A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood (GEN Book Review)

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Full Review on my public library book reading blog: http://mylibraryreading.wordpress.com/ MY LOCAL LIBRARY: Minet Library -- http://www.facebook.com/pages/Minet-Library-Lambeth-Archives/182910281761857 BOOK DETAILS: A SINGLE MAN By Christopher Isherwood Published by: Vintage Books Paperback edition: 152 pages ISBN: 978-0-099-54128-8 FAVOURITE PASSAGE: "Well ― to put it crudely ― it's like Plato; it's a Dialogue. A dialogue between two people. Yes, but not a Platonic dialogue in the hair-splitting, word twisting, one-up-to-me sense; not a mock-humble bitching-match; not a debate on some dreary set theme. You can talk about anything and change the subject as often as you like. In fact, what really matters is not what you talk about, but the being together in this particular relationship. George can't imagine having a dialogue of this kind with a woman, because women can only talk in terms of the personal. A man of his own age would do, if there was some sort of polarity; for instance, if he was a Negro. You and your dialogue-partner have to be somehow opposites. Why? Because you have to be symbolic figures ― like, in this case, Youth and Age. Why do you have to be symbolic? Because the dialogue is by its nature impersonal. It's a symbolic encounter. It doesn't involve either party personally. That's why, in a dialogue, you can say absolutely anything. Even the closest confidence, the deadliest secret, comes out objectively as a mere metaphor or illustration, which could never be used against you." (extract taken from pages 124-125, 'A Single Man, by Christopher Isherwood, first published in 1964)
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