NO EXIT AND THE BLEAK HOUSE

`````On graveyards, I sat and stared at the exit sign in the otherwise dark building. It was lunch break at the Bleak House, and it was dead quiet. I pulled out my attempt at morose poetry from the previous night, and changed a few lines. It was too dark to notice the cellulite of the stars, which somebody had left on the counter. Since my lunch was nothing but Diet Pepsi, I had time to kill. `````It was the exit sign that gave me the idea. I was reminded of one of my favourite plays; Sartre's "No Exit." For those who haven't seen it, or haven't read it, the play features three characters who meet in hell. Hell isn't a place with pitchforks and fire; rather, it's one room with slightly out of date furniture. What makes it worthy of eternal suffering is that the three people are perfectly suited to drive each other insane---and they can never leave. They cannot sleep, or die or leave that dreaded room. `````I asked myself, what three authors or intellectuals, would drive each other insane if placed in "hell" together? `````My perfect combination was as follows: Norman Mailer, Sylvia Plath and Catherine Mackinnon. I won't go into the details, and most people know who they are. Norman Mailer could easily be defined as a "man's man." Those who weren't so fond of him called him a misogynist. He could be fairly blunt in his opinions and was made no secret of his love of beautiful women. Catherine Mackinnon was fiercely bright and outspoken against pornography. Sylvia Plath, of course, needs no introduction. In her journals, she made her dislike of unmarried women such as Catherine Mackinnon well known. Ahh yes, I believe this would prove to be the perfect "No Exit" axis of egos. `````My choice having been made, and the Diet Pepsi drained, lunch was over. It was back to business.
(Photo from Manual selling office equipment).