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    Fifteen Dogs
    Fifteen Dogs
    Fifteen Dogs
    Audiobook6 hours

    Fifteen Dogs

    Written by Andre Alexis

    Narrated by Andre Alexis

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    — I wonder, said Hermes, what it would be like if animals had human intelligence.

    — I'll wager a year's servitude, answered Apollo, that animals – any animal you like – would be even more unhappy than humans are, if they were given human intelligence.

    And so it begins: a bet between the gods Hermes and Apollo leads them to grant human consciousness and language to a group of dogs overnighting at a Toronto vet­erinary clinic. Suddenly capable of more complex thought, the pack is torn between those who resist the new ways of thinking, preferring the old 'dog' ways, and those who embrace the change. The gods watch from above as the dogs venture into their newly unfamiliar world, as they become divided among themselves, as each struggles with new thoughts and feelings. Wily Benjy moves from home to home, Prince becomes a poet, and Majnoun forges a relationship with a kind couple that stops even the Fates in their tracks.

    André Alexis's contemporary take on the apologue offers an utterly compelling and affecting look at the beauty and perils of human consciousness. By turns meditative and devastating, charming and strange, Fifteen Dogs shows you can teach an old genre new tricks.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherECW Press
    Release dateMar 15, 2016
    ISBN9781770564640
    Author

    Andre Alexis

    Andre Alexis was born in Trinidad and grew up in Canada. His most recent novel, Fifteen Dogs, won the 2015 Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. His debut novel, Childhood, won the Books in Canada First Novel Award, the Trillium Book Award, and was shortlisted for the Giller Prize and the Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. His other books include Pastoral (nominated for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize), Asylum, Beauty and Sadness, Ingrid & the Wolf, Despair and Other Stories of Ottawa and Lambton, Kent and Other Vistas: A Play.

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    Reviews for Fifteen Dogs

