OH DEER!!!

I actually walked with a friend this evening. Every once in awhile, I shed my independent ways to ... I dunno... talk, I guess? Anyway, we discussed literature, and specifically the meanings behind the book "TORTILLA CURTAIN" .... I really enjoyed that discussion. It's not often that I get to stretch my brain cells in a good old fashioned intellectual conversation. I've been reading a little bit more then usual, because I want to learn more. Often I don't get the chance to talk about the things I read or discovered on my intellectual journeys of the mind. The discussion tonight focused on TORTILLA CURTAIN and it's unmistakable similarity to "GRAPES OF WRATH" by John Steinbeck. I am a HUGE fan of John Steinbeck. If I were to choose an American writer as my fave, Steinbeck would be the the guy (factoid: I drive around with a stuffed moose I bought in Canada and named him Charley after the dog in Steinbeck's "Travels with Charley." It is so I can have my own travels with... well... "Charley"). Tonight was a really great study of Steinbeck and his influence on "TORTILLA CURTAIN." I believe we left no stone unturned in both texts for their meanings and metaphors, which included a comparison and contrast of the narratives. You have no idea how invigorated I felt afterwards. It was the perfect activity of the moment. I learned loads... LOADS. Thanks, Friend!

I am sure you aren't really overaly concerned with my rants and raves and ideas surrounding the book "Tortilla Curtain" ... I can only say this. The book is very Steinbeckian in the sense that the morality of the text... the meaning behind the story... is... gray. FANTASTIC!

I am not a black and white thinker. I live, always in the gray area. I think that's why I've loved Steinbeck from the very first book I read by him called the "RED PONY." It's sad the pony died in the second chapter. Steinbeck is a writer that deals with the gray, and attacks the issues with a very good sense of objectivity. This objectivity makes his characters seem more real to me. It is if he's allowing his characters to speak their own words and do their own actions... Does that makes snese? Well, it does to me. And the fact that his morality deals with the gray, that angle really... really gets my brain cells working and often provides one hell of a good think. This is very much my own opinion on the matter, and I don't really care to debate you lit scholars reading my archaic reading of Steinbeck. So, please, don't correct me. I don't care what you think. AND, I hate Ann Rand's objectivist theory... fucking, self-centered mother fuckers! "Atlas Shrugged? What the fuck was that bullshit? "The Fountainhead" was good though. That's all I will give you.


Time for bed.

Later