Archive for April 2014
No MeowMeowBeenz for Malcolm
Yesterday, ‘Malcolm Lowry’ posted the following paragraph from Under The Volcano on ‘his’ Twitter feed @malcolmlowry:
‘The Consul felt a pang. Ah, to have a horse, and gallop away, singing, away to someone you loved perhaps, into the heart of all the simplicity and peace in the world; was not that like the opportunity afforded man by life itself? Of course not. Still, just for a moment, it had seemed that it was.’
I think that’s beautiful. Having just looked it up, I can tell you it comes from Chapter Seven of Under The Volcano, one of my favourite books on the original List of Betterment. ‘Malcolm’ was obliged to split the paragraph across three successive Tweets; I retweeted all three immediately, struck by their cumulative beauty and truthfulness. No one favorited or retweeted my retweets. By the rules of Twitter, this must mean that Under The Volcano is crap – no MeowMeowBeenz for Malcolm, who has even fewer followers than I do.
Meanwhile, do you know what the most popular retweeted quote of all time is on Twitter? It is ‘Don’t worry, be happy‘, attributed to Bobby McFerrin.
‘Don’t worry, be happy‘. Is that not the opportunity afforded man by life itself? Of course not. Still, just for a moment, it had seemed that it was on Twitter.
QED. Malcolm wins!
Houellebecq speaks my mind
From Whatever:
‘Writing brings scant relief. It retraces, it delimits. It lends a touch of coherence, the idea of a kind of realism. One stumbles around in a cruel fog, but there is the odd pointer. Chaos is no more than a few feet away. A meagre victory, in truth.
What a contrast with the absolute, miraculous power of reading! An entire life spent reading would have fulfilled my every desire; I already knew that at the age of seven. The texture of the world is painful, inadequate; unalterable, or so it seems to me. Really, I believe that an entire life spent reading would have suited me best.
Such a life has not been granted me.’
On blogging
The last time I tried keeping a blog it didn’t really work. After a hard day’s writing, I found it difficult to relax and unwind by doing some more writing, especially when I didn’t have anything I wanted to write about. But this time will be different.
That is all. For now.