Sunday, November 17. 1963
■BOOKS
New Chapel Hill
Cookbook On Sale
The new Chapel Hill Cook
book, published by the Chapel
(Hill Junior Service League, is
now on sale at the Country
Store, Huggins Hardware, Led
better-Pickard, and the Caro
lina Inn.
Proceeds from the Junior
Service League’s annual cook
book project help support the
League’s charity and community
service activities. The book
costs $2 end has a sketch of
downtown Chapel Hill on its red
cover.
Recipes included in the book
were thoroughly tested by mem
bers of the Junior Service
League. The recipes were chos
en from hundreds submitted,
among them Mrs. William C.
Friday’s recipe for fruit cake,
Mrs. William B. Aycock’s recipe
for lemon chiffon pie, Mrs. Ter
ry Sanford’s cheese cake recipe,
and recipes for various foreign
dishes enjoyed by Chapel HiHians
during their travels.
Vergil's Poetry
By The Numbers
A UNC classics professor has
uncovered the acrostics conceal
ed for almost 2000 years in Ver
gil’s “Georgies,” often called
the most perfect poem in the
Latin language.
Acrostics normally consist of
words produced by reading the
first letter of successive lines of
poetry. In Vergil’s case, how
ever, the first syllables of lines
whose prose and verse accents
coincide ere significant. Accord
ing to Dr. Edwin Brown, instruc
tor in classics, Vergil’s “stamps
of authorship” have remained
hidden for hundreds of years be
cause he contrived them so skill
fully.
Dr. Brown’s monograph,
“Numeri Vergiliani: Studies in
‘Eclogues’ and ‘Georgies’ ”,
stems from an article by Guy
Le Grelle, a Belgian scholar
who noted that related passages
of Vergil’s “Georgies” were
were in exact Golden Ratio. A
Golden Ratio is one in which
the smaller quantity or magni
tude is to the larger as the larg
er is to the sum of the two.
i Dr. Brown began with Le
Grelle’s thesis and checked it
out carefully. He found not only
that the passages which Le
Grelle claimed to be in Golden
Ratio do represent the true divi
sions of the poem, but also that
these ratios sometimes form con
tinued progressions. Thus a
whole passasage of poem could
be evolved from a few central
lines which provide the base ra
tio.
It was because the center of
the first book of “Georgies”
describes the consetellations
around the North Pole that Dr.
Brown re - examined Vergil’s
' many references to observation
al astronomy. “There the poet
reveals - his usual care in re
searching his subject.
“In iact, Vergil may well have
derived from earlier poems on
astronomy and the calendar his
structural use of symbolic num
bers. For example, as Le Grelle
i pointed out, the 365% lines left
in the first book of the ‘Geor-
Wills
\
CURRENT BEST SELLERS
Fiction
1. The Group
. . . McCarthy
2. The Shoes of the Fish
erman . . . West
3. On Her Majesty’s Secret
Service . . . Fleming
Non-firtiaa
1. J. F. K.: The Man and
the Myth . . . Lasky
2. The American Way of
Death . . . Mitford
3. The Fire Next Time
, . Baldwin
WILLS BOOK STORE
Center
Since 1939 the Junior Service
League’s charitable activities
have included maternity and
well baby clinics, aid to the
public schools’ remedial reading
program, assistance to the Rob
erson Street community cen
ter, the establishment of Camp
Tiny Tarheel for girls, gifts to
the Chapel Hill Public Library
and the Chapel Hill School En
dowment Fund, the development
of the Municipal Oakwood Drive
recreation area, end the estab
lishment of the annual Christ
mas House for needy families.
The cookbooks may also be
obtained, for an additional 35
cents to cover mailing, by writ
ing the Junior Service League,
Box 374, Chapel Hill; or by call
ing Mrs. Fred Vinson, 942-1492,
or Mrs. Thad Monroe, 942-3644.
Members of the cookbook
committee were Mrs. George
Taylor, editor; Mrs. A. M.
Cornwell, art editor; Mrs. B. D.
Barker, testing supervisor; and
Mrs. O. A. Pickett, secretary.
gics’, once introduction and con
clusion are set aside, surely sym
bolize the significant cipher for
the year’s length. But Vergil in
adopting a sum appropriate to
his poetic almanac was prob
ably influenced by an earlier
Greek poem, complete with ac
rostic, of 365 letters in 12 lines.”
