Finally, finally, finally I made it to the end of the Caliban to the Audience segment of Auden's The Mirror and the Sea. The problem is I'm not sure I'm any wiser regarding what it's about than I was when I hadn't read it.
This is WH at his most bafflingly obscure, as bad as the densest pages of The Dyer's Hand. How is it that a writer who can be so thrillingly, transparently brilliant (think, The Shield of Achilles, one example of many) can be so utterly opaque at times? The problem is that I'm inclined to suspect the problem lies in me, as a less than ideal reader, rather than in the great man having an off-day.
Although maybe there's an argument to be made that when he moves from the concrete to the abstract Auden has more than a tendency to obscurity for the sake of obscurity.
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2 comments:
Perhaps your latest incarnation has muddled your perceptions a little. I swear that Peter Capaldi is you, sometimes. *grin*
Your comment is enigmatical, sir! This is all Doctor Who-related, right? Which must make it a good thing.
I'm old enough to remember Mr Capaldi in Bill Forsythe's Local Hero, by the way. One of my all-time favourite films.
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