Monday, 27 December 2010
UNEXPECTED ?
He was forever bashing out bitter letters to his publishers and his agents, complaining about perceived slights to his authorial dignity. When he finally threatened to leave Knopf, his editor Robert Gottlieb was only too happy to show him the door. “Let me reverse your threat,” he wrote to Dahl. “Unless you start acting civilly to us, there is no possibility of our agreeing to publish you. Nor will I—or any of us—answer any future letter that we consider to be as rude as those we’ve been receiving.
“Imagine a number of men in chains, all under sentence of death, some of whom are each day butchered in the sight of the others; those remaining see their own condition in that of their fellows, and looking at each other with grief and despair await their turn. This is an image of the human condition.”
HOUELLEBECQ
I hadn’t seen any novel make the statement that entering the workforce was like entering the grave. That from then on, nothing happens and you have to pretend to be interested in your work.
INTERVIEWER
According to the narrator in Whatever, “one hates the young.”
HOUELLEBECQ
That’s the other part of the trap. The first is professional life, the fact that nothing else is going to happen to you. The second is that now there’s this person who will replace you and who will have experiences. This leads to the natural hatred of the father for his offspring.
INTERVIEWER
The father and not the mother?
HOUELLEBECQ
Yes. There is some kind of physiological and psychological change in a woman when she gets pregnant. It’s animal biology. But fathers don’t give a shit about their offspring. Hormonal things occur, things that no culture can do anything about, that generally make women like children and men basically not give a damn.
I hadn’t seen any novel make the statement that entering the workforce was like entering the grave. That from then on, nothing happens and you have to pretend to be interested in your work.
INTERVIEWER
According to the narrator in Whatever, “one hates the young.”
HOUELLEBECQ
That’s the other part of the trap. The first is professional life, the fact that nothing else is going to happen to you. The second is that now there’s this person who will replace you and who will have experiences. This leads to the natural hatred of the father for his offspring.
INTERVIEWER
The father and not the mother?
HOUELLEBECQ
Yes. There is some kind of physiological and psychological change in a woman when she gets pregnant. It’s animal biology. But fathers don’t give a shit about their offspring. Hormonal things occur, things that no culture can do anything about, that generally make women like children and men basically not give a damn.
Saturday, 25 December 2010
Friday, 5 November 2010
Sunday, 1 August 2010
A bit of truth that is too heavy to put anywhere other than somewhere that people don't read
After my ex-boyfriend's brother killed himself, my ex asked me one thing.
"Don't let me take cocaine anymore."
I agreed, but said there was little I could do.
"I know it killed him," he said.
I knew too.
Everyone knew.
"Just please help me," he said.
And I said I would.
For the next three days, a small crew of us hung out at the house, then he got a phone call and had to go and choose a coffin. My ex said he would call me after. I went to buy food and flowers. He never called. The next day I called him. He answered the phone quiet and slurring.
"Gems?" he said. "I've been up all night."
He had gone to meet Lily and Robbie (Allen and Furze). The first thing they had done was pick up coke and take him out on a bender.
Never had an honest conversation with him since.
"Don't let me take cocaine anymore."
I agreed, but said there was little I could do.
"I know it killed him," he said.
I knew too.
Everyone knew.
"Just please help me," he said.
And I said I would.
For the next three days, a small crew of us hung out at the house, then he got a phone call and had to go and choose a coffin. My ex said he would call me after. I went to buy food and flowers. He never called. The next day I called him. He answered the phone quiet and slurring.
"Gems?" he said. "I've been up all night."
He had gone to meet Lily and Robbie (Allen and Furze). The first thing they had done was pick up coke and take him out on a bender.
Never had an honest conversation with him since.
Saturday, 17 July 2010
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DUST TO DUST
FUNK TO FUNKY
WE ALL KNOW MAJOR TOM'S A JUNKIE.
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FUNK TO FUNKY
WE ALL KNOW MAJOR TOM'S A JUNKIE.
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