Sackville-West, Vita. (1931). All Passion Spent.
It is inescapable that this book is about the female condition, having been written by a woman about a woman’s life that was shaped largely by her being female. The argument that Vita Sackville-West was writing a feminist expression of frustration at a male-dominated world is therefore pretty hard to deny; that sentiment is present, but I don’t think it is the main point, which I see as the fact that an artist sees the world differently, and to be true to herself, must make choices that are neither understood nor appreciated by those around her. Also that artists are not able to live their lives purely true to themselves, at least not if they care about other human beings.
“The rift between herself and life was not the rift between man and woman, but the rift between the worker and the dreamer. That she was a woman, and Henry a man, was really a matter of chance (p. 164).”
This can of course be broadened out away from the artistic vocation to any passionate dream that is incompatible with one’s expected path in life, with the values of one’s larger society. Deborah, in her youth, felt passionately that she wanted to be a painter, but instead found herself becoming Lady Slane, model wife, mother and hostess.
The story is told largely through the lens of an elderly Lady Slane looking back on her life of enviable worldly riches and privilege, but with regrets at her unachieved sense of a greater, purely personal purpose.
At first it seemed odd to me that a book about living a life against one’s youthful dreams and hopes, revisited and regretted in old age, was written by a thirty-eight year old novelist, because I typically think about these themes as belonging to adolescence. But I realized that the story isn’t old from the fearful and uber-tragic perspective of youth, and it isn’t written with the resignation of the “very incarnation of placidity” of an older person. It is the middle-aged artist who dreamt up this tale, who remembers the youthful ideals and is painfully aware of the world’s impositions upon them, yet who is still seeking (hoping) for a way to that ideal life. Suddenly I relate to the book. Lady Slane’s life, as different from mine as one could be, becomes my life. This is one of the traits of a great story, that however different from you, you relate to the central character, become the central character as you are reading.
The book works because it does not have the hot language and movement of youthful emotions, but very carefully considered ideas and a mature vocabulary. Its humor works because the joke is rooted in a sense of justice, that artistic sensibilities will win out, that pettiness will end with its just rewards.
The book shows us that old age as a human condition; it gives power, dignity and freedom to the elderly. It presents multiple older characters who live the way they want, who no matter what else they have done in their lives, deserve the joy and quirkiness at this stage of life. It does so without sentimentalizing old age or painting a maudlin portrait. Its ending connects the young and old, and shows that no matter our age, we are all alike in our passions.
Twitter etiquette is evolving, but common sense always rules
On twitter, posts are limited to 140 characters and are known as tweets. From searching around reading various posts, I have come up with what I think makes an interesting tweet:
Some good blogs on twitter:
Michael Jackson died today. I am reminded of finding out that he had been severely burned while filming a Pepsi commercial. It was 1984, I was nine, and in the car with my father on the way to the old Home Depot in College Park, GA, when I heard the news on the radio. I remember being affected by this news far more profoundly than any other news I have ever gotten. I became obsessed with Michael Jackson.
I kept imagining that he was in the room with me: I had to look in my closet, could not sleep with the closet door open. I would look behind curtains when entering a room and had to open the shower curtain immediately upon entering the bathroom to make sure he wasn’t there.
Like so many others, I had found so much power and beauty in his Thriller album, a power that carried so much weight because I owned so few records at the time. I found in those songs a part of who I wanted to be, or at least who I could dream to be. Michael’s accident was the first time in my life I had confronted a very mortal event happening to someone I had idolized.
It is odd that this experience made me feel he was present with me, even physically around me. I was afraid of that presence, I think because I felt that if something so horrific could happen to Michael Jackson, something could happen to my dreams as well.
I always especially liked the infectious beat of “Wanna Be Starting Somethin’,” and only recently have decided that “Human Nature” to be one of my favorite pop songs of all time. Years later I had many adolescent fantasies of crushes on classmates listening to “The Way You Make Me Feel,” imagining myself the suave singer and dancer expressing my love and lust for someone.
And just as at nine I idolized Michael Jackson to the point of unhealthy obsession, I cannot imagine what life becomes like when millions of people are similarly obsessed, when so many people feel so intensely connected to you, inspired by you and feel some kind of ownership of you. It must be, ironically, a very lonely place. And for Michael, especially since he achieved that state at so early an age, and continued there for the rest of his life.
His eccentricities I sympathized with, his interactions with young boys I agonized over with disgust and pain. His inability to relate to the world as others did made me sad more than anything. But his life as a real person really has never had meaning for me– it is his music that has held power over me for so long.
Majumdar, Simon (2009). Eat my globe: one year to go everywhere and eat everything. New York: Free Press. ISBN: 978-1-4165-7602-0
Just what I’ve been craving. An adventurous food book! A British blogger from a family where food is the primary, or it seems only, past time, finds himself turning forty. It is not surprise that his great mid-life crisis causes him to act on his life goal to “go everywhere and eat everything.” The resulting book is as eclectic as the world’s food cultures.
His schedule for the “year” (p.13):
Part travelogue, part global food profile, part wacky adventure story, the book is full of unexpected bits about food culture (Icelanders are obsessed with hot dogs?) And the book proves the best part of enjoying food is sharing it with others. The people he meets as he travels around the globe are as interesting as the foods he describes. In fact, I wish there were more descriptions of both people and food. Not that the book lacks either, but Majumdar’s style is so familiar, I just want more courses.
I’m not a big follower of popular music, but somehow Rob Thomas’s voice and lyrics speaks to me. It is great to hear a male singer with a strong voice who expresses both vulnerability and strength through music at the same time. He ahs a new album coming out June 30 called “cradlesong,” and the entire album is available to preview free on rhapsody (some kind of music listening service that I have not used before, but which allows enough free plays to hear the whole thing). The link to the album rhapsody http://www.rhapsody.com/robthomas.
This album has a range of different sounds and themes, mostly of course keeping with the Rob Thomas signatures of melancholy angst about difficulties in love, but musically diverse. Several of the tracks remind me of a couple of Phil Collins albums from the 1990s (“Both Sides,” “…But Seriously.” Other points in the album remind me of early alternative music, and some solid rock is there too. I like the multiple influences on this album, it gives layers to it and I think will make for enjoyable multiple listening.
Track Highlights:
2. “Gasoline,” Classic, solid Rob Thomas song.
3. “Give Me the Meltdown,” retro and fresh at the same time, with rock/funk themes and a snappy, quick-paced hook.
4. “Someday,” mellow, polished ballad that, like much of Rob’s work, grows on you and sounds better the more you listen. For me it is the depth of meaning; the more you listen, the more you relate personally to the songs.
6. “Real World ’09,” clearly an updated reference to the 1998 Matchbox Twenty song of the same name– this song is less iconic but more mature and enjoyable nonetheless.
8. “Hard on You,” has definite fuink influences, okay lyrics but interesting sound that carries it.
11. “Snowblind,” enjoyable, reminds me of the “alternative” music I listened to in high school in the early 90s.
12. “Wonderful,” is probably my favorite song on the album, its lyrics and music are sometimes representing different moods at once, and it heightens the overall effect.
13. “Cradlesong,” has strong lyrics, the kind of writing that makes me appreciate Rob Thomas as a poet.
