Schopenhauer

This is not the river,
it's an explanation of the river
that replaced the river.

-- Dean Young


As I correct these proofs, I learn that a football player gave the Fascist salute to a cheering crowd of fans. Exactly as I used to do as a member of a Fascist youth group almost seventy years ago--except for the fact that I had to.

-- Umberto Eco

Explanations and compulsions are the rule of the day as the mercury remains below 20F. I finished The Children's Book earlier today and tend to agree that it was too bulky by half, though I regard the novel, and I mean such as a compliment, as being a worthy bookend to Pynchon's Against The Day.