As another Brit of just post-war vintage, I have to align myself with those for whom the oblique representation of love, lust, longing and the like of 'Brief Encounter' and 'The Remains of the Day' have poignancy and meaning.
But for all the absurdities and excesses of the late '60s and early '70s, something shifted for many of us at tectonic level at that time and I welcome the openness and directness of these accounts. There is a clarity, honesty and humour in these beautifully written accounts that eschew any sense of display or indulgence. Most refreshing when set against the histrionics of various shades of grey.
Dick, thank you very much. I'm in awe of the understated mode of 'Brief Encounter' and other masterpieces of that ilk, striking the heart so subtly and with such devastating accuracy. One of the reasons I was drawn to England was because it was so different from my totally un-English background. But I could no more write like that, or behave like Brief Encounter protagonists, than I could become six feet tall. Being British (on my passport) has not given me Britishness but it has taught me a lot which I'm grateful for. As well as irritated the hell out of me!
1976! What a time! I was here in Australia after years in Africa and close to the point of leaving my first wife for someone not like anyone I had ever met before and with whom I experienced an explosion of feelings. We're still together, growing stronger by the day, as I think may happen to us as we age or maybe it is just such long experience together ...
Thanks so much for all your stimulating writings, threatening to clog the blog as you say, but no matter!
Adam, thanks for that little glimpse into your own 'secret history'. I'm very glad it had a happy ending, or rather, a happy continuity. All the best to you.
So many of us have been there. Or were there at that time, I should say. Must have been something about the families that we grew up in that made us so vulnerable.
6 comments:
As another Brit of just post-war vintage, I have to align myself with those for whom the oblique representation of love, lust, longing and the like of 'Brief Encounter' and 'The Remains of the Day' have poignancy and meaning.
But for all the absurdities and excesses of the late '60s and early '70s, something shifted for many of us at tectonic level at that time and I welcome the openness and directness of these accounts. There is a clarity, honesty and humour in these beautifully written accounts that eschew any sense of display or indulgence. Most refreshing when set against the histrionics of various shades of grey.
Dick, thank you very much. I'm in awe of the understated mode of 'Brief Encounter' and other masterpieces of that ilk, striking the heart so subtly and with such devastating accuracy. One of the reasons I was drawn to England was because it was so different from my totally un-English background. But I could no more write like that, or behave like Brief Encounter protagonists, than I could become six feet tall. Being British (on my passport) has not given me Britishness but it has taught me a lot which I'm grateful for. As well as irritated the hell out of me!
1976! What a time! I was here in Australia after years in Africa and close to the point of leaving my first wife for someone not like anyone I had ever met before and with whom I experienced an explosion of feelings. We're still together, growing stronger by the day, as I think may happen to us as we age or maybe it is just such long experience together ...
Thanks so much for all your stimulating writings, threatening to clog the blog as you say, but no matter!
Best wishes
Adam
Adam, thanks for that little glimpse into your own 'secret history'. I'm very glad it had a happy ending, or rather, a happy continuity. All the best to you.
So many of us have been there. Or were there at that time, I should say. Must have been something about the families that we grew up in that made us so vulnerable.
Hattie, well, it's complicated isn't it? I had a terrific family but some things are deep inside the unconscious.
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