I have little recollection of Mountolive from my first reading in the early 1970s except for it having been narrated in a more usual semi-omniscient third-person manner--a method most often used in standard novelistic prose of the day. But you're revamping of some of the themes is done masterfully and I am sure due to multiple readings. I haven't yet read your Balthazar reflection, wanting to save it until I've re-read the tome myself, but I'm still at work on re-reading Justine and it's slow going due to the many demands on my time (full-time work and private practice on the side; rehearsing and performing in two bands; embarking on a study of philosophy following your very helpful syllabus, and exploring self-psychology through reading of several object-relations psychoanalytic therapists, all of which is challenging but enjoyably so. As a one-time PhD student of literature and criticism, I'm impressed with the fluency of your reflections and very proud that you are taking the Decade Project so heart-warmingly serious(ly). I may hesitate to read your Clea reflection until I have caught up and can shed a more contemporary-to-my-me-now insight than trying to recall my 50 years ago impressions, which are faint indeed.
Thanks for this comment. I enjoyed our recent visit immensely, and it's pretty clear we can't wait nearly as long before the next one. I can hardly wait to hear your thoughts upon finishing Justine.
I have little recollection of Mountolive from my first reading in the early 1970s except for it having been narrated in a more usual semi-omniscient third-person manner--a method most often used in standard novelistic prose of the day. But you're revamping of some of the themes is done masterfully and I am sure due to multiple readings. I haven't yet read your Balthazar reflection, wanting to save it until I've re-read the tome myself, but I'm still at work on re-reading Justine and it's slow going due to the many demands on my time (full-time work and private practice on the side; rehearsing and performing in two bands; embarking on a study of philosophy following your very helpful syllabus, and exploring self-psychology through reading of several object-relations psychoanalytic therapists, all of which is challenging but enjoyably so. As a one-time PhD student of literature and criticism, I'm impressed with the fluency of your reflections and very proud that you are taking the Decade Project so heart-warmingly serious(ly). I may hesitate to read your Clea reflection until I have caught up and can shed a more contemporary-to-my-me-now insight than trying to recall my 50 years ago impressions, which are faint indeed.
Thanks for this comment. I enjoyed our recent visit immensely, and it's pretty clear we can't wait nearly as long before the next one. I can hardly wait to hear your thoughts upon finishing Justine.