ELA-Author-Motif-IT

Author's Craft - Motif - Print - Information Texts

 * E3-E4

"America Betrays Herself in Vietnam" // Lengthy, revealing, yet highly accessible end to The March of Folly: from Troy to Vietman //** by Barbara W. Tuchman. ISBN: 0394527771. This book revels in the folly of man (the motif throughout the book) to pursue war for any reason. In this final section to the book, ignorance and pride also become motifs for the Western Powers as they imagine the USA allowing communism to flourish through the domino theory and dismissal of historial fact and precedent. Political cartoons enliven the text. An opening quotation to the entire book from Joseph Campbell, says, in part, that "the same motifs already heard will not be sounding still...put to use...by madman to nonsense and disaster."


 * "Very Modern Microscopes"** by Russell Martin. This chapter in the title //Beethoven's Hair// by the same author (ISBN: 076790351X) reveals that through a motif of continuous interest and research, it may have been lead poisioning that led to the famous comoser's many disabilities in later life, including blindness. The motif of scientific inquiry mixed with an homage to the great composer permeate the entire book.