eleutheria

Fall and Rise: dogville, Reggie Perrin & me

I have recently read The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin. I bought the book in a chapel bookshop near Dunwich in Suffolk. It was less silly than I remember the series being - a serious and funny book. I felt that the story of dogville was also the story of Reginald Perrin.

Reggie and Grace feel an allegance to or an affinity with the world of losers and rejects from the society they want to escape. They say "I'm one of you now" and try and make it work, and are proud of their achievements in their newly created life. For them both, it is only when they return to their proper sphere that they take on a powerful role.

The story of Reginald Perrin is also a story I am familiar with in my own life. I used to wish I could phone up work and say "Sorry, I've had a nervous breakdown and I can't come into work today". In the end, me and the other R did a runner together, down to Cornwall, after leaving very well paid jobs and affluent lifestyle - we had worked hard and with dedication. I got a job as a temporary post lady and another job as a gardener, and hoped to lead a simple life, away from the horrors of the global economy and the futile sophistication and decadance of London life. I felt I was a "simple" person, lacking the need to show off in nightclubs, or be "busy" all the time, I also thought I lacked the hardness of heart that was required to live there and that was why I wanted to run away. The last straw, I remember, was seeing a lady on a train treating a child so badly that I got off the train at Mile End and burst into tears. Now this, my new chosen world is no good. Here's one example: I resigned from my job in the PO after working for a respectable length of time (1 year). Early in the job, when I was still training, one of the postmen in my small rural post office drove around to find me on my training round to say "there's been a complaint about you". I was horrified. Someone on one of the council estates was "very upset indeed" to find one of her letters on the ground outside - now, did I remember posting it, or had I dropped it?" I couldn't remember, and felt like resigning on the spot, I was so disillusioned and angry. There was a reason I wanted more, and left Cornwall 10 years ago, and I'm beginning to see it more plainly now. This area is still economically and socially deprived and now I'm here, I want to hide away less and less! As I grow older, the bouncing back and forth will surely slow down and become less extreme.