Something of Myself
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Hanif Kureishi, The Body
"If anyone asked me, I said that consciousness was the thing I liked most about life. But who doesn't need a rest from it now and again?
Lying beside Margot, chatting and sleeping, was exceptional every night. To be well married you have to have a penchant for the intricacies of intimacy and larval change: to be interested, for instance, in people dreaming together. If the personality is a spider's web, you will want to know every thread. Otherwise, after forty, when the color begins to drain from the world, it's either retirement or reinvention. Pleasures no longer come to you, but there are pickings to be had if you can learn to scavenge for them.
Later, unusually — it had been a long time — she woke me up to make love, which I did happily, telling her that I'd always loved her, and reminiscing, as we often did, about how we met and got together. These were our favorite stories, always the same and also slightly different so that I listened out for a new feeling or aspect."
"If anyone asked me, I said that consciousness was the thing I liked most about life. But who doesn't need a rest from it now and again?
Lying beside Margot, chatting and sleeping, was exceptional every night. To be well married you have to have a penchant for the intricacies of intimacy and larval change: to be interested, for instance, in people dreaming together. If the personality is a spider's web, you will want to know every thread. Otherwise, after forty, when the color begins to drain from the world, it's either retirement or reinvention. Pleasures no longer come to you, but there are pickings to be had if you can learn to scavenge for them.
Later, unusually — it had been a long time — she woke me up to make love, which I did happily, telling her that I'd always loved her, and reminiscing, as we often did, about how we met and got together. These were our favorite stories, always the same and also slightly different so that I listened out for a new feeling or aspect."
6 Comments:
Pleasures go on forever. You can find them wherever you are...whatever the age. Age is a construct made by society. The dominant ideology 'wants' us to believe that life will end at a certain age. I hope I shall always find pleasure in the things I do. Pleasure is timeless.
I've just read a lovely piece by you about someone called 'Chris' - it was very poignant. And evocative.
I wish you find them always Molly. :-)
Chris was our professor whose untimely death pulled the rug beneath my feet. But then, all deaths are untimely, isn't it? I am glad you liked reading about him. He was as we used to call him, our GOD. :-)
Oooh, you've changed your blog. It looks really good.
Yes, it is always untimely, death. It can shock us when we least expect it to happen. He sounds like a great man though. Often it is someone who inspires us that inspires our studies.
Hiya, thanks for the comment Molly. Glad you liked the new look. I was getting quite bored with the older one - had been on for more than 2 years now!
What's up with you? xx
I'm fine thankyou Pele. How about you?
I am good - facing the Monday Blues! ;)
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