For three or four years now - possibly longer, I can't quite remember - I've made it a habit to listen to the reading of some kind of audiobook, invariably related to some aspect of twentieth century history, whilst shaving in the evening. I reckon it takes me around 15 minutes to complete a shave and it's surprising just how much I've managed to listen to over time.
I'm now listening to a very well read version of Timothy Snyder's Bloodlands, and am extremely impressed at the depth and reach of the historian's work. I've listened to one or two of the prof's talks on YouTube and always found them illuminating but the sheer compulsive power and detail of Bloodlands puts it into a different league. The problem is, though, it's almost too powerful. This evening I was listening to the section dealing with the famines of the 1930s caused by Stalin in Ukraine and the relentless piling on of individual details of suffering got close to overwhelming.
It certainly provided some thought-provoking context for the fast I'll be conducting when Ramadhan begins. One of the values of fasting month is the way it allows some insight into the travails of those who don't get enough to eat, but that insight is necessarily severely limited when set against the genuine ravages of starvation.
No comments:
Post a Comment