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“Writing, he'd come to see, was the spiritual disease of which it considered itself to be the cure;”
― Darconville's Cat
― Darconville's Cat
“I am the twentieth century. I am the ragtime and the tango; sans-serif, clean geometry. I am the virgin's-hair whip and the cunningly detailed shackles of decadent passion. I am every lonely railway station in every capital of Europe. I am the Street, the fanciless buildings of government. the cafe-dansant, the clockwork figure, the jazz saxophone, the tourist-lady's hairpiece, the fairy's rubber breasts, the travelling clock which always tells the wrong time and chimes in different keys. I am the dead palm tree, the Negro's dancing pumps, the dried fountain after tourist season. I am all the appurtenances of night.”
― V.
― V.
“How can one not feel enthusiasm for the man who never said anything vague?”
― Monsieur Teste
― Monsieur Teste
“Ordinary persons, he said, smiling, found no differences between men. The artist found them all.”
― Darconville's Cat
― Darconville's Cat
“A sense of humor is a serious business; and it isn't funny, not having one. Watch the humorless closely: the cocked and furtive way they monitor all conversation, their flashes of panic as irony or exaggeration eludes them, the relief with which they submit to the meaningless babble of unanimous laughter. The humorless can programme themselves to relish situations of human farce or slapstick — and that's about it. They are handicapped in the head, or mentally 'challenged', as Americans say (euphemism itself being a denial of humour). The trouble is that the challenge wins, every time, hands down. The humorless have no idea what is going on and can't make sense of anything at all.”
― The War Against Cliché: Essays and Reviews 1971-2000
― The War Against Cliché: Essays and Reviews 1971-2000
Women and Men
— 236 members
— last activity Jul 07, 2026 11:24PM
Women and Men began as a reading group for Joseph McElroy's masterpiece. It has developed into All Things McElroy. We have chapter threads for discuss ...more
Alexander Theroux Ville
— 118 members
— last activity Jan 07, 2026 03:01PM
The Theroux revival continues. This group counts as a village forum for discussing the works of Alexander Theroux. Both scholars and the naive and cur ...more
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