I had some promising ideas for today's post but I never got around to it.
https://smile.amazon.com/s?k=round+toit Now it is late in the day and I need to get this written.
I was reading Dave Eggers' "A Heart-Breaking Work of Staggering Genius". The title seems to be an exaggeration but it doesn't mean that the work was composed by a genius who staggers. It is supposed to mean that reading the book will be overwhelming, leaving me staggering. So far, I am doing ok.
Eggers had a tough childhood with a mother who was permanently very sick and disabled. He describes the furnishings of his house. He basically says that the furnishings didn't go with each other in support of any unifying theme. That is where I disagreed with him. I figure that either the unifying theme of a room, or a house, or the way one dresses or a period of history is easy to see or it isn't. But, Dave, if you don't find or read or sense a unifying theme, that doesn't mean there isn't one. Dave falls back on an idea of patheticness. If a couch or chair or painting is forlorn, rejected, not appreciated or admired or loved, his family would take it in. I feel there might be more to it. Besides, if his mom or dad or grandmother had a tendency for contrast or clash or competition, it might be fun for him and for me to discover their thinking. Might lead to better understanding of immediate ancestors and perhaps of himself. You never know. Today, you feel like you have uncovered a bit of your father but five years from now, the same idea is still with you. Suddenly, it's you! Later insights are possible, too.
