The fact that, in the West, contact with these One Thousand and One Nights almost always occurs through children’s adaptations in various forms somewhat obscures the literary importance of this work, which transcended all imaginable barriers and permeated popular culture. Very few ever read it in its entirety, despite its influence being frequently suggested. The truth is that, like Greek mythology, this work has become mandatory reading for students of literature. Even if the stories had no value, knowing them is to witness the power of a narrative that can transcend time and cultural barriers as if they were nothing, becoming part of our common human heritage. No more needs to be said.
Category: Notes
Cinema, Music, and Theater, Compared…
Cinema, music, and theater, compared to the visual arts and literature, have the disadvantage of being contaminated by operators who consider themselves artists, but are not. This gives rise to a series of consequences that can only frustrate he who gave birth to the creation. It must be distressing for a composer to realize that it is possible to make a career as a virtuoso performing the works of others, and to be confronted with the scenario stripped of the facilities that the first option offers, if he chooses to concentrate on his own compositions. Even more distressing must be witnessing the recognition of music workers as artists. At least, from this anguish will come the certainty that his art can only be done alone, and for free. From now on, he will never confuse true with false motivation.
In a Writer’s Personality…
There is no denying it: in a writer’s personality, eccentricity is the most captivating trait. Fernando Pessoa is much more likable to us thanks to the stupid publishing venture that burned his inheritance; Dostoevsky, the same, for believing in the potential of his amazing strategy at the roulette wheel; Cioran, the philosopher, would never be the same if he had not suffered nervous breakdowns while buying eggs. And so on… But it is very rare to see writers aware that they will be characters in their own biography, and that therefore they should focus on the eccentric. For the benefit of the biography, they should follow the advice given by Cioran in these wonderful lines:
22 juin
Suis allé au marché. Pour quatre œufs, j’ai attendu une demi-heure. Crise de nerfs, fureur, ces femmes bavardes me mettent hors de moi. J’ai attendu uniquement pour me démontrer à moi-même que j’étais maître de mes nerfs, que je pouvais me contenir, et j’ai supporté effectivement toutes ces bonnes femmes sans hurler. Mais après, j’ai failli hurler.C’est toujours la même histoire: tout effort que nous faisons sur nous-même se retourne contre nous ou nous nous retournons contre lui. La santé, c’est donner libre cours à ses humeurs, c’est être ce qu’on est.
If not health, at least complacency with future readers.
Pages and Pages About Augusto dos Anjos…
It is astonishing that there are professional literary critics, and good ones, who have written pages and pages about Augusto dos Anjos without ever suspecting that the “poet of melancholy,” when fitting words such as “helminth,” “hookworm,” or “colpoda” into his verses, could have done so with a smile. But no… there are critics who, in truth, did nothing but interpret the poet—a poet!—literally. And, in a literal sense, melancholy and despair are far away from humor, right? What a thing! Those who do not understand how much fun it must have been for Augusto dos Anjos, after the brilliant creation of his poetic personality, to force his verses to reach the peak of eccentricity, say monumental and hilarious nonsense. Perhaps no artist has ever had so much fun giving vent to such truly distressing psychological content. Because, in his verses, are real the despair, the melancholy, the anguish, and also the humor. Not to perceive this is to perceive nothing.