20 January 2024 Media

The Alien Corn (story) by W. Somerset Maugham. (kindle).

This is a subtle story about a young man who dreams of being pianist but, after years of practicing, he comes to realize his hands will never be able to perform at a world class level; British anti-Semitism and the rigid class structure are also factors.

Two lines I took note of:

1. Your ear is not quite perfect. I don't think you can ever quite hope to be more than a very competent amateur. In art the difference between the amateur and the professional is immeasurable.
2. ... she wanted George to marry a gentile, but she knew that so long as she was alive neither Freddy nor his wife would dare to suggest it.

I am about halfway through Eileen Simpson's Poets in Their Youth. I expect to finish the book in a couple days. The people she describes -- John Barryman, Randall Jarrell, Robert Lowell, Delmore Schwartz -- were quite the fascinating poets in the middle of the twentieth century.

Today my book of the month came in from Politics and Prose. Unfortunately, I bought and read Ed Park's Same Bed Different Dreams in December. I expect I should be able to exchange the book for something else soon.