A benefit for me, besides entertainment, of reading fiction is that authors describe situations which may be familiar to us but ones we have failed to articulate.
The writer puts into words the ineffable in our lives, those interactions that leave us puzzled or wondering “What was that about?
Here are two examples, both from the same author, J.J.Connington.
The first* describes the narcissist type of character (a Mr. Hubbard) we encounter on occasion in the workplace. In the book, the narcissistic Mr. Hubbard’s life comes to an abrupt end. Earlier, the author describes why one of the protagonists despises the murderous butterfly collector, Hubbard:
“There was something about his manner, not furtiveness, exactly, but something akin to it, which had jarred on the Colonel’s nerves. A nasty type, the Colonel had judged him: a man who would try to gain his ends by soap if he were dealing with a strong man, but would bully to the extreme if he got a weaker man into his power.”
Well, I have met over my career one or two people like that. Maybe more.
More personally poignant is the second example.** John Maddox, a pink-slipped employee with no “character”, is talking to Superintendent Ross about his interaction with his former boss, Mr. Preston, on the train in which the boss is murdered.
He explains that, on sighting the Preston boarding the train, it crossed his desperate mind to plead with him about re-hiring him, but the boss, “looked down his nose, the way he used to do; and I could see him grinning in a sort of self-satisfied way—you know what I mean—like as if he was saying, ‘Well, I’ve fixed you, my lad.’ And when I saw that on his face, I knew it was no good; and I walked past him … and that was the last I saw of him….”
That pretty much described my experience on boarding a plane and spotting an uncongenial former colleague who had unrelentingly undermined my job.
The smug grin on his face when he spotted me made me experience something similar to Mr. Maddox in the mystery novel.
I saved some dignity by sitting forward in business class so I did not have to pass him to sit in coach. Connington, the author, captures what I, and perhaps many others, have felt when former colleagues leer at one’s momentary fall from grace.
*Excerpt from Death At Swaythling Court by J.J. Connington. 1926
** Excerpt From Connington’s The Two Ticket Puzzle 1930.
N.B. For other essays on numerous topics on leadership and literature and fables go to my Nucleus archive from 2010-early 2025.
© Copyright John Lubans 2026