Thursday, December 03, 2009

Cornel West's Recipe for a Lasting Relationship


A colleague forwarded to me a scathing review of Cornel West's most recent book, a memoir called Brother West.  The review contained this choice paragraph from the book:
“The basic problem with my love relationships with women is that my standards are so high -- and they apply equally to both of us. I seek full-blast mutual intensity, fully fledged mutual acceptance, full-blown mutual flourishing, and fully felt peace and joy with each other. This requires a level of physical attraction, personal adoration, and moral admiration that is hard to find. And it shares a depth of trust and openness for a genuine soul-sharing with a mutual respect for a calling to each other and to others. Does such a woman exist for me? Only God knows and I eagerly await this divine unfolding. Like Heathcliff and Catherine’s relationship in Emily Bronte’s remarkable novel Wuthering Heights or Franz Schubert’s tempestuous piano Sonata No. 21 in B flat (D.960) I will not let life or death stand in the way of this sublime and funky love that I crave!”
It's hard to believe he's been divorced four times, isn't it?

2 comments:

claire said...

Larry read me that last night and I wept tears of pure funy joy at "this sublime and funky love that I crave." High standards, at least they are good for one of the best pee inducing laughs I have had in too long.

Marsha said...

It's not hard to believe that he has been divorced 4 times. Usually people/men, who require those things in another haven't fully developed the same in themselves and want to see it in their partner so it can be brought out in themselves.
When they don't see all they want to see in their partner they are invariably disappointed.

Also it could be they have a partner who is all of that, but they themselves can't then measure up.