Discussion - Week Three - The Tartar Steppe - Chapter 20 - 30

[Jim]

This discussion covers Chapter Twenty – Thirty, pg. 181 – 265 and
Conclusions/Book as a whole

[mkfs]

Finally wrapped this one up last night. Had it in PDF format which is less convenient to read. Quite enjoyable little novel.

I was reading an article on primary vs secondary control recently, and Drogo's life seems an excellent example of the difference. His successful classmates and colleagues approach life through primary control: taking command of their situation and actively exploiting opportunities.

Drogo, and the other denizens of the Fort (also the name of a great restaurant just outside of Denver, btw), approach life through secondary control: a feeling that much of life is beyond one's control. They accept their circumstance and wait for glory to be thrust upon them.

The ending drives this home as Drogo looks back with satisfaction upon what is, ultimately, a wasted life.

[Voorneveld]

The final third of the book contains some of the book's nicest stylistic stuntpilotry. In ch. 21, only half of the troops remain at the fortress. This reduction in strength is paralleled by the fort's decay (p. 190) and almost uniform resignation among the remaining people: "their former hopes, their warlike dreams, their constant waiting for the enemy had been no more than a pretext to give life some significance."

Another nice stylistic touch was the description of the passing of time. On only one page (219) we find "even for a second", "seasons", "day to day", "hours slipped away", "month upon month without a thought" and one or two pages later the poetic "the strokes of the clock crowd upon each other"

Towards the end comes Drogo's explicit recognition of his life's failure. But he seems to succeed at his final battle, which Mkfs mentioned above: "But nothing is more difficult than to die in some strange, indifferent spot, in the characterless bed of an inn, to die there old and worn and leave no one behind in the world...Step across the shadow line with a firm step, erect as if on parade and even smile, if you can." (263) And that is exactly what Drogo does in the book's final sentence.

Whereas Mkfs above interprets this as satisfaction at the end of a meaningless life, I cannot shake the impression that there is an even more pessimistic take on this ending: might this be the ultimate resignation at defeat?

Question: My posts on this book are the first ones in the Brain Pain group. And I just want to check I am not committing a faux pas: I try to illustrate my points by explicit quotes and page references. Is this okay? I try to follow the recommendations of not spoiling things by commenting only on the right sections/chapters and hiding things behind spoiler tags would make it more or less illegible.

[Jim]

Voorneveld wrote: "Question: My posts on this book are the first ones in the Brain Pain group. And I just want to check I am not committing a faux pas: I try to illustrate my points by explicit quotes and page references. Is this okay? I try to follow the recommendations of not spoiling things by commenting only on the right sections/chapters and hiding things behind spoiler tags would make it more or less illegible..."

No faux pas on your part. Commenting on specific parts of the text within the corresponding discussions is all that I ask. In general, I don't really think spoiler tags are necessary if you're commenting within the page range of a given week's discussion. And so, you're in full compliance, sir!

Also, quoting parts of the text and including page numbers makes it easy for us to revisit those passages and respond to your posts.