Self Condemned
by Wyndham Lewis
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Self Condemned, originally published in 1954, tells the story of Professor Renarding and his wife, Essie, as they find themselves in Momaco, a fictionalized version of Toronto, following Ren resignation as an academic in London, England. Reduced to a position at the second-rate University of Momaco, Rennd Essie suffer through a bleak and oppressive isolation in a dreary and alien city. The novel, a devastating, disturbing satire of life in wartime Canada, explores the difficulty individuals show more face as they struggle to adapt to new surroundings while preserving their sense of wholeness, as well as the bond that develops between people during a shared experience of isolation. . show lessTags
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To a certain extent autobiographical, this again, as with The Driver’s Seat, is about someone making their own decisions. This resonated with me as Professor Rene Harding resigns from his job which coincided with me resigning from mine. We also both worked in education.
However, while he pursues this course of action very much against the advice and wishes of his wife, I had the full support of mine. This comes back to bite him after he emigrates from the UK to Canada and his marriage starts to show cracks from cross-cultural strains.
The Canada of Self Condemned is always miserable, always cold and has no redeeming features whatsoever. In addition, Prof Harding’s own life starts to grow very familiar as all the things he has run from show more gradually find him out in his new surroundings.
It reminded me of a quote from a song I used to sing:
I’m running from the very clothes I’m wearing…
Thankful, 40 Acres, Caedmon’s Call
Having lived overseas as a child and then for 20 of my adult years, I can tell you firsthand that emigration is often spurred by the misplaced thought that life won’t be as troublesome in our new home. But as we said in Saudi, “Whatever you are, Saudi makes it worse.”
Lewis’ morality tale is well written. There are a couple of tragic events that are very well described. However, every now and then, there’s a Rand-ish rant on some aspect of intellectualism. It’s an OK novel, but I don’t think it’s in any way deserving of its place on the 1001 Books list. I mean, how influential can it be if it doesn’t even have its own Wikipedia entry? Come on now. show less
However, while he pursues this course of action very much against the advice and wishes of his wife, I had the full support of mine. This comes back to bite him after he emigrates from the UK to Canada and his marriage starts to show cracks from cross-cultural strains.
The Canada of Self Condemned is always miserable, always cold and has no redeeming features whatsoever. In addition, Prof Harding’s own life starts to grow very familiar as all the things he has run from show more gradually find him out in his new surroundings.
It reminded me of a quote from a song I used to sing:
I’m running from the very clothes I’m wearing…
Thankful, 40 Acres, Caedmon’s Call
Having lived overseas as a child and then for 20 of my adult years, I can tell you firsthand that emigration is often spurred by the misplaced thought that life won’t be as troublesome in our new home. But as we said in Saudi, “Whatever you are, Saudi makes it worse.”
Lewis’ morality tale is well written. There are a couple of tragic events that are very well described. However, every now and then, there’s a Rand-ish rant on some aspect of intellectualism. It’s an OK novel, but I don’t think it’s in any way deserving of its place on the 1001 Books list. I mean, how influential can it be if it doesn’t even have its own Wikipedia entry? Come on now. show less
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New Canadian Library
191 works; 7 members
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91+ Works 2,923 Members
Wydham Lewis: November 18, 1882 -- March 7, 1957 Distinguished and highly original, Wyndham Lewis was known for his sharp wit and sardonic insight. A modern master of satire, Lewis was born off the coast of Nova Scotia in his English father's yacht on November 18, 1882, and grew up in England with his mother. He was associated with Roger Fry and show more Ezra Pound on the vorticist magazine, Blast (1914--1915). Lewis served in France in World War I, and his dynamic paintings of war scenes soon gained him wide recognition for his art, now represented in the Tate Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and in the Museum of Modern Art, New York. After the publication of his naturalistic novel Tarr (1918), he became prominent as a writer. His major work of fiction is The Human Age (1955--56). He also wrote Doom of Youth, The Hitler Cult, and The Jews, Are They Human? Lewis died in London on March 7, 1957. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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- Original publication date
- 1954
- First words
- "If you call five six, you embarrass five, seeing that people then are going to expect of him the refulgence of six."
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)But he did not do so, and in a few months he was installed in a small, warm, wooden dwelling not far from the campus of this much more pretentious seat of learning, five hundred miles farther south; and the faculty had no idea that it was a glacial shell of a man who had come to live among them, mainly because they were themselves unfilled with anything more than a little academic stuffing.
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- 169
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- 193,671
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (4.16)
- Languages
- English, French
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 12
- ASINs
- 6
