Examining the Past

We can do all kinds of things with the past - examine it analytically, or question whether it ever existed, or churn it up inside ourselves until it turns into personal experience. We can dream it as we lounge amidst a heap of ruins, or petrify it into a museum; or we can just regard it as a thing to sing songs about.

When we think of Alfred and Cakes or Canute and the Waves we seem to be digging deep into the...