“Lincoln in the Bardo,” won the Man Booker Prize

[kerry]

(12-13-2017 05:47 AM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  

(12-12-2017 12:24 PM)kerry Wrote:  

(12-12-2017 06:12 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(12-11-2017 10:47 PM)kerry Wrote:  I found this on newspapers.com. On 27 March 1862, the Daily Intelligencer reported “Mrs. Edwards, the sister of Mrs. Lincoln, had a narrow escape last week. She visited the Oak Hill Cemetery, in company with some friends, for the purpose of gazing on the lifeless remains of "little 'Willie." While in conversation with Dr. Brown, a few feet from the vault, two Minie musket balls passed within a few inches of her head. They were apparently fired from an encampment over a mile distant.” As embalming was new, it was apparently a thing.

I definitely recommend this book, but it is written in a very odd way that may be hard for some people to connect with. I've yet to meet another person who has read it, despite it getting all this attention and prizes.

(12-12-2017 06:05 AM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  Lincoln here?
http://www.bardomuseum.tn/index.php?lang...&Itemid=59

Kerry, Eva, everyone - has anybody come across solid proof that Lincoln himself visited the tomb twice (as claimed in Twenty Days) to look upon Willie? Many Lincoln books do not carry this story at all, and as far as I can tell, the ones that do (such as Twenty Days) have no footnotes. What is the authentic source for the story?

There's no authentic source that I've found for Lincoln himself. I'm just pointing out that it wasn't considered as weird as it sounds now, as the Lincolns encouraged visitors to go look. It wasn't considered as showing a lack of faith, as Miner did it. Either way, the book is by no means intended to be a historical record; it is very metaphorical, and about larger issues. Half the Lincoln-related quotes are real, half are fabricated, but it is well done. It's about humanity more than Lincoln. He's not in a lot of the book. Lincoln is not aware of any of the spirits, so he's not really in the Bardo (come to think of it, the title is a bit weird), but they are aware of him. Each character basically represents a person held back by something, and explains why, and that chorus of lost souls builds in an interesting way.

What does it mean "he's not really in the Bardo (come to think of it, the title is a bit weird)"? (I don't know any Bardo but the Tunisian museum, so I do fond the title weird.)

I think the Victorian era dealt much differently from ours with dead and deceased, and a lot thereof (like photography with corpses) we find near insane today was considered normal or legitimate back then.

The author was inspired by the concept of the bardo, but really it could be referred to as purgatory. The premise is there is this group of stuck souls who can't move on, and when Lincoln comes to the cemetery, they watch and listen to him and kind of meditate on life and death. He is not aware that they are there, and does not think he is in another world. He's just visiting the cemetery. Lincoln himself is not portrayed in any sort of supernatural way.