Reading 1001 discussion

6. On page 313, Julia says, “Charm is the great English blight. It does not exist outside these damp islands. It spots and kills anything it touches. It kills love; it kills art; I greatly fear, my dear Charles, it has killed you.” What does she mean by this? What is it about the conventions of the time that feel so deadly?

I would say charm is only superficial you cannot fall in love with charm and if you do, you discover that it is not what you thought.

I wonder if superficiality is only part of it. I think there is also an aspect of artificiality as well. Charm is an artificial niceness that is neat and orderly, divorced from the messiness and untidiness of life. But perhaps it is in the messiness of life (and love and art) that one finds meaning, that makes it great. Whereas charm stifles.