I’m almost exactly in the middle of reading Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis. It’s a book I’ve wanted to read for some time, but since it’s long, it’s a classic, and it’s from the early 20th century (copyright 1925, I believe) I needed to push myself to start on it. I never read anything by Lewis before, though I had an English teacher in high school who raved about him as a master satirist of middle America.
After having attempted several authors labeled “satirists” from that era, I approach them very reluctantly nowadays. To me, satire has to be either funny, scathing or both. I took a course in satire in college. We read Voltaire, Vonnegut, Swift, Nathanael West. The first three were both funny and scathing, while West was just vicious. That, to me, is satire. Stories full of subtle, irreverent digs at everyday life may be called satire, but to me they’re usually just dull.
I tried Babbitt, one of Lewis’ more famous works (even though Arrowsmith was his Pulitzer Prize) one summer during high school, and either I didn’t get it, or I just didn’t care. Either way, I was bored.
Perhaps I’m more mature (doubt it), more worldly (even more dubious), or just better able to see the forest for the trees when it comes to America in all its glory and, more often, its folly. But I’m loving Arrowsmith! Lewis is indeed scathing, and the last chapter I read I laughed out loud three times. I’m pretty jaded, so it takes some doing to make me laugh out loud. Three times in a single chapter of a book written eighty years ago is pretty phenomenal.
As much as I’m enjoying the book, I don’t know if I’m going to rush out to the library and check out Babbitt or Elmer Gantry. Maybe Dodsworth one of these days, and even less likely Main Street, since it’s apparently more of the same of life in the quasi-bustling metropolis of Zenith that failed to grab my interest in Babbitt (yes, it came two years earlier), but given that Lewis’ bibliography is a lot longer than I’d ever realized, I can see giving at least one or two others a try, eventually.
Still, after the current one, I may have to indulge in a couple of what I call “mind candy mysteries,” books that are quick and easy reads without a lot of literary substance. I’d say I probably read four to six of those for every piece of real “literature” I tackle.
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In other news (that was news?), the Sunday New York Times Magazine has an interesting feature on the current state of decline of the radical Christian right. I’d like to believe it offers hope to those of us interested in resuscitating our democratic republic here, but nothing seems to energize the right wingnuts like hearing that they’re starting to lose some of their power. In any case, here it is, in relatively easy-to-read format: The Evangelical Crackup
After having attempted several authors labeled “satirists” from that era, I approach them very reluctantly nowadays. To me, satire has to be either funny, scathing or both. I took a course in satire in college. We read Voltaire, Vonnegut, Swift, Nathanael West. The first three were both funny and scathing, while West was just vicious. That, to me, is satire. Stories full of subtle, irreverent digs at everyday life may be called satire, but to me they’re usually just dull.
I tried Babbitt, one of Lewis’ more famous works (even though Arrowsmith was his Pulitzer Prize) one summer during high school, and either I didn’t get it, or I just didn’t care. Either way, I was bored.
Perhaps I’m more mature (doubt it), more worldly (even more dubious), or just better able to see the forest for the trees when it comes to America in all its glory and, more often, its folly. But I’m loving Arrowsmith! Lewis is indeed scathing, and the last chapter I read I laughed out loud three times. I’m pretty jaded, so it takes some doing to make me laugh out loud. Three times in a single chapter of a book written eighty years ago is pretty phenomenal.
As much as I’m enjoying the book, I don’t know if I’m going to rush out to the library and check out Babbitt or Elmer Gantry. Maybe Dodsworth one of these days, and even less likely Main Street, since it’s apparently more of the same of life in the quasi-bustling metropolis of Zenith that failed to grab my interest in Babbitt (yes, it came two years earlier), but given that Lewis’ bibliography is a lot longer than I’d ever realized, I can see giving at least one or two others a try, eventually.
Still, after the current one, I may have to indulge in a couple of what I call “mind candy mysteries,” books that are quick and easy reads without a lot of literary substance. I’d say I probably read four to six of those for every piece of real “literature” I tackle.
***********************************************
In other news (that was news?), the Sunday New York Times Magazine has an interesting feature on the current state of decline of the radical Christian right. I’d like to believe it offers hope to those of us interested in resuscitating our democratic republic here, but nothing seems to energize the right wingnuts like hearing that they’re starting to lose some of their power. In any case, here it is, in relatively easy-to-read format: The Evangelical Crackup
2 comments:
i'm reading this book called "a complaint free life" which i plan to blog about whenever i get a second. hearing my colleagues and friends' reactions to the fact that i am trying this is a great part of the fun. they can't even believe anyone would want to try it, but it's a mental challenge for me.
but it occurs to me it would be a lot harder habit for *some* personalities than others (no! who?).
i double dog dare you to try it for a week! it's SO HARD. and i guess that's the point.
Not a chance, Lara Sue! Nice try on the double-dog-dare, though. From my humble P.O.V., a "complaint-free" life doesn't mean you're happier, just that you're causing yourself additional stress by suppressing your true feelings.
If I had to pick my top pet peeves (a.k.a. complaints), high among them would be people who claim to think only positive thoughts. To me, these are shallow people with limited capacity who, because they don't want to be bothered having to do anything about the problems of the world or even those around them, they don't even want to be bothered having to think about said problems.
So that's my fulminatory reaction that you can add to your list of friends' comments.
And yes, I'm a f***ing Type-A personality who can't even imagine a life devoid of complaint, and the free spirits who ridicule and/or pity me can go f*** themselves, with a smile, of course.
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