Elegy Quotes
Cultural critic David Kepesh finds his life -- which he indicates is a state of "emancipated manhood" -- thrown into tragic disarray by Consuela Castillo, a well-mannered student who awakens a sense of sexual possessiveness in her teacher.
George O'Hearn: Beautiful women are invisible.
David Kepesh: Invisible? What the hell does that mean? Invisible? They jump out at you. A beautiful woman, she stands out. She stands apart. You can't miss her.
George O'Hearn: But we never actually see the person. We see the beautiful shell. We're blocked by the beauty barrier. Yeah, we're so dazzled by the outside that we never make it inside.
David Kepesh: Invisible? What the hell does that mean? Invisible? They jump out at you. A beautiful woman, she stands out. She stands apart. You can't miss her.
George O'Hearn: But we never actually see the person. We see the beautiful shell. We're blocked by the beauty barrier. Yeah, we're so dazzled by the outside that we never make it inside.
David Kepesh: I think it was Betty Davis who said old age is not for sissies. But it was Tolstoy who said the biggest surprise in a man's life is old age. Old age sneaks up on you, and the next thing you know you're asking yourself, I'm asking myself, why can't an old man act his real age? How is it possible for me to still be involved in the carnal aspects of the human comedy? Because, in my head, nothing has changed.
David Kepesh: [interview on the Charlie Rose show] We're not all descended from the Puritans.
Charlie Rose: No?
David Kepesh: There was another colony 30 miles from Plymouth, it's not on the maps today. Marymount it was called.
Charlie Rose: Yeah, alright, you mention in your book...
David Kepesh: The colony where anything goes, went.
Charlie Rose: There was booze...
David Kepesh: here was booze. There was fornication. There was music. There was... they even ah, ah, ah, you name it, you name it. They even danced around the maypole once a month, wearing masks, worshiping god knows what, Whites and Indians together, all going for broke...
Charlie Rose: Who was responsible for all of this?
David Kepesh: A character by the name of Thomas Morton.
Charlie Rose: Aah, the "Hugh Hefner" of the Puritans.
David Kepesh: You could say that. I'm going to read you a quote of what the Puritans thought of Morton's followers: 'Debauched bacchanalians and atheists, falling into great licentiousness, and leading degenerate lives'. When I heard that, I packed my bags, I left Oxford, and I came straight to America, America the licentious.
Charlie Rose: So what happened to all of those people?
David Kepesh: Well, the Puritans shot them down. They sent in Miles Standish leading the militia. He chopped down the maypole, cut down those colored ribbons, banners, everything; party was over
Charlie Rose: And we became a nation of straight-laced Puritans.
David Kepesh: Well...
Charlie Rose: Isn't that your point though? The Puritans won, they stamped out all things sexual... how would you say it?
David Kepesh: Sexual happiness.
Charlie Rose: Exactly. Until the 1960s.
David Kepesh: Until the 1960s when it all exploded again all over the place.
Charlie Rose: Right, everyone was dancing around the maypole, then, make love not war.
David Kepesh: If you remember, only a decade earlier, if you wanted to have sex, if you wanted to make love in the 1950s, you had to beg for it, you had to cop a feel.
Charlie Rose: Or... get married.
David Kepesh: As I did in the 1960s.
Charlie Rose: Any regrets?
David Kepesh: Plenty. Um, but that's our secret. Don't tell anybody.
[laughter]
David Kepesh: That's just between you and me.
Charlie Rose: No?
David Kepesh: There was another colony 30 miles from Plymouth, it's not on the maps today. Marymount it was called.
Charlie Rose: Yeah, alright, you mention in your book...
David Kepesh: The colony where anything goes, went.
Charlie Rose: There was booze...
David Kepesh: here was booze. There was fornication. There was music. There was... they even ah, ah, ah, you name it, you name it. They even danced around the maypole once a month, wearing masks, worshiping god knows what, Whites and Indians together, all going for broke...
Charlie Rose: Who was responsible for all of this?
David Kepesh: A character by the name of Thomas Morton.
Charlie Rose: Aah, the "Hugh Hefner" of the Puritans.
David Kepesh: You could say that. I'm going to read you a quote of what the Puritans thought of Morton's followers: 'Debauched bacchanalians and atheists, falling into great licentiousness, and leading degenerate lives'. When I heard that, I packed my bags, I left Oxford, and I came straight to America, America the licentious.
Charlie Rose: So what happened to all of those people?
David Kepesh: Well, the Puritans shot them down. They sent in Miles Standish leading the militia. He chopped down the maypole, cut down those colored ribbons, banners, everything; party was over
Charlie Rose: And we became a nation of straight-laced Puritans.
David Kepesh: Well...
Charlie Rose: Isn't that your point though? The Puritans won, they stamped out all things sexual... how would you say it?
David Kepesh: Sexual happiness.
Charlie Rose: Exactly. Until the 1960s.
David Kepesh: Until the 1960s when it all exploded again all over the place.
Charlie Rose: Right, everyone was dancing around the maypole, then, make love not war.
David Kepesh: If you remember, only a decade earlier, if you wanted to have sex, if you wanted to make love in the 1950s, you had to beg for it, you had to cop a feel.
Charlie Rose: Or... get married.
David Kepesh: As I did in the 1960s.
Charlie Rose: Any regrets?
David Kepesh: Plenty. Um, but that's our secret. Don't tell anybody.
[laughter]
David Kepesh: That's just between you and me.
