Misunderstood and Righteous

The pile of books is still high,

January and February,

are looking to be,

reading months.

I’m almost through,

The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes,

**I’ve finished since**

how can I have waited so long to read this stuff?? So many books….

So,

slowly I will consume,

part of the pile,

more like piles,

lots of impressions to come.

But, right now,

I am totally captivated,

by the misunderstood and the righteous.

In fiction as,

in life,

I like the underdog,

the romantic,

the marginal.

The three current examples,

that occupy my mind,

are:

Llewyn Davis the main character,

in the new Coen brothers film,

Sherlock Holmes,

and,

his various incarnations,

and,

Christopher Tiejens,

the main character in Parade’s End.

Parade’s End,

which I watched on, Blue ray, with my cinephile, friend,  Peter,

is a television adaptation,

of Ford Maddox Fords’s,

series of novels,

adapted in a masterful fashion,

by Tom Stoppard.

A brilliant piece of work.

The Ford novels are considered, modernist masterpieces, which means, not the most conventional, of narrative structures.

Stoppard makes these characters,

flesh and blood,

conflicted  and complex,

seeing their whole world change,

with the coming of,

and,

the aftermath of,

World War I.

Benedict Cumberbatch,

is Christopher Tiejens,

a brilliant man,

a good man,

a man of honour.

Some might call him,

stiff,

or,

even,

a,

dupe.

I certainly wouldn’t be,

one of those-

Christopher,

always does,

the ‘right’ thing,

often,

to his detriment,

to his unhappiness,

and,

he is,

more often,

than not,

misunderstood for it,

laughed at,

occasionally,

vilified,

and,

yet,

he stands,

true,

with grace, class and honour,

to the point,

where you sometimes,

feel like shouting at him,

‘it’s your life man, honour be damned’

I love him for that,

honour,

is a terribly,

rare,

and,

yes,

misunderstood,

concept,

quality.

Llewyn Davis,

isn’t like Christopher,

he doesn’t always,

do the right thing,

in fact,

he makes,

strange and sketchy,

choices.

I love him,

for the truth,

of his artistic vision,

his own truth.

He pays for it,

success eludes him,

his life is made up,

of,

couch surfing,

and,

one night stand music gigs,

in smoky coffee houses,

but,

when he sings,

the truth,

bends your heart.

He is both marginal and misunderstood,

an artist,

not just a performer,

a man who appears,

gruff and selfish,

and,

yet,

sings these old ballads,

about love, loss and hardship.

To paraphrase :

Those songs are never old and were never new, they are folk songs.

This exchange between Jean and Llewyn  is his vision and his difficult personality in a nutshell:

Jean Berkey: “Do you ever think about the future at all?”
Llewyn Davis: “You mean like flying cars, hotels on the moon, Tang? You mean like move to the suburbs, have kids?”
Jean Berkey: “That’s bad?”
Llewyn Davis: “If that’s what music is to you, a way to get to that place, then yeah, it’s a little careerist and it’s a little square and it’s a little sad.”

Jean urges Llewyn to get more serious about taking care of himself, making a living. She sees playing music as a way to make a life for her family while Llewyn sees her view as careerist, while he’s in it for the art.

and this is why he speaks to me,

life,

on his terms,

it,

isn’t the popular view or the conventional view,

it,

can even appear,

pretentious,

but,

it is,

his view.

Sherlock?

Well, Sherlock is Sherlock,

a nut,

an eccentric,

he marches to his own drummer,

and can tell you what kind of drumsticks are being used, that the wood comes from the continent of…., yeah, he’s weird

misunderstood,

righteous,

out there,

these are characters,

I love.

and that.

have been on my mind.

Later girls,

BB