Love and War

[Charles Barone]

Ted Samsel wrote:
> 
> P sez:
> >
> > Almassy and Katharine in "The English Patient" seem to have suggested
> > comparison to Rick and Ilsa of "Casablanca" fame. But I haven't yet
> > seen any reviewer referring to our Roger and Jessica's doomed love
> > against a backdrop of total war.
> 
> But they're all in the ZONE....

The Washington Post reviewer (11/22) also compared the EP to Casablanca [while ignoring 
GR]: "Anyone who has ever wondered why Ilsa didn't throw over Laszlo for Rick will find 
the answer in the guilt and torment of Almassy and Katherine.

Note this contrasts with Lbernier's previous take on Jessica on the p-list:

"She's Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca - she'll end up with Beaver because that's what she, 
celluloid femme with no real choice, is expected to do.  Men can
behave badly, after all, they're fighting a war - and it's the women who must
somehow reestablish normality once the men are done with their silliness".

EP (the movie) embraces ambiguity and paradox with less subtlety and complexity than GR 
(and to be fair, not having read the book, I don't know how much of that to attribute to 
the medium vs. the work itself) but to its credit it's there.  It's not clear so far in 
the GR of GR whether one or the other or both of these takes is the most fitting with 
regard to Jessica and Roger (let alone whether it's fair to try to fit each of these 
triangles into the same round hole), but it's still too early to bury those seven simple 
words.