The Devil's Notebook

Summertime and the living is lousy. I hate summer. And I'm not alone. Summertime in urban areas is riot-time, tourist-time, pollution-time and psycho-time. In rural areas it's mosquito-time, sunburn/heatstroke -time, pollen-time, litter-time, boredom-time, vandal-time, and gangbang-time. There's no worse time for tragedy than the sticky heat of summer, or for frantic attempts at pleasure. Christmas "joy" in an odious duty, but summer "gaiety" is a maladroit ritual performed with calculated chaos. Persons or refinement prefer the other seasons, which progress through their days less heavy-footedly. Despite nature's tantrums during other seasons, be they storms, floods, ice or snow— man has made summer his personal disaster season. Taking the warmth nature has provided, he has fashioned for himself an environment where his mindlessness flourishes most. It is the only season which validates slobs. Those who have found civilized behavior repugnant the rest of the year can celebrate their boorishness in grand style. I would enjoy spring more were it not for the impending plague of summer with its human locusts thriving in an atmosphere far deadlier (if radiation levels are considered) than the worst blizzards. Other seasons may be violent in themselves, but summer is virulent, an incubator for personal malaise and discord. I like autumn and winter best. A sunny autumn day has a relaxed purity, a mellow tranquility. As with the ancients, my autumn runs from August through October, and winter, from November to February. My favorite aspect of summer is that on the Solstice the days finally grow shorter and the nights longer. The best thing about any day is its gentle lapse into night, the dark mantle whence all secrets evolve. Winter time is hell for many, and understandably. It's a Tartarus that causes havoc. But within a snug harbor, winter can be the great season of contrast. In my noir world, the sticky glare of summer has no place, save for those parts of the world where nature has cheated humankind by injecting regional and regular fog and rain.