Great review! As I said over on my capsule review of the book, the idea that this book can offer you any advice about any subject besides making interesting art or deepening connections with other human beings seems silly. Sib's pedagogy is not good! Helen DeWitt doesn't seem like someone who could actually help us to discover more Ludos. I mostly saw this book as an allegory about the artistic process, and I don't know any Latin, so I didn't know that Ludo meant "play." I just saw the whole thing as about an artist finding their way through culture and history; just like Kurosawa is always deftly negotiating between the past and present in his films, DeWitt is showing how the classical past has lessons to teach us even in a world mediated by technology.
Thanks! Yes, I found DeWitt's afterword unconvincing - this isn't really a novel about the necessity of school reform or anything like that. Viewing it as an allegory of the artistic process makes a lot more sense. Like a lot of allegorical structures, it can be broadened out, so it might be about the process of growing up, acquiring wisdom, deploying creativity in your own life, etc.
I agree that Sib's pedagogy is not good - she comes across as something of a Tiger Mom, and also seems to be channeling her own frustrations through Ludo. She's lucky that Ludo is willing to play along; a lot of kids would resent that.
Great review! As I said over on my capsule review of the book, the idea that this book can offer you any advice about any subject besides making interesting art or deepening connections with other human beings seems silly. Sib's pedagogy is not good! Helen DeWitt doesn't seem like someone who could actually help us to discover more Ludos. I mostly saw this book as an allegory about the artistic process, and I don't know any Latin, so I didn't know that Ludo meant "play." I just saw the whole thing as about an artist finding their way through culture and history; just like Kurosawa is always deftly negotiating between the past and present in his films, DeWitt is showing how the classical past has lessons to teach us even in a world mediated by technology.
Thanks! Yes, I found DeWitt's afterword unconvincing - this isn't really a novel about the necessity of school reform or anything like that. Viewing it as an allegory of the artistic process makes a lot more sense. Like a lot of allegorical structures, it can be broadened out, so it might be about the process of growing up, acquiring wisdom, deploying creativity in your own life, etc.
I agree that Sib's pedagogy is not good - she comes across as something of a Tiger Mom, and also seems to be channeling her own frustrations through Ludo. She's lucky that Ludo is willing to play along; a lot of kids would resent that.