Abse has a hard act to follow here. Doctor Glas, which I've discussed elsewhere, is a superb existential story of alienation, told from the point of view of a doctor who by virtue of his position in society is both especially connected to people - he is privy to their secrets - and especially disconnected - he is privy to secrets. The very fact that his job is to be privy to their most private thoughts means that the nature of his social relationships is compromised and ambiguous. He finds it hard to understand what his relationship is to individuals and that is connected up, of course, to his relationship to society.

Abse continues on this theme with the profound understanding that comes of being both a doctor and a poet. He is at the time of penning this, furthermore, an eighty year old Jewish doctor and poet.

The rest is here

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Abse has a hard act to follow here. Doctor Glas, which I've discussed elsewhere, is a superb existential story of alienation, told from the point of view of a doctor who by virtue of his position in society is both especially connected to people - he is privy to their secrets - and especially disconnected - he is privy to secrets. The very fact that his job is to be privy to their most private thoughts means that the nature of his social relationships is compromised and ambiguous. He finds it hard to understand what his relationship is to individuals and that is connected up, of course, to his relationship to society.

Abse continues on this theme with the profound understanding that comes of being both a doctor and a poet. He is at the time of penning this, furthermore, an eighty year old Jewish doctor and poet.

The rest is here

( )

This took me a while to get into. I was pleased I'd taken it away with me and had nothing else to read; otherwise at home I may have not continued reading it. It is very strange with elements of Freud appearing in the fictitious prose.

Dr Simmonds is a batchelor in 1950s London (I believe he's in his 40s). He is given - by 2 different people - a copy of a 1905 Swedish classic 'Doctor Glas' which is a novel posing the question of a pure moral murder. This book sees Dr Simmonds becoming involved in the same circumstances that occur in the book he is given.

It takes a while to get into, but once you have it's worth it. Dr Simmonds is a dry character whose humour may not appeal to everyone. I like the line "it will be wonderful if cortisone does prove to be an effective remedy for severe rheumatoid arthritis. At present, the tapping noise of sticks on the road to Lourdes is too loud."

The ending seems to make it more like non-fiction than fiction when the 'journals' of Dr Simmonds are sold. However I don't feel like the end leaves the book complete.

Worth a read. ( )