmitted from such an interaction, such influences (which seem to exceed that of the influence of light), cannot be used to violate principles of relativity.


Kenneth L. Schmitz

Kenneth L. Schmitz (1922–2017) was a Canadian philosopher. He was a president of the Metaphysical Society of America (1980).


Syntactic hierarchy

Syntax is concerned with the way sentences are constructed from smaller parts, such as words and phrases. Two steps can be distinguished in the study of syntax. The first step is to identify different types of units in the stream of speech and writing. In natural languages, such units include sentences, phrases, and words. The second step is to analyze how these units build up larger patterns, and in particular to find general rules that govern the construction of sentences.
This can be broken down into constituents, which are a group of words that are organized as a unit, and the organization of those constituents. They are organized in a hierarchical structure, by embedding inside one another to form larger constituents.
History.
Universal Grammar: the Chomskyan view.
In Chomsky’s view, humans are born with innate knowledge of certain principles that guide them in developing the grammar of their language. In other words, Chomsky’s theory is that language learning is facilitated by a predisposition that our brains have for certain structures of language. This implies in turn that all languages have a common structural basis: the set of rules known as "universal grammar". The theory of universal grammar entails that humans are born with an innate knowledge (or structural rules) of certain principles that guide them in developing the grammar of their language.
Structural Linguistics: Saussurean Influences.
Regarded as the "Founder of Structural Linguistics", which reflects the concept of structuralism, Ferdinand de Saussure stated the ways in which human culture requires an overarching structure to relate to in order to communicate. He defines language to be different than human speech, which is fundamental and essential to language. While speech is a combination of several disciplines (i.e. physical, psychological, etc.) and is part of an individual and their society, language is a system of classification of its own entity.
De Saussure argues that in written language, words are chained together in sequence on the chain of speaking, and therefore gain relations based on the linear nature of language. Language, however, is not simply a classification for universal concepts, as translating from one language to another proves to be a difficult task. Each Languages organizes their own world differently, and do not name existing categories, rather articulate their own. This idea explains that though languages can differ within levels of Syntactic Hierarchy, all languages encompass the same set of levels.
The Levels of Syntactic Hierarchy.
Groups of sentences (text).
Separate sentences can combine together to create one sentence. For example, the sentence “The boy chased the ball” and “He didn’t catch it” can be combined together. You can do this in many ways including stringing one sentence after the other or joining the sentences with conjunctions.1. “The boy chased the ball; he didn’t catch it.”2. “The boy chased the ball, but he didn’t catch it.”3. “The boy chased the ball, and he didn’t catch it.”
Sentence.
Phrases combined to form sentences. The phrase “the girl” combines with the phrase “ran away” to form the sentence: “The girl ran away.”
Phrases.
Words combine to form phrases. The word “the” combines with “girl” to form the phrase: “The girl”
Words.
Morphemes combine to form words. Morphemes belong to categories that determine how they combine. For example, the word 'manageable' is made up of two morphemes 'manage' which is a verb and 'able' which is an adjective, these categories tell the morphemes how to combine so they form the word 'manageable.'
Morphemes.
Smallest meaningful unit in a word. For example, “boys” has two morphemes “boy” and “-s.”
Phonemes.
A unit of sound such as individual consonants and vowels of a language. For example, /p/, /t/ and /æ/ are phonemes in English.
Phonetic form.
A subset of sounds which demonstrates the different variations of a phoneme. Diacritics can be used to represent this, for example aspiration can be added to the letter /p/ in the word /pʰɪt/.
Unsegmented Speech.
Refers to ambiguous streams of words with spaces in between. For example, this can represent how an infant may hear human speech.
Analysis of Syntactic Hierarchy Levels.
Sentence.
