"Can you imagine old age? Of course you can't. I didn't. I couldn't. I had no idea what it was like. Not even a false image -- no image. And nobody wants anything else. Nobody wants to face any of this before he has to. How is it all going to turn out? Obtuseness is de rigueur." -- Philip Roth, The Dying Animal
de rigueur: strictly required
ReplyDeleteI'll write more on this at a later date. I was struck by Roth's paragraph both by its honesty and its rarity, and felt the need to "rush it into print."
ReplyDeleteDe rigor is the end result followed by recycling of the body back into the Earth, unless one is cremated.
ReplyDeleteagain, i could have sworn ........
ReplyDeleteI have not and will not delete your comments, Spud Ted.
ReplyDelete