For the first time, she saw that the virtue of marriage as an institution lay in its public character. Private cohabitation, long continued, was, she concluded, a bore. Whatever the coziness of isolation, the warm delights of having a secret, a love affair finally reached the point where it needed the glare of publicity toContinue reading “RKS American Literature: The Gossip Value of Divorce (Mary McCarthy)”
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RKS American Literature: Time to Move the Affair to the Next Level (Mary McCarthy)
Eventually, however, her reluctance to wound her husband and her solicitude for pride were overcome by an inner conviction that her love affair must move on to its next preordained stage. The possibilities of the subterranean courtship had been exhausted: it was time for the Announcement. She and the Young Man began to tell eachContinue reading “RKS American Literature: Time to Move the Affair to the Next Level (Mary McCarthy)”
RKS American Literature: Deception in Extramarital Relationships (Mary McCarthy)
But with the extramarital courtship, the deception was prolonged where it had been ephemeral, necessary where it had been frivolous, conspiratorial where it had been lonely. It was, in short, serious where it had been dilettantish. That it was accompanied by feelings of guilt, by sharp and genuine revulsions, only complicated and deepened its delights,Continue reading “RKS American Literature: Deception in Extramarital Relationships (Mary McCarthy)”
RKS American Literature: Extra-Marital Affair vs. Engagement (Mary McCarthy)
…yet she knew that being a potential divorcee was deeply pleasurable in somewhat the same way that being an engaged girl had been. In both cases there was at first a subterranean courtship, whose significance it was necessary to conceal from outside observers. The concealment of the original, premarital courtship had, however, been a mereContinue reading “RKS American Literature: Extra-Marital Affair vs. Engagement (Mary McCarthy)”
RKS Travel (Travels in Greece): Why So Many Headless Statutes in Greece? (Patricia Storace)
“We honored our statues as representing excellence and divinity-but we have also at times violently hated our own art. Statues like my namesake (Aura), for instance, and like many others that will never be found, are not just headless because of accidents, but because they were attacked by angry Christians, or by the emperor’s troopsContinue reading “RKS Travel (Travels in Greece): Why So Many Headless Statutes in Greece? (Patricia Storace)”
RKS Travel (Travels in Greece): Athens the Munich of the Mediterranean? (Patricia Storace)
Under the Ottomans, whose most significant cities remained Constantinople and Thessaloniki, as they had been for the Byzantines, Athens metamorphosed into a provincial Turkish village. Otto and his Bavarian architects set out to rebuild it-few houses were left standing after the years of the War of Independence, so they had a remarkably blank canvas, inContinue reading “RKS Travel (Travels in Greece): Athens the Munich of the Mediterranean? (Patricia Storace)”
RKS British Literature: Nothing but a Common, Naked and Unadulterated Snob Terrorized by His Commoner Fortune (W. Somerset Maugham)
He was not a timid snob, a little ashamed of being impressed by his betters, nor a snob that sought the intimacy of persons who had acquired celebrity in politics or notoriety in the arts, nor a snob who was dazzled by riches, he was the naked, unadulterated common snob who dearly loved a lord.Continue reading “RKS British Literature: Nothing but a Common, Naked and Unadulterated Snob Terrorized by His Commoner Fortune (W. Somerset Maugham)”
RKS British Literature: A Good Sportsman and the British Upper Classes (W. Somerset Maugham)
“Oh yes, he’s very popular. He’s just the sort of fellow they would like in Kuala Solor. I haven’t got much use for the first-rate sportsman myself. What does it amount in the long run that a man can play golf and tennis better than other people. And who cares if he can make aContinue reading “RKS British Literature: A Good Sportsman and the British Upper Classes (W. Somerset Maugham)”
RKS British Literature: A Well Connected First Rate Sportsman or a Rotten Bounder? (W. Somerset Maugham)
“By the way,” he said presently, “did you meet a lad Hennerley? He’s come out recently, I believe.” “Oh yes, he’s in the police. A rotten bounder.” “I should hardly have expected him to be that. His uncle is my friend Lord Barraclough. I had a letter from Lady Barraclough only the other day askingContinue reading “RKS British Literature: A Well Connected First Rate Sportsman or a Rotten Bounder? (W. Somerset Maugham)”
RKS British Literature: Maintaining Proper British Pride in the Colonies (W. Somerset Maugham)
“When I lived in London I moved in circles in which it would have been just as eccentric not to dress for dinner every night as not to have a bath every morning. When I came to Borneo I saw no reason to discontinue so good a habit. For three years, during the war, IContinue reading “RKS British Literature: Maintaining Proper British Pride in the Colonies (W. Somerset Maugham)”
