Reading

I finally got around to finishing The Unbearable Lightness of Being. I seem to have developed a very bad habit in recent years: I tend to start a book, make it half-way or even three-quarters of the way through, and then put it down. I would bet that I have six books laying in my room right now for which that is the case. As I finished the book last night, I felt a sense of accomplishment that made me want to finish up some of the other books I've started. Perhaps I need to stay away from the internet and focus more on reading something that I can hold in my hands.

I enjoyed Unbearable Lightness. At times I thought it was quite simply brilliant. The points made by storytelling were much better delivered than those as told by the author when he would stop the story to insert his own words and ideas directly. The philosophical issues of what it is that makes life worth living were certainly interesting. The fact that they were often delivered in a Catholic context made the points only somewhat less relevant.

It occurred to me as I was finishing the book that I had a professor in college who failed me by not instructing me to include this book in the context of a major paper that I wrote. I don't remember the exact details of my thesis, but it had much to do with the concept of philandering as a process of self-discovery or as a path to truth or something like that. I believe the four main texts that I drew from were Molière's Don Juan, Shaw's Mrs. Warren's Profession and Candida, as well as Nietzche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Kundera's characters Tomas and Franz would have been valuable additions to my paper.

In college, I was particularly taken by a speech that Molière's Don Juan gives to Sganarelle, his valet. I can easily imagine Kundera's Tomas delivering this same speech. I typed the monologue up and taped it to my wall. I printed out copies and handed them to any male friend who would take one. I am certain that this only added to others' perception of me as peculiar. I have posted that speech here. Stu will remember this; others who know me will see the irony of my favorite speech being so disparate from my actual love life; the rest of you will probably see me as just a bit more peculiar.

Jonathan 9/21/2004 10:40:00 AM