"He was always seeking for a meaning in life, and here it seemed to him that a meaning was offered, but it was obscure and vague." Of Human Bondage
2008-06-04, 10:12 p.m.

Another excerpt from my book that I wanted to share with everyone.

"He seemed to see that a man need not leave his life to chance, but that his will was powerful; he seemed to see that self-control might be as passionate and as active as the surrender to passion; he seemed to see that the inward life might be as manifold, as varied, as rich with experience as the life of one who conquered realms and explored unknown lands"

My sentiments exactly. The author astutely presents three categories of people in this book (there are subcategories to the three categories, but I don't want to write a whole essay on the thing).

1) The artist (under this category lies the wanton philosopher who dies in squalor because of the need to be a starving artist, or bohemian)
2) The practical philosopher
3) The uneducated ninny

The author of course favors choice two, and I've appreciated this book because so do I. I don't quest after money, but nor do I wish to live a life where I waste what little time I have on this planet as do those in group one who have decided that it is of no use to publish or make use of themselves in anyway, because they would be betraying their profession. There is no nobility in confining your art to itself.
As Pearl in "The United States of Leland" so eloquently claimed "You're not a writer unless somebody reads your shit."

Hence, the character of Cronshaw in the novel who dies in the end of chronic alcohol poisoning and cigarettes, dies alone, unhappy, and in his last moments when his friend (the main character) takes care of him and has him come to live in his apartment in a nicer part of town, and sees him off with a decent funeral, an obituary reads that he was unwillingly forced into this situation and wasn't it ironic.

The author also makes a point of how we use talent. He has a character that ends up killing herself because she thinks she is the greatest painter that ever walked the earth, but she sucks and when she finds out how bad she is finally, and realizes she hasn't a cent to her name, and has devoted her whole life to something she can't do, she kills herself.

Chronshaw on the other hand knows how good he is, but never publishes until he is on his death bead. He realizes just how happy he is that he did finally have something published. The reader is left to wonder if despite his high and mighty attitude, if he was really afraid that he poetry was no good all along.

If I've said it once, I've said it a million times. If you have a talent for something then use it. Test the waters. If you find it isn't working than take that at face value, but at least you can say you tried.

The crime comes in when you don't take the signs around you and read them with an open mind, whether it's encouragement or someone telling you to try something else.

There is something to be said for someone who self examines rather than reads out the words of others as genius,
"Thou shalt not worship pop idols or follow lost prophets. . . .
Thou shalt not put musicians and recording artists on ridiculous pedestals no matter how great they are or were.
The Beatles� Were just a band.
Led Zepplin� Just a band.
The Beach Boys� Just a band.
The Sex Pistols� Just a band.
The Clash� Just a band.
Crass� Just a band.
Minor Threat� Just a band.
The Cure� Just a band.
The Smiths� Just a band.
Nirvana� Just a band.
The Pixies� Just a band.
Oasis� Just a band.
Radiohead� Just a band.
Bloc Party� Just a band.
The Arctic Monkeys� Just a band.
The Next Big Thing.. JUST A BAND."
(song by Dan Le Sac. Really good actually)

There is also something to be said for practicality in moderation. I can't stand people who are constantly in the clouds, but nor can I stand people who have no sense of beauty or imagination.

That's why I LOVE mexican/south american/spanish literature such as Isabelle Allende and Gabriel Marquez. Don Quixote anyone?
(in fact the passage excerpted above is the thoughts of the main character in response to a piece of art by a spanish painter)

It mixes real life with the tincture of imagination that makes you look at reality with a new perspective making it just that much more bearable.