Here I thought I had thoroughly gleaned these for the fiction and poetry. In my keyboarding and review, I skip over those passages, though there are far fewer of them than I would have predicted.
Instead, here’s a rapid-fire sampling from one early volume.
~*~
Love? Every treasure is guarded by a dragon.
Man’s need to play is justified, and should be. [A revelation for oh-so-serious me, one I would have to rediscover post-Clara.]
Handbook in identity: focusing upon one partner, reaches deeper – seeks rewarding depth, dealing with another self.
Just what novel were we discussing? As for me, my needs were simple: she must be beautiful, intelligent, and younger than me … and available. In reality, she also needs to know how to steer me, which is why an older girlfriend might have been preferable. Speaking of what-ifs, I keep returning to my psychology lab partner at IU: how beautiful and, what I never saw, how available! But what did I have to offer her? [Boy, did I blow that one!]
Jobs relieved of personality: the sexual side is the only side of life where intimacy exists. Yet sex doesn’t deliver the goods.
Sex used to be one of the few places where you could make a mistake. Today, however, competitive force and efficiency are entering the bedroom …
Don Juan vs Tristan: you can’t have both.
“The last time I was at a Playboy Club, I found the same type that you’d find at a Mantovani concert.”
To the family in Mexico: Dad, Mom, 24 kids. “And since you don’t have TV, radio, movies, books, what do you do for entertainment?” Or now that they do?
Round characters have many qualities that don’t quite fit together.
“I didn’t mean to knock your dress. I like it.”
“What’s that you’re muttering?”
Comedy depends upon distance.
Always remember protagonist and antagonist in story summary.
Symbol goes beyond metaphor.
Reason is impotent to deal with the depths of human life.
Alienation.
League of Freshman Voters.
(Some bad stabs at poetry / song lyrics).
Irving Kolodin re Music Hall in Cincinnati: “I find the sense of emptiness around the orchestra” … ditto, the hall, too. Not that I noticed it in the second balcony, where the acoustics were incredibly clear.
The volume?
[Incinerated]
~*~
From Spiralbound Years with commentary from now.
Jnana's Red Barn 