Page 6 - Boca ViewPointe - March '22

Page 6, Viewpointe March 2022
Book Review

The End Of Days two decades prior to the pandemic and collapse of the old
civilization. Leander, the late actor, at one time the subject of
Emily St. John Mantel. Station Eleven: A Novel. New York: tabloid journalism captured by the photographer and later friend
Alfred A. Knopf, 2014. Jeevan Chaudhary, his wives, his mistresses, colleagues and
Stephane Gerson. Nostradamus: How an Obscure friends are the principals of the novel. His first wife Miranda,
Renaissance Astrologer Became the Modern Prophet of the author of a graphic novel, prognosticating the new world
Doom. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2012. order on Station Eleven, a planetary refuge for people escaping
“Before long all things shall be ordained;/ We sense a from the doomed planet, where the human race can begin again
sinister age on its way; The state of marks and seals shall in the post scientific future.
be most changed;/ Few to be found content with their There is more sociology than science in this dystopian
stations.” Quatrain 2.10 novel. The collapse of the old world creates a reality of people
“This is the way the world ends,/ This is the way the moving about in search of survival rather than depending on the
world ends, supply chain reminiscent of hunger games and lord of the flies.
This is the way the world ends, /Not with a bang but a No refrigeration, laptops, vending machines, the abandoned
whimper!” T.S. Eliot the rise of Adolf Hitler (or wags might say, the Donald) who Severn Airport experiences decades long delays a permanent
along with his Minister Goebbels was a believer and advocate. reality with passengers shacking up in the first class cabins of
By Dr. Ronald J. Meyers Emily St. John Mantel, a young Canadian author, has abandoned planes. In Emily St. John Mandel’s vision, yet art,
offered a kaleidoscope novel drawing on a range of dystopian music, theater survive in this dank environment; notably the
Michel de Nostradamus authors from Aldous Huxley to Margaret Atwood to Stephanie Travel Performance troupe which provide dual entertainment
(1503-1566) lived at the time Meyers to William Golding’s Lord of the Flies and perhaps at the new settlements of classical music and Shakespeare. At
of the High Renaissance and even William Blake mythology. At the start of the novel, the the Severn Airport, civilization is reborn. The Skymiles Lounge
its transition from the Age of Shakespearean actor, Arthur Leander, falls from a platform transformed into the Museum of Civilization containing the
Faith to the Age of Reason. during his performance of King Lear and dies. This is followed artifacts of the lost civilization. I do think the work is scattershot
A Frenchman from Salon, hours later by the “Georgian flu,” a pandemic that ravages the something like a blueprint, i.e. a film Treatment, submitted to a
Provence, likely derived continents, and all survivors are compelled to return to the most studio for development of its various plot directions; happily it
from Jewish ancestry who primitive existence. The novel published a few years prior to is being so treated by HBO Max to explore and realize the fuller
adopted the Christian faith the current pandemic, juxtaposing the present, future, and past, potentials of this prophetic undertaking.
in its nomenclature (even flashbacks to the past and forward to the future, foreshadows the
as Christophers earlier had done). He was a contemporary of novel’s timeliness. Dr. Ronald J. Meyers, a resident of La Paz, is an Emeritus
Martin Luther as well as French authors like Rabelais, Michel The action over the course some four decades, beginning Professor of English. rmeyers@esu.edu. 
de Montaigne, and touched times with Michelangelo, Cervantes
and Shakespeare. During this catalytic time of the Reformation
and Counter-Reformation, he presented himself as a literary
figure, noted for his witty quatrains, but gained his reputation
as one who wrote in decipherable symbols that, when decoded,
offered prophetic insight like the ancient Biblical prophets
with their enigmatic constructions. His literary style of “threats
inscribed in the stars” was consulted by leading figures of his Beth Ami Congregation Is Open
day like Catherine de Medici and pilgrims of all classes and
stripes flocked to his purview during his lifetime; and he was still
venerated by King Louis XIV in the next century and even by
proponents of the French Revolution and has remained a staple Join us Friday evenings at 6:00 PM for a spiritual musical
of occult interest since. Kabbalat Shabbat / Ma’ariv service with Cantor Michael Glozman
A Professor of French History at New York University, Oneg following services
author Stephane Gerson, who previously prepared an edition
of the Prophecies, raises the question, “can a serious person Saturday Services - 9:30 AM
believe [these] prophecies?” He notes that the occult has Followed by a lovely Kiddush
always been part of the human search for truth from the ancient Pray together and stay connected with members and friends
Egyptian philosophy to the Hindu gurus, Jewish Prophets, of the Beth Ami family
Sufi and Christian mystics. From the time of Nostradamus,
the prophecies have held a place in cultural history, not only 1401 NW 4th Avenue, Boca Raton, Fl 33432
in horoscopes, almanacs, and featured in newspapers, but have Please rsvp synagogue office - 561-347-0031
been reinforced in times of stress. Professor Gerson suggests that
their psychological appeal is confronting the worst outcomes, he Visit our website: bacboca.org
suggests, like when German Jews sensing their demise during
the Holocaust, could take some comfort in diminution of the
prophylaxis of uncertainty—even though superseded by veritable
horror of prophecy.
According to Professor Gerson, Michel de Nostradamus was
a man of great learning, a polymath, among his accomplishments,
an apothecary, a botanist, an astrologer, a poet, almanac and
letter writer, a doctor, like his literary forbear Maimonides, or
his German contemporary, the legendary Dr. Faustus, who was
thought to engage in communion with the devil. And he was
consulted and venerated in his own time while his prophetic Do you know a family member,
quatrains retained popularity long afterwards. His enigmatic “For
this lawless one a great people dies.” was thought to prognosticate friend or a neighbor in need of
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