“In the modern literature to which Michael was devoted, adultery was the sign of authenticity in personal life, and marriage the realm of habit, conformity and compromise. By rights, therefore, it was he, Michael, who ought to have been sitting in the corner of this pub, holding the hand of the pretty pale-faced girl with the nicely shaped breasts, and Dennis, dull, dependable old Dennis, who ought to have been pushing his way through the swing door with a suitcase full of shirts and underwear, a nervous envoy from the world of bourgeois morality. It was he, Michael, who ought to have been defying bourgeois morality, and yet he knew that he never would, he would never have the courage, or the wickedness, or indeed the provocation.”
–David Lodge, How Far Can You Go?
Posted by mesh at June 23, 2006 02:32 PM | TrackBackInteresting stuff, as always.
FYI: How Far Can You Go? was apparently published in the US under the title Souls and Bodies.
Posted by: ryan at June 25, 2006 07:16 PM