Dr. Brown was led to detect
•Vergil's acrostics through not
ing the importance of 216-line
intervals. “This number 216
was called the psychogonic cube
by the Pythagoreans, who re
garded it highly, believing that
the soul was reborn after a pe
riod of 216 years. It is the cube
of sue, the first of those rare
“perfect numbers” which Euclid
denfined as the sum of their
equal devisors (e.g., 1 plus 2
plus 4 plus 7 plus 14 equal 28).
“Though putting the struc
ture of a poem on e strict nu
merical basis might have re
sulted in frigid verse, Vergil
must have caught something of
the old Pythagorean vision of
number as the essence of things
and the ground of their unity. At
least, his poetry never appears
to be cribbed and cabined by
the demands of form.
“The very verse which con
tain the acrostics are among the
most lyrically beautiful in all of
Vergil. In his famous ‘Ode to
Spring’ he has managed to En
shrine his full name, birthplace,
and adopted home.” According
to Prof. Brown, in Vergil’s day
acrostics may have been used
to identify the author of a poem
in the event the colophon or
“title sheet” of the poem was
lost.
Many details tend to con
firm Dr. Brown’s findings. A
statement in an ancient bio
graphy of Vergil reveals that in
his early years he was keenly
interested in mathematics. Al
so, one of his acrostic passages
in both form and content echoes
verses by the Greek poet Aratus,
the first classical writer known
to have employed an acrostic.
“Our understanding that per
fect numers and golden propor
tions have helped to shape his
works should not detract from
Vergil, but rather add to our
enjoyment of his art,“ Dr.
Brown said. Artists in widely dif
ferent ages have accepted the
stimulating restraint of fixed
numbers aid limits. The 33,333
verses of the major poem by
Kazantzakis, the “untrammeled
genius” among modern Greek
authors, speaks for itself.
"Other instances are *ess ob
vious. Just as I was completing
this particular research on Ver
gil, similar studies have been
published analyzing the poetry
of Spenser. As a result Spenser
can lay better claim to his old
title, ‘English Vergil’:
thaiemion’ or marriage ode, sup
posed to be his most immediate
ly appealing and spontaneous
poem, is actually built on the
numbers of the hours, days,
weeks, months, and seasons in
the year.”
Dr. Brown received his B.A.
from Haverford College and at
tended the American School of
Classical Studies in Athens. He
received his M.A. and Ph.D. de
degrees from Princeton Univer
sity.
EVaYTHIM II BOOKS
HE BOOK EIBBMOE
"The Sooth’* largest mi mmt complete Book Men"
AT FIVE POINTS DURHAM, N. C.
Van Boren’s Weil Lecture
The Importance Os ‘Being
A Member Os Human Race’
By DIANE HILE
Not all of the 600 people who
packed Hill Hall to hear Mark
Van Doren deliver the 1963
Weil Lecture Wednesday night
understood what Mr. Van Doren
was talking about.
His speech was imposingly en
titled “The Position of Clas
sical Education in the Develop
ment of Citizenship Today.” But
what Mr. Van Doren talked
about, partly in readings of
his own poetry, was simply
"being a member of the hu
man race.”
“No man has ever known
quite what it means to be a
man,” he said. “Ever since our
beginning we keep asking,
‘What is man?’ We are above
the aqimals mid below the
angels. That is the trouble. If
we were angels we would have
perfect knowledge, and if we
were animals we would have
no knowledge at all. But our
knowledge is mixed and in
complete. We search for the
truth and don’t know in which
direction we are going.”
The 69-year-old Pulitzer Prize
winning poet, who has been a
faculty member in the Columbia
University English department
for nearly 40 years, introduced
his ideas about poetry before
beginning the readings.
“A poem is not an essay or
an oration; it does not try to
prove anything. If it does, the
poem is instantly unconvincing.
A poem always says something
and you either take it or leave
it. You either like a poem
or you don’t.”
Mr. Van Doren read nine of
his poems and commented on
each.
“How Can Man His Stature
Know?”: “This is a long rhe
torical question. We didn’t know
in the early days and we still
don’t know. Man must main
tain humility. Man is proud,
but must remember that the
earth was not made for only
us.”
