Hace una mañana hermosa en San José: soleada, tibia, cúmulos y estratocúmulos dándole textura al horizonte, sobre las cumbres de las montañas del suroeste en Alajuelita, Escazú, Santa Ana. En mi jardín, florecen la passiflora alata (belleza amazónica y purpúrea) y la passiflora vitifolia (roja pasión), así como las rosas magenta. En cualquier momento vendrá … Continue reading Noche Buena en San José
This has been a remarkably Greek year for me. I have been able to read quite a lot of Ancient Greek philosophy and literature, and I have engaged in conversation with contemporary commentaries on those traditions. I traveled to Athens in April and came back to the Americas with a desire to return to Hellas … Continue reading Zorba: Apollo or Dionysus
I have enjoyed a leisurely weekend for the first time in several months. On Thanksgiving Day, I expressed gratitude to friends and family, but I stayed home. I slept late, drank coffee, made a simple breakfast, and read Kazantzakis's Zorba the Greek, to admire the dyonisian main character and to break with my overly apollonian … Continue reading Montaigne and Thoreau: Idle Joy
To my surprise, this year I discovered Michel de Montaigne as a good friend. I read his essay "Of Experience" with my students in a seminar on philosophy and the good life, and I felt really engaged by his attitude towards life. I particularly appreciate his hedonist view that nature weaves together what is truly … Continue reading Montaigne and Thoreau: Walking
I am thoroughly enjoying these autumn evenings reading Louise Glück's Meadowlands (1996). Her poems weave the story of Penelope, Odysseus, and Telemachus into the life of a childless, contemporary couple mired in a strained relationship. They share moments of generosity and pettiness, love and hurt, vindictiveness and remorse, neediness and aloofness, blended with instances of … Continue reading Glück: Quiet Evening
Quando eu penso em Ariadne, imagino e tento comprender três momentos na história da neta de Helios, sobrinha de Circe. O primeiro é quando ela se apaixona pelo "herói" ateniense Teseu, ao ponto de trair a confiança da sua família cretense. Como surgiu essa paixão pelo Teseu? O que a levou a ajudá-lo para fugir … Continue reading O Fio de Ariadne
Tenho curtido vários reencontros, no Brasil, nos últimos meses. Há poucos dias, por exemplo, voltei a me encontrar com a poesia de Thereza Kolbe. Em 2016, numa livraria do bairro Gonzaga em Santos, encontrei um dos seus poemários, Livro do Rio (2005). Li alguns poemas na livraria, gostei deles, e levei o poemário comigo para … Continue reading Thereza Kolbe: Mensagem
Cuando llego a una nueva región, me gusta observar quiénes viven allí. Me refiero a los seres humanos, claro, pero también a otros habitantes: flora y fauna e incluso minerales. Se trata, quizá, de ver a la región no solo como sociedad y polis, sino también como bioregión. En el sertão paulista, he podido rencontrar … Continue reading Habitantes del sertão
La Vida ha sido generosa desde marzo y, en Salvador de Bahía, me ha regalado tres señales de que todo va bien y voy por buen rumbo. Desde que leía novelas de Jorge Amado en mi época colegial en San José, quise venir a conocer Salvador de Bahía. Disfruté, sobre todo, las aventuras de los … Continue reading Tres señales en Salvador de Bahía
For several months now, I have been keen to read, again, Henry David Thoreau's ideas about houses and homes in Walden. Now that it is summer and I have time to read in the shade while the heat blasts on, I have finally returned to reading my good ol' friend Henry. I had missed him, … Continue reading Thoreau: Economy
Daniel G. Campos 