"What it means to be alive today" reminds me of the title of the Anthony Trollope novel, The Way We Live Now which I read many years ago and think it may be time to revisit. I found this quote about it in Goodreads (apparently from his autobiography)“Nevertheless a certain class of dishonesty, dishonesty magnificent in its proportions, and climbing into high places, has become at the same time so rampant and so splendid that there seems to be reason for fearing that men and women will be taught to feel that dishonesty, if it can become splendid, will cease to be abominable. If dishonesty can live in a gorgeous palace with pictures on all its walls, and gems in all its cupboards, with marble and ivory in all its corners, and can give Apician dinners, and get into Parliament, and deal in millions, then dishonesty is not disgraceful, and the man dishonest after such a fashion is not a low scoundrel. Instigated, I say, by some such reflections as these, I sat down in my new house to write The Way We Live Now. And as I had ventured to take the whip of the satirist into my hand, I went beyond the iniquities of the great speculator who robs everybody, and made an onslaught also on other vices;--on the intrigues of girls who want to get married, on the luxury of young men who prefer to remain single, and on the puffing propensities of authors who desire to cheat the public into buying their volumes.”
The Chekhov quote is beautiful, but as someone oscillating between Mumbai and Delhi, I’m dreading this year’s May. Having said that, I often mull over a sentence from the afterword of Immigrant, Montana: "I have always wanted to be in love; all I have managed to do is tell a story." I am a writer—or rather, I try to be—and this sentence maybe suffices as an explanation for why. Thank you.
It happens I have read both your novels and Katie's. I've never been 'political' but I think those 3 books cracked something open in me. And of course, the rampant destruction currently ongoing. I'm afraid my daily observations would be immensely profane. Better late than never. Thank you for the gift.
“Language is the river where all writers come to drink water at dawn and then again at dusk.” What a line! 🌻
"What it means to be alive today" reminds me of the title of the Anthony Trollope novel, The Way We Live Now which I read many years ago and think it may be time to revisit. I found this quote about it in Goodreads (apparently from his autobiography)“Nevertheless a certain class of dishonesty, dishonesty magnificent in its proportions, and climbing into high places, has become at the same time so rampant and so splendid that there seems to be reason for fearing that men and women will be taught to feel that dishonesty, if it can become splendid, will cease to be abominable. If dishonesty can live in a gorgeous palace with pictures on all its walls, and gems in all its cupboards, with marble and ivory in all its corners, and can give Apician dinners, and get into Parliament, and deal in millions, then dishonesty is not disgraceful, and the man dishonest after such a fashion is not a low scoundrel. Instigated, I say, by some such reflections as these, I sat down in my new house to write The Way We Live Now. And as I had ventured to take the whip of the satirist into my hand, I went beyond the iniquities of the great speculator who robs everybody, and made an onslaught also on other vices;--on the intrigues of girls who want to get married, on the luxury of young men who prefer to remain single, and on the puffing propensities of authors who desire to cheat the public into buying their volumes.”
great quote but depressing that it's still relevant. It was published in 1875.
The Chekhov quote is beautiful, but as someone oscillating between Mumbai and Delhi, I’m dreading this year’s May. Having said that, I often mull over a sentence from the afterword of Immigrant, Montana: "I have always wanted to be in love; all I have managed to do is tell a story." I am a writer—or rather, I try to be—and this sentence maybe suffices as an explanation for why. Thank you.
It happens I have read both your novels and Katie's. I've never been 'political' but I think those 3 books cracked something open in me. And of course, the rampant destruction currently ongoing. I'm afraid my daily observations would be immensely profane. Better late than never. Thank you for the gift.
Wish I could come to this event! Sounds absolutely wonderful. Will be in residency, sending wishes from afar.
Enjoy your residency, dear friend. No Substack reading!