“The Little Creature”: “We
are caught between animal and
angel, knowing and not know
ing. It is important to think we
don't know more about the fu
ture. We don’t know what is
going to happen until it happens.
We draw drafts and charts of the
1963-64 Exhibits
Listed By Ackland
The Ackland Art Center ex
tends an invitation to all interest
ed persons to view each of the
exhibits scheduled during the
1963-64 season.
"The Mannerists," a collection
illustrating the 16th century ar
tist's interest in “unresolved ten
sions and ambiguities,” can be
seen from now until Dec. 3. Circu
lated by the American Federation
of Arts (AFA), the collection con
tains 32 prints from the Metro
politan Museum of Art in New
York City, and 10 bronze sculp
tures from the Walters Art Gal
lery in Baltimore.
An exhibition of prints from
the private collection of Dr. W.
P. Jacocks will be featured at
Ackland from Dec. 5 to Jan. 5.
"The White Drawings,” which
depict life in the “Lost Colony”
in 1585, will be shown from Jan.
7 to Feb. 14.
A pictorial record of "Virginia”
during the colonizing days is
shown in color facsimiles of the
original watercdlor drawings.
Seventy-nine drawings by living
sculptors will be shown from
Feb. 15 to March 15 including the
work of Giacometti, Lipton, Hep
worth, Marini, Moore, and Cald
er. The exhibit is circulated by
the Smithsonian Institute (SI).
“Great Paintings of Our Time"
is the title of a collection of con
temporary paintings by outstand
ing artists from 40 International
Exhibitions held at the Carnegie
Institute. The artists represent
ed include Afro, Dubuffet, de Koon
ing, Hartigan, Pollock, Tobey and
Francis. To be held Mar. 3 thru
the 31st, the collection is circu
lated by the AFA.
Ink and wash drawings from
the Donald Oenslager Collection
trace the history of stage de
sign from the 18th century to the
present day. Entitled “Four Cen
turies of Theatre Design,” the
collection is circulated by the
AFA and will be presented Mar.
15 to April 12.
Photograps and drawings show
ing the recent architectural
THE CHAPEL HILL WEEKLY
future, but all we know is the
past and present. Yet, all of
us live in the future some time
or other: next week we will do
this, next summer we will get
married.
“We never acknowledge the
role that accident plays in life.
You didn’t know your parents
nor did you choose them. Most
of the important things are de
cided for you in the long run.
It is much better to marry some
one you happen to meet by ac
cident than to have to decide
on all the women of the world.”
"Double Life”: “Man is two
persons; he is himself and he
is also a human being, a mem
ber of a species, in which dll
are very much alike. No man
can ever be mistaken for any
thing else. No man for another
man. We are unique among
creatures in knowing this.
“ ‘Be a man,’ a father tells
his little boy, though neither
knows the real meaning of man.
It is difficult to decide whether
resemblance is more important
than difference. If we were all
the same it would be intoler
able . . . However, I would vote
for resemblance. As a teacher
I thought that all students were
the same and that they were
all good students.
“Individuals, who most deeply
believe all men are the same,
are the most highly different.
Take Shakespeare, the greatest
of all poets, thought all people
were just like himself.”
“Humanity Unlimited”: Man
kind lives on and all have to
exist to show the world what
man is. I was horrified to read
an article one time on ‘Humanity
Unlimited,’ and I feel it is im
portant to remind humanity that
it should feel itself limited ”
“Stranger’s Tale”: There is
an ancient Greek myth that there
are two kinds of time: it is when
the world revolves and lives one
way, then reverses and turns the
other way for another kind of
life. All history is an alternation
of time. In the Bible we have
the Garden of Eden, where the
Gods lived with man and there
was no work. The Greeks had
Utopia.
“Then there is the other time,
when the Gods departed and man
was left alone. Artists and sci
entists must learn to do things.
trends in the designs of educa
tional facilities at Yale, Prince
ton, Harvard, M.I.T. and others
can be seen April 5 to the 26
in a showing entitled, “On Cam
pus Recent Buildings.” This col
lection is also circulated by the
AFA.
“Selections from the Princeton
Collection,” works of art from
one of the outstanding university
art collections in the United
States, can be seen April 21 to
May 17.
During the summer months
from May 27 to Oct. 1, “The 28th
Student Art Annual” can be seen.
