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Van Norden
Carl is one of Henry’s good friends, a fellow expatriate. Along with Boris, he is the only one of Henry’s friends whom Henry respects for his literary mind. Nevertheless, Carl resents the expectation to actually write anything; he wants to be a writer without writing. In this he reflects an aspect of Henry’s artistic identity: a tension between the creative urge (and the desire to think of oneself as an artist) and the disdain for work of any kind. Unlike the rather stoic Henry, however, Carl constantly complains about everything, and he expresses vague desires to go back to America. Like many of Henry’s friends, Carl is a callous womanizer. Toward the end of the novel, Henry returns to Paris to find that Carl has gotten himself in potential legal trouble with the parents of his last girlfriend, who was underage. Carl believes he successfully deflected the father, however, by having volumes of classic literature open on his table that won the man’s sympathy. His seduction of the rich older woman Irene is uncharacteristically faltering, but he turns it into material for great stories that enrage Van Norden and leave it unclear what actually happened between them.
Carl Quotes in Tropic of Cancer
The Tropic of Cancer quotes below are all either spoken by Carl or refer to Carl . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Pages 39-43 Quotes
"I hate Paris!" he whines. "All these stupid people playing cards all day... look at them! And this writing! What's the use of putting words together? I can be a writer without writing, can't I? What does it prove if I write a book? What do we want with books anyway? There are too many books already..."
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Pages 81-134 Quotes
"That guy," he begins, meaning Carl, "that guy's an artist. He described every detail minutely. He told it to me with such accuracy that I know it's all a god-damned lie... but I can't dismiss it from my mind. You know how my mind works!"
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"I try all sorts of things," he explains to me. "I even count sometimes, or I begin to think of a problem in philosophy, but it doesn't work. It's like I'm two people, and one of them is watching me all the time. I get so god-damned mad at myself that I could kill myself... and in a way, that's what I do every time I have an orgasm. For one second like I obliterate myself. There's not even one me then... there's nothing […] It's like receiving communion.
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Pages 232-256 Quotes
But do you know what saved me? So I think, at least. It was Faust. Yeah! Her old man happened to see it lying on the table. He asked me if I understood German. One thing led to another and before I knew it he was looking through my books. Fortunately I happened to have the Shakespeare open too. That impressed him like hell. He said I was evidently a very serious guy.
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Carl Character Timeline in Tropic of Cancer
The timeline below shows where the character Carl appears in Tropic of Cancer. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Pages 1-17
Henry begins to rattle off the names of his several friends and acquaintances in Paris: Carl, Moldorf, Sylvester, Van Norden, the Borowskis, and so on. Many of his friends also have...
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Pages 39-43
...an art historian acquaintance and wonders about his experience of the world. Henry feels optimistic. Carl, though, has been out of sorts lately and talks frequently of returning to America. Henry...
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On Carl’s day off, he and Henry run into their friend Marlowe, who’s been on a five-day...
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Pages 81-134
Henry recounts an effort of Carl’s, ongoing for the past six months, to seduce a wealthy woman named Irene by writing...
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At work, Henry delivers an excuse for Carl’s absence to Van Norden, who is apparently his and Carl’s boss. Van Norden doesn’t buy...
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Henry goes to visit Carl the next day, who teasingly withholds his story of the night before, doling it out...
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Henry says that he’d happily sleep with Irene for her money, and Carl agrees to try and arrange this. Nevertheless, he chastises Henry for only thinking of the...
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...Henry calls on Van Norden, who has also been given the story about Irene from Carl. Van Norden is fuming because he thinks Carl’s entire story was a lie. What bothers...
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...by indifferently here. Henry has found a “world without hope, but no despair.” He wishes Carl and Van Norden could understand this.
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Pages 135-149
...wants Henry to run off with her to the Crimea, an idea that greatly excites Carl. The three of them talk about it while drinking heavily one afternoon and going on...
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Pages 232-256
In the spring, Henry receives a telegram from Carl offering him a place to stay in Paris and train fare to return. Henry accepts...
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The next day, Henry, Carl, and Van Norden are back in their old routine, walking around and complaining. Van Norden...
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...to a man with wealthy parents like Fillmore. Yvette one day drunkenly tells Henry and Carl that Ginette is lying; she’s not pregnant, she’s merely trying to trap Fillmore in marriage....
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