Clean Straw for Nothing by George Meredith
For those who don't know, the romance between Johnston and the beautiful Charmian Clift was a cause celebre in the 1960's. They ran away from philistine Australia to live on an idyllic Greek island. That was the myth.
But this is the reality - even though it's fiction it is like watching a slow-motion train-wreck. They drank; there are sexual adventures, real and imagined; and Johnston's character writes unremunerative pot-boilers.
Forced to return to reality, they have to pick up the pieces. The title of the book is from a 18th century ditty: Drunk for a penny, Dead drunk for tuppence, Clean Straw for Nothing.
It doesn't sound too hot, so why do I find it uplifting. First, it is a beautiful love story. Secondly, they did it. And third the book is exceptionally written. The character Meredith counts himself a failure. But that is not how he emerges from Clean Straw for Nothing. He was true to his values. He reveals an endearing humanness. And the couple's love, despite everything, endures. Johnston has an accurate eye for character- he is unstintingly harsh, not least on his own persona, Meredith.
The book reveals why most people choose to live their lives within the four rigid walls of conformity. It exposes the dangers of trying to escape. But it shows that it can be done- and for an artist, must be done: whether that escape is a physical one or only in the mind. As the artist character Tom Kiernan says:
"I fly with Icarus, not with Dacdelus"
"That's all very well for you," replies Meredith, " But I'm me not you."
"Balls! If you want to fly, if you think you can fly, then all you've got to do is jump off the twig and bloody well fly!"
And with this book Johnston flies 5/5
But this is the reality - even though it's fiction it is like watching a slow-motion train-wreck. They drank; there are sexual adventures, real and imagined; and Johnston's character writes unremunerative pot-boilers.
Forced to return to reality, they have to pick up the pieces. The title of the book is from a 18th century ditty: Drunk for a penny, Dead drunk for tuppence, Clean Straw for Nothing.
It doesn't sound too hot, so why do I find it uplifting. First, it is a beautiful love story. Secondly, they did it. And third the book is exceptionally written. The character Meredith counts himself a failure. But that is not how he emerges from Clean Straw for Nothing. He was true to his values. He reveals an endearing humanness. And the couple's love, despite everything, endures. Johnston has an accurate eye for character- he is unstintingly harsh, not least on his own persona, Meredith.
The book reveals why most people choose to live their lives within the four rigid walls of conformity. It exposes the dangers of trying to escape. But it shows that it can be done- and for an artist, must be done: whether that escape is a physical one or only in the mind. As the artist character Tom Kiernan says:
"I fly with Icarus, not with Dacdelus"
"That's all very well for you," replies Meredith, " But I'm me not you."
"Balls! If you want to fly, if you think you can fly, then all you've got to do is jump off the twig and bloody well fly!"
And with this book Johnston flies 5/5
No comments have been added yet.
