#210 The Last Mohican- Bernard Malamud
Fidelman is a failed painter and on sabbatical in Italy to
study and write a book about Giotto. He was a perpectual student like Chekhov’s
Trofimov. “If there was something to learn, I want to learn it.” (yet another
writer doffing their cap to Chekhov)
He is set upon by a crafty beggar and cannot seem to get rid
of him. He follows him and begs for his suit. When finding his briefcase
stolen, assumingly by this beggar, he drops all his plans for study and travel
and pursues his lost property.
He allows his regrets and poor decisions define him. We
are all victims of something, but why be a victim twice, one of our own doing?
Notable Passage: “History was mysterious, the remembrance of
things unknown, in a way burdensome, in a way a sensuous experience. It
uplifted and depressed, why we did not know, except that it excited his
thoughts more than he thought good for him.”
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