Yay for Pope’s Iliad! In our culture of fragments and feeds, great relief to be had in a writer who rounds it all up. And am personally (unfashionably) partial to a rhyming couplet.
Bennett is right about the clerk. The claim worth testing is the other one, that perceiving cause and effect makes a man large-hearted. Work out why someone became what he is and contempt gets difficult to hold. I have watched that happen many times and it is never a decision anyone makes. The understanding arrives and the contempt has already gone. Bennett sells it as a route to a more interesting life. It works better as a route out of being sure about people.
I love that essay. Big fan of Bennett in general.
I am enjoying ‘The Old Wives Tale’ v. v. much atm
I read The Old Wives Tale last year and really enjoyed it!
I can not thank you enough. I get to enjoy the best recommendations for reading from your substack. I am thrilled by Arnold Bennett's essay!
Your stack is such a wonderful find; entertaining, enriching, in essence, redemptive.
Yay for Pope’s Iliad! In our culture of fragments and feeds, great relief to be had in a writer who rounds it all up. And am personally (unfashionably) partial to a rhyming couplet.
Bennett is right about the clerk. The claim worth testing is the other one, that perceiving cause and effect makes a man large-hearted. Work out why someone became what he is and contempt gets difficult to hold. I have watched that happen many times and it is never a decision anyone makes. The understanding arrives and the contempt has already gone. Bennett sells it as a route to a more interesting life. It works better as a route out of being sure about people.