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The Surfeited Temperament

I had occasion today, to speak to a classmate, after our long Saturday class. She was a political science major. She was articulate, well dressed (a giant Marc Jacobs bag!), and had an easy going, yet mildly prickly disposition. The class had tired us both out.

We discussed politics: she is of the disillusioned left, I of the disillusioned right. Sigh. We agreed on most everything.  Tarrytown, NY was gorgeous that hour and a half ago. Double sigh.

We connected on a host of disillusionments. Soon, also, we discovered out mutual boredom with school. Our similar academic profile.  A shared passion for our political and moral convictions. Then I remarked on her bag. She admitted it was Marc Jacobs. We then discovered out mutual love of fashion. Our lack of funds to feed that beast. Our studied answers to the contradictions of being shallow and not shallow about it.

I suggested we have similar temperaments - a combination of the melancholic and the sanguine. This is perhaps the ideal temperament of the Bobo that David Brooks described so well.  Literate superficiality. Feigned aristocrats. Elegant and hip professorial types.

She said she would look up these four temperaments on the internet.  I shall save you all the trouble. A treatment of them can be found here - in a long book length scroll.  How many of you share this temperament? If you find your contemplation of one of Dante's hellish circles to be interrupted by an admiration for the stitching on a Dunhill blazer (or in the case of women, perhaps, the symmetry of Gucci shoes) - then you are in the melancholic/sanguine club. Welcome.

Posted on 4/9/2005 04:47 PM by Registered CommenterMichael Brendan Dougherty in | Comments5 Comments
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Reader Comments (5)

So when are you and this girl getting together for dinner?
4/9/2005 05:28 PM | Unregistered CommenterWilliam Luse
Actually I'm leaving for dinner with a sweetheart shortly. One young woman at a time.

Though, if my Surfeited companion so desires, I'll trade her some coffee in a public place for conversation.
4/9/2005 06:02 PM | Unregistered CommenterMichael Brendan Dougherty
Marc Jacobs, Dunhill, Gucci ... and that's not counting previous entries! I like your writing, Michael, but can't quite relate to your world. Who are these people anyway?
4/10/2005 05:38 PM | Unregistered CommenterJeff Culbreath
I'll have to start providing links to them on the side - as a kind of reference. And thank you, Jeff. New York City has alot of special knowledge about it. If one spends extended time on the subways, walking through the fashion district, and some time with fashion magazines, its easy to make a quick study of these people and what they do. You almost choke on this in the city. I'll try to do better to relate it.

However, I imagine there are even status symbols found in farming equipment. Orland is a long way from SoHo.
4/10/2005 06:27 PM | Unregistered CommenterMichael Brendan Dougherty
I figured these were inside names only New Yorkers would get. And yes, we have status and local jargon here too. In Orland status is often measured by the size of a man's truck. A dual-cab F350 4x4 trumps my mid-size GMC Canyon, for instance. The same logic applies to a man's barbeque. Also, cows are more prestigious than goats, almonds prevail over olives, and a real fireplace is ranked above a mere woodstove no matter how efficient.
4/10/2005 07:34 PM | Unregistered CommenterJeff Culbreath

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