This exhibition is designed to
show the progression of the art
students through the University’s
department of art.
Durham Publishes
Article On Mlil
, John Durham is the author
of an article, “The Influence of
John Stuart Mill’s Mental Crisis
, on His Thought,” to be publish
ed in the next issue of “The
American Imago,” a Massachu
setts psychoanalytical quarterly.
Mill was a nineteenth cen
, tury philosopher who suffered
from mental illness, and Mr.
Durham’s paper is an effort to
trace the cause of his illness
back to early childhood fears.
The paper also shows that Mill,
, through his suffering, broaden
ed his philosophical theories;
his final position, as shown by
. Durham, was a compromise
between the strict empiricism
of Jeremy Benthan and the emo
tional intutiveness of Samuel
Taylor Coleridge.
Mr. Durham is a free-lance
, writer who lives in Lake Forest.
UN Study Group
To Meet Thursday
The UN Study Group will meet
at 10 a.m. Thursday, November
21, in the community room of
Orange Savings and Loan Asso
ciation.
Mrs. Charlotte Mitchell will
discuss the Declaration of Human
Rights.
Hie public b invited.
However, eventually the jolt will
occur and the Gods will come
back.”
“The Case of the New”: “Kings
are gone and we are now ruling
ourselves ... AH of us now
must be kings, but perfect suc
cess can never be • achieved in
this direction as perfect demo
cracy can never be achieved.
Everybody hsa a natural love of
the aristocracy. However, mem
bers of the aristocracy do not
call themselves aristocrats. They
are gentlemen, but do not call
themselves gentlemen.
“A good person i s not unique
.his real distinction is being
like every other person. The
good are alike, the bad eccentric.
The good listen to one another
with humility and sincerity; a
person is not good unless he lis
tens ... as Abe Lincoln said
on hi s journey- East, 'Good and
In The Margin
By W. H. SCARBOROUGH
At 69, Mark Van Doren looks like a fatherly, bene
volent crag chipped from a New England Mountain.
As a poet and teacher he carries the impression to ful
fillment.
He was in C hapel Hill last week to deliver the Uni
versity’s annual Weil Lecture. While here, he also took
time out to meet with some of the English Depart
ment’s students in creative writing. As it was possible
to predict from his appearance he is a man of surpass
ing gentleness and warmth—but also one of granitic
conviction when it comes to the craft of writing.
What he told the students of writing teachers Jes
sie Kehder, Frances Grey Patton and writer-in-resi
dence John Knowles could have, if fully comprehended,
taken the rosy glow of illusion off creativity. But it
was not calculated to leave the embryonic writer em
ptyhanded. In gentle succession hg, shot down the no
tions of “creativity,” and “orginality” and the idea of
self-expressions which too often abound both in the
imaginations of aspiring scribblers and in the classes
universities provide for them.
Few' teachers of writing would recommend to stu
dents that they be “superficial,” “derivative,” or not
the product of white-heat inspiration. Mr. Van Doren
did, and made a convincing case for his point of view.
Y\ citing, he warned, is hard work, unremittingly
hard w'ork, not a hobby or a pastime to be pursued at
one’s leisure. But neither should it haunt the author.
Moreover writing as an art is imitative and the gen
uinely good writer is a thief whose w'orst enemy is lack
of form and the basic realization that what he does is
one of the most artificial products of civilization. Os
course all that is anathema to the romantic concepts
of the past several generations of writers who have
held that lack of originality is the worst sin. The good
writer, Mr. Van Doren said, is one who forced himself
“through the narrow door” of imitation into mastery
of form and then discovered his own individual voice.
“The Art of writing is the art of managing your
own identity, of sinking it, losing it but not wholly los
ing it,” of being impersonally personal, “It’s a terribly
important thing to remembers that art is for strang
ers,” he said. The writer has to deal with superficial
ities to be understood; he is never free to plunge into
his emotions. The penalty for doing so is to go unread;
and no writer can ply his trade without a reader—“an
ideal reader—someone good and kind and charitable.”
“Writing is really very hard work. It has no re
ward in itself.”
Above all, nobody becomes a good writer overnight,
early success notwithstanding. “It takes time to be a
writer. On the whole writers have to be prepared for a
long commitment. Most famous poets seem to have
been old men,” men who have strived for form, who
have abandoned the notion of ideas coming easily to
them.
