The Murder of Dickie Greenleaf
God only knew how deep the water was… [Nobody] could see anything they did here… he could have hit Dickie, sprung on him, or kissed him, or thrown him overboard. Talk about your options. If Freud was looking for a poster child for the clashing instincts of Eros and Thanatos he need look no farther … Continue reading
“I’m not queer.”
This is the follow-up to yesterday’s post on The Talented Mr. Ripley‘s complicated central relationship between Tom Ripley and Dickie Greenleaf. The scene is millionaire heir Dickie Greenleaf’s Italian villa where he has just walked in on his housemate Tom Ripley dressed in his clothes, imitating his voice. Dickie’s reaction? “What’re you doing?” They have … Continue reading
Tom Ripley and Dickie Greenleaf: Just Friends?
In Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley, our morally and sexually ambivalent hero Tom Ripley meets the man he’s been sent to recall home to New York from Italy, Dickie Greenleaf, on page 47. [SPOILER ALERT] He kills him 54 pages later. In a book of less than 100,000 words, these two young men spend … Continue reading
New Book! The Talented Mr. Ripley
We’re back from a holiday break with a new book in sight: Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley. Here are some stats. We start reading on Monday. Get a copy if you want to join in! 1955 novel by American writer Patricia Highsmith. This was Highsmith’s fourth novel and the first in the so-called Ripliad, … Continue reading
Letters Republic 