Superficially my war was a comfortable exercise in futility carried out in a grand Scottish hotel amongst the bridge players and swillers of easy-come-by whisky. My chest got me out of active service and into guilt, as I wrote two, or is it three of the novels for which I am now acclaimed. Patrick White
About This Quote

The quote about war and writing is a very interesting one. If we look at the quote in a different context, we can see that it is not necessarily saying that their war was an exercise in futility. It merely means that their war was a grand adventure and something that brought them great pleasure. War does bring about a great deal of suffering and pain to those who fight, but it also brings about great joy.

In fact, the quote says the opposite of what it actually says. The reason for this is because people can take from other people’s experiences without realizing it. And if someone’s experience is a struggle then no one wants to know or hear about it, they would rather pretend that it never happened.

As for the example of war, they did manage to get out of the war while getting into some sort of guilt for all the things they did while in the war. In other words, their war was not an exercise in futility at all, but rather an experience that made them happy.

Source: Three Uneasy Pieces

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