She draws our attention to the many ways that Ernesto Hemingway internalised his uncle Alfred’s How to make Good &c (It’s a long title that leaves nothing out). He adopted the cult of manliness and being a wise old bird who called himself Papa in his thirties.
Arnold Bennett is another writer that she mentions who wrote three such books none of which I’ve read. That's the mess I am. His literary work I recommend especially An Old Wives Tale and the Clayhanger trilogy. Now neglected of course yet his depiction of the female psychology and predicament in early 20th.C. is sensitive and unusual.
David Foster Wallace whom I haven’t read to any extent was a great reader of the form. His ego was a vast property in need of maintenance. Maria Bustillos had a comprehensive squint at some of the annotated volumes among his papers in Texas U.
Wallace self-help
God Bless and keep you Mother Machree you can hum while you read.
The greatest of them all and I’m reading it now is 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson the multi-million copy bestseller down beside the Penguin lest you wander off a lone ‘un in the wrong direction. Mind you there’s irony in the title with its echos of the 7 Rules books of some years ago. The advice is stern and bracing and perfectly fine and uncontroversial moving from Stand up straight with your shoulders back interspersed with Jungian Archetypal encounters to vignettes from his extensive clinical practice. How has he come to be so hated by feminist scolds, ‘so what you’re saying’ types whom he encounters in tv. Interviews? My understanding of this is imperfect but I feel that his patience is severely exasperating to them as he repeats ‘no that’s not what I said’.
But you’ve probably read it already. I haven’t seen it being offered second hand yet so there must be millions of annotated copies out there.
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