All of these areIPSO FACTO funny, mere mention of
them being enough to raise a laugh. The swell is almost as automatically a figure
offun as the slum-dweller.
A feware genuinely witty, in a Max Millerish style.
Their maniacallogic, in its own setting, is quite convincing.
Chamber pots are ipsofacto funny, and so are public
lavatories.
They are therecords of something completely
meaningless, a nightmare happening in avoid. No woman ever remained
unmarriedvoluntarily.
Whether youallow yourself to be influenced by him
is a different question.
Itwill not do to condemn them on the ground that
they are vulgar and ugly.
When you read the second sentence in this passage,
your natural impulseis to look for the misprint. Even Mr Upward would not claim that
a writer needs nothing beyond aMarxist training. Acertain number produced since the
war treat evacuation from theanti-evacuee angle.
Even the whales own movements wouldprobably be
imperceptible to you.
Countless post cards showdraggled hags of the
stage-charwoman type exchanging unladylike abuse. The passive attitudewill come
back, and it will be more consciously passive than before. Neither of these applies
toTROPIC OF CANCER. Typical caption: Did they get an X-ray of your wifes jaw at
thehospital?
His lastbook, TROPIC OF CAPRICORN, I have not even
read.
Your second impression, however, is of
indefinablefamiliarity.
And along those lines, apparently, it isstill
possible for a good novel to be written.
After the bombs and thefood-queues and the
recruiting-posters, a human voice!
The whales belly is simply a womb big enoughfor an
adult. Whether youallow yourself to be influenced by him is a different question.
Presumably there is a not left out, orsomething.
Remembering that, one sees whatfunction these post
cards, in their humble way, are performing. Examples:I like seeing experienced girls
home. A feware genuinely witty, in a Max Millerish style. A storm that would sink
all the battleships in the world wouldhardly reach you as an echo. Your second
impression, however, is of indefinablefamiliarity.
But it appears that to writesuccessfully about such
a world you have got to believe in it.
Millers books are published by the Obelisk Press in
Paris.
It is probably not a coincidence thatthe best
writers of the thirties have been poets.
The first part of thebook, is, more or less, an
evaluation of present-day literature. In hiscase the whale happens to be
transparent. When you read the second sentence in this passage, your natural
impulseis to look for the misprint. Countless post cards showdraggled hags of the
stage-charwoman type exchanging unladylike abuse.
After the bombs and thefood-queues and the
recruiting-posters, a human voice!
Asingle example will be enough to show how this is
done.