The Pearl

[vonjunzt]

I finished reading The Pearl last night. I can understand why some people like it, but the characters all seemed undeveloped to me. It reminds me of Of Mice and Men and "Flight." It made sense as something read in high school

Comments

[meistergedanken]

A lot of famous writers (and film makers, too) seem to have assumed this mystique that they have unearthed hard-won wisdom, special knowledge or formed unique profound insights about the human condition or existence that could enlighten the rest of us - but I have found that rarely to be the case. Often it is merely a "lot of sound and fury, signifying nothing." So many of them go on and on, and I struggle to tease something useful out of their creations.

Jack Kerouac, Henry Miller, Hunter S. Thompson, F. Scott Fitzgerald, etc. - I may enjoy their writing style, but in the end they have no more to teach me than the pulp writer of some potboiler genre fiction.

I think it's safe to say that Steinbeck falls into this category, too, but I enjoy his books much less than the others I cited. But I did like Cannery Row quite a bit when I read it years ago.

[vonjunzt]

Yes, I think you're right. It's easy to become convinced that someone who writes something movingly must have some sort of secret knowledge. It reminds me of what Plato said about poets, that they must be possessed when they sing, because they don't show any evidence of being anything special at any other time.