In his novel My Secret History, Paul Theroux saw himself as an eavesdropper, an unseen recorder. Theroux has now returned to America, but he was then living in London. In Scotland they say, *There's a chiel amang us, taking notes.*
The writer is an odd kind of chiel (creature) like one of God's spies. As Flanagan and Allen used to sing, *We're always on the outside, on the outside always looking in.*
I do hope so, because I really don't like the visible me. Or quite a lot of the invisible me.
ReplyDeleteI see bravery, persistence, gratitude, kindness, civic responsibility......
DeleteI hope there is more to me than the surface, but I am secretly glad the uglier parts can remain unseen.
ReplyDeleteWell I was thinking of good things like intellect and loyalty and talent
Delete*It is sometimes advantageous to be unseen.*
DeleteRalph Ellison, Invisible Man (1952)
It's often advantageous to be unseen!
DeleteIn his novel My Secret History, Paul Theroux saw himself as an eavesdropper, an unseen recorder. Theroux has now returned to America, but he was then living in London. In Scotland they say, *There's a chiel amang us, taking notes.*
DeleteThe writer is an odd kind of chiel (creature) like one of God's spies.
As Flanagan and Allen used to sing, *We're always on the outside, on the outside always looking in.*
A whole history unseen, and disguised with a smile.
ReplyDeleteSx