So it’s particularly gratifying to discover that someone out there values something I had to say about my favorite novel. The article in question, “Cosmopolitanism and Zoroastrianism in Moby-Dick,” appeared in recent volume from Ashgate Publishing entitled The Turn Around Religion in America, edited by Nan Goodman and Michael P. Kramer. The volume brings together work inspired by the scholarship of my dissertation advisor, Sacvan Bercovitch.

Here’s what the review in the May 1st issue of Choice had to say about the book:

More a festschrift dedicated to a distinguished scholar than a fully cohesive set of essays, this collection addresses Bercovitch’s characteristic themes during a long career at Columbia and, ultimately, Harvard. Best known for his work on Puritanism, Bercovitch has included all of American literature in his scope, and he is one of the vertebral forces behind recent revisionary conceptions of the field. The contributors to this volume are former students of Bercovitch and distinguished contemporaries such as Michael Colacurcio (who writes on Emerson). Receiving full treatment are typology and its millennial-Christian reading of Judaic biblical motifs; dissensus and its role in regulating American life while providing an aura of rebellion; Edward Taylor, brilliantly reconceived (by Shira Wolosky) as Hebraic; and Herman Melville and Nathanael West. Goodman (Univ. of Colorado, Boulder) and Kramer (Univ. of Bar-Ilan, Israel) also include essays on Bercovitch’s work: e.g., Andrew DuBois’s masterful discussion of irony in Bercovitch’s writing. Further afield, Cyrus Patell on Zoroastrianism in Moby-Dick and Giuseppe Nori on “process and continuity, genealogy and destiny” in the Romantic historiography are major contributions to scholarship. This reviewer cannot imagine the Americanist who will not need to refer to this book at least once in his/her career. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. — N. Birns, The New School

To become a “vertebral force” — now that’s an aspiration I’d never thought of before. But, actually, it’s a pretty good description of Saki’s contribution to literary scholarship and cultural studies.

Thanks again, Nan and Michael, for including me among the contributors. It was an honor to participate.

For those of you who think in Celsius (something I haven’t yet learn to do after eight-and-a-half months as an expat), that means its 26C at 8:00 a.m., going up to 38.

My apartment is about to be divided into two different temperature zones. My wife loathes air conditioning and wants to keep the windows open — to enjoy the desert breezes — but I can’t work at my desk when I’m sweating.

Meanwhile, over my coffee and camel link, I find the following tidbits in today’s National.

“Emirati visitors help boost ailing Egyptian tourism industry”

“Egypt is open for business. I think it’s a fantastic opportunity for tourists to enjoy Luxor, Aswan, and the Pyramids when it is relatively empty, to enjoy the beaches on the Red Sea or the Mediterranean when they are not extremely crowded.” — Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour (Egypt’s minster of tourism since last February) [Read article]

“Burj Khalifa floor for sale, to developer Emaar’s surprise”

“A US website is offering an entire floor of the Burj Khalifa at auction – despite developer Emaar denying any knowledge of it. … ‘As far as notable real estate auctions, this one tops them all,” Bill Lange, the president and chief executive of LFC Group, said in a statement. “The auction will attract serious buyers who understand that this is an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to purchase an entire corporate floor in the Burj Khalifa at a price they determine through online bidding.’” [Read article]

Featured Comment: “The truth on mixed marriages: only the strong will survive”

“The divorce rate in the UAE is on the rise and, as much as we would like to blame the Turkish soap operas as some newspapers have suggested, the truth is a lot more complex. Many factors are contributing to the destruction of that sacred bond that in most cultures is meant to last a lifetime. … The majority of mixed marriages are between Emirati men and expatriate women. But since there are many eligible, attractive Emirati women, why do many Emirati men choose to marry women who come from different cultures? … In many cases, the in-laws are mercifully thousands of kilometres away, only a factor during holidays, over the phone or via Skype, which can dramatically improve the husband’s general quality of life. A marriage with distant in-laws, fewer financial obligations and a wedding that can be conducted in the courts in less than an hour is simply irresistible to many Emirati men.

“To ensure that Emirati men make the right decision and are aware of the challenges that accompany cross-cultural marriages, a course could be offered before they make such a life-changing decision, intended to educate both people about the reality and the obstacles that lay ahead of them.

