SLL’s unofficial movie critic, Richard Hobby, has a brilliant essay that hits upon both the cinematic and literary. From Hobby at thosewholovemecantakethetrain.substack.com:
“If thou hast eyes to see . . . “
—Othello Act 1 Scene 3
“You know I hate, detest, and can’t bear a lie, . . . because it appalls me. There is a taint of death, a flavour of mortality in lies—which is exactly what I hate and detest in the world—what I want to forget. It makes me miserable and sick, like biting something rotten would do. Temperament, I suppose.”
—Charles Marlow in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness
Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, and Raymond Chandler’s The Little Sister are the exact same story.
1 Heart of Darkness
Charles Marlow—an Englishman—goes on a tortured journey up river in the heart of Africa to find a man named Kurtz.
The jungle is gloomy and endless and dangerous. No wondrous life-giving rain forest here.
“Land in a swamp, march through the woods, and in some inland post feel the savagery, the utter savagery, had closed round him—all that mysterious life of the wilderness that stirs in the forest, in the jungles, in the hearts of wild men. There’s no initiation either into such mysteries. He has to live in the midst of the incomprehensible, which is also detestable. And it has a fascination, too, that goes to work upon him. The fascination of the abomination—you know, imagine the growing regrets, the longing to escape, the powerless disgust, the surrender, the hate.”
But did Conrad write his novella to warn people that this was not a great place for a vacation? I think not.
A great Sunday morning read – thank you for posting.
I can’t say more as it will only demonstrate my lack of literacy – at least that deficiency bonds me with the majority so no loneliness for me!