BELENGUER,+DANI

Oracle Night Paul Auster

I’ve read the book twice, I must admit the first time I wasn’t on the right mood to read a Paul Aster’s book, may be I needed a more relaxed and light reading, something from Bill Bryson would have been a good idea.Anyway I’d already bought the book, so I went trough it.

Once again, the author sets the story in his city, New York. The perfect background for Sidney, a writer coming back to life after a serious attack that almost finishes his days in this world. Step by step, the novel led us through the lives of Sidney and his beloved Grace, but instead of doing it on linear structure, the book goes jumping betwen the main story, the draft of a Sidney’s novel and the explanations at the bottom of the page about others characters, like John Trause: the famous novelist, the friend, the lover..and mister Chang- who comfronts Sidney with his dark side.

The book explores universal themes that interest all of us: death, trust, love...love between a couple struggling to save their relationship, the impossible love betwen an old man and a young woman, the broken love betwen a father and a son.

The novel finishes with hope, like an american film .. Life is not as perfect as should be, but we can do it, we can survive, we can overcome all the problems because we are together... “Have a happy day “ I would add This is the message Auster give us, but what interest me a lot more is the way he presents Sidney and the others. They aren’t perfect, they have weaknesses, lot of them. For instance, a reader can put himself in the place of Sidney, and imagine how he(*) would react in a brothel, drunk, in front of a black queen offering you her services .. And knowing Sidney a little and how he loves Grace, I bet for the loyal husband, and I failed ..in this moment all the topics fall down and we see the real man: good and bad, loyal and a liar at the same time, black and white, god and evil.

Is it possible this contradiction ? , yes, it is I’ve seen myself on the border, many times. “I’m a good person”, you say to yourself, “I wouldn’t do that”, you assure to your friends on a conversation. And then, life tests you, and once again, you loose .. why? because you are not this “romantic idea” you have created about yourself .. And when life puts you on the fence, the real person appears, and sometimes is not as good as you have imagined.

(*)The reader can be a //he// or a //she//, so the rest of the sentence is incomplete.

The Seven Ages of a Man

This must be a famous poem of Shakespeare: It explains the different stages of a man's life. As most artists I think William writes about his life and personal experiences. May be he had a son and his vision of childhood is very distant, far away form the vision of a mother o father who spend time with their children. I'm sure he's thinking about personal experiences on the lover's and soldier's stages, this is usually the moment where a person is in its prime of life, but in my opinion he describes them with a bit of disdain. The sixth and seventh age represent the futur for William, and he looks at the futur with some fear. Probably I'm wrong, but I believe this poem could be written during in the fifth age of Shakespeare. Why?, because there is a common feature in all of them, we always think we are right and the others wrong, and only with the distance of years we're able to see things with the necessary objectivity to judge them.

The ages of a woman should be different, at least in the baby, the child and soldier age. A woman who is also mother (the usual in this time) gives much more importance to theses ages, and in fact these are the most important due to the fact that in those ages all happens, and what you experiment in this time is the key for the rest of your life.  The fourth age wouldn't exits in the ages of a woman in Shakespeare's time, but today will be more similar.. in fact, I tend to see a more " soldier attitude" in young women than in men, in part due to the greater efforts they must do in order to carry on the traditional duties of a woman ( maternity, wife,..) and their desire to build a professional career.

by Daniel Belenguer. CORRECTIONS AND ASSESSMENT The Seven Ages of a Man

This must be a famous poem of Shakespeare: It explains the different stages of a man's life. As most artists I think William writes about his life and personal experiences. Maybe  he had a son and his vision of childhood is very distant, far away form the vision of a mother o father who spend time with their children. I'm sure he's thinking about personal experiences at the lover's and soldier's stages : this  is usually the moment when  a person is in its prime of life, but in my opinion he describes them with a bit of disdain. The sixth and seventh age represent the  future  for William, and he looks at the <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">future <span style="font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> with some fear. <span style="font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">Probably I'm wrong, but I believe this poem could <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> be <span style="font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> written during <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">Shakespeare´s fofth age <span style="font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">. Why ?, because there is a common feature in all of them, we always think we are right and the others wrong, and only with the distance of years we're able to see things with the necessary objectivity to judge them.

