Hands off, ladies, he's mine.Back in the days when I used to work in an office, I had office friends who I'd lunch with and gossip with in the halls. These days, I have a man named Samuel Pepys. He's been dead for 300 years but he's still got a hell of a lot to say about the daily office grind. I'm thinking of asking him to the company picnic, which will be held in my backyard later this afternoon.
Yes, I've been reading The Diary of Samuel Pepys (pronounced "peeps" like the delicious sugary candies). Many of you, I'm sure, are well-versed in the world of Mr. Pepys but I've only just embarked on his collection of diaries, which cover a rather raucous 10-year period (1660 to 1670) of British history. A lifelong civil servant, Pepys wrote daily about his interactions with members of parliament, leaders in the Navy and many, many other dignitaries including King Charles II. Now, let's be perfectly honest here -- I don't know who 99 percent of the people are in Pepys diary. To me, it's like reading a Tolstoy novel; I need a wall chart just to keep track of the characters. But what's truly awesome about these diaries is the fact that 350 years ago, office drones were bitching about the exact same things as they are today -- so-and-so totally blew off our meeting, so-and-so never does his work and always leaves me to pick up the slack and the always popular, is my boss mad at me? The only difference I can determine is that government offices were a lot more mellow about people going to the pub at 10 a.m. and forcing some errand boy to chase around London to find them for meetings.
In other ways, reading Pepys is like having my own Restoration-era Tamagotchi pet -- when I'm not reading him, I worry what's going on in his life. Did he get enough mutton? Is he going to make up with his wife? Is his dad feeling better? Will the roads be slippery on the way home from the office tonight? What if he can't get a carriage ride? And will he ever stop putting his hands up strange women's dresses? (Yes, did I mention he's a serial philanderer? Bet your Tamagotchi never did that.)
The diaries go on for hundreds and hundreds of pages, covering 95 percent mundanities and 5 percent incredible things like the Great Fire of 1666, a nasty round of plague and the restoration of a monarchy. Pepys is such an adept diarist that you truly feel you're there, in the mix and on the move with history. There is no lens through which he's viewing that history, however, so you truly are watching it unfold as it happens and it's a marvel to realize how unaware people are of what exactly they're experiencing. To read a passage where Pepys offhandedly remarks on seeing a new production of "Macbeth," which was less than 50 years old at the time, and finding him completely non-plussed by the whole thing is genuinely exciting to read...in a really weird way. I mean, today we think "Shakespeare!" but back then, Pepys is just like "Pfft, Shakespeare, I've seen better." I guess you have to be a pretty big book nerd to get excited about something as anti-climactic as that but...well...I'm a pretty big book nerd.
I know I'll never finish these diaries, but what a treat it's been to dive into the past with such an able guide as Samuel Pepys. And yes, if he were alive today, I'd hang out at the water cooler with him any time. If he could manage to keep his hands to himself...
Yes, I've been reading The Diary of Samuel Pepys (pronounced "peeps" like the delicious sugary candies). Many of you, I'm sure, are well-versed in the world of Mr. Pepys but I've only just embarked on his collection of diaries, which cover a rather raucous 10-year period (1660 to 1670) of British history. A lifelong civil servant, Pepys wrote daily about his interactions with members of parliament, leaders in the Navy and many, many other dignitaries including King Charles II. Now, let's be perfectly honest here -- I don't know who 99 percent of the people are in Pepys diary. To me, it's like reading a Tolstoy novel; I need a wall chart just to keep track of the characters. But what's truly awesome about these diaries is the fact that 350 years ago, office drones were bitching about the exact same things as they are today -- so-and-so totally blew off our meeting, so-and-so never does his work and always leaves me to pick up the slack and the always popular, is my boss mad at me? The only difference I can determine is that government offices were a lot more mellow about people going to the pub at 10 a.m. and forcing some errand boy to chase around London to find them for meetings.
In other ways, reading Pepys is like having my own Restoration-era Tamagotchi pet -- when I'm not reading him, I worry what's going on in his life. Did he get enough mutton? Is he going to make up with his wife? Is his dad feeling better? Will the roads be slippery on the way home from the office tonight? What if he can't get a carriage ride? And will he ever stop putting his hands up strange women's dresses? (Yes, did I mention he's a serial philanderer? Bet your Tamagotchi never did that.)
The diaries go on for hundreds and hundreds of pages, covering 95 percent mundanities and 5 percent incredible things like the Great Fire of 1666, a nasty round of plague and the restoration of a monarchy. Pepys is such an adept diarist that you truly feel you're there, in the mix and on the move with history. There is no lens through which he's viewing that history, however, so you truly are watching it unfold as it happens and it's a marvel to realize how unaware people are of what exactly they're experiencing. To read a passage where Pepys offhandedly remarks on seeing a new production of "Macbeth," which was less than 50 years old at the time, and finding him completely non-plussed by the whole thing is genuinely exciting to read...in a really weird way. I mean, today we think "Shakespeare!" but back then, Pepys is just like "Pfft, Shakespeare, I've seen better." I guess you have to be a pretty big book nerd to get excited about something as anti-climactic as that but...well...I'm a pretty big book nerd.
I know I'll never finish these diaries, but what a treat it's been to dive into the past with such an able guide as Samuel Pepys. And yes, if he were alive today, I'd hang out at the water cooler with him any time. If he could manage to keep his hands to himself...