Sentences are the hierarchal structure of combined phrases. When constructing a sentence, two types of phrases are always necessary: Noun Phrase (NP) and Verb Phrase (VP), forming the simplest possible sentence. What determines whether a sentence is grammatically constructed (i.e. the sentence makes sense to a native speaker of the language), is its adherence to the language's phrase structure rules, allowing a language to generate large numbers of sentences. Languages cross-linguistically differ in their phrase structure rules, resulting in the difference of order of the NP and VP, and other phrases included in a sentence. Languages which do have the similar phrase structure rules, however, will translate so that a sentence from one language will be grammatical when translated into the target language.
French example:
The French sentence directly translates to English, demonstrating that the phrase structures of both languages are very similar.
Phrase.
The idea that words combine to form phrases. For example, the word “the” combines with word “dog” to form the phrase “the dog”. A phrase is a sequence of words or a group of words arranged in a grammatical way to combine and form a sentence. There are five commonly occurring types of phrases; Noun phrases (NP), Adjective phrases (AdjP), Verb phrases (VP), Adverb Phrases (AdvP), and Prepositional Phrases (PP).
Hierarchical combinations of words in their formation of phrasal categories are apparent cross-linguistically- for example, in French:
French examples:
Noun phrase.
A noun phrase refers to a phrase that is built upon a noun. For example, “ The dog” or “the girl” in the sentence “the dog loved the girl” act as noun phrases.
Verb phrase.
Verb phrase refers to a phrase that is composed of at least one main verb and one or more helping/auxiliary verb (every sentence needs at least one main verb). For example, the word “loved the girl” in the sentence “the dog loved the girl” acts as a verb phrase.
"see also" Adjective phrases (AdjP), Adverb phrases (AdvP), and Prepositional phrases (PP)
Phrase structure rules.
A phrase structure tree shows that a sentence is both linear string of words and a hierarchical structure with phrases nested in phrases (combination of phrase structures).
A phrase structure tree is a formal device for representing speaker’s knowledge about phrase structure in speech.
The syntactic category of each individual word appears immediately above that word. In this way, “the” is shown to be a determiner, “child” is a noun, and so on.
Word.
The subdomain that deals with words is morphology, which states that words are made up of morphemes which combine in a regular and rule-governed fashion.
For example, the word 'national' is made up of two morphemes 'nation' which is a noun and '-al' which is a suffix that means pertaining to, this meaning helps us in categorizing '-al' as an adjective. These categories aid in arranging the morphemes so they can combine in a way that will form the word 'national,’ which is an adjective.
Morphology states that words come in categories, and the morphemes that join together to create the word assign the category. The two main categories are open class, where new words can be created and closed class where there is a limited number of members. Within both of these categories there are further sub-categories. Open class includes: nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, and closed class includes: prepositions, determiners, numerals, complementizers, auxiliaries, modals, coordinators, and negation/affirmation. These sub categories can be further broken down for example, verbs can be either transitive or intransitive. These categories can be identified with semantic criteria about what a word means, for instance nouns are said to be people, places, or things while verbs are actions. Words are all placed in these categories and depending on their category they follow specific rules that determine their word order.
Cross-Linguistically other languages form words similarly to English. This is done by having morphemes of different categories combine in a rule governed fashion in order to create the word.
French example:
Minimalist Theory of Syntax.
Syntactic hierarchy may be the most basic and assumed component of almost all syntactic theories, and yet the minimalist theory of syntax views a clause or group of words as a string, rather than as components of a hierarchical system. While this theory prioritizes linearity over hierarchy, hierarchical structure is still analyzed if it "generates correct data" or if there is "direct evidence for it". In this way, it appears that syntactic hierarchy still plays an important role in even the minimalist theories.
Artificial language.
In artificial languages, lexemes, tokens, and formulas are usually found among the basic units.


