RKS British Literature: Natural Courage and a Sudden Influx of Money (Thomas De Quincey)

“…that vast power and possessions make a man shamefully afraid of dying: and I am convinced that many of the most intrepid adventurers, who by fortunately by being vey poor, enjoy the full use of their natural courage, would, at the very instant of going into action news were brought to them that they has unexpectedly succeeded to an estate in England of £50,000 a year, feel their dislike to bullets considerably sharpened-and their efforts at equanimity and self-possession proportionally difficult. So true is it in the language of a wise man whose own experience made him acquainted with both fortunes, that riches are better fitted-

To slacken virtue, and abate her edge

Than tempt her to do aught may merit praise

Parad, Regained

Thomas De Quincey, “Confessions of an English Opium Eater”, 1822.

RKS British Literature: The World as a Stage is Badly Cast (Oscar Wilde)

“Actors are so fortunate. They can choose whether they will appear in tragedy or in comedy, whether they will suffer or make merry, laugh or shed tears. But in real life it is different. Most men and women are forced to perform parts for which they have no qualifications. Our Guildensterns play Hamlet for us, and our Hamlets have to jest like Prince Hal. The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast.”

Oscar Wilde, “Lord Arthur Saville’s Crime”, 1891

RKS British Literature: Who Are the Opium Eaters in England? (Thomas De Quincey)

“Reader, I am sorry to say, a very numerous class indeed. Of this I became convinced some years ago by computing at that time, the number of those in one small class of English society (the class of men distinguished for talents, or of eminent station), who were known to me, directly or indirectly, as opium-eaters; such for instance, as the eloquent and benevolent ——, the late dean of ——–; Lord ——; Mr ——–, the philosopher; a late under-secretary of state (who described to me the sensation which first drove him to the use of opium, in the very same words as the dean of ——-, viz. ‘that he felt as though rats were gnawing and abrading the coats of his stomach’); Mr —— and many others, hardly less known, whom it would be too tedious to mention.”

Thomas De Quincey, “Confessions of an English Opium Eater”, 1822.

RKS British Literature: A Philosopher’s Reflection on Opium (Thomas De Quincey)

“I may affirm that my life has been on the whole, the life of a philosopher; from my birth I was made an intellectual creature: and intellectual in the highest sense of my pursuits and pleasures have been, even from my school-boy days. If opium eating be a sensual pleasure, and if I am bound to confess that I have indulged in it to an excess, not yet recorded of any other man, it is no less true with a religious zeal, and have, at length, accomplished what I have never yet attributed to any other man-have untwisted, almost to its final links, the accursed chain which fettered me.”

Thomas De Quincey, “Confessions of an English Opium Eater”, 1822.

RKS CANADIAN WHISKY: Bearface Elementally Aged Triple Oak Canadian Whisky

A single grain Canadian Whisky matured in ex-bourbon oak barrels then aged in French red wine oak barrels and new Hungarian oak and with select barrels matured in repurposed shipping containers “exposed to the elements in the Canadian wild in our extreme northern climate…” “Bearface appeals to “adventure loving” whisky drinkers and bartenders”.

Aroma: Apricot, honey, marmalade and a smidge of vanilla.

Palate: Orri tangerine, caramel with lingering spicy finish.

Overall: Simplistic perhaps best suited to cocktails.

Price: $40 CDN.

Hand it to the marketing. As it’s Canadian play up “bears”, “wild” and “adventure”. Well sounds more appealing to some large whisky factory in Windsor, Ontario?

RKS CANADIAN WHISKY RATING 69/100.

Bearface Elementally Aged Triple Oak Canadian Whisky, Bearface Spirits, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, 750 mL, 42.5%).  

RKS British Literature: What is So Revolting to Englanders (Thomas De Quincey)

“Nothing, indeed, is more revolting to English feelings, than the spectacle of a human being obtruding on our notice his moral ulcers or scars, and tearing away that ‘decent drapery’, which time, or indulgence to human frailty, may have drawn over them: accordingly; the greater part of our confessions (that is, spontaneous and extra-judicial confessions) proceed from demireps, adventurers, or swindlers: and for any such acts of gratuitous self-humiliation from those who can be supposed to be in sympathy with the decent and self respecting part of society, we must look to French literature, or to that part of the German, which is tainted with the spurious and defective sensibility of the French.”

Thomas De Quincey, “Confessions of an English Opium Eater”, 1822

RKS Literature: Bozo the British Beggar Comments on the Cremation He Saw in India (George Orwell)

“Have you ever seen a corpse burned? I have, in India. They put the old chap on the fire, and the next moment I almost jumped out of my skin, because he started kicking. It was only his muscles contracting in the heat-still it gave me a turn. Well, he wriggled around a bit like a kipper on hot coals, and then his belly blew up and went off with a bang you could have heard fifty yards away. It fair put me against cremation.”

George Orwell, “Down and Out in Paris and London”, 1933.

RKS Literature: The Salvation Army and Stench of Charity in England (George Orwell)

“Since then I have slept in a number of Salvation Army shelters, and found that, though the different houses vary a little, this semi-military discipline is the same in all of them. They are certainly cheap, but they are too like workhouses for my taste. In some of them there is even a compulsory religious service once or twice a week, which the lodgers must attend or leave the house. The fact is that the Salvation Army are so in the habit of thinking themselves a charitable body that they cannot even run a lodging-house without making it stink of charity.”

George Orwell, “Down and Out in Paris and London”, 1933.

RKS Japanese Literature: Japanese Pecker Nationalism Falls Flat! (Akiyuki Nosaka)

“What the hell are you doing? You’re numbah one, aren’t you? Come on. Show the American. That huge thing is the pride of Japan. Knock him out with it! Scare the shit out of him!

It was a matter of pecker nationalism: his thing had to stand, or it would mean dishonour to the race. Toshio almost wanted to take the man’s place, his own thing was now taut and ready. Noticing this, he glanced at Higgins’ crotch, but nothing was happening there.

‘Yosi-chan, what’s wrong’ the agent cried out, unable to contain himself after nearly half an hour’s struggle.

Lying on his back, too exhausted even to sit up, the man answered hoarsely, ‘I’m sorry, this has never happened before. I don’t know what to say.”

Akiyuki Nosaka, “American Hijiki”

RKS Japanese Literature: American Soldiers Nothing Like the Spindly British General Percival Who Surrendered Singapore (Akiyuki Nosaka)

“Maybe General Percival was an exception, because the soldiers I was looking at had arms like roof beams and hips like millstones, and underneath trousers that glowed with a sheen our civilian uniforms never had, you could see their powerful buttocks. I had been granted beginner’ s status in the Martial Arts Society and I knew how to trip up the biggest lugs in school, but I could never do a thing to these American soldiers. What a magnificent build they had. No wonder Japan lost the war. Why were we fighting these giants to begin with?”

Akiyuki Nosaka, “American Hijiki”