Ink #1
Smalls; my favorite Salinger short story; a Greene novel set in Cuba; my first Godard film; Frusciante covers
I share things I’ve enjoyed on Sundays, and I publish an essay, story, or book review (no spoilers) on Wednesdays. Here is what I enjoyed this week.
Jazz, New York; I watched a quartet at Smalls with my mother and uncle last Thursday. On center stage was the tenor player who performed as he appeared, bald with the tortoise-shell glasses, peering down his nose to the small world at its tip. To his right, the guitarist was exorcising demons, his face in agony, the music beautiful and vivacious and rhythmic, and I kept thinking to myself that girls would have crawled through the Sahara to get to that sound if it came from the spring, the golden years, thirty illusions before sixty. Cater-cornered from his rear was the drummer, hidden from my view except when he rose to speak—without a microphone, such a small venue it is—of being woken on a family camping trip by foxes mating, the antithesis of a foggy stadium arrival and the banalities they inspire. His main talent, or at least the one he displayed most often, was controlling the drums’ distance, recreating, at-will, repeatedly, the lovely sound of discordant thunderstorms approaching. I don’t have anything to say about the bassist, but I do love Jazz, New York.
Short story: I recently re-read For Esmé—with Love and Squalor, my second favorite work by J.D. Salinger, after The Catcher in the Rye. It is without a blockbuster plot; instead, it centers on a sergeant’s encounter with a girl, and the aftermath of combat. The piece comes directly from Salinger’s experience in World War II:
His [Salinger’s] war experiences affected him emotionally. He was hospitalized for a few weeks for combat stress reaction after Germany was defeated, and later told his daughter: "You never really get the smell of burning flesh out of your nose entirely, no matter how long you live."
For Esmé—with Love and Squalor contains all of the elements—innocence, disillusionment, colloquial language, etc—that make The Catcher in the Rye beloved by its fans, which is why it was immediately popular upon publication, especially amongst veterans dealing with the the war’s perennial scars. I strongly, strongly recommend giving it a read; if you like it, you can follow it with Nine Stories. (Link.)
Novel: The morning after I published my review of The Quiet American, I started reading Graham Greene’s Our Man in Havana, a parody of the spy novel, which details the misadventures of a hapless man who MI6 recruits. Although the book isn’t as serious as The Quiet American, it is more humorous and cinematic; once again, Greene covers a military escalation before an enormous event: the Cuban Missile Crisis (how the hell did he keep doing that?). I would recommend reading Our Man in Havana if you are looking to intersperse a short, light work between heavier ones, or if you are traveling to Havana some time soon. (Free on Kindle Unlimited).
Movie: My friend—who was stung twice in two days, once on the toe, once on the tongue, Godspeed—and I watched Breathless, a film by Jean-Luc Godard. The movie follows Michel (Jean-Paul Belmondo) hiding from the police with his lover Patricia (Jean Seberg).
Even though the movie came out in 1961, everything about it feels modern, as though Hollywood, sixty years on, is still trying to catch up to it. The actors, at times, shine with the awareness of being on the big screen; yet, at others, capture the minute almost imperceptible moments that mark romantic relationships. This accomplishment, of both strutting and caressing, along with the film’s beauty and humor, left me feeling as though I wanted to run a marathon, an excitement that only a few other films have given me (Y tu mamá también, Parasite, The Dark Knight, Kids). Godard was a genius. (Prime Video Link.)
Music: I love John Frusciante, the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ guitarist, so much, and, for some reason, his covers of How Deep Is Your Love and Emily were stuck in my head all week. The videos never fail to give me goosebumps:
Thanks for reading! In addition to my Sunday posts, I’ll publish a post on the effects of social media on imagination on Wednesday (8/23); the following week (8/30), I’ll review Of Human Bondage, August’s selection for the book club; then it will be a short story (9/6); then a review of Bright Lights, Big City (9/13).