The Information (novel)

The Information is a 1995 novel by British writer Martin Amis. The plot involves two forty-year-old novelists, Gwyn Barry (successful) and Richard Tull (not so). Amis has asserted that "both" characters are based (if they can be regarded as based on anybody) on himself. It is, says Amis, a book about "literary enmity".
Synopsis.
Gwyn Barry and Richard Tull have been friends since they roomed together at university. Richard Tull was a promising writer with a seemingly bright future. However his career flags and he finds himself depressed writing book reviews for a small literary paper and running a vanity press. To his chagrin, Gwyn Barry—whose literary skills Tull holds in low esteem—has written a phenomenally successful novel and won a lucrative and respected literary prize. Barry begins to enjoy a rarified life whilst Tull toils away with his unsuccessful pursuits.
Tull, increasingly envious, begins to manufacture ways of bringing Barry down. These begin relatively innocently, attempts to cause Barry inconvenience. But later things become much more serious as Tull makes contact with violent men he later finds he cannot control.
Themes.
Running through the book (indeed what "The Information" in question turns out to be) is the awareness of mortality and, relating to that, midlife crisis. In a later interview Amis elaborated on the subject of midlife crisis, describing it as "an hysterical overreaction to the certain knowledge that you're going to die." Furthermore, he illustrated it as intrinsic and structural, which corresponds to the etymology of the title: in "into" + formare "to form, shape".
Throughout the narrative Amis digresses into depicting different vistas of interstellar space. Looking on the vast range of the Universe and its lifelessness serves the theme of mortality. In addition the book deals with ideas of success, failure and envy.
Reception.
The "New York Times" said, "Amis is quite dazzling here [...] drags a bit around the middle, but you're never out of reach of a sparkly phrase, stiletto metaphor or drop-dead insight into the human condition." A further review from the same paper said "Amis has [an] idiosyncratic vision and his ability to articulate that vision in wonderfully edgy, street-smart prose [...] an uncompromising and highly ambitious novel that should also be a big popular hit.". In London "The Independent" gave a less favourable review saying, "The Information has been seen as the conclusion of a London trilogy that opened with Money and London Fields - but that argument doesn't stand up. They're all the same book, a template worked over three times, retyped rather than rewritten [...] The Information reads like 500 pages of smart, highly finished extracts. It doesn't add up. It's a Herbie Hide of a novel, a pumped cruiserweight, flashy, fast, brave and hopelessly overmatched."
Circumstances surrounding publication.
Amis came under attack for two reasons around the time "The Information" was published. Firstly he had dropped his agent, Pat Kavanagh, wife of Julian Barnes, and had signed up with Andrew Wylie, perceived to be a more aggressive agent. Amis and Barnes had been friends but this caused a rift that was played out in public. Secondly he received an almost unheard of advance for a literary novel (approximately £500,000 according to most sources) which caused what was described as resentment and envy amongst his peers.


The Mirror and the Lamp


Intellectual virtue

Intellectual virtues are qualities of mind and character that promote intellectual flourishing, critical thinking, and the pursuit of truth. They include: intellectual responsibility, perseverance, open-mindedness, empathy, integrity, intellectual courage, confidence in reason, love of truth, intellectual humility, imaginativeness, curiosity, fair-mindedness, and autonomy. So-called virtue responsibilists conceive of intellectual virtues primarily as acquired character traits, such as intellectual conscientiousness and love of knowledge. Virtue reliabilists, by contrast, think of intellectual virtues more in terms of well-functioning mental faculties such as perception, memory, and intuition. Intellectual virtues are studied extensively in both critical thinking and virtue epistemology.
Aristotle.
Aristotle analyzed virtues into and virtues. In the "Posterior Analytics" and "Nicomachean Ethics" he identified five intellectual virtues as the five ways the soul arrives at truth by affirmation or denial. These are then separated into three classes:
Subjacent intellectual virtues in Aristotle:


