Brazilian Modernism did literature a great service by proving once and for all how dull, uninteresting and tedious the futile is, and how impossible it is to change it, even for creative minds. It is ordinary poetry, intended for ordinary people, but poetry that does not uplift them, stimulate them or make them think. False intellectuals, it is true, find infinite innovations in it and are delighted—but they end up, at the end of as many verses as they can read, exactly as they were before reading them. As for those who are accustomed to great art, it is impossible for them to endure more than a few pages of these frivolities that only distract from the one blatant truth: the mind that conceived them had nothing interesting to say.
Category: Notes
“Misanthropy Is Limited to Men”
The distinguished Marquis de Maricá says that “misanthropy is limited to men, it doesn’t include women”. Another mistake… Perhaps the maxim applies to recreational misanthropy, misanthropy when cultivated as a hobby; but not at all to genuine, professional misanthropy. This targets, or rather reacts to, human behavior, which is clearly different from that of a stone or a dog, and is present in both men and women. If a woman behaves like a stone, it is true that the misanthrope will spare her. But as long as, oh God, as long as she speaks, as long as she is capable of vibrating the strings and sonorizing a human voice, as long as she is capable of directing a word to another soul, and therefore forcing, impelling, constraining a communicative act and claiming attention for herself, the woman will inevitably be included in the list, the marquis is wrong and there is nothing to be done.
In Literature, It Is Just as Useful to Vary the Style
In literature, it is just as useful to vary the style as it is in life to vary the thoughts. The risk of not doing so is to become addicted and diminished, narrowing horizons and dooming the next expression to be a replica of the previous one. To a certain extent, varying the style is also thinking differently, and the writer who gets used to doing this will be getting used to stimulating the brain so that it does not settle for what it has already conceived.
How to Deal With Envy
When we are asked how to deal with envy, malice and falsehood, it is safe to say that we are dealing with a young person, or someone with little experience. “Deal” is the vocabulary of someone who is still tied to the social game and afraid of appearing hostile. In short, there is no “deal” with envy, malice or falsehood. What there is, however, is to walk away from envious, malicious and false people at the first and slightest sign, without hesitation or embarrassment. To do this, however, one needs to have a very well-established personality, something that only comes with the years, and makes it possible to act resolutely and kick the convenience to the curb..