It is extremely cheering (at least to me), to read about difficult times when having to navigate them – so for anyone else despairing at the not great choices on election season this year then may I recommend EM Forster’s “two cheers for democracy”? Selections have been reprinted by Persephone and as well as a three part essay on Nazism that speaks to the rise of the far right again in this decade, he also maintains his humour.
In particular, his description of the alternate warmth and frost of a ministerial delegation (“All rose to their feet. The Minister recoiled as if horror-struck by the commotion he had caused”) ends with this gem: “Civilities were re-exchanged, time was up, we thanked and were counter-thanked, our opinions were to be given their full weight, and performing a final can-can, the Minister slipped from the room.”
It reminded me of this equally delicious passage in Kay Boyle’s My Next Bride: “she wore diamonds on her fingers and in her ears, the tops of her breasts said bon soir to the room.”
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