How should a young writer proceed? To ignore
what you know in favor of something you seemingly
know very little about. This stimulates the imagina
tive process, forces the writer out of thought patterns
which have become habitual and subjective, and into an
attempt to convey some meaningful bit of information.
“It’s a good thing for a young writer to make himself
write about something he knows nothing about. Ac
tually, he will find, he knows something about it, and
in the process of making matters clear to himself may
communicate to others better, to make a cold subject
warm.”
The process almost unavoidably forces the writer
to strive for forrp, “About the only field in modern life
in which form is still respected is sports. It’s not a
word we should be ashamed of. People who want to learn
an art should be taught as if there were one best way
to go about it, then rebel against it.”
As to a writer’s materials, those must be picked
up wherever you find them or can steal them. “The
most pituful thing in the world is the man who thinks
he doesn’t owe anything to anybody. The word ‘crea
tive’ is embarrassing to me. Only God is a creator. We
imitate, and the Greeks were right. Art is imitation, not
creation. It’s our glory that we are such good imita
tors.”
■HE' • NiM
IShßhii
■ ; m
fSgip' ■
MARK VAN DOREN
reasonable people are much the
same everywhere.’ ”
Mr. Van Doren ended his
speech with three poems on hu
man equality: “To the Stars,”
“Equality of Man” and Born
Equal.”
“I believe all men are created
equal,” he said. “To me equali
ty for all depends on the num
ber of people who can believe it.
Equality is either absolute or
not.”
Young Americans
Aren't All Ugly
YOUNG AMERICANS
ABROAD, edited by Roger M.
Klein. Harper & Row. 720
pages. $7,-95.
(Review by Janet Wineaoff)
By JANET WINECOFF
Nine separate essays written
by ten young Americans (includ
ing one husband-and-wife team)
describe tlieir -authors’ stays in
nine foreign countries. The con
tributors range in age from 25
to 35, and presumably represent
a variety of personalities, back
grounds and talents. The mini
mum length of stay abroad was
one year, the maximum in ex
cess of three years. Such a
period of time is obviously in
sufficient to make anyone an
expert on a foreign country, but
adequate for experiencing the
day-to-day life, observing general
living conditions, and for evolv
ing some reasonably well-inform
ed personal opinions.
The editor's preface states
that, “though some of the con
tributors are highly trained po
litical observers, it was not the
book’s purpose to give up-to-the
minute ‘inside information’ on
changes in Asia, Africa, Europe
and Latin America. Rather, each
author was asked to describe the
working and living conditions he
had seen and experienced, the
political climate a.*- it appeared
from conversations with friends
and acquaintances and, most par
ticularly, the general problems
of youth that he had witnessed:
the difficulties of getting a good
education, adapting to the de
mands of a changing society, the
search for roots and tradition,
and the conflict of loyalties to
past and future.” It would seem,
then, that the scope of the book
has been wisely limited to the
relatively personal information
and impressions which might be
expected from the average in
telligent visitor abroad.
The individual authors have
given varying interpretations to
the editor’s mandate, so that
their contributions range from
concentration on the difficulties
of personal living conditions
(England) to a much more ob
jective coverage (Brazil, Argen
tina) limited largely to economic
facts and recent history of the
countries in question. In between
lie several articles concerned
with personal encounters and
experiences which are superior
in interest and perhaps in value
because they offer something
which could not be obtained from
textbooks or the encyclopedia—
the personal viewpoint and re
actions. Whether or not these
personal evaluations are valid
is something which could be de
cided only by those with experi
ence in the countries described,
but they do offer what the title
promises, in that one gets some
feeling of what it is like to be a
young American living in these
particular foreign countries.
It is interesting to compare
this book with “The Ugly Ameri
can” in a search for coincidence
of fact with fiction. If we may
accept the self-portraits of these
young authors (and perhaps we
should not do so unreservedly),
School Plans
6 Book Fair ’
Thursday will be Book Fair
night at Estes Hills School.
After the PTA meeting, which
begins at. 7:45 p.m. in the school
cafeteria, more than 400 books
for children will be on display.
As in previous years, par
ents wiH be asked to buy books
and donate them to the school
library. A bookplate with the
name of the donor’s child is
placed in each book purchased.
