The Dark Arena

Nearing the finish of Mario Puzo's The Dark Arena, an early novel written before his fame. He must have been dealing with his own inner demons here, after going through the war. Was Puzo (the character) Mosca? The book is dedicated, "for Erika." Written in 1953. He was writing for almost two decades before becoming a mega-blockbuster with The Godfather. Years of discipline and development, unseen in the womb of dark struggle, where the writer is formed: The Arena. Only the best gladiators will survive... the rest are washed away and forgotten. We remember not their names. "The race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong, but time and chance happen to them all."
April 20, 1998

I wrote this journal entry upon completion of my short story Unremembered History of the World, and as I neared the end of Puzo's book which I was reading at the time. In my youth I remember vividly the reading of his compelling blockbuster The Godfather. One evening I could not put the book down, and when my mom got up in the morning I had been reading all night.

The power of good books is revealed in this anecdote which I remember from a Puzo interview years ago. He had been a struggling writer for years, but with the success of The Godfather he suddenly had more wealth than he could have ever dreamed of. For a year he did everything money could buy, went everywhere, exhausted himself in his pursuits. At the end of it all, he was bored by everything... except his books. Reading, he said, was the one thing that he never tired of.

Here is a link to my Unremembered History. I tried to create a non-linear experience with several asides utilizing the unique capabilities of hyperlinks. But in point of fact, a written document can accomplish the same through footnotes. Nevertheless, I consider this one of my most interesting stories, though somewhat slow to develop for some modern tastes.