The true personality appears when the social mask is removed. Many people, out of fear, spend a lifetime without being able to assume it, or even know it. The most obvious effect of this is permanent dissatisfaction. There is nothing in this life that can replace the pleasure that comes from authenticity; to experience it, however, requires an act of courage, which is always disruptive, with short-term consequences that are often unpleasant. It happens that, much sooner than expected, the initial shock wears off and it feels like a release from infinite constraints, all of which stem from the unfortunate attempt to appear to be what one is not.
Category: Notes
The Writer Is Mistaken in Assuming…
The writer is mistaken in assuming that he will transform his art by living the same mediocre life indefinitely. It is good to have no more than a corner to write in and, temporarily, that is enough. It is also good to stick to and get used to what is strictly necessary in order, above all, to distinguish it. But for there to be a transformation in art, and for it to be true, it must also take place in life, because therein lie the circumstances that will motivate his work, unless he betrays himself. It is therefore necessary to make an effort to modify and shape the whole of reality, as far as his strength allows; and if this does not produce satisfactory results, it will be from his conscious struggle that the best of his motivation will emerge.
Maturity Is Perhaps Notable for Being…
Maturity is perhaps notable for being the age when it becomes impossible to start an endeavor and then abandon it, when one always thinks about the end and what one does is done so that, if it does not end at a previously defined point, it lasts for the rest of one’s life. It is an age when the desire for the curious test disappears and one starts to act with certainty and resolution. It is an age, then, when one sees both the motivation and the goal, only making efforts in favor of what is in line with one’s inner nature. Some men never reach it…
The Noblest Task of Literary Critics…
The noblest task of literary critics is to correct the shoddy work of critics from previous generations. This includes judging with the necessary distance for good judgment, undoing undeserved exaltations and repairing regrettable injustices. From this we can see that it is more than prudent for the critic, as it is for the historian, to establish a timeline beforehand that delimits the subject he will be working on: a cold, rigid and impartial line, exactly as the critics he will have to correct lacked.