Becky's Reviews > The City and the Mountains

Born in Paris wealthy, brilliant Jacinto leaves for the countryside of Portugal with his compatriot, the narrator of this lovely book an exploration of the virtues of country versus city life. "man's moral freedom ended in the City: each morning it imposed on him a new need, and each new need impelled him further into dependency: poor and subaltern, he found his life had become a round of begging, flattering, cringeing, fawning and making do; when it came to a wealthy, superior man like Jacinto, Society immediately entangled him in traditions, social expectations, etiquettes, ceremonies, customs, and rituals--far harsher disciplines than one would find in a prison or a barracks."

There's plenty of philosophical banter between the two men: "Let me see...well, there was Wagner and Eddie Mythology, and Ragnarok and the Nornie...There was a lot of Pre-Raphaelitism around, too, and Montagna, and Fra Angelico. And when it came to morals, Renanism was all the rage.

Maurice gave a dismissive shrug. All that belonged to an ancient, almost prehistoric past! By the time Madame de Lamotte-Orcel had refurnished her salon with William Morris velvets--great fat artichokes against a saffron background--Renanism was already passe, as forgotten as Cartesianism.

Were you around for the cult of the Ego?...After that came Hartmannism and the philosophy of the Unconscious. Then came Nietscheism and Spiritual Freudalism. Then Tolstoyism took over, and neo-cenobitic renunciation was all the rage."
You get the gist.