Back again

The last week went so fast it is hard to believe it's all past. It was such a great time... so many Chestertonians, and bloggers, too! (Nancy, John, Sheila, Joe, "Thursday", and others...) My camera seems to have stopped functioning, so I will not have anything to show, and you will have to rely on Nancy or others for the visual effects. But it was a wonderful time. I heard that it was the biggest conference yet. There were lots of college-age people, and seminarians, too. In particular, the auditorium was jammed for the performance of GKC's "The Surprise".

The play was stupendous. It was one of the most high-tech things GKC wrote, containing two plays within a larger play. I hope we shall see someone do a talk next year - or perhaps a dissertation at an "institute of higher learning" - on how GKC's "The Surprise" is connected to Tolkien's "subcreation" and Sayers' The Mind of the Maker and even such things as recursion, and how the ribosome is represented within DNA. Well, maybe that's getting too technical. But it was a great romp of a play, very funny, but also extremely intellectual and stimulating. Lots of people were surprised, especially because there are several surprises in the play, culminating in that last most awesome line of all.

Besides the play, there were other talks, some of which I attended, and some of which I did not attend, as I was involved with other projects and discussions. I had a very good time with a number of people, including some who are here in the E-cosmos, and I am sure you will read their comments with glee.

And there were also lots of books available for purchase. I did get to Loome on Wednesday for about an hour at each of their two stores - it was amazing to see that they had very cunningly put out on shelves some of the very books I was hoping to find! But at the conference most of the lobby is full of tables at which used-book sellers stack their offerings. And I found some rather amazing things there too, including remarkable items like The Popes and Science to which I have seen attributions in some of Fr. Jaki's books - when I finish reading it I will review it here. Also in the lobby I found The Oxford Classical Dictionary, a hefty tome of about 1000 pages which I have already installed next to the Lewis and Short Latin dictionary.

Er.... I'm still recovering from the journey, so for now this summary will have to do - perhaps I will add more later.