Fritz Prokosch burst upon the American literary ~~

SCENE in 1935 with the publication of The Asiatics: his rise was meteoric! Mor begon hem te lezen in Tel Aviv/Rechov Arlozorov in januari '67 & 'ever since' ~ 'n 'rare vogel'? Toen ik de ASIATICS Pelican Pocket uithad liet ik 't achter in een spleet tussen de rotsen bij Mitzpeh Ramon ~ aan de rand van de Makhtesh haGadol & wie weet ligt hij daar nog na bijna 'n halve eeuw? Maar dat terzijde. Ik haal wat stukjes aan uit Dreamer's Journey {by R.M. Greenfield} just for fun!

Liftend heen & weer tussen de Vale Ouwe & Vietnam leek me wel wat ook al is alles 'anders gelopen'?

Maar intrigerend was & blééf 't!

Vandaar dus ~~~ THE focus of wide attention, he was mentioned favourably in the same breath as D.H. Lawrence, Maxim Gorky, Pierre Loti, Joseph Conrad, T.E. Lawrence, & Louis-F. Céline. By the mid-40s, his fortunes had plummeted to the point that he was commonly spoken of as a prime example of a writer to whom fame had come too early & who had failed to measure up to his promise. Fritz's personality was never moderate, & his reaction to feeling that he was being denied the recognition that he deserved was severe.

In the course of a few years he moved from haughtiness that included a tendency toward grandiosity to long periods of bewilderment & helpless anger interspersed with intermittent bouts of depression. As time slipped by, he retreated more and more into a protective world of dreams. "There exist people," he had written in "The Wilderness," "whom a lack of happiness eventually destroys; they need contentment as they need oxygen!" It is one of the ironies of Fritz's career that it was during some of his unhappiest years that he produced some of his most fascinating works. Only a few recognized what he accomplished maybe because Fritz unfortunately was a man of many personal flaws & petty wiles: some of his duplicities have left a permanent stain on his reputation.

But, for all his faults, he should not be denied the recognition that his substantial accomplishments deserve. As he himself commented in laying down a rule for reading one's favourite writers: "You DO need to tolerate their weaknesses and love their strengths, as it is with every person that is dear to you!"

Fritz's lying must be understood as of a piece with his literary creativity. Like the lies he told, his writings served escapist & compensatory functions. Asked in an interview WHY he wrote, Fritz answered, "Because I like it! Because it makes me happy!"

There is considerable truth in this statement; from very early on, Fritz dreamed of a life that was free & ùnconstrained, which he compared more than once with the soaring flight of a bird ~~


07 apr 2014 - bewerkt op 11 apr 2014 - meld ongepast verhaal
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