{"id":470,"date":"2020-11-09T08:55:25","date_gmt":"2020-11-09T07:55:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/?p=470"},"modified":"2020-11-09T08:58:43","modified_gmt":"2020-11-09T07:58:43","slug":"when-hope-and-history-rhyme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/?p=470","title":{"rendered":"When Hope and History Rhyme"},"content":{"rendered":"

Albus McInerney edits a literary magazine.<\/em><\/p>\n

Long ago I taught Renaissance poetry at a university where the Principal \u2013 having been caught in the very act of pocketing college funds \u2013 was invited to step down. To general consternation and annoyance, he declined to do so, preferring instead to squat in his rather luxurious grace-and-favour townhouse. I alluded to this insalubrious slice of academic life during a pause in the weekly editorial meeting.<\/p>\n

\u2018How did they get him to go?\u2019 Dimitri asked.<\/p>\n

\u2018Well . . .\u2019<\/p>\n

Before I could continue, he added, \u2018In my parts, they would have sent someone round for a serious word, maybe the sort that doesn\u2019t fall entirely short of intimidation.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018With us,\u2019 Rami said, \u2018there would be conversations.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Conversations?\u2019 Kim asked.<\/p>\n

\u2018Old friends, elders, perhaps even adversaries. There would be a lot of talking. Talking opens the way to seeing new realities.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018So, what happened . . . with the Principal?\u2019 Patrice asked, reasserting Dimitri\u2019s focus on the denouement, and swatting aside the same Dimitri\u2019s tendency to digress.<\/p>\n

\u2018They switched off his electricity,\u2019 I said. \u2019He moved out when he couldn\u2019t have a hot bath.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Humiliating?\u2019 Patrice asked.<\/p>\n

\u2018Undoubtedly, but the college sent a removal van and the whole thing was done early in the morning, as far as I know without fuss.\u2019<\/p>\n

The broader conversation \u2013 naturally \u2013 concerned the present resistance to eviction at a house on Pennsylvania Avenue.<\/p>\n

\u2018Perhaps it wasn\u2019t just that he couldn\u2019t have a hot bath,\u2019 Kim said. \u2018Perhaps he only knew the game was up when he saw that the utility company had gone over to the other side.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Who\u2019s in, who\u2019s out,\u2019 Rami said. \u2018The changing alchemy of influence \u2013 the power to command reduced to no more than the power to annoy.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Four lagging winters and four wanton springs<\/em>,\u2019 Kim said, \u2018End in a word; such is the breath of kings<\/em>.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Very apt, Kim!\u2019 Patrice can\u2019t resist an Elizabethan quote.<\/p>\n

\u2018But he will still create problems,\u2019 Dimitri observed, morosely.<\/p>\n

\u2018Problems can be addressed. They can be managed<\/em>,\u2019 Kim said, \u2018but the man himself has been shifted to the side of the stage. What\u2019s done cannot be undone<\/em>.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018I think, deep down, he understands that,\u2019 Rami said. \u2018The pictures are revealing. He wears . . . a February face.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018He\u2019s tried and failed to portray his opponent\u2019s victory as much ado about nothing,\u2019 I quipped, rather cleverly, I thought.<\/p>\n

\u2018So full of frost, of storm and cloudiness<\/em>,\u2019 Patrice said, completing the reference to Benedick\u2019s February face, and indicating (witheringly) that I wasn\u2019t the only one who had identified the right play.<\/p>\n

\u2018He has 70 million supporters!\u2019 Dimitri continued not to look on the bright side, \u2018That\u2019s a lot of frost and storm and cloudiness!\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Well,\u2019 Kim said, \u2018we are in danger of focusing on the loser \u2013 which is what he would like. Better to speak about the winner. He has been remarkably magnanimous.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018They\u2019re all magnanimous when they win.\u2019 This, from Patrice, was, I felt, uncharacteristically cynical.<\/p>\n

\u2018It runs deeper than that,\u2019 Kim said. \u2018I believe there\u2019s substance beneath his rhetoric. The President-elect quoted Seamus Heaney when he won the nomination and again just a few days before the vote:<\/p>\n

History says, Don’t hope
\nOn this side of the grave,
\nBut then, once in a lifetime
\nThe longed-for tidal wave
\nOf justice can rise up
\nAnd hope and history rhyme.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019m not sure even such a resolutely prophetic tone can touch the hearts of that 70 million,\u2019 Dimitri insisted.<\/p>\n

\u2018Forget, forgive, conclude and be agreed<\/em>,\u2019 Rami said, invoking Richard II again. \u2018Our doctors say this is no time to bleed<\/em>.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018That was Richard\u2019s own advice to squabbling underlings,\u2019 Dimitri said. \u2018They didn\u2019t take much heed.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Nor did he, at least until the very end,\u2019 Patrice said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Conversations,\u2019 Rami repeated, \u2018pave the way to new realities.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018No doubt,\u2019 Kim said. \u2018Kings and College Principals and Presidents \u2013 they all eventually bow to the vagaries of fate.\u2019<\/p>\n

With this \u2013 heads nodding across five computer screens \u2013 we returned to the literary business at hand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Albus McInerney edits a literary magazine. Long ago I taught Renaissance poetry at a university where the Principal \u2013 having been caught in the very act of pocketing college funds \u2013 was invited to step down. To general consternation and annoyance, he declined to do so, preferring instead to squat in his rather luxurious grace-and-favour […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":374,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[122,123,121,124],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/cropped-banner-K1-1.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=470"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":472,"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470\/revisions\/472"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}