This is another in a series that has been forming here over the years without me realizing it: musings on favorite books. Whether it's true or not, on general principle I will say that spoilers abound here, so if such things bother you, don't read this essay. I'll be talking about bird feeders, or dogs, or something else soon. The quotations in the essay all come from:
Renault, Mary. The Charioteer. New York: Pantheon Books, 1974
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At one point
in The Charioteer, by Mary Renault,
Laurence Odell (Laurie, or Spud to his friends) is rereading Plato’s The Phaedrus, a book he has found
deeply inspiring since adolescence. When a friend asks him to describe it, he
is momentarily stymied for many reasons, but one of the biggest is “it had been
a part of his mind’s furniture for years…” (p.108). This is as good as any
description of my relationship with The
Charioteer. It has been a touchstone for me since I first picked it up
thirty-five years ago. Trying to describe that relationship, however, has proven
elusive; I doubt I’ll ever be able to do it effectively. I suppose it’s
like trying to describe any important long-term relationship. I've probably
read it dozens, even scores of times, and almost every reading has revealed
something new. I think the book is wiser than I am, with insights that wait
patiently for me to see only when I’m ready for them. It has anticipated and marked key changes in my life and gave me hope at key points. I would even go so far to say it had a hand in
shaping my ethics.