Omry Ronen

Omry Ronen (born Imre Szörényi) (July 12, 1937 in Odessa – November 1, 2012 in Ann Arbor) was an American Slavist, known for his works on the Silver Age of Russian Poetry and especially on the poetry of Osip Mandelstam.
Biography.
Ronen was born in Odessa in 1937 into a Hungarian Jewish family. His father was the biochemist Emerich (Imre) Szörényi (January 12, 1905 – January 17, 1959), known for his work on muscle physiology. From 1934 to 1953, the family lived in the Soviet Union, where Emerich Szörényi headed the tissue protein research department of the Institute of Biochemistry and the biochemistry department of the Institute of Microbiology of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. In 1950, he was appointed head of the newly established Institute of Biochemistry in Hungary, however, he was only able to return to Hungary with his family in 1953.
Ronen started his undergraduate studies in Budapest University. He took part in the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, and fled to Israel after the uprising was suppressed. He obtained his B.A. in linguistics and English literature from Hebrew University and his PhD in Slavic languages and literatures from Harvard. From 1972 to 1985, he was professor at Hebrew University. In 1985 he became a Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor where he remained until his death.
Work.
The works of Omry Ronen on the Silver Age of Russian Poetry include and . Ronen also made important contributions to the study of Pushkin's poetics, the poetry of the Oberiu, Vladimir Nabokov, and numerous other topics.
Ronen is also the author of three books of essays based on his column "From the Town of Ann” in the journal "Zvezda".


