Simpletons

“Almost all Tories are simpletons – the simpletons of what passes with them for ‘tradition’, we could say (as is proved conclusively by the way in which they have defended themselves – how they hastily close all the stable doors long after the horses have all disappeared; also by their rare instinct for closing all the wrong doors, behind which there never were any horses).”
– Wyndham Lewis, Time and Western Man.

Comments

  1. I'd always thought I was pretty highbrow until I started reading, or at least started trying to read, the works of Wyndham Lewis. His novels are almost as difficult to read as his essays. What a Monstre!

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  2. I haven't read any of his novels. Should I?

    I ran across Time and Western Man at a used bookstore and started randomly reading a few pages of his critique of Joyce and decided I had to read the whole thing. He has all these clearheaded perceptions, but tied together with sort of loony energy. The book also is a reminder of how the 20th century was already over before WWII even started.

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  3. "Blasting and Bombardeering" - his record of serving in the trenches in WW1 - is a good read since it isn't quite so mind-numbingly intellectual as his other works. Also, the trilogy of novels featuring the book I alluded to in my first comment - "Monstre Gai" - is reasonably readable.

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