Blogging the Bookshelf » Fiction

Hatred and History – “Disgrace” – J.M. Coetzee

Tim — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 02:11:05 +0000

Halfway home, Lucy, to his surprise, speaks. ‘It was so personal,’ she says. ‘It was done with such personal hatred. That was what stunned me more than anything. The rest was … expected. But why did they hate me so? I had never set eyes on them.’

He waits for more, but there is no more, for the moment. ‘It was history speaking through them,’ he offers at last. ‘A history of wrong. Think of it that way, if it helps. It may have seemed personal, but it wasn’t. It came down from the ancestors.’

Fathers and Daughters – “Disgrace” – J.M. Coetzee

Tim — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 23:41:06 +0000

But he is a father, that is his fate, and as a father grows older he turns more and more – it cannot be helped – toward his daughter. She becomes his second salvation, the bride of his youth reborn. No wonder, in fairy-stories, queens try to hound their daughters to their death!

He sighs, Poor Lucy! Poor Daughters! What a destiny, what a burden to bear!

Contempt – “The Spy Who Came in From The Cold” – John LeCarre

Tim — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 00:28:05 +0000

“You’re wrong,” Liz declared hopelessly; “they’re more wicked than all of us.”

“Because I made love to you when you thought I was a tramp?” Leamas asked savagely.

“Because of their contempt,” Liz replied; “contempt for what is real and good; contempt for love, contempt for…”

“Yes,” Leamas agreed, suddenly weary. “That is the price they pay; to despise God and Karl Marx in the same sentence. If that is what you mean.”

Casual Homophobia – “The Spy Who Came in From The Cold” – John LeCarre

Tim — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 02:45:05 +0000

Tall, with rather curly brown hair; orange tie and pale green shirt; a little bit petulant, a little bit of a pansy, thought Leamas. Could be a schoolmaster, ex London School of Economics and runs a suburban drama club. Weak-eyed.

Hey! I’m ex- LSE – I didn’t realise it used to be a by-word for homophobic slurs!

It’s All Relative – “The Spy Who Came in From The Cold” – John LeCarre

Tim — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 00:20:05 +0000

“I mean, you’ve got to compare method with method, and ideal with ideal. I would say that since the war, our methods—ours and those of the opposition—have become much the same. I mean you can’t be less ruthless than the opposition simply because your government’s policy is benevolent, can you now?”

He laughed quietly to himself. “That would never do,” he said.

Sympathy – “The Spy Who Came in From The Cold” – John LeCarre

Tim — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 04:35:05 +0000

We have to live without sympathy, don’t we? That’s impossible of course. We act it to one another, all this hardness; but we aren’t like that really. I mean … one can’t be out in the cold all the time; one has to come in from the cold… do you see what I mean?

A Dog Lives as Long as its Teeth – “The Spy Who Came in From The Cold” – John LeCarre

Tim — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 02:30:05 +0000

It is said a dog lives as long as its teeth;

Run and Find Out – “The Jungle Book” – Rudyard Kipling

Tim — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 00:05:05 +0000

It is the hardest thing in the world to frighten a mongoose, because he is eaten up from nose to tail with curiosity. The motto of all the mongoose family is “Run and find out,” and Rikki-tikki was a true mongoose.

Tough Love – “The Jungle Book” – Rudyard Kipling

Tim — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 05:17:05 +0000

Better he should be bruised from head to foot by me who love him than that he should come to harm through ignorance,” Baloo answered very earnestly.

Complimenting Children – “The Jungle Book” – Rudyard Kipling

Tim — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 02:57:06 +0000

Now, Tabaqui knew as well as anyone else that there is nothing so unlucky as to compliment children to their faces. It pleased him to see Mother and Father Wolf look uncomfortable.

“The Jungle Book” is one of those books that is a completely different experience to re-read as an adult. It’s like the CS Lewis books, the magic of the fantasy/imagery that you see as a child is almost completely obscured by the feeling of being constantly beaten over the head by strident ideological preaching of a kind that has not aged well at all…