Larry Gene Heien

Larry Gene Heien (January 18, 1937 – September 12, 1991) was an American linguist, Slavist, expert of Russian studies and Russian language teaching, also known for his interest in music. In 1969 – January 1991 he was assistant professor, later from 1984 full professor of Russian in the University of Hawaii at Mānoa.
Biography.
Heien was born in Mt. Olive, Illinois, and grew up in Decatur, Illinois. His parents were Arthur F. and LaVetta Heien. In 1959 he received a B.S. Ed. degree in music from Eastern Illinois University. In 1967 he received the master's degree in Slavic languages and in 1969 a double major PhD in Russian language and literature and higher education administration from Indiana University (doctoral thesis “A psycholinguistic study in the organization and presentation of grammatical principles”).
In the fall of 1969 Heien started his work at the University of Hawaii as assistant professor in the European Language Department and was promoted in 1984 to full professor. In the European Language Department he held positions of the chair of the Russian Division (1975–76, 1980–86), chair of Russian graduate program (1975–76, 1980–86), and chair of the Russian Area Studies program (1977–79, 1983–85), participated in numerous scientific conferences and in exchange programs with the USSR. In 1975 he did a year of research in the Pushkin Institute of the Russian Language in Moscow.
He was member of the Modern Language Association, AATSEEL(American Association of Teachers of Slavic and Eastern European Languages), ACTR(American Council on Teaching of Russian) and ACTFL(American Council on Teaching of Foreign Languages).
Heien had a near-native command of Russian, and besides Russian he also spoke French, Bulgarian, German and Polish. His research interests included applied linguistics and language teaching methodology, contemporary Russian language, Russian word frequency, and Russian music.
Since music was one of his lifelong interests, he was offered a grant to translate the book “Stravinsky’s early ballets” of Irina Vershinina. Prof. Heien also worked on a Russian textbook “Reading Russian for Musicians”. Unfortunately both books remain unpublished. He taught a course of Russian to University of Hawaii music students.
After retiring due to the reasons on health from the University of Hawaii on January 1991, Heien died on September 12, 1991, in Singapore from the autoimmune disease amyloidosis.
Personal life.
Heien was married twice, first time during his student days in Eastern Illinois University to Nancy Mansfield with whom he had two sons, Jeffrey and Stephen. He divorced her in 1979. In 1983 he married Debra Lee Pingree, who was working on her master's degree under his guidance. They had daughter Amanda, born in 1987.
Interesting facts.
Among colleagues he was known for his wry sense of humor and had the nickname of Zoshchenko (Zoshchenko was famous Russian humorist).
Publications.
Books.
Vershinina, Irina Iakovlevna. Stravinsky's early ballets. Transl. by Larry Heien. Ann
Arbor: UMI Research Press, [was scheduled to appear in 1990 but was never published] 230 p.
Chapters in books.
“Loanword recognition in Russian” p. 43-53 IN: Russian without a dictionary: reading
and listening, edited by Frank Ingram. (East Lansing: Russian language journal,
1984 )
“An experimental approach to language teaching” p. 28-32 IN: Teaching, learning,
acquiring Russian (Columbus, OH: Slavica Publishers, 1984)
“Bystro li Bistro?: Russians and French cabarets” p. 105-116 IN: East meets West:
homage to Edgar C. Knowlton, Jr.; edited by R. Hadlich and J.D. Ellsworth
Articles.
“The use of eyes in Fadeev’s novel Razgrom,” [Soviet literature], Institute of Foreign
Literature, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, 1986, no. 6, p. 80-85.
Transl. into Chinese by Sih Junzhi [Julia].
“Loanword recognition in Russian,” Russian language journal, 1984, v. XXXVIII, fall,
no. 131, p. 51-62
“Роль родного языка в развитии слушания и понимания звучащей речи (начальный
этап)[Role of the mother tongue in development of audition skills and understanding of oral language(the initial stage)],”Русский язык за рубежом"(Russian language abroad), 1974, no. 2 (30), p. 82-85
“Root frequency in scientific Russian,” Russian language journal, 1980, v. XXXIV,
winter, no. 117, p. 57-81
“Towards a systematic development of listening comprehension, Russian language
journal, 1975, v. XXIX, no. 103, p. 85-93.
“ Принципы организации граматического материала при программированном обучении. Russian language journal, 1973, no. 96, p. 56-62
“Language teaching in different keys,” The modern language journal, 1973, v. LVII,
no. 4, p. 185-189
“Coordinating the teaching of European languages,” with colleagues Raymond Moody,
John E. Crean, and David J. Quinn; and “Current research on learning and
teaching,” with Raymond Moody, Educational perspectives, 1973, v. 12, no. 4, p.
16-20, p. 21-26.
“Testing the speaking skill in the language laboratory,” Hawaii language teacher, 1970,
v. 12, no. 2, p. 88-92
Papers.
“Исследование и преподавание русской-советской литературы в американских
университетах” [Research on and teaching of Russian /Soviet literature in American
universities], presented to the faculty of the Institute of Foreign Literature, Academy of
Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China, July 1984
“Узнавание заимствованых слов в научной речи” [Recognition of loanwords in
scientific Russian], V MAPRIAL (International Congress of Teachers of Russian
language and literature), Prague, Czechoslovakia, Aug. 1982
“Новое исследование на частотность корней в научной речи” [Further research on root frequency in scientific Russian], II Soviet-American Conference on the Russian
language, Northwestern University, Sept. 1981
“ Основная роль глагола в обучении специалистов чтению научного материала” [The primary role of the verb in teaching specialists to read scientific Russian], VI MAPRIAL, Budapest, Hungary, Aug. 1986
External links.
1. http://library.manoa.hawaii.edu/departments/russian/findingaids/LarryHeienFindingAid.pdf (accessed November 21, 2009)
2. http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10125/1527/6/HARRYSEEIR_r.pdf.txt (accessed November 21, 2009)
3. Larry Heien Papers at University of Hawaii at Manoa Library (accessed September 17, 2015)