    4/5

    305 ratings35 reviews

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    • 5/5
      In a Toronto tavern, Hermes and Apollo have made a bet that if animals were given human intelligence they would be more unhappy than humans. In a nearby veterinary clinic there are fifteen dogs, who provide a convenient test study. Alexis appears to point at human frailties in his story, such as when Apollo, intoxicated with his divinity allows "parts of himself to be touched by an older man in a business suit" in the tavern’s washroom. A pleasure that cost the man eight years. Or when Majnoun discusses topics such as same-sex relationships, religion, or what happiness is, with his new human companion, Nira. It is tempting to make comparisons to Animal Farm, but this fable is quite different from Orwell's. Alexis' message might be slippery, ambiguous, but he tells a wonderful story and the characters of the dogs are finished to perfection. Apollo and Hermes have a lot to answer for.Each of the dog poems has the name of one of the dogs hidden in the lines, a type of poetry created by [[François Caradec]] that has significance to both humans and dogs.As well as other awards [Fifteen Dogs] won the Giller Prize in 2015. I read it at this time to remember Jack Rabinovitch, founder of the Giller Prize who died a few days ago.
    • 5/5
      Hermes and Apollo wander into a bar in downtown Toronto (yes, really), and start to discuss what it would be like if animals had human intelligence. Apollo wagers that animals would be even more unhappy than humans are if they had human intelligence; Hermes takes the bet on condition that if only one of the animals is happy at the time of its death, he will win. The bar being close to a veterinary clinic, the most convenient animals to hand are the fifteen dogs who have been left overnight at the clinic for various reasons. And so the dogs are given the intelligence of humans while retaining their canine nature. A black poodle called Majnoun is the first to figure out how to open his cage with his new intelligence and soon all the dogs are free. Three choose to remain: Agatha, a old and sick Labradoodle who has been left there to be put down in the morning; Lydia, a whippet Weimaraner cross; and Ronaldinho, a mutt. All three are destined to die an unhappy death: Agatha is appalled that her mistress has left her to die alone, and Ronaldinho and Lydia's new intelligence poisons what they had remembered as happy lives. But it soon becomes apparent that the escaped dogs are fairing little better, with conflicts arising between those that want to embrace their new abilities and those that want to suppress them ...This is a strange little book, which will probably make all dog owners give their pet a surreptitious glance to try and work out what he or she is really thinking. But very interesting.
    • 4/5
      A peek inside the lives of 15 dogs who are given human consciousness. A heart-wrenching read for dog owners and dog lovers alike.
    • 4/5
      An apologue is an allegorical tale with exaggerated details used to convey a useful lesson. It often involves animals as the principal actors. But little more constrains the apologue, leaving the author who chooses to take up the challenge free to invent at will. Here, André Alexis offers a marvellous construction for our consideration. Fifteen dogs are granted the ‘gift’ of human intelligence. Will any one of them die happy? It is a bet between the gods, Hermes and Apollo. But is it fair? Do any of us with human intelligence die happy? Is there much likelihood that a dog might succeed where so many humans fail?The most immediate difference for the dogs who receive the gift is their newfound ability to perceive colour. But much more than that is their heightened linguistic and communicative skills. This is both a blessing and curse, and thus something that some will turn towards and others against. And this largely divides their individual tales subsequent to their escape from an animal hospital on the evening of their transformation.What fascinates here is how Alexis sustains our interest without merely transforming his dogs into humans. They are clearly not human. Yet he makes no pretence that they are still dogs. Indeed, other dogs fear them just as they too become wary of their unnatural natures. As we follow first the pack and then individual dogs, it becomes clear that there may be many lessons to be learned in this apologue. And each lesson is doubtless as subtle as the manner in which the names of the dogs are embedded into the poems that one dog, Prince, writes. (A note on the poems is found at the end of the novel.)This is remarkably deft writing, unsentimental, crisp, and vibrant. Easily recommended.
    • 2/5
      I’ve got a thing for conscious canines. I search for them in fiction, and usually I enjoy the acquaintance. Perhaps it’s because they are more people in the shape of dogs? Alexis challenges that, trying to keep dogness as the main component. I think he fails, but his attempts are at least thoughtful. The exercise dragged on through most of the book without establishing much in the way of sympathy with most of the pack. Most of them didn’t appreciate their new self-awareness, and did all they could to negate it. It became more ‘dog eat dog’ and he short changes both species.
    • 5/5
      This book is literary masterpiece. It’s absolutely tragic and I must now throw a ball to my dog to make myself feel better.
    • 4/5
      What a strange book. It was part fiction, fantasy and philosophy book. The first chapter deals with the `15 dogs being given intelligence and dealing with the new situation. After all this, we entered the phase of the dogs interacting with humans. That was the most interesting part. This is not a book for everyone, some parts are just plain weird, but I like weird sometimes.
    • 4/5
      I loved the dog poems, the hiding of the name within the verse, and the way the story and style matched with classic Greek plays.
    • 4/5
      Apollo and Hermes have a bet: if dogs were given human intelligence and speech, would they be happier than humans? More specifically, would they die happy?

      This book follows the fate of 15 dogs who are all given this "gift" of human intelligence and speech, and because of the bet (will the dogs be happy at death?) we follow the story of each dog all the way through their lives.

      First let me say, no real dogs were harmed in the writing or reading of this book. But...boy did these fictional dogs suffer! It was a little hard to read at times.

      Interesting concept in the spirit of George Orwell's Animal Farm.
    • 3/5
      I love the idea of this book and there was a lot in it that was beautiful. I'm torn between giving it 3 or 4 stars because I think it was very moving but it ultimately undermined its own premise so I think I have to give it 3.

      I love the central idea of this book. The gods Hermes and Apollo have a bet over whether animals could be happy with human intelligence so they give 15 dogs the same intelligence as humans and if just one of them dies happy Hermes will win.

      This idea is so fun to me because it can be used to explore the differences between the ways that humans and non-human animals experience the world and whether it's true that ignorance is bliss, i.e., that not having a sense of mortality or temporality does make animals happier. Unfortunately I feel like this book fails to deliver on those ideas. For one thing, the dogs in the book act on behaviours that have been shown not to be the innate nature of dogs. They follow the model of alpha and beta wolves which has been disavowed by even the first scientist to describe the theory.

      This is a problem because the book is trying to make a point about humanity's capacity for happiness by comparing our consciousness to that of dogs so it just doesn't work when you're aware that the mode of behaviour being presented for dogs is not at all how they actually behave. How can we make meaningful conclusions about how the dogs have been affected by their newfound intelligence when their baseline is not at all accurate? There is so much discussion in this book, for example, about dominance and "stronger" dogs mounting "weaker" dogs to prove their place in the hierarchy and that's just not how they do.

