Matthew Lynch

Matthew Lynch, more often referred to as Bob, Bobby, Reverend, Dad, hey you, and Whatzhisface, is a stay at home dad and former sailor who now practices translation and freelance philosophy. He had a degree in English at one point, but doubts that it is still valid. His interest in languages began with a strong desire to understand why everything sounded better in French. Between bouts of drinking, jabbering, wandering about, and getting yelled at by various supervisors he studied the works of Rimbaud, Baudelaire, Mallarme, Camus, Gautier, Apollinaire, Guy de Maupassant, Moliere, Voltaire, Hugo, Genet, Malraux, Villon, Rousseau, Chateaubriand, some other dudes, above all Rabelais, and developed working understanding of the language of which the French are rightly proud, to the extent that would often held up one hand when he launched into his limping franglish jibba-jabba and assured him that they understood English and that, by implication he should please stop flaying their ancient tongue in this manner. But with practice he improved. But something was missing. One could never fully grasp the fullness of European cultural heritage without being able to read Goethe in the original. So he undertook the study of German, thinking that through some strange Jungian collective unconscious deal he'd be able to pick of the language of his Baden-Württembergian ancestors with something approaching ease. That was sheer nonsense of course. Seems the Germans like their language as they like their machines-- over-engineered to %110 efficiency. But he perseveres, and has even ventured into Russian, which is a beautiful, insanely complex tongue. The author hopes to attain a Russian third grade language proficiency by the age of 90 or so. In the meanwhile he does the cooking for his hardworking wife and tries to explain the apparent absurdities of the world to his two sons, but as it turns out those absurdities are real as well as apparent, so it is a lost cause. As an ordained Reverend, he also thinks it important to keep up with Neoplatonic philosophy by listening to audiobooks online, for which he would like to thank those folks who seem to be able to talk for five hours and more without taking a sip of water. And while there is no doubt that Neoplatonism leaves the door open to magical concepts, what with the sylphs, salamanders, demons, and nymphs etc., the author has made few experiments in that direction, not least of all because as a Reverend he would have to drag himself before himself with accusations of witchcraft, which would be unseemly. And as the Ancients said it is important to balance a healthy body with an unbalanced mind, the author undertakes daily exercise to which he adds the soothing art of knife throwing and combative use of the cane, which skills he assumes may sometimes be necessary in a world gone mad, for as Paracelsus sagely observed: "Eines andern knecht soll Niemand sein/der für sich bleiben kann allein."