Finished reading and was very disappointed with Bertolt Brecht’s didactic Threepenny Novel, which was written in 1934. Couldn’t engage with it, found little or no redemption although there was some humour.
What I learnt is that in 1934 a soft boiled egg had to be cooked for four-and-a-half minutes!
I also noted this about the philosophy of the character, Peachum: “To swindle other people was, after all, the honest aim of every business man. Only the world was much wickeder than one thought. There seemed to be no limit to evilness. That was Peachum’s deepest conviction, his only one.”
I also liked the poem about war.
See also my feature, Before The Deluge, for some more about Brecht.
4th January. Gave a presentation to students on Boston’s Northeastern University Honors Program, organised by the indefatigable author and professor, Michael Patrick McDonald.