Ken Cohen – Spoken Realms https://spokenrealms.com Wed, 29 Dec 2021 22:32:38 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 https://i0.wp.com/spokenrealms.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/cropped-logo-purple-black-white-outline.png?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Ken Cohen – Spoken Realms https://spokenrealms.com 32 32 136118765 Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street https://spokenrealms.com/2017/02/11/bartleby-the-scrivener-a-story-of-wall-street-kcohen/ https://spokenrealms.com/2017/02/11/bartleby-the-scrivener-a-story-of-wall-street-kcohen/#respond Sat, 11 Feb 2017 18:35:00 +0000 http://www.spokenrealms.net/?p=6006 This classic story of a New York lawyer and his oddly rebellious clerk is as relevant today as when it was first published in 1853. Herman Melville brings us into a small Wall Street law office and introduces us to the lawyer and his quirky staff, the quirkiest of whom is poor, quiet Bartleby, whose increasing refusals to participate in office procedures lead to increasingly bewildering and tragic consequences.

Written as a first-person narrative from the lawyer’s perspective, Melville’s story exposes the lawyer’s internal struggle as he tries to balance empathy and self-interest in dealing with Bartleby. In doing so, this poignant tale asks some of the essential questions of humanity: What are our responsibilities to each other, and what are the limits of our compassion?

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]]> https://spokenrealms.com/2017/02/11/bartleby-the-scrivener-a-story-of-wall-street-kcohen/feed/ 0 6006 The Book of Tea https://spokenrealms.com/2016/01/09/the-book-of-tea-kcohen/ https://spokenrealms.com/2016/01/09/the-book-of-tea-kcohen/#respond Sat, 09 Jan 2016 19:28:12 +0000 http://spokenrealms.net/?p=5220&supersonic=wp-admin 51+pBFYAtRL._SL300_The Book of Tea is much more than a book about tea. It’s a celebration of the arts and culture of Japan, and a portrait of tea ceremony, the “Way of Tea”, as the pinnacle of Japanese spirituality and artistic life.

Written in 1906 by Kakuzo Okakura, curator of Chinese and Japanese Art at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and a noted scholar and art critic, this modern classic traces the history of tea from its early medicinal uses in China, through the development of Chinese tea culture, and finally to the role of tea in Japanese Zen, culture, and politics. In the process, Okakura weaves together the philosophies, myths, history, and poetry of China and Japan. He introduces us to tea masters, emperors, and warlords, and brings us an appreciation of the transient beauty of life that is at the heart of Japanese artistic ideals.

Okakura wrote The Book of Tea in English, and his elegant prose mirrors the refined artistry of the Japanese tea ceremony. Narrated by Ken Cohen, himself a student and practitioner of tea ceremony in the Urasenke tradition, this audiobook captures Okakura’s vision of how “Teaism” can transform us and the way we see ourselves and our world.

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