I neglected to tell you that he won the Nobel prize in 1970. I'll try to be chronological in the future, but I make no promises.
I wasn't thinking of posting every day, and maybe I won't, but as I was reading last night I wanted to write about the seemingly chaotic exchange that takes place in chapters 7 through 9. These two guys are talking about the deepest questions of mankind -happiness, the meaning of life- in a non-chalant way, like discussing the weather. Now, I don't necessarily agree with their points of view, which are very materialistic, but I recognize the genius of teasing the reader by barely touching upon these issues without really going into them. It leaves you wondering if the storyline will bring you back to that discussion or if it was just like the splash of bright red paint that all abstract paintings seem to have, something to capture your attention. It's as if the writer was saying "look what I'm capable of, so hang on and I'll show you a thing or two".
It is also very interesting how some people might find it hard to find something to believe in, but we all tend to more or less know what we don't believe in. How is that?
A New Era for Shameless Popery
1 year ago
Perhaps it's easier to disbelieve in something and not have to try, than to build upon a belief or a set of beliefs. How is that? Who knows. I don't think I'll ever really understand Humans.
ReplyDeleteCarlos, good post! This weekend, I was listening to the Jeremy Irons-narrated 10-CD audiobook for Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited (I'd highly recommend it, but you look like you've got a pretty good queue already). Anyways, it's exactly like you said: there were all these Catholic themes mentioned really briefly, or hinted at. St. Augustine is quoted, but the speaker can't remember who said it - that sort of stuff. From that point on, I had this nagging "is he going to come back to this?" feeling. Of course, I've read Edmund Campion, Waugh's biography of the Catholic martyr, so I'm listening to this audiobook with an awareness of his Catholic bona fides. Like I said, good post!
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