No prompt this week to write about, at least until now. So I will improvise. (That means I will cheat.)
Last week I finished reading an extremely rich book, called Passion, about the lives of english poets Byron, Shelley and Keats. To add to the recipe, the story is told by 4 women who loved them, even though a lot more than 4 women loved them. I don't know about you but just this synopsis was enough to make me rub my hands in contentment. And I wasn't disappointed at the end of the 600 odd pages.
Right near the end of the book, there was this really interesting speech by one of the characters (a secondary character):
The fact that we have nothing left to say may mean that the things necessary to be said are beyond our current grasp - and thus that when, as too often happens, I write the title page of a new work and then cannot write anymore, what is being demonstrated is that I inhabit limits and boundaries of thought, I stand upon impenetrable and wonderful frontiers - hence in what appears stasis there is in fact progression ...
Jude Morgan
So what do you say? Is he being deluded and presumptuous or could you accept this possibility? Could this make you feel a little better at times? :)
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11 comments:
'hence in what appears stasis there is in fact progression'
i relate this to 'silence'
I share Morgan’s same faith. Although it eludes me at times, the comfort of it leaving my head to fend badly for my heart, the everpresent undercurrent is that there’s a right time and place for everything, to include every word, and if it’s not now, then surely it will be later. And when the faith comes strongly back around, I find ample patience to wait and to look for the right time :-)
i like that... sometimes one does need to stand back and absorb, before carrying on.
Oh yes!...There is always a time to end...and only in ending can you begin whats comes next. i think that often we are bad at ending...we carry on with the 'tried and tested' because once it worked..(especially true of football managers!)..but sometimes it's the right thing to start something new...with books...it is easy, but everything else...!
Unpretentious: Absolutely. Silence is enormous progression to me, or at least it CAN be.
MissAlister: To everything (turn,turn,turn) there is a season (turn, turn, turn), right? ;)
Shadow: Yes, I think so too. It's very wise too :)
Niall: I like the way you interpreted the quote, I hadn't looked at it that way.
I often feel as if I'm standing at the edge of things which are beyond my current grasp. Not everyone's...just mine.
well this made me feel better! for sure, leave it to you devil to read something called passion that inspires me...
Novel
DM, I've located Passion at the local biblioteca; will pick it up this afternoon. Years ago, I read A Single Summer with Lord B (though I do not think that was the title here stateside): as I recall, it was Lord B, Shelley, and Mary in Switzerland, but memories are hazy. Tom Clark's Junkets on a Sad Planet is a wonderful Keats "bio" told in a series of gorgeous poems.
I've got no complaints with Morgan's character, save for the idea of writing a title first and then hitting the silence: a frequent misstep by my new urchins: I tell them that, for most of us, titles are best written last.
That being said, silence and reflection and no words are where most of the "writing" gets done, as it all gathers inside us, gathering for the outpouring. I'm sure the Great Alister would agree.
Thanks for this post.
Stephanie: Yes, I can see that happening to conscious people. I think it's normal that there are people with different levels of grasping, but I also believe one if often wrong about our grasping assumptions. Ah what a mess!
Novel Nymph: Hey! It's the perfect title, isn't it? :)
Murat11: I warn you, it's a big book, but worth the while. Yes, there is a part with Swtizerland and the lakes in this book too.
I thought about that title problem too: I understood what he was trying to say but never in my life have I written a title first, often I get stuck in the end trying to find the right title. :)
I have seen in my case that when something draws to a close and am looking for the next step, I tend to look ahead and start charting my path there rather than be stuck at the position I am.
And many a times, the charting takes more time, as I am a novice to this new endeavour.
Aathira: I love to set my eyes on the future too, I am a Sagittarius and I'm always sending my arrows to very far away places :)
Planning ahead never hurt anyone though and if you need to take your time doing that, I think it's worthwhile.
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