excerpt of an essay

Just thought I'd put down an excerpt from an online essay I found. Kind of an initeresting point of view. If you want to read the whole thing, it's at http://www.freeessays.cc/db/18/eft144.shtml . Here it is:
There is a sense of darkness and unclearness as one reads along, but have an element of ‘light’ that is present throughout. The ‘light’ in these novels are represented through characters. In Vile Bodies, the story is one of nothingness, meaninglessness. None of the characters have an objective reality, it’s all subjective. The reality is different to each character. There are concessions to nothing outside the self. Their lives are portrayed as wasted, as if there is no other purpose to them than to be part of a society that emphasizes the importance of money and social gatherings, in other words, a social satire. One source of light in this novel is Mrs. Ape and her angels. They serve as a religious element in a world that is existentialism at its’ best.

I thought this was interesting, after the light lecture given in regards to Jacob's Room. Just wondering if there are any other light referneces in the blog that you could find? More strangeness yet to come.

Again, a response that's much too long

Aliza! I totally 100% agree with you. People in this novel are way too detatched. It throws me off. The death of the girl in the hotel room, I think Mike mentioned this, really disturbed me. I mean, everyone just stood around, drinking champagne while a Judge is involved with the very suspicious death of a young girl. Even the police get involved with a 'cover-up' of sorts. Most disconcerting of all is that lack of shock and outrage that follows these events. The lack of emotion around the deaths of their friends also surprised me. When Adam is informing Nina about everything that happened to their compatriots it's like he's telling her about the weather. Her response echoes these sentiments, and the deaths of people who at the beginning are quite prominant and important to the advancements of the plot are disappointing, and even disturbing. Well, I'll leave it there for now. More strangeness yet to come.

Funny characters

I'm going to discuss certain characters that I had forgotten, but that Mike brought back to my attention this morning. The short lived Prime Minister Brown (pages71-76) and the former King of Ruritania (pages 44-53). Both of these chracters are portrayed in an amusing way. Their fall from status is displayed for the reader in such a fashion that it becomes comical. The Prime Minister is seen placed in a situation in which he becomes the 'straight man' to Miss. Runcible's 'funny man'. Although the fact that James Brown loses his position and the respect of the people of England, the responses and reactions that both he and Miss. Runcible are what make this passage so comical. Through the ex-king, his attention to the minor details, such as the stolen pen (48) and his grand imagination, how he thought he'd spend a thousand pounds (53). Perhaps this just goes to show that people in this period, much as like today's society, found other people's misfortunes very amusing. More strangeness yet to come.

Further comment

Just thought I'd add a little to my thought on the war content. The comment on page 175 that I mentioned before was the sentence that made up the second half of the page, and finishing up on page 176. I thought this statement really gave the reader an idea of what Waugh's impression of the people of England during this period might have been, and it wasn't all that flattering. From what I've read it seems to me that Waugh paints a portrait of a flighty, self-indulging generation which not only feeds off of society, but also creates its own destruction. Wowza, loaded sentiment there. Don't know if this is right at all, just a thought. Let me know what you thought about this, and the twist at the end of the novel. It was a good'un. More strangeness yet to come.

Responses

Ok, this should be fairly brief. First, in response to the celb-erazzi, or whatever it is called, that Aliza mentioned in regards to the novel, the biggest shock I got was that although many of the gossip columnists were ostracized (again with the spelling thing), it seemed like everyone jumped at the chance to claim the job for their own. And secondly, in regards to Kim's question, I think a great indication of Waugh's feelings come through in the conversation I mentioned earlier on pages 183-185, specifically "[the younger generation] had a chance after the war that no generation has ever had. There was a whole civilization to be saved and remade-and all they seem to do is to play the fool." (Waugh, 183). Hope that this all makes sense, will post again soon. More strangeness yet to come.

War in the novel

A quick respoonse to Mike. I'm still torn. At times I find the characters quite amusing (the Colonel is a perfect example), but for the most part they tend to be very frustrating and even a little shallow. This is a perfect segway (I know I spelt it wrong, but I don't feel like looking up the correct spelling right now) to my topic of the day. Although I have yet finish the novel (less than a hundred pages left) I think I may be coming to grips with the question that was bothering me for the first hundred pages. What does this really have to do with the war? It seemed to be more a novel about partiers than about the effects. This however has changed. As I read, I have found a few passages that really struck me about the way and its effects. The first was on page 84 (ok, so it's a little before a hundred pages). The first real mention of the war that I can think of in the novel is two sentences about the selling of poppies and the two minutes of silence in honour of Armistice Day. It kinda struck me as odd that such an important statement was so easily brushed to the side. It was followed up on page 101 when Adam returns to London and noticing some people who "still wore their poppies" (pg 101). However, it is not until later that I found the effects of the war really coming through on pages 175 and in the converstation on 183-185. I shall comment more in depth on these later. That is all for now, I shall update later. More strangeness yet to come.

The usual citation stuff...Evelyn Waugh. Vile Bodies. you have the book.

Adam and so on and so forth

Hey Sarah, just thought I'd ask you if you like the character of Adam himself? I know I'm not as far as you into the novel yet, but so far I find him to be rather naive, and a little bit, well for lack of a better word, strange. In regards to the conversations between himself and Nina, I for one would have gotten so frustrated with him if he called me all the time to let me know whether our wedding is on or off. However, this could just be a reflection of the changes in our two different societies. Also, I find the character of Lottie Crump excesively humourous, and yet vexing at the same time. I have nothing further to add to this yet, but hope to see more of her as the novel progresses, and as such, I plan on talking about her more. Also, I'm not sure who it was that posted it (I think it was Kim...high five) but I agree on the point of the angels names. Deep stuff there. Way to play on words Waugh. You rock it. More strangeness yet to come.