3-102
Other O Ideas: Oligarchy, One and Many, Opinion
Summary: Memento Mori
Bonus: Sure, I'll use that as the bonus too.
Commentary: Coming into this blind, I remember reading about some guy who claimed he was emperor of California or something, so I'm hoping that's what it's about. (It's not.)
He was firmly convinced that he was fully entitled to rest, to pleasure, to prolonged and comfortable travel, and to not a little else besides. For such a conviction he had his reasons—that, in the first place, he was rich, and, in the second, that he was only now beginning to live, despite his eight and fifty years. Until now he had not lived, but had merely existed—not at all badly, it is true, but nevertheless, putting all his hopes on the future.
It's really easy to merely exist (not at all badly). I think it require a conscious, and sometimes exhausting, effort to avoid it.
Despite being almost half a century newer than T5FSOB, there are a lot more slurs in here.
I've written about this style a few times (it seems to have been more popular in the past) where this is less a story, and more a summary or story about a story. The family rushes from one place to another in paragraphs that give us some minor highlights, and then we're on to something else with little relation. It's a whirlwind world tour, in the most pointless possible way.
Two thirds of the way through the titular Gentleman dies, and the story shifts into a (very slightly) more concrete narrative. Not really worth waiting to get there though.
Rating: 1/5 Not really a story.
I'm thankful for being the opposite of dead.
Sad to read of someone who at the age of 85 "was only now beginning to live, despite his eight and fifty years. Until now he had not lived, but had merely existed—not at all badly, it is true, but nevertheless, putting all his hopes on the future"
ReplyDeleteI too am thanksful for being the opposite of dead and that I do not feel as though I am merely existing.
Visiting from A to Z https://anneyoungau.wordpress.com/