Sunday, March 27, 2011

Book friends: Somewhere Towards The End.


Diana Athill wrote Somewhere Toward The End in 2008.  She was already retired as a book editor by then, the job she had all her life.  She edited the likes of John Updike, Margaret Atwood, Naipul, writers I have slept with this last decade.  Well, slept with their work, is what I meant. She is one of the greatest book editors in the 20th Century.

This is just one of her memoirs, concentrating on how she felt as a woman.

In 182 pages she lays out some stark realities:

1. Regretting not being a sexual thing anymore
2. Cheered up  by sexual experiences even without love
4. Open to the ebbing of all desire
5. Understanding that relationships change all the time
6. Accepting that a human life can contain both good and bad



And lastly, the interpretation of religious texts:
When we read, whatever is needy in us  takes in whatever the text offers to assuage that need.


7 comments:

  1. I was about to exclaim, "You devil, you!" and then I read you slept with their works! lol

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  2. Womanhood is a complex thing - we are life givers but we are so easily taken forgranted

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  3. Non conoscevo qusìesta scrittrice Maestra Rosaria grazie dell'informazione,

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  4. I became invisible at the age of 50. Now that I'm in my 60s, I'm nearly invisible to myself. Where I used to be useful, I'm now used when necessary. Where I used to have interests, I''m no more "interested" than I am "interesting". When I look at your banner, I can't help seeing myself halfway down, and unable to go back up. lol

    If old age has its rewards...I guess the only reward is being entitled to sleep a lot, which I don't do. Where do I fit now? I haven't figured out yet if I even HAVE a place.

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  5. Her numbers 4 and 5 really hit a bell with me. So true and usually only learned with age and evolving wisdom.

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  6. Hmmm...I think the last is true of anything that we read, not just what is considered "religious."

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  7. "When we read, whatever is needy in us takes in whatever the text offers to assuage that need." True of how we experience everything, I think, Rosaria.

    It's a careful negotiation to remain alive while living:) (in regards to passion)

    xo
    erin

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