The Open Window by Saki – author of The Unbearable Bassington https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-unbearable-bassington-by-hh-munro.html - included on The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list - 9 out of 10

 

The Open Window by Saki – author of The Unbearable Bassington https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-unbearable-bassington-by-hh-munro.html - included on The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list

 

9 out of 10

 

I am reading again some of my favorite short stories, written by Somerset Maugham https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/05/the-man-with-scar-by-somerset-maugham.html and Flannery O’Connor

 

Along with these two magicians, I am taking on a collection of tales that has Anton Chekhov https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/05/a-country-cottage-by-anton-chekhov.html and now, Saki, with a ghosts story

I am not into ghosts, therefore this story did not really resonate, nevertheless, it is much better to go through three pages (does this qualify it for a flash story, I wonder) and say hm, than spend days with this subject

 

Gigolo and Gigolette is a Somerset Maugham story that impressed yours truly, because Gigolette, the woman character is extremely courageous, talented, she jumps to in a scary show into very shallow water, which is set on fire, and her life is at peril, not just once, but twice every night, until she loses her stamina

One night, a former celebrity visits, she was ‘The Human Canon Ball’, only nobody remembers her, or her act, so this serves as a reminder of the futility, the short life shelf of fame, the public was infatuated, until they just stopped caring, and now she is not celebrated, this is what awaits Gigolette, whose death is expected

 

This is called Hedonic Adaptation, and we find the phenomenon described in a classic of psychology, Stumbling On Happiness https://realini.blogspot.com/2013/06/stumbling-on-happiness-by-david-gilbert.html by Harvard Professor Daniel Gilbert, who looks at the illusory nature of happiness, and the myths

We think we will be happy if we moved to California, Pacific or Caribbean Islands, however, once we moved there – this has been studied in practice, with those who have made the change – we find that the palm trees, waves of the ocean disappear, or we get used to them, and then we start noticing the traffic jams, negative aspects

 

The Man With The Scar is another tale finished recently, in which we have a fellow that had been sentenced to death – that always sends me to Fyodor Dostoyevsky, one of the greatest writers, who has been condemned as well, and lived to see his last three minutes, until he was pardoned, or maybe it was just a ruse of the czar all along

 

Fyodor Dostoyevsky writes in his magnum opera about the last moments before dying, how we would rather live on a bare rock, in the middle of the ocean, than go to the other side – https://realini.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-brothers-karamazov-by-fyodor.html hence the connection with Seneca

Seneca wrote that we have enough time, life is not short, if only we do not waste the most precious commodity, which we tend to treat with carelessness, as if we had infinite quantities, so there is a need for intensity, Carpe Diem, Memento Mori, the febrile act which The Man With The Scar commits is…a murder

 

The Verger is less tragic, albeit the beginning may announce a drama, if not tragedy, for we have this middle-aged Verger who is pushed off, the new vicar finds that the man cannot read or write, and feels there is no room for an illiterate employee, it could be dangerous, though the old vicar had had no problem with this

We could expect that the Verger, left without a job, and illiterate, could face starvation, destitution, whereas he ahs an idea, as he walks down the street, after he is fired, he wants to smoke – this is more than a century ago, when they had that vile habit, not that it has disappeared completely – but there is no shop selling tobacco

 

Ergo, he opens one, then another, and becomes a successful businessman, the banker sees the amount of money he has deposited, and feels he should suggest an investment, only The Verger asks about how will he know the details, and he is told he could read about it, and so serenely he says he could not, which shocks the banker https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/05/the-verger-by-somerset-maugham-another.html

From Flannery O’Connor, I have started reading again A Good Man Is Hard To Find, the story that gives the name to a collection, the second is The River, and I will continue with the rest, the first tale has an outré villain, apart from The Misfit, I was disturbed by…the grandmother, a most unlikely negative role for an old lady

 

She wants the family to visit this place, which she ahs confused, and they stumble into The Misfit, a killer who has a few equally vicious companions, and as if her role in getting her son, his wife and children into this danger was not enough, she says ‘I recognize you, you are The Misfit’, and her son knows instantly this is serious trouble

Indeed, the villain sends first the father to be executed, then his wife and children, and I know the old lady was not really aware of what she had done, but this situation is original, we do not see grandmothers in this context https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/05/a-good-man-is-hard-to-find-by-flannery.html

 

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

 

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

 

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”