Sales at the ißook Fair last
year amounted to more than
S7OO and enabled the sc ho o 1
librarian, Mrs. Willie Ruth
Pruyn, to nearly double her nor
mal book purchases.
* In keeping with the literary
theme, the guest speaker at the
meeting will be Mrs. Ina For
bus, local author of such popular
children’s books as “The Magic
Pin,” "The Secret Circle,” and
“Melissa.”
A brief business meeting is
also scheduled featuring prog
ress reports from the member
ship and grounds committees.
Additional Book Fair hours
will be held at the school on
Friday, Nov. 22, from to 10
and 2:30 to 4, and on Monday
and Tuesday, Nov. 25 and 26,
from 8 to 10 and 2:30 to 3:30.
The afternoon hours will en
able parents and children to ex
amine and purchase books to
gether.
Books in price ranges from
$.95 to $3.50 are available, ac
cording to Mrs. John L. Sim
mons, chairman of the Book
Fair committee. The average
is about $2.25.
A list of authors, titles and
prices will be sent to parents
early in the week, she said.
Help the needy through the
Community Chest,
none of them is an “ugly Amer
ican.” All of them encountered
a certain amount of prejudice
against America (the United
States in general), combined
with frequently stereotyped ideas
about America and Americans or
with a general ignorance about
this country; however, it would
seem that none of them experi
enced real difficulty in being ac
cepted as individuals. Except
for one or two cases, they had
surprisingly little trouble in
making social contacts, and often
were able to establish real friend
ships and arrive at genuine un
derstanding, or at least an ex
change of ideas. It should be
noted that the contributors to
“Young Americans Abroad” are
a rather select group in that all
of them were either graduate
students or authors. A large
percentage of them (two-thirds
or better) had studied the lan
guages and culture of the for
eign country, and most of them
evince a broad-minded desire to
learn. None of them appear to
suffer from hyper-patriotism, but
while there are some openly an
ti-State Department attitudes,
there is only one even tempor
ary expatriate. It is undoubted
ly true that “ugly Americans”—
tourists, diplomats and others—
continue to exist in unfortunately
large numbers, but the book of
fers hope that another side of
the picture is being presented
through cultural exchange and
by at least some of our students
and intellectuals.
Except for England, the coun
tries included are rather “exotic”
in that they are not among those
best-known by the average Amer
ican tourist. They included two
Iron Curtain countries (Russia
and Poland), two African (Ghana
and Kenya) and two Latin Am
erican (Brazil and Argentina).
Perhaps even more unfamiliar
to the average American are the
remaining two, Iran and Burma.
The emphasis is not on the ex
otic, however—there is a mini
mum of “travelog” material,
and perhaps even less of “adven
ture.” The concentration is on
cultural differences, not as such,
but as observed in attitudes, eco
nomics, etc.
The quality of writing is un
even, and with ten different con
tributors it would be surprising
if it were otherwise. Probably
none of the wTiting is noteworthy
in itself, but this is not primar
ily a creative book. Rather it is
a collection of relatively sober
but quite readable and occasion
ally fascinating essays, full of
the evocative power of “faraway
places and strange - sounding
names." The reader will not
automatically become an expert
on the countries visited, but he
will at least share honest
opinions about them, written by
some apparently interesting and
intelligent young Americans.
NEWS FROM THE INTIMATE
A Collection of
Philosophy
This week we’re showing the
library of a philosopher. These
are good work-horse books, col
lected by a chap who has recent
ly gotton his doctorate in philoso
phy, and is now off to a teaching
job in the East.
We think you’ll find them sound,
exciting and inexpensive!
Christmas Cards
The other day we caught a couple
of little elves sweeping out the
chimney, and it’s our opinion that
Christinas ought to be turning up
soon.
At any rate, we’ve put out the
famous five-cent Christmas cants,
and the catalogues of imprinted
cards for plutocrats.
Next week we’ll hang up the
mistletoe, and keep our fingers
crossed.
Advent Calendars
Advent calenders are just about
the most exciting thing you can
give to small youngsters on the
first of December. We sold out
before Dec. Ist last year, and
may do so again this year, in
spite of ordering twice as many
calendars.
So if you’re an extravagant grand
parent, dig out that 35c and come
on in!
The Intimats
Bookshop
lit East Franklin St
Open Tttlltpa.
Page 3-B