Monday 1 March 2010

Philip Lawlor has gone to Smith & Williamson Investment Management

'His anarchic inability to support himself is experienced by his spirit as obedience. What seems to the careless observer a series of sordid collapses appears to his spirit as a series of ascetic exultations, in each of which some tiny filaments holding the personality to its past shell are separated. His obedience to the unconscious, even at the cost of physical suffering, is the right thing; it is the road of genius and of learning.' - Robert Bly on the hero of Knut Hamsun's novel Hunger

O Master, that could apply to you as well. Just one objection. Any pretentious dickhead can add literary quotes to his blog to make it look all sophisticated and cultured.

Yes, my child. That's why I seldom do it. I concentrate on creating literature, not on trying to impress people with the contents of my fucking book cabinet. But that aside, I have a good reason for quoting Bly. You see, Philip Lawlor is this sort of man. Oh, not another one like Mr Lombardi! Maybe, maybe. Phil has left Nomura International - he was never happy there - and he has joined Smith & Williamson Investment Management as an investment strategist. So what? O my child, Phil is a lost soul. Like myself, you could say. Like Anthony. He is on the road of genius and of learning. The road has taken him to Smith & Williamson. O Master, is this an astral road we're talking about? Well, yes, it's an astral road, a psychological road, a road that stretches for trillions of miles! Trillions?! Yes! It moves from our minds right out into the cosmos. Wow!

Yes. Wow!