Saturday 24 October 2020

Alasdair Gray: Lanark

I like advice from anyone, but advice which can't be rejected doesn't deserve the name.
(Duncan Thaw to his painting teacher, Mr. Watt, p 281) 

This is why I never actually did like advice from my parents. They'd gladly advise me on anything ... and then be ostentatiously offended if I in the least diverged from what I was advised to do. It was as if advice, even unsolicited advice, wasn't something to consider, but something to unquestioningly obey, or else be guilty of gross ungratefullness.
 
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Q This spate of information about the fiction you enjoyed suggests a terrible lack of interest in the life around you.
A Not lack of interest but lack of anticipation.
(the author in a sort of FAQ attached to the Kindle version, p 568) 
 
This is why I've always been an avid reader: for most of my life, reading a book promised interesting and/or pleasant time in front of me, while 'real life' didn't.


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