      Also, there are 15 dogs given human intelligence, a mix of male and female, yet the only dogs whose point of view we see are male. The female dogs are all peripheral and die horribly. It's especially disappointing since we get a lot of discussion from the male dogs perspective of what it's like to chase a bitch in heat and even poetry about it. I would also be interested in the perspective of what it's like to be a bitch in heat but alas.

      Overall I think this book is a really good idea with poor execution but some really beautiful passages that elevate it above the average.
    • 4/5
      hard to remember all the dogs. some drift in and out.
    • 5/5
      What a fun way to think about humanity – by stepping outside of human consciousness and seeing what it might look like from outside. It’s also an interesting speculation about what dog consciousness might be if dogs had a human sort of consciousness (raising right there the question of what consciousness is, what part of it is based on intelligence and what is innate and if it’s innate what part might be universal, or at least cross-species — and then there are the hints of god-consciousness). This sounds like a heavy philosophical debate, which it is, but not in the sense of a dry treatise debated among specialists. Instead, André Alexis tackles it with humour and fun. The combination of humour, empathy, art and deep thought make this book quite unique. It’s comic and entertaining in many ways, especially in how the dogs and the gods perceive the foibles of humanity. When Apollo says to Hermes, don’t insult me by arguing like a human, it’s a comic reflection that flips over human arrogance and puts it in its place. The humour lightens up a story that might be too sad without it, as does the artfulness of Alexis’ prose. When he describes how the dogs perceive the world through scents and doggy enthusiasms (“the excitement of biting on a new stick”), he offers a genuine insight into different ways of seeing and appreciating the world. And the dogs’ verbal jokes and poems are both fun and poetic. They get at a kind of consciousness that humans don’t appreciate, but can find some empathy with.The story is, of course, sad, as it deals with life and death. Life is a struggle for the dogs, as it is even without consciousness, but it becomes quite poignant as they are able to contemplate what they want in their lives and the hardships they face. The deaths of the dogs, often occurring quite quickly but sometimes after a full life, is poignant because readers come to know them as sympathetic characters. Even the unsympathetic characters seem to deserve more than they get, and that too is a reflection on human life.Given that the dogs are granted human intelligence, and in many ways think like humans, it’s disturbing how quickly the pack falls into something like fascism. Some are disturbed by the dogs who think for themselves, and especially by the artist in the pack, because it threatens the hierarchy and the established structure of their society. In this telling, all the dogs accept the hierarchical nature of pack society, but even so free thinkers are seen as a threat that has to be eliminated. If the dogs are an analogue for human society, the story illustrates the rise and the strength of fascism. It’s only through luck or divine intervention that the artists escape fascistic repression.The real interest, of course, is in the lives of the artists and thinkers. Their conflict with the pack leads the philosophical Majnoun to life with a human who uses her intelligence to communicate. But it leads the poetic Prince to life as an outsider, who interacts with some sympathetic humans but can’t share his vision either with them or with other dogs. What the storyline suggests is that life is brutish and short for the unthinking, but it can have beauty, connection, even happiness, in spite of many challenges, for those who use their intelligence. This is the message we get from other stories set among humans, but setting it in a doggy consciousness simplifies it and gives it a satisfying conclusion. The storyline would probably seem trite if the characters were humans, but that’s the benefit of a fable – the author can take fundamental truths and give them a novel quality. Some people compare this novel to dystopian stories like Animal Farm and Lord of the Flies, but I think it has little in common with them. It’s more about communication, like stories about first contact with alien species. Here, the dogs and the gods make contact with humans in a doomed struggle to connect that nevertheless is worth the effort.
    • 4/5
      The Greek gods Hermes and Apollo walk into a Toronto bar. No punchline. They make a bet on the outcome of granting dogs the same degree of intelligence as people, fifteen subjects are selected, and the experiment begins. Having already-established humanity to help them make sense of the world seems advantageous for these animals, but is only analogous to what we derive from prior generations and education. The dogs retain enough canine instincts, values and priorities that it invites comparison with our own. The ultimate question that must be answered to resolve the gods' bet is the most human question of all: does anyone die happy?Majnoun's story, for me, was the most engaging of the fifteen, since he has the most interaction with people. He embraces the gift of intelligence, integrating it into his self-identity when many of the others refuse to explore it. His and the others' self-discoveries are all spelled out; let the awards this novel has garnered be a lesson to all the 'telling' naysayers. Nevertheless it's not my reading preference. I would have liked simply seeing the actions and leaving interpretation up to me. I would also have preferred if the Greek gods didn't keep intervening in the plot. Sure it's typical of them, but to make this a pure thought experiment you can't keep manipulating the variables.I confess, while reading this I was looking at my dog quite a bit differently. And minding her interaction with my cats.
    • 5/5
      Fascinating book of 15 dogs that were given human intelligence, but maintain their canine attributes, because of a bet between 2 sons of Zeus who thinks that any other mortal being would be happier than humans at their death.
    • 5/5
      The premise is that the Gods confer human consciousness on 15 dogs and this story follows them as they transition from dogs to humans on the inside but remain dogs on the outside.

