Poor old Arthur. He’s always been
like that. Never changes. Very constant is Arthur.
I could tell you more about his childhood, parents, first girlfriend all that but it’s not that interesting so I skipped it. Instead let’s see what happened to him and Simon in Athens some 50 years ago.
They made it down through Italy OK. Took in the sights. Coliseum, Vatican, Pompeii etc. then a ferry from Brindisi over to Corfu. It was slow going but eventually they arrived in Athens.
They stayed in a hostel run by a woman called Lily. A nice old soul. Most of the other people there seemed to be American college students doing Europe. There were young men with guide books and expensive cameras and pear-shaped girls reading ‘Catcher in the Rye.’
After lunch (moussaka, yoghurt and retsina) they went for a look around.
I could tell you more about his childhood, parents, first girlfriend all that but it’s not that interesting so I skipped it. Instead let’s see what happened to him and Simon in Athens some 50 years ago.
They made it down through Italy OK. Took in the sights. Coliseum, Vatican, Pompeii etc. then a ferry from Brindisi over to Corfu. It was slow going but eventually they arrived in Athens.
They stayed in a hostel run by a woman called Lily. A nice old soul. Most of the other people there seemed to be American college students doing Europe. There were young men with guide books and expensive cameras and pear-shaped girls reading ‘Catcher in the Rye.’
After lunch (moussaka, yoghurt and retsina) they went for a look around.
On their way to the Acropolis
they passed through an old quarter of Athens called the Plaka. There they met
an American woman from Berkeley named Kaja, a painter, who said she’d known
Neal Cassady. She was living in a small whitewashed house and she invited them
to look at her paintings. ‘A bit Klimty’ was Simon’s verdict later.
They were joined by an androgynous Danish couple with guitars who had read ‘On the Road’ so there was lots to talk about. A little Jamaican called Hakim showed up. He had dreadlocks and some pot. This motley group wended its way up the side of the Acropolis to be confronted on the summit by the Parthenon.
With the famous marble pillars as a background Hakim rolled a joint, Kaja performed a sort of gypsy dance and the Danes did a passable version of Woody Guthrie’s ‘Worried Man Blues’.
‘So this is the Acropolis.’ Said Simon, ‘birthplace of Western civilization. Pericles built a lot of what we see here in about 440 B.C. What do you think?’
They were joined by an androgynous Danish couple with guitars who had read ‘On the Road’ so there was lots to talk about. A little Jamaican called Hakim showed up. He had dreadlocks and some pot. This motley group wended its way up the side of the Acropolis to be confronted on the summit by the Parthenon.
With the famous marble pillars as a background Hakim rolled a joint, Kaja performed a sort of gypsy dance and the Danes did a passable version of Woody Guthrie’s ‘Worried Man Blues’.
‘So this is the Acropolis.’ Said Simon, ‘birthplace of Western civilization. Pericles built a lot of what we see here in about 440 B.C. What do you think?’
‘I like the whiteness of the marble against the sky,’ said Arthur, ‘that blue is amazing.’ Athens wasn’t so polluted in those days.
Later
they checked their mail at the American Express in Syntagma Square. This was a
free service provided by AMEX at the time. It’s only for card-holders now. Then
they sat at a table in the square outside and had a coffee.
‘Well here we are in Athens,’ said Arthur.
‘Indeed we are.’ said Simon. ‘Home of Socrates. And isn’t that Henry miller over there?’
‘I think you’re right. It’s him or someone doing a very good impersonation.’
‘Dare you.’ said Simon
Simon watched as Arthur walked over between the tables and stood awkwardly in front of Henry Miller. A few minutes later he was back, looking embarrassed.
‘What did he say?’
‘He told me to fuck off.’ Arthur
Simon laughed. ‘Wrong approach obviously.’
‘Well you have a go then.’
Simon said he might. But not just yet.
How does this advance the storyline? Well it places Arthur and Simon in Athens on their way further East. And it helps to develop their characters. Other than that it may be useful for triggering some buried memories.
To be fair to Henry Miller it should be noted that he was going through a difficult period at the time. The US Supreme Court was hearing the case of Besig v. United States and a lot depended on the outcome. Would ‘Tropic of Cancer’ be deemed pornographic? The future of Western Literature was at stake. On top of that he wasn’t quite sure if he even had another book in him. He certainly didn’t want to deal with scruffy young sycophants. Best let Grove Press sort it out.
‘Well here we are in Athens,’ said Arthur.
‘Indeed we are.’ said Simon. ‘Home of Socrates. And isn’t that Henry miller over there?’
‘I think you’re right. It’s him or someone doing a very good impersonation.’
‘Dare you.’ said Simon
Simon watched as Arthur walked over between the tables and stood awkwardly in front of Henry Miller. A few minutes later he was back, looking embarrassed.
‘What did he say?’
‘He told me to fuck off.’ Arthur
Simon laughed. ‘Wrong approach obviously.’
‘Well you have a go then.’
Simon said he might. But not just yet.
How does this advance the storyline? Well it places Arthur and Simon in Athens on their way further East. And it helps to develop their characters. Other than that it may be useful for triggering some buried memories.
To be fair to Henry Miller it should be noted that he was going through a difficult period at the time. The US Supreme Court was hearing the case of Besig v. United States and a lot depended on the outcome. Would ‘Tropic of Cancer’ be deemed pornographic? The future of Western Literature was at stake. On top of that he wasn’t quite sure if he even had another book in him. He certainly didn’t want to deal with scruffy young sycophants. Best let Grove Press sort it out.
No comments:
Post a Comment