“Not only could a course be offered before the wedding, but also during the term of the marriage and when problems begin to arise. A culture of marital support needs to be freely offered and better promoted to ensure that couples are educated and have a place to turn when all else fails.” — Taryam Al Subaihi [Read article]

The best piece of news in the paper, from my perspective, is about the team from NYUAD that took first place in the energy competition at the Hult Global Case Challenge. Four NYUAD  sophomores — Madhav Vaidyanathan (India), Songyishu Yang (China), Muhammad Awais Islam (Pakistan), and Gary Chien (Taiwan) — and NYU alumnus Neil Parmar (Canada),who actually writes for the National, received the award for a plan to help SolarAid provide solar lighting to one million homes in Africa by 2013. The Challenge also had competitions for initiatives in education and housing. Bill Clinton announced the winners in New York.

You can read about it here: “NYU Abu Dhabi team shines with solar plan.” See also Parmar’s piece “Winning formula aims at powering up Africa.”

I’m especially pleased about the team’s success because the NYUAD student who initiated the effort — Madhav Vaidyanathan — was one of the candidates whom I interviewed during the first admissions weekends that I attended in November 2009. Don’t tell him, but when people used to ask me why I was so excited about NYUAD during the months before we opened, I used to cite the polymathic Madhav and our ability to get him excited about NYUAD as sign of the promise of the institution.

I may be living in the Middle East, but I’m still a dyed-in-the wool New Yorker.

And it’s a rare moment for a New York sports fan of my persuasion: both of my favorite teams are in first place. That would be the New York Rangers (hockey) and the New York Mets (baseball). It won’t last, so I’m savoring the moment.

I’ve been following the Rangers since 1973, suffering through many ups and downs. This year, though, the Rangers have had a spellbinding season, after quite a number of recent disappointments. They’ve built a team around a core of younger players mixed with a few bona fide stars: goalie Henrik Lundquist and forwards Marian Gaborik and Brad Richards. Here’s the best thing about the team: it’s talented and gritty, as shown by its commitment to blocking shots. (Would you put your body, even in hockey pads, in front of a slap shot traveling at about 100 mph?) With two games left in the season, they clinched first place in their conference, guaranteeing home-ice advantage in the playoffs until the Stanley Cup Finals. And, who knows, if they win tomorrow, they might even get that. The Rangers last clinched first place in the Eastern Conference in 1994, the magical spring in which they won the Stanley Cup for the first time in 40 years. They have a very good chance to repeat that feat this year, though as every hockey fan knows, the Stanley Cup playoffs is a second season altogether, grueling and unpredictable. But wouldn’t it be glorious, if Madison Square Garden could witness a moment like this one again:

I’ve been following the New York Mets even longer — since 1969 when I was in second grade and watched them win the World Series on a black-and-white television in the hallway of my elementary school. I’ve suffered a lot because of the Mets too, as readers of this blog know from my post “The Crypto-History of the Historic Collapse of the New York Mets.” (I really should update that post to take the humiliation of the Bernie Madoff era into account!) But today they’re in first place, having won their home opener 1-0 behind the pitching of Johann Santana and David Wright. The possibilities seem limitless.

Let me dream a bit. I’m well aware that the team’s spring training record was an abysmal 9-20-2, the 20th a loss to the Yankees in a game that the Mets were leading until the 7th inning. So, starting tomorrow, it’s probably all down hill. But right now, it looks like this:

Thanks to the magic of twenty-first century technology, I can stream the teams’ games in HD over the internet by subscribing to Gamecenter at nhl.com and to mlb.tv. The picture quality is amazingly good — good enough to watch on my big LED HD television. Afternoon baseball games turn into night games here, which is fine, but those 7:00 p.m. hockey starts are going to take their toll. (We’re 8 hours ahead, so you do the math.) But, hey, our school year ends in mid-May, and I fully expect the Rangers to be playing well beyond that. And if they do, I’ll be getting up at 3:00 a.m. cheerfully.

Let’s go Mets! Let’s go Rangers!

On the way there, I made a brief stop outside the Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex …

where NASA is listening for signs of life in outer space, using these big radio dishes:

At Tidbinbilla, I saw these …

… and these …

Unfortunately, koalas was nowhere to be found in “the wild,” though I did see one of the critters …

It was great to be out and about in the bush, even if it was somewhat domesticated bush. One of these days, I’ll be back in search of a more rugged experience.

At the airport, I resisted the temptation to buy these …

I did, however, buy some of these odd-looking items …

What are those, you ask. They’re little scent pots made from the very absorbent cones of the Banksia Grandis, which is found in Southwest Western Australia. A few drops of eucalyptus inside, I’m told, and your room will smell like a forest.