It subconsciously does mine. Proust, Rand, Chekhov, Pushkin, Bronte, Kafka, Milton, Cope, Eliot, both the Wolf and Woolf (not to forget Albee) and Pound and Neruda and Shelley, Rousseau, Ginsberg, Wells, Plath, Achebe, Anatrajanam, Shidhwa, Greenberg and Pope and -
I don't expect anyone to quote or anything - but please say - say you have heard of them, if not read them!
For that matter, hows art? Picasso (I haven't found one person who could tell me why he liked Picasso's cubism except for saying “what kind of a question is that?'or why they like Raza's work - and its needless to mention the Cubits haven't really heard of Braque.And are unsure if Raza is alive or dead.), Rembrandt, Gabriel Rossetti... Please say that you know that Art for Art's sake lead to progressive modernism and we are very grateful to the Romantics who sowed seeds to the quote 'form follows function'.
Monk, Drama King, Loud mouth, Talkathon, Childmom and I - can't stand people who are not in touch with fiction or art (no matter how useless it maybe). Talk about Tanjore Paintings or Carvings or architecture and most look at you as if you were born on a shiny disc - there was a time when I was giving - up on the monk - till he spoke of Konark and I knew he had hope!
However that does not dictate our friendship. On one of our salad dinners - I asked monk the same and he cringed - 'YES! You are with me here coz you have some intellect! Coz you read! I have tastes - and like a woman who appreciates Steve Martin.' So you can't really be his partner if you read pop-fiction of Sidney Sheldon - That second, I wished aloud that this literary snoot falls for a girl who reads Mills and Boon or Sweetville!
And he was on the verge of ducking my head in the salad bowl! Those are his scariest nightmares - a woman who doesn't read sense.
I would agree to all the above [(though not to this extreme) Mushy's three musketeers in literature were Camus, Sartre and Kafka ( His highness is not married and has no relationship] - coz a partner who doesn't read or like movies is a problem area for me - and what I hated the most about Black pearl and I was that - in spite of never being asked to 'not do - or go to', I just stopped going to movies at Y.B and got slower with reading - he has my books and no matter how many books (or of what kind) i bought him - he did not read them. The last book he read was - an Arseholes guide to chicks - REALLY, what future can anyone have?
However - Talkothon and her Darling (yes, he is quite a darling!) get along fine (till date) - and he is the biggest ignorant literary or artistic fool she has ever met! He doesn't know anything about anything - it is that silly! She on the other hand can rip apart a scholar in East African literature - and our man has no clue - that there exist an East Africa! I rolled out with laughter and was completely astonished but she quickly replied - 'I know the world through the books - he knows it through the streets!' you know he hasn't read a single book - including his text books - and i am in love with him! Even as I assuaged her - I was laughing at fate and how 'love' just happens -regardless of one literary preferences!
But can you live forever with someone who disturbs you when you read or wants you to fast forward a silent movie you are watching? I get annoyed when I am reading an interesting twist and someone wants me to get up and get going about cleaning the room or do something equally senseless.
However, it doesn't annoy me when people don't know the things I know - I mean it's okay - you don't need to know everything (i don't know shit about most things either) or share all my tastes - just respect them! For example - my fetish for Greek mythology - if Black Pearl didn't know - we sat with a story telling session.
That is also something that is gravely wrong with Wise Capitalist and Chameleon - they are uninterested in everything that is remotely related to books, planet or painting. (their knowledge of geography like childmom's is howlarious. ask them to name the 5 oceans and they will say - Arabian sea, bay of Bengal and Indian ocean)! Seriously, no jokes. They often frown and discourage everyone around them who are keen on reading, visiting an art gallery or talking about (off-beat) movies - that is unacceptable and irritating!
Empathising with them - they get crazy bored when people just sit and read when ideally they should be spending time with them - making the friendly bonds stronger! However this also proves that if one does not know things about art, culture or ideology - it really doesn't matter that much!
Although it would be nice to have a partner know things - resting your relationship on the same is being very lame.
