Sunday, July 19, 2009

He wasn't in LA? Really?

... Oceanic malaise. I never saw anyone reading anything more demanding than a comic book. I never heard any youth express an interest in science or art. No one even talked politics. It was all idleness, and whenever I asked someone a question, no matter how simple, no matter how well the person spoke English, there was always a long pause before I got a reply, and I found these Pacific pauses maddening.
And there was giggling but no humor - no wit. It was just foolery.

Theroux, Paul, The happy isles of Oceania. Paddling the Pacific. New York (G.P. Putnam's Son), 1992, 341

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