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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   2952 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for September 21, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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So, what are you reading?

Still on G. Kirilenko and L. Korshunova's What is Personality? Also going through some Gramsci essays.

Kazuo Ishiguro’s Remains of the Day. A weird little guy goes on a road trip through ‘50s England while reminiscing on his former employer and colleagues.

I don’t think I got it. Delightful prose, vividly drawn characters, and some excellent scenes…but I just don’t understand how it works as a novel. What was the point? Or was it some sort of metafiction where the lack thereof was, itself, the point? It just didn’t land for me. I enjoyed the process but was left unsatisfied and a little embarrassed.

Up next is C J Cherryh’s Merchanter’s Luck for a change of pace. This feels incredibly “genre” in a good way. Pretty impressed with the economy of prose so far, too. Looking forward to it.

He was in denial about his love for the other servant and hers for him (they could have married and had a happy life, but no); he was in denial about his employer's support for the Nazis. When he finally realized the depth of his sacrifices (see: other servant's love for him), he told himself they were justified because he had given good service to a great man (a stereotypical "blockheaded aristo" who had supported the Nazis along with the abdicator king).

(Looking it up after writing the above: Miss Kenton; Edward VIII.)

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