Escape Banality

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    Those of you who have been listening to my radio talks know that in old age, I have turned to detective stories, murder mysteries, the kinds of books I, a teacher of literature, did not allow myself to read when I was a teacher. Back then I had to read important books; I did not give myself permission to read books where one escaped from reality. Reading was meant to enlarge life, help us live life, not escape into a fantasy world.

    Susan Sontag said that such books & movies help people cope with the twin threat of QUOTE unremitting banality and inconceivable terror by offering an escape into exotic, dangerous situations which have last-minute happy endings.

    What an excellent explanation of the phenomenon. Most of us do lead lives of unremitting banality: nothing really exciting happens in our lives. We are not confronted with crooks, or terrorists, or anything exciting or dangerous. So, in books & movies, we seek exotic, dangerous situations which have last minute happy endings.

    And I thought of all the preceding because I am in the midst of four such escape stories. Last night we drove back from London to our house in Southampton, England, and we listened to a book on tape. Like many such detective stories, the setting is exotic -- in this case Spain. The book we are listening to is the Blind Man of Seville by Robert Wilson, and the book opens with a brutal scene of torture. It is a fascinating book full of town names unknown to me, all pronounced impeccably by the narrator who often gets to say the words Inspector Heffe -- which I assume means Chief Inspector. We have finished two cassette tapes out of twelve tapes. The story will continue the next time we take a long car ride -- in a week or two.

    We are also in the midst of watching two detective stories aired on television. Last night we watched the first part; the second segment will be aired tonight. One of them is by a well-known-in-England writer, Lynda LaPlante, the other is part of a series that has made its way to America: Waking the Dead.

    And of course, I am in the middle of actually, physically, reading a book, a book I read chunks of just before I fall asleep. The book is by Fred Vargas, and it is called “Have Mercy on us All.” Fred is a Frenchwoman, and I recommend her books highly. The book is set in France, of course, and I am reading the book in translation.

    Yes, these are all escape reading, books that in no way help me lead my life, but these books, the good ones, educate me. Fred Vargas’ book is all about the bubonic plague, and like all good detective stories, one gains an insight into police procedure, daily life, human relations, in another country, in this case, France. The first book I mentioned, The Blind Man of Seville, by Robert Wilson’s is set in Spain. The TV shows are set in England.

    To remind you, as Susan Sontag said, we read such books to help us cope with the twin threat of unremitting banality and inconceivable terror, and we seek escape into exotic and dangerous situations which have last-minute happy endings. But we also learn about other cultures when we read detective stories set in countries not our own. In my case, the settings are France, Spain & Britain. So long…

Copyright © 2007   Henry Morgenstein

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