Robert Osborne

Robert Jolin Osborne (; May 3, 1932 – March 6, 2017) was an American film historian, television presenter, author, and actor best known for more than 20 years as the primary host of the cable channel Turner Classic Movies (TCM). Prior to hosting at TCM, Osborne had been a host on The Movie Channel, and earlier, a columnist for "The Hollywood Reporter". Osborne also wrote the official history of the Academy Awards, originally published in 1988, and most recently revised in 2013.
Early life.
Osborne was born on May 3, 1932, in the small town of Colfax, Washington, where he was raised. His parents were Robert Eugene Osborne, a public school teacher, and Hazel Ida ("née" Jolin). His older sister was Joan Osborne Beck. He had three nieces. Osborne graduated from the University of Washington School of Journalism in 1954.
Career.
Actor.
Osborne began his career working as a contract actor for Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball's Desilu Studios. There, Osborne became part of Lucille Ball's Desilu Workshop, in which Ball worked with and nurtured such young performers as Osborne and actress-singer Carole Cook.
One of Osborne's early television appearances was in a 1959 episode of "Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse" called "Chain of Command", starring Hugh O'Brian. He was also featured in the Christmas Day "Desilu Playhouse" installment "The Desilu Revue" in December 1959. He also had small roles in such TV shows as "The Californians" and the 1962 pilot episode of "The Beverly Hillbillies", "The Clampetts Strike Oil" (in the role of Jeff Taylor). He refrained from signing on for the series, however, thinking the show would not be a success, and instead focused his attention on acting in television commercials.
Ball suggested that Osborne focus his energies on becoming a journalist, as he would often quip, "especially after she saw me act". After "The Beverly Hillbillies", Osborne focused more on writing and journalism. In 1965, Osborne had his first book published, "Academy Awards Illustrated".
Columnist.
In 1977, Osborne began a long-standing stint as a columnist for "The Hollywood Reporter". The following year, he published "50 Golden Years of Oscar", which won the 1979 National Film Book award. Having joined the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, he was elected its president in 1981, and served as such till 1983. In 1982, Osborne began a five-year stint as the entertainment reporter on KTTV Channel 11 in Los Angeles. In addition, he began his "Rambling Reporter" column for "The Hollywood Reporter", published five times weekly.
In 1984, Osborne began hosting for The Movie Channel, as well as winning the Publicists Guild of America 1984 Press Award. The following year, he began a relationship with Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), when he hosted a tribute to Shirley Temple at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Beverly Hills. In 1988, AMPAS commissioned him to write "60 Years of the Oscar"; he later wrote five updates to the volume, the latest being "85 Years of the Oscar" in 2013.
"Turner Classic Movies".
In 1993, Osborne was in a television commercial for The Psychic Network.
In 1994, Ted Turner created Turner Classic Movies as a competitor to American Movie Classics (now known as AMC). Osborne was selected as the host of their nightly broadcasts. For TCM, in addition to hosting four primetime movies seven days a week, he was also the host of special one-on-one "Private Screening" interviews featuring many familiar actors and directors. Beginning in 2006, Osborne also co-hosted TCM's "The Essentials". His co-hosts were Molly Haskell from 2006 to 2007, Carrie Fisher from 2007 to 2008, Rose McGowan from 2008 to 2009, Alec Baldwin from 2009 to 2011, Drew Barrymore and finally Sally Field.
Osborne also participated in events at the Paley Center for Media in New York City saluting the television careers of Lucille Ball and Cloris Leachman. Beginning in 2005, Osborne hosted the annual "Robert Osborne's Classic Film Festival" in Athens, Georgia. The nonprofit event is held by the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. In 2010, Osborne hosted the first TCM Classic Film Festival, and participated in subsequent annual festivals.
In 2011, Osborne became ill and TCM announced that Osborne would be taking "a short break from his TCM hosting duties for minor surgery, followed by a vacation." Osborne continued to appear on Saturday nights, hosting "The Essentials" with Alec Baldwin. In 2012, Osborne began to share some of his hosting duties with Ben Mankiewicz. Mankiewicz hosted primetime films two nights a week, as well as many daytime events. Osborne stated that he would continue to work "as long as I have health, and as long as I think I look O.K. on camera." He also said, "If I really couldn't do it with enthusiasm, that would be the time to quit."
