tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-200177861013445343.post8786529735862036460..comments2023-09-14T01:03:30.922+01:00Comments on The Thirsty Gargoyle: Perennial Problems in Shelving BooksThe Thirsty Gargoylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07555762505933950270noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-200177861013445343.post-8552808159454033312011-08-29T16:08:36.860+01:002011-08-29T16:08:36.860+01:00But what light does Wodehouse point to? A prelapsa...But what light does Wodehouse point to? A prelapsarian illumination established by banishing darkness from the outset? The illumination of prelest? The Bible and Shakespeare offer unlimited food for thought, you can strike up a conversation with them, enter into an ongoing dialogue that might lead to somewhere completely new. One can admire Wodehouse and Mozart, but their companionship is Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-200177861013445343.post-17464367026746541602011-08-25T02:45:09.653+01:002011-08-25T02:45:09.653+01:00Hmmm. Well, am I allowed to have the Bible and Sha...Hmmm. Well, am I allowed to have the Bible and Shakespeare too? Assuming I'm not, and that I'm to be struck like that fellow with the works of Dickens, in truth, I'm not sure. <br /><br />I've not read a lot of Waugh -- <i>Brideshead Revisited</i>, <i>A Handful of Dust</i>, <i>Helena</i>, and his biography of Ronald Knox. I have seven other books by him scattered about, but I'The Thirsty Gargoylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07555762505933950270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-200177861013445343.post-86630069468179423042011-08-25T01:51:19.226+01:002011-08-25T01:51:19.226+01:00Fair enough. Still, I'm curious. If you were e...Fair enough. Still, I'm curious. If you were exiled and allowed the works of Waugh only or Wodehouse only, which would you choose? And why?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-200177861013445343.post-73864537791552255982011-08-24T14:28:49.463+01:002011-08-24T14:28:49.463+01:00There seems a certain irony in picking Waugh as an...There seems a certain irony in picking Waugh as an author with whom one would happily spend one's time on a desert island, given the scenario he paints in <i>A Handful of Dust</i>, where a lifetime trapped with Dickens is presented as a truly infernal fate. I'm not sure that a lifetime with <i>any</i> one writer would be fun!<br /><br />It may be significant that the classic question of The Thirsty Gargoylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07555762505933950270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-200177861013445343.post-22757099712484457122011-08-24T02:45:18.619+01:002011-08-24T02:45:18.619+01:00Yes but if one were sent to the proverbial desert ...Yes but if one were sent to the proverbial desert island and allowed only to take the fiction of any one writer, I doubt if anyone would seriously take Wodehouse over Waugh. Wodehouse’s work is perfect, but in a closed, fully developed way. A closed finitude; not open to, or leading beyond itself. Waugh, on the other hand, perhaps lacks the same degree of internal balance and harmony and Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com