|k| clippings: 2015-02-21 — outrageous hope

WORK

The virtue of hope exists only in earthquake and eclipse. […] For practical purposes it is at the hopeless moment that we require the hopeful man, and the virtue either does not exist at all, or begins to exist at that moment. Exactly at the instant when hope ceases to be reasonable it begins to be useful.

—G. K. Chesterton
— from Heretics

WORD(S)

farouche /fə-ROOSH/. adjective. Shy, awkward, lacking in social graces. Also wild, outrageous, disorderly. Multiple sources agree it derives from Old French farouche, of similar meaning. The OED claims further origins unknown; others claim from Late Latin forasticus (having come from elsewhere), from Latin foras (outdoors).

“The King is still much handsomer in his pictures and has great sweetness in his countenance instead of that farouche look which they give.”
(Horace Walpole, from a letter to Lady Hervey, October 3, 1765)

“Of medium nature, this farouche extreme
Is a drop of lightning in an inner world,
Suspended in temporary jauntiness.”
(Wallace Stevens, from “The Bouquet”)

“They were the family of whom the street was a little ashamed, the boozing father who made complicated deals about second-hand cars and his farouche, sluttish daughter, who lived discontentedly together and often brawled in a mean house where there was nothing that could be remembered with affection.”
(Angela Carter, from Love)

WEB

1. “Over the last few days, I have been able to see my life as from a great altitude, as a sort of landscape, and with a deepening sense of the connection of all its parts. This does not mean I am finished with life. ¶ On the contrary, I feel intensely alive…”→ My Own Life: Oliver Sacks on Learning He Has Terminal Cancer

2. A match made in…I don’t know where. But it works. → ►Taylor Swift vs. Nine Inch Nails - Shake It Off (The Perfect Drug).

3. “The truth is, we know so little about life, we don’t really know what the good news is and what the bad news is.” → Kurt Vonnegut graphed the world’s most popular stories [Note: I linked to the video in this story before, but enjoyed the new (to me) illustrations.]

4. Graphic designers and illustrators meet puns and pint-sized, visual-linguistic hilarity (sometimes) ensues. → Punny Pixels

5. Today in 1431, the interrogation of Joan of Arc begins. In the early minutes the Bishop (Pierre Cauchon) asks Joan to swear on the Holy Gospels to tell the truth. Joan refuses, saying, “I do not know on what you may wish to question me. Perhaps you may ask such things as I will not answer.” The Bishop clarifies that she should, “swear to tell the truth about whatever you are asked concerning the Catholic Faith, and all else that you may know.” To which Joan answered that “concerning her father and mother, and concerning everything she had done since she took the road for France, she would willingly swear. But as for revelations sent her from God, never had she told or revealed them save to Charles, who she said was her king. And if they cut her head off, she would not reveal them; for she knew from her visions that she must keep them secret.”

REPRISES/RESPONSES/REJOINDERS/RIPOSTES

• Reader B. writes: Two thoughts. ¶ 1: it’s always a good day for Alexander Pope. ¶ 2: 100 years ago today, the Gallipoli campaign began: http://ktxc.to/gallipoli.

• Reader J. remarks: “Flagitious is delicious. Not flailing but clowning.”

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