01.12.14 (Day 344)
14.42
Travels in the Scriptorium is a novel by my favourite author: Paul Auster.
Besides Auster, I've been reading a lot lately.
I started reading one story recently (a work of fiction) about a man who was denied access to his treasure. He had two priceless items but among the many things forbidden in his world was coveting belongings, even those made by the owners. Producers of valuable things had their treasures confiscated under a dictatorship, which seized items of value to become state property. Manufacturers were allowed to view their products but only under strict supervision for fear that they may re-take what they had made and felt ownership of. Most are brainwashed into believing what the state dictates. The more intelligent ones resist the mental conditioning. In this case someone thought the lead character mentally unfit to see his treasures. I've got to the part where the protagonist is having to seek legal assistance to prove himself mentally fit for visitation rights. The guy is ill and as is the case with most stories, one obstacle is thrown in front of him after another to compound his problems. The lead character was married to a dictator and that ruler of his world, along with others are the main antagonists in the story. Our lead's crime was to tell the truth as he saw it. Many agreed with him but the state branded him a liar. In this dictatorial state, freedom of expression is forbidden by the ruling class, the main character is gagged, manacled and unable to speak, so he resorts to banned media and writes, in the hope that someone in the future will read of his plight. The police in this fictional state have the power to confiscate any means of writing free expression: electronic devices and so on. But our character uses public access machines in a library provided by the state. He's careful about what he writes and knows that the police cannot confiscate the tools of his trade. I'm still reading the story and I'm rooting for the guy; hoping that he gets what he wants and deserves. I can somehow relate to him.
So that's him and from where I've got to in the story, it looks like he has quite a bit of fight left in him. Do I have it in me? Am I the protagonist?
Another story I'm reading is a sci-fi tale. In this story, a rogue captain is flying a ship in space; lost. He's pursued by an enemy ship but a mother ship watches over him. The enemy ship fires missiles into the mother ship and the mother ship turns on the rogue pilot. The rogue pilot is merely on a mission to prove his innocence against crimes he didn't commit. The missiles fired by the enemy ship are the equivalent of poisoned darts. They disrupt the mother ship's on-board computers and cause them to malfunction. Where I'm at in the story, the rogue ship is looking to turn against the other two - now united against it - and send a message. Tenterhooks stuff this...
On to me and I visited hospital today to see if I have a large letter of the alphabet. If I were the guys in the stories I'm reading, I really wouldn't want to have to deal with what's being thrown at him, by people so cruel that they would throw what they are, when they are. If it is what's feared that I have, I can either give up or fight it. I'm inspired by the characters in the stories, who have balls and who fight.
Despite the doubters and those who just don't want to believe, I have best friends and The Wife sticking by me. The latter is only The Wife in title now; for now. She has issues just as I have. Some of those issues are the ones which keep us apart. But we'll be back together one day; hopefully soon. Our lives are dictated by others. Absence makes the heart grow fonder...
Until then, travels continue, in the the life dictated to us: the Dictorium.
14.42
Travels in the Scriptorium is a novel by my favourite author: Paul Auster.
Besides Auster, I've been reading a lot lately.
I started reading one story recently (a work of fiction) about a man who was denied access to his treasure. He had two priceless items but among the many things forbidden in his world was coveting belongings, even those made by the owners. Producers of valuable things had their treasures confiscated under a dictatorship, which seized items of value to become state property. Manufacturers were allowed to view their products but only under strict supervision for fear that they may re-take what they had made and felt ownership of. Most are brainwashed into believing what the state dictates. The more intelligent ones resist the mental conditioning. In this case someone thought the lead character mentally unfit to see his treasures. I've got to the part where the protagonist is having to seek legal assistance to prove himself mentally fit for visitation rights. The guy is ill and as is the case with most stories, one obstacle is thrown in front of him after another to compound his problems. The lead character was married to a dictator and that ruler of his world, along with others are the main antagonists in the story. Our lead's crime was to tell the truth as he saw it. Many agreed with him but the state branded him a liar. In this dictatorial state, freedom of expression is forbidden by the ruling class, the main character is gagged, manacled and unable to speak, so he resorts to banned media and writes, in the hope that someone in the future will read of his plight. The police in this fictional state have the power to confiscate any means of writing free expression: electronic devices and so on. But our character uses public access machines in a library provided by the state. He's careful about what he writes and knows that the police cannot confiscate the tools of his trade. I'm still reading the story and I'm rooting for the guy; hoping that he gets what he wants and deserves. I can somehow relate to him.
So that's him and from where I've got to in the story, it looks like he has quite a bit of fight left in him. Do I have it in me? Am I the protagonist?
Another story I'm reading is a sci-fi tale. In this story, a rogue captain is flying a ship in space; lost. He's pursued by an enemy ship but a mother ship watches over him. The enemy ship fires missiles into the mother ship and the mother ship turns on the rogue pilot. The rogue pilot is merely on a mission to prove his innocence against crimes he didn't commit. The missiles fired by the enemy ship are the equivalent of poisoned darts. They disrupt the mother ship's on-board computers and cause them to malfunction. Where I'm at in the story, the rogue ship is looking to turn against the other two - now united against it - and send a message. Tenterhooks stuff this...
On to me and I visited hospital today to see if I have a large letter of the alphabet. If I were the guys in the stories I'm reading, I really wouldn't want to have to deal with what's being thrown at him, by people so cruel that they would throw what they are, when they are. If it is what's feared that I have, I can either give up or fight it. I'm inspired by the characters in the stories, who have balls and who fight.
Despite the doubters and those who just don't want to believe, I have best friends and The Wife sticking by me. The latter is only The Wife in title now; for now. She has issues just as I have. Some of those issues are the ones which keep us apart. But we'll be back together one day; hopefully soon. Our lives are dictated by others. Absence makes the heart grow fonder...
Until then, travels continue, in the the life dictated to us: the Dictorium.
Hi Steve. Can I recommend another book for you? The Humans by Matt Haig. I've just finished it and I think you might like it.
ReplyDeleteCheers Jon,
ReplyDeleteAnd you would love Paul Auster. Mr Vertigo is a classic