Exile, the inspiration for this feeling that has motivated some of the best literary works of all time, holds something invincible and inexplicable. The reality of the feeling is not questioned, but it often seems that exile offers the exiled conditions far superior to those experienced in their homeland. Even so, the mind is not convinced, nor does it abandon the conviction that it once enjoyed something special. There seems to be a connection that cannot be broken, that time only strengthens and that distance transforms into a duty. Not everyone can experience it, but it must be recognized that, when true, it is a very noble feeling.
Category: Notes
For the Writer Who Secretly Dreams…
For the writer who secretly dreams of literary glory, it must be very difficult to endure the miserable status afforded by literature, unless there are other circumstances that confer some social prestige. Certainly, it is more likely that he will have to experience something very different from “glory.” Perhaps it takes some talent to deal with being mediocre in the eyes of everyone, while realizing that mediocre is, in fact, everyone else. This is the case with Lima Barreto, who seems to have lacked such talent, although he did not lack a keen perception of the phenomenon. The truth is that there is no humiliation or injustice in this contempt, and it is good for the writer to learn to handle, and even enjoy, the embarrassment, to avoid being deceived by the opinions of a false judge.
It Is Always Very Interesting When Historians…
It is always very interesting when historians or biographers, eschewing the usual generalizations, manage to outline the influence of economic factors on individual lives. Because such factors, although sometimes overestimated, and although they do not explain everything by themselves, determine much of what is done. There are decisions that seem irrational if stripped of the economic factors that motivated them, just as there are trials, misfortunes, and states of mind that are economically based. Sometimes, it is in this type of factor that the greatest obstacles to a personality’s affirmation are condensed. It seems somewhat undignified, but that is how it is.
It Is Never Easy to Visualize the Present…
It is never easy to visualize the present moment and calculate how quickly it will have been an opportunity that has gone. Some decisions mature much sooner than expected, and when one realizes it, the hesitation itself has already borne fruit. A mere five-year interval creates a new reality, in which the past has materialized into visible consequences from which one can only learn. One learns, of course, but the knowledge acquired does not help much in overcoming that initial difficulty in the present.