<span style="font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">The ages of a woman should be different, at least in the baby, the child and <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">soldier <span style="font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> ´s age. A woman who is also <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">a mother <span style="font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> (the usual in this time) gives much more importance to theses ages, and in fact these are the most important due to the fact that <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">everything takes place in those ages <span style="font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">, and what you experiment in this time is the key for the rest of your life.

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">The <span style="font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> fourth age wouldn't <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">exist <span style="font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> in the ages of a woman in Shakespeare's time, but today it would be more similar.. in fact, I tend to see a more " <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">soldier-like <span style="font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> attitude" in young women than in men, in part due to the greater efforts they <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">have to <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">make <span style="font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> in order to carry <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">out <span style="font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> the traditional duties of a woman ( <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">as a mother <span style="font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">, wife,..) and their desire to build a professional career. = = =<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">Good =

<span style="font-family: Traveling _Typewriter,serif;">The IMF, <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">by Daniel Belenguer <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">The official statement says (extract from its webpage): “<span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world.”

<span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">Other <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">informations <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> :

<span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">It was created at the end of the WWII as an instrument to promote the world commerce and stimulate the economy.

<span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">The International Monetary Fund is a global organization that controls the economy of the countries, specially those who are in financial <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">troubles <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">. The more money <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> have a country <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> the more power <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> has, <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> The United States of America is the country <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">who <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> has <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">more <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> power and control whitin the IMF.

<span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> It decides how much money they lend, and at what interest and its goal (I su poss e) is earn money, playing and investing the money they earn into the financial markets, although in theory they are almost an NGO.

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">Some ideas I have about this complex theme:

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">To be honest I don’t fully understand how it works, but I’ve read some articles and I’ve seen some documentaries:

<span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">The economy of a country operates like a family economy. There is a person or group of people which controls the money and the way it is spen t,.. <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> Unfortunately our politicians are not allways completely honest, and I’m being soft, and they are the people qhi are in charge of our money. <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> If you combine the corruption of a government with the ambition of the IMF and banks, you’ll get a social an econmical disaster for a country.

<span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">Some examples of these consequences can be found on South America:

<span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">The IMF invested lot of money during the 70s on South America, the needed to lend big quantities of money that came from the Petrodollars, in order t o earn the money to pay the Arabs countries. They prom ote to those countries -which were just starting to develop their economies- to borrow lots of credits, apparently they needed them in order to keep or stimulate their economies. <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> The loans kept flowing even though the IMF knew they were entering into and huge debt. <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> The consequences were devastating for the society and the local economies, lot of people lost their money (which was in the banks) and often was forced to emigrate to other countries , and we are speaking of standar families and workers who turn into poor people on a flicker.

<span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">Some of these countries like Mexico and Argentina said to the IMF thant they weren’t going to pay their debt (after decades of impoverishment ), in fact, they couldn’t. Today these countries are growing and are partially liberated from their bons with the IMF.

<span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">Iceland recently broke drown its economy wich was based on the financial markets and and fell into an enormous debt with some banks. The debt wasn’t going to be paid by the corrupts, but by each icelandic family. <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">They made a referendum in order to decide wheter the pay or not their debt, the result was overwhelming to not pay. .furthermore they are capturing and persecuting the resposibles of the financial crash.

<span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">Where are we? <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> We are on the edge, the news and journalists say that every single day. <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> In my opinion we’ve been living on an unsustainable way, and we are going to continue doing it. <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> First of all our economy, our life can’t be based on the continuous increase of expense. <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> We need to reinvent our way of living, we need to accept living with less things.. We have to learn how to be more self- sufficients and to not depend on the banks in order to live everyday.

