death and disgrace

 'about his own job he says very little. not wanting to bore her.'

at the start of disgrace by j.m. coetzee the un-named central character (at least at this point) is ruminating on his visits to a prostitute. one he goes to regularly. but in that reverie he also provides a sketch of his emotional and work life.

'he lives within his income, within his temperament, within his emotional means.' 

'because he has no respect for the material he teaches, he makes no impression on his students.' 

soon he will be pitched out of this comfortable arrangement and the action of the novel (his disgrace and fall) will begin. 

horsemouth had not connected (once again) his life with the character - not the visiting prostitutes, the academic life, or the exploitation of his, at best marginal, academic position for sexual ends, but the fact that our 'anti-hero' has to retire and move back to the countryside. there, from what horsemouth remembers, he begins to work on his redemption, but it's a paltry drama compared to the changes going on around him. 

so the arbitrarily healthy 10,000 paces a day is roughly four and a half miles for an average sized person (or probably slightly less for horsemouth seeing as he is of less than average height). if so he has covered it for most days this week. the question is does he cover it during his time back in the countryside? and does he get extra points for walking up hill? the heathwall walk saturday was something of the order of three-four miles (he could add in the walk to the train station and back). 

no kafka quotes from 1915 now until the 7th and the 9th (remind horsemouth to take the kafka diaries back to the countryside with him this time together with description of a struggle and the great wall of china (50p withdrawn camden libraries) - translated by tania and james stern, and willa and edwin muir, with an introduction by edwin muir, and a postscript by max brod. 

what he takes will depend upon his packing tomorrow morning. 

shutdown goes well, but it's also a little dull, the preface to the later edition on google books updates the story to the moment when the pandemic is pronounced over (only roughly a year ago lest we forget). 

christopher priest (the SF writer) has died.  a dream of wessex, an infinite summer, the affirmation, as john clute points out all are under the influence of richard jefferies’ after london. him, m. john harrison  and keith roberts horsemouth read, robert holdstock he never really got started on. 

today the journey back to the countryside. if he didn't see you this time he is sorry (but he will be back soon).