Finished

Sep. 25th, 2017 01:47 pm
thisnewday: (Default)
[personal profile] thisnewday
Well, I did it. I've just finished Mrs. Dalloway. And found it quite extraordinary. Intricate, complex, moving. Above all, moving. Especially at the end, where Peter Walsh is talking with Sally Seton and has not yet had his promised, after-party talk with Clarissa.

Sally, becoming anxious to leave, gets up to talk to Clarissa's husband Richard and Peter says that he will join them.

                                                           "I will come," said Peter, but he sat on for a moment. What is this
                                                            terror? what is this ecstasy? he thought to himself. What is it that
                                                            fills me with extraordinary excitement?

                                                            It is Clarissa, he said.

                                                            For there she was.


What an ending!

And so I think that now, with a couple of days remaining before the LPL book club meets, I'm going to re-read these last few pages, because so much is shared in them between Peter and Sally.

And because what remains unspoken, as it moves across the page in their respective steams of consciousness, is so heartfelt and moving and because I did rush through it with such uncontrolled fervor, such irresistable momentum.

That first time through, I think, was for a basic understanding of events; the second time will be for a fuller and more complete engagement of the heart. 

For as Sally says to Peter, as she's getting up to say goodnight to Richard, "What does the brain matter... compared with the heart?"

LPK
Dreamwidth
9.25.2017

Date: 2017-10-01 10:06 pm (UTC)
rosegardenfae: (Default)
From: [personal profile] rosegardenfae
While you are doing your "guy things" I am studying what you wrote above. When I respond I want to be prepared, ya know, like maybe I still got some smarts somewhere in this old brain. Because I don't feel Peter's unhappiness. He's lost maybe, confused maybe,immature, sure. But is he unhappy? I'm not convinced. As with all of us who don't fit the current societal definition of what being is, he's uncomfortable and unfulfilled, but not defeated yet.

Egads, I may have to reread it, just to reassure myself. hah

One thing I just learned is that Springsteen actually did sing "Born to Be Wild." I had always associated it with Steppenwolf lol
Edited Date: 2017-10-01 10:16 pm (UTC)

Profile

thisnewday: (Default)
thisnewday

March 2026

S M T W T F S
123456 7
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031    

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Mar. 15th, 2026 02:40 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios