How can we understand the astounding story of M. Dominique Strauss-Kahn? Is there a literary algorithm that can be applied? Oui! The character of Mr. Toad from Kenneth Grahame's Wind in the Willows can enlighten us. Wealthy, charming, manic, obsessive -- Toad can't resist driving every automobile he sees. Eventually he gets in a crash and receives a twenty year prison sentence. (He escapes.) For Toad, driving is the closest he can come to what, in another era, was experienced through religious devotion: physical stimulation, emotional ecstasy, etc. He craves it, needs it -- and starts making bad judgments. When sex (paradoxically) becomes the only route to "out of body" experience, trouble is on the way for chamber maids. As with any addiction, it's looking for love in all the wrong places. DSK even resembles Toad in some way. (I resemble Mole.)
Thank you for referencing Wind in the Willows, Mitch--you are always full of fine surprises! It happens Mole is one of my favorite characters; in fact, this year, I asked an artist to create a little needle-felted replica of Mole for me and she did a wonderful job. Isn't that nuts what Toad goes through with his car obsession?! Very funny! (May I blab on? About cars. When Albert Schweitzer was in Lambergene, he didn't want to allow any cars. But his workers insisted and there were two cars in the jungle. Of course the two cars got in a head-on collision, just as Dr. Schweitzer predicted.) I hope you and Rachel will make another restaurant video soon.
Posted by: Chicago Observer | May 19, 2011 at 12:22 PM