“It seems appropriate that a man who does not know what to do with the woman in his bed should not know what to write.”
“Or perhaps it is the case that only that which has not been articulated has to be lived through.”-Waiting for the Barbarians
Forgive me if the picture offends you. One must love what is nearest. One must love what is to hand, as a dog loves.
-Age of Iron
Fascism, in Musil’s analysis, was a reaction against the challenges of modern life – principally industrialization and urbanization – for which the German people were unprepared, a reaction which then grew into a revolt against civilization itself.
-The Man with Many Qualities
Reading has the potential of becoming a kind of dream experience giving access to a common human unconscious, the site of language and of Ideas.
-Inner Workings (Robert Walser)
A volatile and fickle voting public captivated by surface rather than substance – Tocqueville foresaw the danger long ago – might in 1940 as easily have fallen for the aviator hero with the simple message as for the incumbent with the proven record.
-Inner Workings (Philip Roth, The Plot Against America)