Wednesday December 28, 2022

 Another clear, bright sunny day in Washington DC...nippy to begin with, but by the time Joan and I went for a walk in the afternoon through Georgetown it was up to 50 degrees.

No particular reason to commemorate it--a day like dozens of others. For me a day to be filled--apart from our walk and a brief shopping trip--by the usual combination of the long breakfast during which I solve Spelling Bee, at least getting to the genius level, which is my daily aim. Some reading, some crossword solving, a half an hour in the afternoon sitting in a semi-doze, just a light afternoon snack, and now my cup of tea, and a few minutes jotting this down. That's it...

DSC-Writing/Boxing Day

 I am going to try to write something most days, and I doubt if there will be too much about books. But I need the practice: it helps to pass the time: and it improves my two-finger typing.

Last evening we had a major social occasion in Joan's apartment, inviting a number of people from the building with whom we have become acquainted over the years.

There was Katie--works at the Library of Congress as an editor. She is English from a wealthy Jewish family. She married an American diplomat--Stuart--from whom she is separated. He came too, and I am not certain why he was in Washington. Both are in their 'seventies.

There was Warren--88--an ex-professor who focussed on US foreign policy during his career and wrote a major text-book on the history of American foreign policy. With him, his best friend, Carol (they are just very close friends, each with their separate apartments) who is the widow of an academic who headed a well-known school on New York State.

And Barbara--the oldest--early nineties, perhaps. Lawyer, with a very talented son who has made documentary movies and appears with a video show with the Kronos quartet.

Susan..about whom I know very little. She seems to have been an academic and also worked at the Library of Congress. Very out-going and talkative, but entertainingly so.

To complete the eight of us were Joan and me.

And today we had an e-mail from one participant who said how nice it was to be among a group of people that generated such interesting and intellectual conversation.

Joan's preparations had been extensive--lots of finger-food, and central to the drinking--mulled wine. Now we have loads of left-overs to last us several meals.

Renewing My Blog

 After a long period of inaction, I have decided to renew making entries on my blog, and the first book I will write about is "Voss" by the Nobel Laureate, Patrick White--the Australian author.

I had heard that this was a wonderful novel, and certainly a lot of the writing is first-rate. What got me bogged down and led me eventually to give up about 60 pages before the end was what might be called the sub-plot or the parallel story.

In the novel, 'Voss' is the name of a German explorer, and he is modeled on a real-life German who made two exploratory trips in Australia at a time when very little of the interior was known. His second expedition was a failure--he disappeared and it has never been satisfactorily established what happened to him. The major part of the Voss novel is devoted to the progress and the eventual failure of an expedition that sets out from the east coast heading westward.

But prior to Voss's departure from Sydney, he encounters the second major character in the novel--Laura Trevelyan, the niece of a wealthy merchant who is helping to finance the expedition. Some sort of emotional bond springs up between them, and in an exchange of letters early in the expedition they more or less commit themselves to marry.

As the expedition proceeds, Voss seems to establish a some sort of telepathic relationship with Laura--dreaming about her and talking to her--and he is very much on her mind as her life evolves in Sydney. And the details of this life are what I have described above as the parallel story...and they occupy, to my mind, a far too prominent role in the novel and far too many pages.

But get the book, get into it, and focus on the chapters devoted to the actual expedition, which you will undoubtedly enjoy, but--frankly--I would whizz through the pages devoted to Laura Trevelyan's life in Sydney.

There is, of course, no doubt that White is a great writer, and certainly immersion in his prose is a worthwhile experience.