      Like all such stories they reveal just what a bunch or arseholes humans are by and large.

      I found this to be absolutely wonderful, full of sadness, betrayal, loss and love, all the things we are famous for.

      A great read for anyone with a heart.
    • 4/5
      So, two gods walked into a bar.....no, not really. However, in "Fifteen Dogs", an apologue, Apollo & Hermes make a wager. (An apologue is a morality fable using animals as protagonists.) If a dog thought like a human, and could speak like a human, would he die happy? So, they humanized fifteen dogs to see what would happen. After some serious confusion and cross-cultural chaos, the dogs have varied experiences and find it difficult to reconcile living with two distinctly different natures in one lifetime. Did any die content? Better read this intriguing, thought-provoking story. You might even sense disturbing commentary on how difficult it is to try living in an unfamiliar culture.
    • 3/5
      If there are animals in your life, there's no doubt you've anthropomorphized them, assuming they feel things similar to how we humans feel. And maybe they do feel emotion like us; without a common language, we have no real way to know although science certainly does its best at researching and drawing conclusions. But what if animals, dogs in particular, were given the gift or curse of human consciousness and intelligence? We could know exactly what they were feeling and thinking. But would it make them a different creature altogether? Would it, in fact, be a blessing or a curse? Andre Alexis' novel Fifteen Dogs takes just that premise and question and spins it out to its final, perhaps surprising, answer.While sitting in a bar one night Hermes and Apollo were arguing about humanity and as Greek gods are wont to do, they made a wager over what the granting of human intelligence would do to other creatures. Apollo argued that any other creature given human intelligence would end up miserable while Hermes maintained that at least one of the creatures would die happy despite this complicated gift of consciousness. Seeing a vet clinic on their walk home, they decided to play out the bet and chose to grant human intelligence on the 15 dogs spending the night in the clinic. And then they moved on, leaving the dogs to realize and accept or reject their confusing new reality on their own.The changed dogs immediately start acting out of character (species?), escaping the vet, and creating a sort of proto-human society amongst themselves. The novel mostly follows one or two dogs at a time, from their awakening into an awareness that changes everything to their respective deaths. Their lives are not lengthened, remaining realistically short, and many face graphic and terrible deaths as the reader, along with Hermes and Apollo, wonder if even one can in fact die happy or if this intelligence has robbed them of the ability to maintain happiness and joy. While the gods make occasional appearances in the story, for the most part, the dog's lives are left to nature and chance and whatever each dog can create for him or herself using their newly awakened intelligence. There is literally a deus ex machina in black poodle Majnoun's life arc and Prince, a poetry loving mutt, also suffers the meddling of the gods. There is a bleak ferocity here, a relatedness to Lord of the Flies in this apologue, as it examines the nature of happiness, the importance of language and poetry, and the philosophical idea of the cost of awareness. The fifteen dogs represent so much that drags humanity down, their weaknesses and fears, their brutality and power structures, but in the end, the passing of the last dog and the answer to Hermes and Apollo's wager is a reflective and philosophical experience full of the power of possibility, of language, of love. This is a strange but intriguing story, a morality tale that tells a big story using well-rendered small, furry characters. It's surprisingly accessible but is probably not a book for everyone. In the end, I enjoyed the thought behind it and I will probably never look at the dog sitting in my lap quite the same way again.
    • 5/5
      I'm not usually a big fan of stories told through the eyes of animals - they have a tepid Walt Disney perspectives which leaves me queasy with a saccharine taste. This book is the opposite: the human mind trapped in fifteen dogs' bodies, forced to acknowledge their animal nature is raw, powerful and oftentimes disturbing. Ranging from pure violence to soul searching poetry, this story is fast-paced, unapologetic with brute force and full of trickster philosophical moments. Rarely have I encountered so much punch in so few pages. Not for the faint of heart.
    • 1/5