In 2013, Osborne presented the Honorary Academy Award to Dame Angela Lansbury at the Fifth Governors Awards. Osborne introduced Lansbury by saying he thought it was "one of the best decisions the Academy has ever made". In Lansbury's acceptance speech, she made it known that she chose Osborne to present the Oscar to her, stating, "the one person who really knew about my early work was Robert Osborne". She also thanked Osborne and TCM, saying, "Thanks to Turner Classic Movies and Robert, those great films are shown and studied and discussed by students everywhere, as well as seen by a huge general audience, so thank you TCM and thank you Robert for keeping me alive all these years."
In 2014, as part of an exclusive programming deal with Disney, TCM agreed to become the sponsor of The Great Movie Ride. The attraction underwent a refurbishment in 2015, with the addition of a new preshow and postshow hosted by Osborne, who also provides onboard narration to the ride. The changes were unveiled on May 29, 2015.
In 2015, nearing the end of his career, Turner Classic Movies hosted a surprise Special 20th Anniversary Tribute in his honor hosted by Alex Trebek. The special has since been rerun several times on TCM latenight.
Death.
Osborne retired from the air in early 2016 due to ill health and missed a number of TCM annual events over the next year. Osborne died at his New York City apartment in The Osborne on West 57th Street on March 6, 2017, from natural causes at the age of 84.
Reactions to his death included tributes from many in the entertainment industry. The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences released a statement saying, "The affection he had for the Oscars and the Academy was wholeheartedly reciprocated, and we are grateful for his friendship and indelible contribution to film history and our community." Others in the industry who mourned Osborne included Alec Baldwin, Eva Marie Saint, Liza Minnelli, Cher, Larry King, Leonard Maltin, Patricia Arquette, Bryan Cranston, and Patton Oswalt.
Dame Angela Lansbury wrote a lengthy piece about her friendship with Osborne in "The Hollywood Reporter", stating, "He was also the ultimate fan — and the ultimate friend — and our friendship will endure in my memory always".
Personal life.
Osborne moved to New York City in the late 1980s. During his lifetime, few details of his personal life were reported, but upon his death he was confirmed to have been in a 20-year relationship with David Staller, a New York City theater producer and director; Staller confirmed Osborne's death to the media.
Favorite films.
In an interview in 2009, with the Screen Actors Guild Foundation, Osborne stated his favorite films included:
Osborne also mentioned modern films he loves such as Martin Scorsese's "The Age of Innocence" (1993), and "The Departed" (2006), as well as Christopher Guest's "Best in Show" (2000).
In an interview with Alec Baldwin, Osborne stated his favorite actor was William Holden, and favorite actress was Gene Tierney.
Awards and honors.
Osborne won the Publicists Guild of America 1984 Press Award. He also received an honorary doctorate from the Academy of Art University in 2005, and was awarded a star at Vine Street on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2006. In 2007, he received the National Board of Review's William K. Everson Award.
In January 2016, Osborne was given the inaugural William Cameron Menzies Award from the Art Directors Guild, recognizing his 35 years as a film historian, columnist, and critic championing visual entertainment.
In March 2018, Turner Classic Movies announced the establishment of the Robert Osborne Award, to be presented at the annual TCM Classic Film Festival "to an individual whose work has helped keep the cultural heritage of classic films alive and thriving for generations to come." The inaugural recipient was film director Martin Scorsese for his work with The Film Foundation, which Scorsese helped found in 1990.
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences honored Osborne by including him in their In Memoriam montage during the Oscars telecast.
The Robert Osborne Award.
In 2018, the TCM Film Festival created the Robert Osborne Award.
The winners included:
Bibliography.
Books
Forewords
References.
Notes


Gennady Gorelik

Gennady Gorelik (born 1948, Lviv) is a research fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science, Boston University. A physicist by education and historian by occupation, he published ten books and many articles on popular science and history of science, including in-depth biographies of 20th-century Russian physicists, Matvei Bronstein, Andrei Sakharov, and Lev Landau.
In his biography of Sakharov, he provides the documentary explanation of Sakharov's metamorphosis from a secret father of the Soviet H-bomb to most prominent advocate of human rights in the Soviet Union.
In 1995, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship.