It takes some time to get used to the formal voice of the narrator, but this is one of those literary comedies that are comic precisSurprisingly good!
It takes some time to get used to the formal voice of the narrator, but this is one of those literary comedies that are comic precisely because it is also tragic. Gripping narrative that engages with big philosophical life questions and punctuated with laugh-out-loud funny moments as well as deep human insight. Started reading side by side with Grace Paley's short story collection, but I enjoyed this far more than Paley's book (though it's an unfair comparison, like comparing apples and oranges, but still, I'm a sucker for a good old-fashioned story like the one De Vries weaves).
Will definitely read more of De Vries's works—highly recommended if you can get past the rather old-school formal voice of the narrator.
Quotes:
"Dr. Simpson, do you believe in a God?" ... It took me some years to attain his mood and understand my blunder. He resented such questions as people do who have thought a great deal about them. The superficial and the slipshod have ready answers, but those looking this complex life straight int he eye acquire a wealth of perception so composed of delicately balanced contradictions that they dread, or resent, the call to couch any part of it in a bland generalization. The vanity (if not outrage) of trying to cage this dance of atoms in a single definition may give the weariness of age with the cry of youth for answers the appearance of boredom. (111)
"It seemed from all of this that uppermost among human joys is the negative one of restoration: not going to the stars, but learning that one may stay where one is." (164, recalling Schopenhauer)
"The greatest experience open to man then is the recovery of the commonplace. Coffee in the morning and whiskeys in the evening again without fear. Books to read without that shadow falling across the page..." (166)
"We live this life by a kind of conspiracy of grace: the common assumption, or pretense, that human existence is 'good' or 'matters' or has 'meaning,' a glaze of charm of humor by which we conceal from one another and perhaps even ourselves the suspicion that it does not, and our conviction in times of trouble that it is overpriced—something to be endured rather than enjoyed" (215)
"Two people can't share unhappiness" (219)
"Blessed are they that comfort, for they too have mourned, maybe more likely the human truth" (246)
"Again the throb of compassion rather than the breath of consolation: the recognition of how long, how long is the mourners' bench upon which we sit, arms linked in undeluded friendship, all of us, brief links, ourselves, in the eternal pity" (246)...more
Old Cantankerous, the only play we have almost all lines intact of, was a disappointment, as it felt like an immature work, but other plays, though frOld Cantankerous, the only play we have almost all lines intact of, was a disappointment, as it felt like an immature work, but other plays, though fragmented, presented a MUCh mature and master playwright in control of his craft. Quite frustrated that those really interesting plays (like The Girl from Samos, The Arbitration, The Rape of the Locks, and delightfully promising The Double Deceivers didn't survive the ravages of time in whole and are badly fragmented....more
Out of the four plays contained here, I liked Lysistrata the best. I might read other translations of that particular play too. The Clouds was meh, anOut of the four plays contained here, I liked Lysistrata the best. I might read other translations of that particular play too. The Clouds was meh, and The Birds was actually not as bad as I thought from reading the description of it. But The Frogs was lost to me, probably because it's mainly about the technical styles of Euripides and Aeschylus—both of whom I read, like YEARS ago. ...more
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