      For book club.I quit at page 72. This is not a book I would have chosen for myself and I can find nothing in it to make me keep going. I am confused at how the dogs have to develop language, but clearly communicate with each other in complex ways almost immediately. Majnoun can speak to his owner - really? - but chooses only to nod or shake his head - presumably because otherwise it would become too ridiculous. She has to explain the concept of "God" to him, but "cancer" poses no problem for him.I can't do it any more.
    • 3/5
      I'm so torn about this book. On the one hand, I cried buckets; on the other hand, I feel somewhat emotionally manipulated by the deaths of the various dogs. On the one hand, I definitely appreciate what the book was trying to do; on the other hand, the narrative voice doesn't do it for me, and I feel like the book does not mesh with my understanding of dogs.
    • 4/5
      Greek gods Hermes and Apollo argue in a bar one night about what would happen if animals were granted human intelligence, would they be happier than humans? It just so happens that 15 dogs in a nearby veterinary clinic make a handy group of subjects. And so it begins, the dogs awakening to the complexities of the world around them and the choices they can now make about how to live their lives. Able to free themselves, new possibilities and new realities open up to them. I wouldn't say that this was a 'nice' story, in fact I started to feel like I was reading the animal version of Lord of the Flies. Interesting, but with some very violent scenes, because after all, that seems to be what humanity engenders.
    • 5/5
      Rather than comic relief (which does occur), the book offers philosophical relief from the sequences of melancholy, Hobbesian canine biographies it unveils. If it were not for the genius of the metaphysical problems the author constructs, this book would be almost unbearably saddening – like having to witness your companion dog be put down twelve times over (a few of the dogs in the story are not as emotionally engaging as the majority).
    • 4/5
      Becoming increasingly cynical about the quality of Canadian fiction, my expectations were very low when I started my first Canada Reads 2017 book.I was very surprised at how quickly I became absorbed in the lives of these dogs and how much I enjoyed the book.Essentially, the gods Hermes and Apollo, while sitting in a Toronto tavern decide to assign human qualities to a group of dogs. These dogs are found in a vet clinic and almost immediately escape because of their human intelligence and problem solving ability.Although the story starts with 15 dogs, it focuses on the lives of Prince, Benjy, mahjoun and Atticus. Each of these are part of the original pack which quickly takes on human characteristics of caring, planning, domination, bullying, shunning and cruelty which result in exile, escape or murder.As the dogs develop language, emotions and reasoning, Prince is the first to excel at English and he recites poetry. The others also learn basic English but this soon causes division and competition among the pack. Atticus becomes the top dog and the others do his bidding. Prince and Mahjoun and Benjy escape and we follow their lives with kind humans. As intelligent dogs with rational thought, they are able to manipulate their situations and come to love their masters.This book is surely an allegory for human conscience, reasoning and emotion which once transferred to these dogs, transforms how they behave with their pack mates and their humans.
    • 4/5
      A peek inside the lives of 15 dogs who are given human consciousness. A heart-wrenching read for dog owners and dog lovers alike.
    • 3/5
      I will give this book high marks for originality...especially notable is Prince's poetry. However, the story didn't really do much for me -- most of the dogs are around for only a brief time or in only a minor role, so I never felt I got to know how their gift of human consciousness affected them. There are issues raised in this book, such as preserving a traditional lifestyle, but they are not explored in enough depth for my taste. Guess I'm in the minority on this one!
    • 3/5
      The gods give 15 dogs in a shelter the gift of complex human thought. What do they each do with it and how does that look from another creatures perspective.? That is the premise to this novel which is happy is parts but quite sad in others. I will look at my dog funny for the next few days but not sure what all the fuss is about with this book.
    • 5/5
      What would happen if dogs acquired human level intelligence? Two Greek Gods want to find out. This was thought provoking, original, and beautifully told. Addressing the conflicts that underlie human nature and the identities we create with our own sense of self.
    • 4/5
