Well, I just finished Handke's Don Juan. But did I even read it? It is short and slight and yesterday and the day before I was passing my eyes over passages, pages, without letting them in very much or taking me out very much. But this afternoon, the wind howling and raging outside, I did comprehend the final twenty or so pages, or pretended to get them somewhat clearly, with sufficient attention to declare that the book is after all wholly in line with April Fool's Day. It is not a joke, this tale, no, but it jokes and pokes and slips and slivers all over the place. Of course, non-euro that I am, I am barely informed about Don Juan and I have no lifetime store of info or feeling coming from the whole body of lore found in the operas and plays and re-tellings and embellishments---Racine, Molier, Mozart et al. Later this summer I can ask my French grandchildren to tell me all about Don Juan and Eliot now 12 will fill me in and Emma will instruct me in all the nuances of his stories. So now I am finished with this little book and I know enough about Handke to know how much I have missed even if I know how many of his pet peeves, moves, memes and steps I recognize from all of his other books. Took a look on youtube at a longish movie made about him when he was really young--in 1975. He had made a good amount of money, 100k franks with the Slow Homecoming and other books and lived large with his six year old daughter in a noble apartment in the 16th! His hair is long and his manner superbly brilliant, quick and confident, and puzzled and puzzling.
We both enjoyed the visit with Dr Mirta this morning. She's referring Bela to an orthopedic surgeon to explore hip surgery. We now live once more with the transport chair and pivots. Bela was able to walk into the shower this morning and get dressed in the usual manner. All the stuff I ordered for bed care has arrived so we are stocked for further catastrophe. What will happend and what will be the timeline? Have to give up trying to figure that, imagine it, or plan for it. Let things happen as they will. We both seem to sleep in strange clumps of time. Breaking Bad has taken over our lives and we have at last only the last season to finish up. General Hospital guides us each day with its love and wisdom.
I posted one of those photos of all my books stacked up to compete with the other performative male readers on the social media sites. In the Ortovert quiz I said I never use those things but I realize that indeed I do, so I guess my point score might rise from 243 out of 280 up to 248 or 250. Should take the quiz a few weeks from now.
What next? Complete the essays in Quiet Places and wait for the Thucydides book to get here. The Don Juan has a whole anti-women section that surely enraged lots of readers---but by 2004 when it appeared being the provocateur was well established in Handke's quiver of personas and arrows, and having the women be avengers and destroyers fit perfectly both the feminism and anti-feminism of the times and of the inner logic of the whole Don Juan figure of legend and culture.
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