Excerpt from Mary McCarthy's The Group:
"You and your social friends," he continued, "have a finer functional adaption. Full, low-slung breasts" -he stared about the room- "fashioned to carry pearls and boucle sweaters and faggoting and tucked crepe de Chine blouses. Narrow waists. Tapering legs. As a man of the last decade, I prefer the boyish figure myself: a girl in a bathing cap poised to jackknife on a diving board. Marblehead summer memories; Betty is a marvelous swimmer. Thin women are more sensual; scientific fact- the nerve ends are closer to the surface." His grey eyes narrowed, heavy-lidded, as though he were drifting off to sleep. "I like the fat one, though," he said abruptly, singling out Pokey Prothero. "She has a thermal look. Nacreous skin, plumped with oysters. Yum, yum, yum; money, money. My sexual problems are economic. I loathe under-privileged women, but my own outlook is bohemian. Impossible combination."
2 comments:
I love excerpts; especially those taken out of context of the book. I know this character. I've overheard this conversation at a barbeque or pool party. Having not read the novel in which the character is found I am allowed to find him in my own experiences -- an allowance that I cherish very much.
Would you like to have coffee, Sunday?
*I was checking the Forest Fire email as I was commenting on your blog -- that's why Forest Fire commented and not my personal account. Silly me.
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