      – I’ll wager a year’s servitude, said Apollo, that animals – any animal you choose – would be even more unhappy than humans are, if they had human intelligence.–An earth year? I’ll take that bet, said Hermes, but on condition that if, at the end of its life, even one of the creatures is happy, I win.And so begins Alexis’s modern take on the apologue, with a wager placed between two gods in a Toronto bar, which, as it happens, is very near to a veterinary clinic. The brothers decide the fifteen dogs within will form the treatment group for their wager, and the god of light grants the dogs human conscious and intelligence.Apollo and Hermes watch from above as the dogs venture into their newly unfamiliar world: Prince becomes a poet, Atticus learns about leadership, and Majnoun forges a close relationship with a kind couple. But the dogs are heavily burdened by thoughtfulness and conscious, by language and the concept of time: It keeps us from being dogs, and it keeps us from what is right. Some die bitter and disillusioned, demeaned by the condescending relationships they have had with their masters. And Zeus is furious with his sons when he learns of their interference with the dogs, admonishing that The only thing certain about humans is their brutishness, and that the dogs, given intelligence and conscious, will suffer twice as much as humans do. As for the dogs, Majnoun summarizes: … of course, it was impossible to know a state (to know the human) by subtracting things in oneself, as if ‘human’ were what is left once the best of dog has been taken away.Fifteen Dogs is as charming as it is strange: both a meditative and troubling look at the perils of human consciousness. Alexis is easily deserving of the Giller Prize for his work here, and Fifteen Dogs is easily recommended.
    • 5/5
      Two drunk Gods decided to make a bet, give dogs the intelligence of humans and see if they can find happiness. What happens is some turn on each other violently, some are selfish and cunning. One dog Prince becomes a poet and some of them are threaten by him. Majnoun after being attacked by some of the pack, is taken by a couple and has a deep relationship with Nira, the human who took care of him. All trough this book, we learn what happens to the 15 dogs and discover if they truly are happy. A brilliant book that makes you think.
    • 3/5
      Pet owners everywhere have played with the fanciful notion that their animals are sensitive, intelligent beings capable of a full range of emotion, personal reflection, artistic ambition and other human attributes based on self-awareness. The animals themselves give us reason to imagine this is so. How many of us have spoken to our cat or dog, one that has long been a part of our life and family, and seen in their eyes more than just a glimmer of understanding? It is sometimes difficult to believe that the animal is responding to body language or the tone or timbre of our voice, and not the words themselves. In Fifteen Dogs, an ambitious, highly original and sometimes emotionally devastating work of fiction, Andre Alexis explores in unsentimental fashion what it means to be human by way of animal intelligence. In contemporary Toronto, the gods Hermes and Apollo make a wager. Hermes bets a year's servitude that animals possessing human intelligence can die happy. Apollo holds that, granted human intelligence, animals would die just as miserably as humans. The bet is on when the gods bestow human intelligence on fifteen dogs confined in cages in a veterinary clinic. The remainder of the novel follows the fortunes of these creatures after they escape from the clinic and encounter a world that they are now able to appreciate and respond to on a higher level. What we encounter as readers is Toronto as seen through the eyes of dogs who think as we do, dogs who learn from their mistakes, cherish their memories, who look forward and back, make plans, seek solace, and try to communicate. Dogs who scheme and plot and who selfishly look for ways to take advantage of weakness in others. The first and possibly the most daunting challenge that Alexis faces is the task of individualizing his animal characters. He responds to this challenge with a deft touch, describing each dog's breed and physical attributes and venturing into their minds and memories and granting us access to past experiences that will influence later decisions. The animal characters are convincing, in the sense that how they respond and behave seems credible within the dramatic context that the author has conjured. The story that Alexis builds is effective and at times deeply moving as the original pack of fifteen is reduced in number by physical limitation, misfortune, poor judgment, age and infirmity, and the malice or neglect of others, until finally only one remains alive. The ramifications of the story are broad and the lesson we take from the book can be almost anything we want it to be. We can talk about compassion or moral choice or creativity or loyalty. But one question above all remains unresolved: is the intelligence we value so highly and which makes us capable of astounding beauty and inconceivable evil a blessing or a curse?