Bookreview of THE BROOKLYN FOLLIES 2

2. FAREWELL TO THE COURT – DISTURBING REVELATIONS (p.21-51)

Tom gave up his academic career two and a half years ago and began to work as a taxi driver in New York. First he thought he soon would quit the job but it was difficult for him to get the new job. Then he came to know Harry Brightman, an owner of a second book store, where Tom often goes as his routine. Harry asks Tom so many times to work in his book store but Tom keeps turning down his offer without knowing why. But at last, he accepted the offer in the morning after the night, when he noticed what the name of the cab company, 3-D, means. He has wondered what it means and notices suddenly it means “Darkness, Disintegration, and Death” (p.32)

This episode is very symbolic. Tom has been wandering in the dark world as a taxi driver after he gave up his carrier in a academic world. One day, he is taken out by a man whose name is Harry Brightman, a man of brightness, who is the symbol of the brightness.

One day, a girl named Flora comes to the bookstore. She says she is Harry’s daughter.

"Who are we talking about?" he asked.
"Harry Dunkel. Who else?"
"Dunkel?"
"It means dark, in case you didn’t know. My father is a dark man, and he lives in a dark wood. He pretends he’s a bright man now, but that’s only a trick. He’s still dark. He’ll always be dark --- right up to the day he dies." (p.36)

She tells Tom that the very person who took Tom out of the dark world is still and will be a dark man. Is Harry a bright man or a dark man? After Harry persuades his daughter to go back to her medication, he invites Tom to dinner with him. There he begins to talk about his past.

He began his carrier as a salesclerk. After getting married to a woman named Bette, who is a daughter of a millionaire, he has his own art gallery, Dunkel Freres, which means “brothers” in French. There he finds a talented young painter, Alec Smith. Harry loves him and his talent, and sells several paintings. But the painter suddenly kills himself, leaving only a few paintings. The other painter appears to Harry, named Gordon Dryer. He gives an offer to Harry that he continues to create Smith’s work, which Harry rejects first, but accepts at last. Harry is successful to sell Smith’s work painted by Dryer. But it doesn’t last long and he is put into prison for 2 years. After that, he moved to New York, where he opened his bookstore, Brightman’s Attic. It was 9 years ago.