Coffee Break
Member
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2022
- Member Type
- Student or Learner
- Native Language
- Korean
- Home Country
- South Korea
- Current Location
- South Korea
Hello everyone. I encountered this expression, "Standard fare", but am struggling to understand it. Could you please let me know what it means in the following sentences:
[The protagonist speaking] “I was thinking of how lucky I was to have gone to Hans’s party.”
[Clara speaking] “Ye-es.”
Cautious encouragement to keep going.
[The protagonist speaking] “Lucky for me, I mean, not for you.”
[Clara speaking] “Of course.”
We laugh. We know why we laugh. We pretend not to know. Realize we’re both pretending. Standard fare. I love it. Aren’t we so very, very clever.
- André Aciman, Eight White Nights, Fourth Night
This is a novel published in the United States of America in 2010. This novel is narrated by the nameless male protagonist. The protagonist meets Clara at a Christmas party in Manhattan. Three days after the party, the protagonist is talking to Clara that he was lucky that he met her at Hans's party (the Christmas party).
Here, I wonder what the underlined expression means.
I somehow feel that it is a metaphor of something, but I have absolutely no idea, so I just wanted to ask you.
I would very much appreciate your help.
[The protagonist speaking] “I was thinking of how lucky I was to have gone to Hans’s party.”
[Clara speaking] “Ye-es.”
Cautious encouragement to keep going.
[The protagonist speaking] “Lucky for me, I mean, not for you.”
[Clara speaking] “Of course.”
We laugh. We know why we laugh. We pretend not to know. Realize we’re both pretending. Standard fare. I love it. Aren’t we so very, very clever.
- André Aciman, Eight White Nights, Fourth Night
This is a novel published in the United States of America in 2010. This novel is narrated by the nameless male protagonist. The protagonist meets Clara at a Christmas party in Manhattan. Three days after the party, the protagonist is talking to Clara that he was lucky that he met her at Hans's party (the Christmas party).
Here, I wonder what the underlined expression means.
I somehow feel that it is a metaphor of something, but I have absolutely no idea, so I just wanted to ask you.
I would very much appreciate your help.