<span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">To finish I ‘d like to add a quote from henry David Thoreau, a free man:

“ <span style="font-family: Traveling _Typewriter,serif;">Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves. “

=<span style="font-family: Traveling _Typewriter,serif;">CORRECTIONS AND ASSESSMENT =

The IMF, by Daniel Belenguer

<span style="font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">The official statement says (extract from its webpage):

=
//“<span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world.” //======

<span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">Other <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">sources <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> :

<span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">It was created at the end of the WWII as an instrument to promote the world commerce and stimulate the economy.

<span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">The International Monetary Fund is a global organization that controls the economy of the countries, specially those who are in financial <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">trouble <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">. The more money <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> a country has, <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> the more power <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> it has too <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">. The United States of America is the country which has <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">most <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> power and control whitin the IMF. <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">It <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> decides how much money they lend, and at what interest. I ts goal (I su <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">ppos <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">e) is <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">to earn <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> money, playing and investing the money they earn into the financial markets, although in theory they are almost an NGO.

<span style="font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">To be honest I don’t fully understand how it works, but I’ve read some articles and I’ve seen some documentaries, so here are s ome ideas I have about this complex subject:

<span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">The economy of a country operates like that of a family. There is a person or group of people which controls the money and the way it is spen t. <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">Unfortunately <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> our politicians are not <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">always <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> completely honest, and I’m being soft, <span style="font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> but they are the people who   <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> are in charge of our money. <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">If <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> you combine the corruption of a government with the ambition of the IMF and the banks, you’ll get a social an <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">economic <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> disaster for a country.

Some examples of these consequences can be found <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">in South America:

<span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">The IMF invested lot of money during the 70s in South America. T <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">hey <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> needed to lend big quantities of money that came from the Petrodollars, in order t <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">o earn the money <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> to pay the <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">Arab <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> countries. They encouraged those countries -which were just starting to develop their economies- to borrow lots of <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">credit <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">. A <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">pparently <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> they needed them in order to keep or stimulate their economies.

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">The <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> loans kept flowing even though the IMF knew they were entering <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">a <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> huge debt. <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">The <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> consequences were devastating for the society and the local economies <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">. A lot <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> of people lost their money (which was in the banks) and <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">was often <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> forced to emigrate to other countries <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">. Notice that <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">we are speaking of <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">middle-class <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">families and workers who turn into poor people <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">in a flash <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">.

<span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">Some of these countries like Mexico and Argentina said to the IMF thant they weren’t going to pay their debt (after decades of impoverishment . I <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">n <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> fact, they couldn’t. Today these countries are growing and are partially liberated from their <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> bonds <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> with the IMF.

<span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">Iceland recently broke drown its economy <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">, which <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> was based on the financial markets and and fell into an enormous debt with some banks. The debt wasn’t going to be paid by the <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">corrupt, <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> but by each <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">Icelandic <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> family. They made a referendum in order to decide wheter <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">they would <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> pay or not <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">. The <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> result was overwhelming <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> : not <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> pay. F <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">urthermore <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> they are capturing and persecuting those r  <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">esposible <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> for the financial crash.

Where are we?

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">We <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> are on the edge, the news and journalists say that every single day. <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">In <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> my opinion we’ve been living <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> in <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> an unsustainable way, and we are going to continue doing so. <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">First <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> of all, our economy, our life can’t be based on the continuous increase of <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">expenses <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">. <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">We <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> need to reinvent our way of living, we need to accept living with less things. We have to learn how to be more self- <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">sufficient <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;"> and to not depend on the banks in order to live <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">every day <span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">.

<span style="color: #242423; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">To finish, I ‘d like to add a quote from henry David Thoreau, a free man:

// “ <span style="font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves. “ // = = =**<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Traveling _Typewriter',serif;">Very good, but you ought to pay attention to stops as a way of separating sentences. Please study the corrections and revise them before you write your next composition. As for the content, I see a certain contradiction in your concluding paragraph. Is disobeying following the arguments the IMF has stolen from the environmentalist movement (without believing it)? What prescriptions must one disobey in this case?. **=