As in "life is too short to spend time reading bad books." Recently, and twice, I've been suckered into reading things that "everybody's reading." Both books had a spiritual bent - the first is Eat Love Pray, which I found so completely tiresome that I gave up not even halfway through the first part. The second is not The Alchemist, but The Witch of Portobello by the same author -- Paulo Coehlo. I tried The Alchemist and couldn't get past the first chapter. I thought I'd try Witch because it purports to be about "the feminine side of divinity." If so, the feminine face is tedious when not irritating. Maybe a good deal is lost in translation, but the book is larded with the worst kind of pretentious claptrap that I've encountered in along time.
Which led me to wonder: Why is it so difficult to write persuasively about spirituality and the inner life of spiritual people? The best book I know about a spiritual conversion is The Razor's Edge by Somerset Maugham. I think I like it because Maugham doesn't tell the story from the point of view of the converted, a man named Larry, but rather tells a story about how Larry's faith affects the people around him for good and for ill. It's not a treacly, hectoring lecture from A Teacher or The Sage or My Protector filled with hoary exhortations about "unconditional love" and "being true to yourSelf" disguised as a novel. It's a real novel about believable people dealing as best they can with an untenable situation -- and the reader gets it. Why is that so hard?
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Art is the dynamic edge between the conscious and the unconscious. It is [the] position of transcendental awareness.
—Richard Pousette-Dart
Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose. —Helen Keller
Eccentricity has always abounded when and where strength of character has abounded; and the amount of eccentricity in a society has generally been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigor, and moral courage which it contained. That so few now dare to be eccentric, marks the chief danger of the time. —John Stuart Mill, On Liberty
Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes. —Carl Jung
—Richard Pousette-Dart
Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose. —Helen Keller
Eccentricity has always abounded when and where strength of character has abounded; and the amount of eccentricity in a society has generally been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigor, and moral courage which it contained. That so few now dare to be eccentric, marks the chief danger of the time. —John Stuart Mill, On Liberty
Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes. —Carl Jung
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6 comments:
You make me want to read The Razor's Edge again. I read it as a teenager, and thought it was a tad pretentious, but then again, I was just a cynical kid with no life experience.
My opinions don't matter though, because blogging has destroyed my ability to read fiction, the book that changed that is unbelievably embarrassing to admit- Twilight, yep, it was awful and totally addictive and please, creative writing teacher lady don't hate me for my bad taste. It will pass.
You need to write that book yourself Melanie (in between all the other stuff you are doing!) Seldom do I find books that touches the mark in the way I am looking for. I suppose we are searching for confirmation of our own thoughts in the writings of others when in truth we are perfectly capable of describing it ourselves. N'est pas?
Ellen, I have no qualms about reading for pleasure -- it's supposed to be pleasurable. For myself, I am quite addicted to the cozy mystery genre. Razor's Edge is a little creaky now, having been written in 1944, and by Maugham (not the world's greatest stylist), but I like it. Sometimes I like books for what the author reaches for more than for what he was able to achieve.
David, I think my trouble with this late rash of books in the "spiritual" vein is that they fail to tell me something I didn't already know -- and are so doggone sanctimonious about it.
I think I'm done writing books. It's not a great pleasure.
When people mention The Alchemist in earnest tones and with shiny eyes, mine glaze over. It's nice if you're fifteen.
What do you think of Walker Percy -
You ploughed on further than I did with Mr. Coelho!
I tend to be erratic in my reading these days, according to mood and inclination. Researching one subject oftens sidetracks me to another!
And of course one my favorite books (that deserves a re-visit since it's been years) is Of Human Bondage. Perhaps I should include The Razor's Edge and do a Maugham theme.
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