Evanston: bittersweet; thanks
Evanston: bittersweet; thanks
Unlike David Malouf’s Ovid I have not been saved from “comfortable securities” by “a clear stroke of fortune.” No Roman Emperor has sent me into exile, so I am exiling myself. Yet doing so is bittersweet. While I am comfortable here, I can easily live without those comforts; but I will miss living with Carol. There are parts of our lives that fit together; and parts that don’t. Thus far we’ve been able to accommodate them all. I am fortunate in my old age.
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The article “On Becoming an Old Sailor” has resulted in more of you emailing me than any other that has appeared since this site went up in August 2006. Many of you identified with the piece. Many offered good wishes for my coming voyage and appreciation for past writing. Some offered useful information about medical treatment. Dupuytren’s Contracture is more common than I expected. The Vikings have a lot to answer for. (If you don’t understand that and can’t get a copy of the March issue of CRUISING WORLD, I will post the article on the main site in a month or two.)
I have thanked all those who wrote personally, but would like to do so again publicly. I like to believe that I would live as I do if no one knew, but that does not mean that I don’t appreciate your kind words. Thank you.
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I finished reading David Malouf’s COLLECTED STORIES yesterday. Most are set in Australia; many in or near Brisbane, where he grew up. Almost all are very good; many excellent. Unfortunately the one I liked least is the last in the book and has left a bad lingering aftertaste. A few, including one of those I liked best, “Towards Midnight,” are set in Europe. In it a woman, who has cancer, living in a villa in Italy, hears a man swimming laps in her pool each night around midnight. That really is about all there is to it, proving once again that synopses are useless. Style is everything. And David Malouf is an intelligent, subtle writer.
I’ll read most of these stories again when I return to Evanston.
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Gone.
Saturday, March 1, 2008