Austin Tappan Wright (1883–1931)

A rag-eared copy of this has sat on the parents’ shelves since I was born. Its companions were The Fountainhead and Lord of the Rings — best selling behemoths in the 60s/70s. As I grew into a book nerd, I always intended to give it a chance, but have just finally gotten around to it.

A slow-moving personal narrative really just ends up being an overwrought romance novel with notions about romantic and domestic relationships that manage to sound both modern and dated at the same time. It was interesting to witness a male author and protagonist of 1900 trying to develop a less puritanical concept of sex and relationships that sounds almost like a concept from the 60s. Yet there is still a strange misogyny in it. I really enjoyed the arguments against capitalism, ambition and modern living — the conservative Islandia becomes the progressive utopia. Considering that most of the content was composed pre-ww1, this skepticism Western society was refreshing.

By the end I was just sick and tired of circular discussions of love and wished it had more action and political intrigue. Fortunately, it’s well written with pastoral descriptions of Islandia and simple turns of phrase that charm you into reading further.

A few choice quotes:

Speaking of America: “But the men most thoroughly at home in life here, the men who live most naturally under present conditions, are business men. The rest are either parasites or critics.”

“The voice of a foreign government is not the voice of its people, for the people are too diverse in their lives and aims to have a single voice. ‘Government’ abroad is merely a mask with a terrible face put on by different groups at different times.”

“You foreigners have built up for yourselves an environment that makes the satisfaction of these desires less easy, for its complexity makes the desires complex, and its diversity makes the desires of the mind confused and obscure.”… (mere)

A rag-eared copy of this has sat on the parents’ shelves since I was born. Its companions were The Fountainhead and Lord of the Rings — best selling behemoths in the 60s/70s. As I grew into a book nerd, I always intended to give it a chance, but have just finally gotten around to it.

A slow-moving personal narrative really just ends up being an overwrought romance novel with notions about romantic and domestic relationships that manage to sound both modern and dated at the same time. It was interesting to witness a male author and protagonist of 1900 trying to develop a less puritanical concept of sex and relationships that sounds almost like a concept from the 60s. Yet there is still a strange misogyny in it. I really enjoyed the arguments against capitalism, ambition and modern living — the conservative Islandia becomes the progressive utopia. Considering that most of the content was composed pre-ww1, this skepticism Western society was refreshing.

By the end I was just sick and tired of circular discussions of love and wished it had more action and political intrigue. Fortunately, it’s well written with pastoral descriptions of Islandia and simple turns of phrase that charm you into reading further.

A few choice quotes:

Speaking of America: “But the men most thoroughly at home in life here, the men who live most naturally under present conditions, are business men. The rest are either parasites or critics.”

“The voice of a foreign government is not the voice of its people, for the people are too diverse in their lives and aims to have a single voice. ‘Government’ abroad is merely a mask with a terrible face put on by different groups at different times.”

“You foreigners have built up for yourselves an environment that makes the satisfaction of these desires less easy, for its complexity makes the desires complex, and its diversity makes the desires of the mind confused and obscure.”… (mere)