Friday, September 09, 2005
Chekhov, in his early career wrote a masterpiece entitled "A Man's Life in Questions and Exclamations." There was no thematic coherence in that entire piece, norwere there logical flow in the preceeding and anteceeding sentences, being made up of a whole battery of unconnected trite phrases and stereotyped responses that are encountered at each phase of a typical provincial Russian middle class life in the 1880s. A sampling :
Childhood. Whom has God given you, son or daughter? How soon is the christening? .... Take him away from here, he can't behave! What has he done to you? he speaks! Terrific! To fire the nanny! Shame on you to beat such a little one! Don't cry! Give him a candy!.........
.........
skipping to: Between 20 and 30 years of age. Borrow 100 roubles for me! What university department is it? its all the same to me! How much do I owe you? Will you come back tomorrow? What is on at the theater tonight> Waiter! Do you drink shrry? Is it you, Lia? I am done for, maman! Give me a job Uncle! Ma tante, the carriage is ready! Merci, mon oncle! Introduce me to your grandmother, Serge! .........
.....and so on and so forth. One is profoundly touched by it and saddened at the same time by his seemingly comic work. Life is so predictable and inevitable inasmuch as that every phase can be neatly summarized into the usual stereotyped phrases and tired old questions.
vis-a-vis my own life and state of mind, Chekhov is perfectly spot on. How does a character osscilate between two stereotyped extremes with such ease and skill that one can become two (oh, i wish two can become one! but i digress) at the same time. A cold blooded machine to his colleages and a drunken boring avuncular dick to his friends? Don't ask me, I am still trying to recouncile myself:
Typical question by colleauge in lab: What are your plans for the weekend, Wang?
"oh nothing much. going to study i guess."
Two days later same question: "So how was your weekend Wang"
same answer: oh it was alright.
Typical question by friend: "so how much did you drink today?"
typical answer (typical pungent reply, complete with standard profanity put across in a faux jolly manner)
Typical question : "eh go to the party ley"
typical answer (typical pungent reply, championing anti-social qualities and the need to drink beer alone.)
Right now only two things in my life are constant. Being disappointed and being drunk.
As usual one should end off in the PR way, but i shan't.
Byebye
Childhood. Whom has God given you, son or daughter? How soon is the christening? .... Take him away from here, he can't behave! What has he done to you? he speaks! Terrific! To fire the nanny! Shame on you to beat such a little one! Don't cry! Give him a candy!.........
.........
skipping to: Between 20 and 30 years of age. Borrow 100 roubles for me! What university department is it? its all the same to me! How much do I owe you? Will you come back tomorrow? What is on at the theater tonight> Waiter! Do you drink shrry? Is it you, Lia? I am done for, maman! Give me a job Uncle! Ma tante, the carriage is ready! Merci, mon oncle! Introduce me to your grandmother, Serge! .........
.....and so on and so forth. One is profoundly touched by it and saddened at the same time by his seemingly comic work. Life is so predictable and inevitable inasmuch as that every phase can be neatly summarized into the usual stereotyped phrases and tired old questions.
vis-a-vis my own life and state of mind, Chekhov is perfectly spot on. How does a character osscilate between two stereotyped extremes with such ease and skill that one can become two (oh, i wish two can become one! but i digress) at the same time. A cold blooded machine to his colleages and a drunken boring avuncular dick to his friends? Don't ask me, I am still trying to recouncile myself:
Typical question by colleauge in lab: What are your plans for the weekend, Wang?
"oh nothing much. going to study i guess."
Two days later same question: "So how was your weekend Wang"
same answer: oh it was alright.
Typical question by friend: "so how much did you drink today?"
typical answer (typical pungent reply, complete with standard profanity put across in a faux jolly manner)
Typical question : "eh go to the party ley"
typical answer (typical pungent reply, championing anti-social qualities and the need to drink beer alone.)
Right now only two things in my life are constant. Being disappointed and being drunk.
As usual one should end off in the PR way, but i shan't.
Byebye
