The way things really are

Miss Lonelyhearts is a book about what's really happening out there. Most of the people inhabiting this planet are blessed by the evolution with a cognitive bias which allows then not to concentrate on the "negative". Nathanael West, as well as his protagonist known in the book by his "pen name" Miss Lonelyhearts are both denied this blessing. They see things the way things really are. Which is, according to the "depressive realism" concept is the correct way to see the reality.

The protagonist, Miss Lonelyhearts, works for a newspaper. His work is to read letters by the newspaper subscribers, and based on them to write a newspaper column giving advice and providing support and counseling to the readers in their difficult situations. The problem with Miss Lonelyhearts is that he's so much depressed by unspeakable human suffering he encounters in the letters and life around him that he can't in earnest give any advice or consolation his readership expects from him.

In fact, the only advice he can give to his readers is suicide, but his editor says that his job is to increase the subscriber base, not to decrease it. This is an example of dark humor characteristic of Nathanael West. The book abounds with this type opf humor. It's also very poetic, and philosophical. The central chapter, "Miss Lonelyhearts in the Dismal Swamp", explains the terrible bind Miss Lonelyhearts finds himself in, both with his newspaper job - and with his life itself. West's power as a poetic prose writer and philosopher is especially clear in this chapter.

The events in this small book steadily take turn from bad to worse, and the protagonist, trying to emphasize with his readers' suffering, is murdered in the end by the crippled husband of one of the readers, who forces herself on Miss Lonelyhearts as a lover while he can't spare himself neither from her advances nor from her husband's friendship which eventually turns to violent hatred.

"Miss Lonelyhearts" should be compared with "The Loved One" by Evelyn Waugh, they have many similar characters and parallel plot developments, even though they're very different and compliment each other in many ways. "The Loved One" actually has certain common themes with another West's novel, "The Day of the Locust", too.

West was a very powerful writer, this can be clearly seen in "Miss Lonelyhearts", as well as in "The Day of the Locust". Both deserve to be much better known, but, probably, they're to dark and unsympathetic towards American public (and humanity in general) to enjoy wider recognition. Amazon

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о привычках

Когда женщина привыкает к определенному мужчине, она начинает его хотеть. Когда мужчина привыкает к определенной женщине, он начинает хотеть другую. © не я

Clinton Defends

Clinton Defends Criticism of Israeli Housing Plans
"defends criticism" - what a fucking newspeak.

The Kiss

Henri de Toulouse Lautrec
baiser

Is Barack Obama an Intellectual?

I’ll even stipulate that Barack Obama is probably better read than Sarah Palin. - bostonboomer

Health Care to Millions

"Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress; but I repeat myself." Mark Twain.

House Approves Landmark Bill to Extend Health Care to Millions my ass

Limbourg brothers in Met

The Art of Illumination - Limbourg Brothers' Belles Heures in Metropolitan. All pages, or most of them, exhibited, with an excellent commentary. Ностальгическая выставка, напоминает маленькую книжку братьев Лимбургов, которую я купил за полтора рубля лет эдак 40 тому. Померли все трое от чумы вместе с Jean de Berry (1340–1416), Patron of Art.

Эухенио Мерино

по поводу правой посольство Израиля в Мадриде, говорят, уже заявило официальный протест. no shit!

healthcare reform

пожалуй, надоела мне не меньше, чем в свое время продовольственная программа.

Geopolitics of Oil

As a result, Saudi Arabia exported more oil to China than to the United States last year. ...falling dependence of the United States on Saudi oil could turn into a problem for the Saudis, because the United States guarantees their security in the Persian Gulf. - China’s Rapid Growth Shifts the Geopolitics of Oil

танец с саблями

передают по wqxr. полностью охуели, в десятом часу вечера?!?!

и много еще

середина марта

  

на дороге в конце января

  

если видиш на картине...

"давным давно, на первом курсе ещо, была у нас история искусств. сам предмет- жутко интересный, но препод - говно,какое днем с фонарем не отыщеш." за изо © californian_bi4

Подстрочник

Лунгина, Лилианна Зиновьевна... близко к тексту: папа после революции оказался в партии, и его послали с мамой в Смоленск заведующим народным образованием. В партии было мало людей с высшим образованием, и он как-то был знаком с Луначарским, поэтому его скоро перевели в Москву, мы жили в огромной коммунальной квартире на Сретенке.

в нашей комнате был камин, в котором сохли куклы. "черный хлеб был совершенно несъедобный", поэтому из него мама делала кукол.

интересно, что бы про все это сказал Бунин...

подстрочник

У Топорова в ФБ разговор о книге Лунгиной.

и эти люди...

"В молодости я взял себе за правило не пить ни капли спиртного до обеда. Теперь, когда я уже немолод, я держусь правила не пить ни капли спиртного до завтрака." - говорят, Черчилль. и правда он: "When I was younger I made it a rule never to take strong drink before lunch. It is now my rule never to do so before breakfast."

еще разное в тему

вариации

где нужно всласть употребить...

еще смешных новостей

Contractors Tied to Effort to Track and Kill Militants - кто бы мог подумать. собственно, в этом духе и комментируют. "What a surprise! Rogue elements in a out of control rogue not-so-superpower. A 20% unemployment rate; crumbling infrastructure; escalating debt and a totally corrupt government and judiciary dancing on the tunes of corporate powers."

ах какие циничные американцы!

и продолжение про Израиль: ''It's hard to see how spending a weekend condemning Israel for a zoning decision in its capital city amounts to a positive step towards peace,'' said Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan. He complained that the administration was attacking a ''staunch ally and friend'' when it should be focusing on the threat posed by Iran's nuclear problem. - US Israel Criticism Ignites Firestorm in Congress