We've read the same amount of Fitzgerald- my other besides the ubiquitous Gatsby is This Side of Paradise. I remember liking his prose but finding what he did with it not really my style, but that was years ago now, who knows. I've never checked out Art of Darkness, I'll have to!
Yeah, they're fun. The implicit thesis is my own evil one: the artist's problematic life is part of the text, there for the reader's entertainment and enrichment vis-a-vis the possibilities of human nature. Not that they don't rouse themselves to denounce the odd iniquity (Burroughs's pedophilia, Lovecraft's cat's name, etc.)
Sounds fascinating! As you probably know I don’t completely agree with that thesis, but all the same barring a few saintly exceptions you don’t get genius (or life at all) without some bad behavior, and there’s no sense in pretending otherwise.
Ha I didn’t read carefully and thought you and Sam were pod guests, and I kept waiting...
We've read the same amount of Fitzgerald- my other besides the ubiquitous Gatsby is This Side of Paradise. I remember liking his prose but finding what he did with it not really my style, but that was years ago now, who knows. I've never checked out Art of Darkness, I'll have to!
Yeah, they're fun. The implicit thesis is my own evil one: the artist's problematic life is part of the text, there for the reader's entertainment and enrichment vis-a-vis the possibilities of human nature. Not that they don't rouse themselves to denounce the odd iniquity (Burroughs's pedophilia, Lovecraft's cat's name, etc.)
Sounds fascinating! As you probably know I don’t completely agree with that thesis, but all the same barring a few saintly exceptions you don’t get genius (or life at all) without some bad behavior, and there’s no sense in pretending otherwise.
some great mysterious joy going on somewhere in all this
Thanks, that was just what I had in mind!