Infinite Books

At the beginning of his “Tabula Rasa,” John McPhee recalls when he was invited to lunch with the famous playwright and novelist Thornton Wilder. Asked what he was working on, Wilder replied that he was cataloging plays of Lope de Vega. About four hundred and thirty-one plays by Lope de Vega survived, and Thornton Wilder was sixty-six. It could take years to complete this project. Asked by the about thirty-years old McPhee why anyone would want to do that, Wilder angrily replied, “Young man, do not ever question the purpose of scholarship.”

These words beautifully reflect humans’ drive to learn and write – the passion which does not diminish with age. When writing “Tabula rasa,” John McPhee was eighty-eight and said he understood then that the cataloging of Lope de Vega plays was serving to extend Wilder’s life.

“Tabula rasa” is a collection of short chapters which describe many writing projects that John McPhee overtook as a writer for “New Yorker” and “Time,” as well as his independent projects. There are stories about dams in America and their impact on the environment, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and the bridges of Christian Menn, a Swiss structural engineer. All the stories in “Tabula Rasa” are beautifully written in the style of the best The New Yorker articles of creative non-fiction. I could never guess that some subjects Mr. McPhee covers would so much spark my interest.

This book also brought up some memories of when I lived in Princeton, New Jersey, where the author was born, and educated, the town very close to his heart. I believe he’s still teaching at Princeton University. I remember the beautiful campus, the rose garden, the main street of Princeton, and the feeling of walking the streets where Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr walked. And Princeton is by no means a museum of past glories– it’s very lively, with the youthful energy of students (their men’s basketball team just advanced to the Sweet 16.)

I hope I will not have to wait long for John McPhee’s volume 2 of “Tabula Rasa.” Reading the thoughtful, intelligent, and informative first volume was a rare treat.

TABULA RASA, VOL 1. by John McPhee, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2023