6 September 2025.
Rachel Cusk. Outline.
In addition to the themes, overtly discussed, of objectivity, reality and illusion, and fantasy, the question of utility and progress seems to loom somewhere in the shadows. And yet, much of the book appears to be constructed upon superfluous details that ranges from the mundane to the extreme, absurdist and hyperbolic. This deluge of detail leaves the reader wondering what the "use" of the book itself is, what, in fact, we have gained from temporarily existing as the "helpless passenger[s] of [Faye's] vision" (210). The final chapter seems to finally offer a semblance of some much awaited sense of meaning and conclusivity….
9 September 2025.
Domenico Starnone. The Old Man by the Sea.
