A literary genius is he who manages to capture and express, in his own way, the inner nature of things. He is the author whose work, upon first reading, evokes that sense of rediscovery Lavelle speaks of, which seems to shed a new light on something we already knew but that lay hidden within us. Then, through that unique and memorable expression, we definitively claim it as our own. Only the truly great can provide this kind of experience.
Category: Notes
There Is No Salvation for the Reader Who…
There is no salvation for the reader who, upon first encountering Dostoevsky, is not filled with the highest admiration for this man who, in desperate circumstances, grasped and managed to express much of what lies deepest within the human soul, with unparalleled intensity and originality. Nothing can be expected of anyone who, faced with this unique and obvious artistic achievement, does not turn away forever from the sterility of that kind of criticism which regards form as the true hallmark of high literature. Anyone who is more impressed by this or that narrative technique, by this or that rhetorical device, by this or that structural organization of the text, than by the exceedingly rare insight of true genius, deserves nothing but compassion.
It Is Quite Possible That Modernity Has…
It is quite possible that modernity has succeeded in forever ridiculing “skepticism,” the “inquisitive spirit,” and the appreciation for rationalization. At the very least, they no longer command the respect that similar attitudes commanded at the beginning of the last century. The speaker begins a narrative and makes a point of emphasizing, right from the start, the qualities of his Western mindset, which has subjected everything that follows to the most meticulous scrutiny; throughout the narrative, he interjects confessions of difficulty in accepting what is being recounted, due to his rationality, etc., etc. If, at one time, such passages aroused admiration for the speaker, today—how to put it?—they do nothing but elicit a smile identical to the one that appears on the lips of someone confronted with a blatantly childish display.
It Is Troubling to Recognize That One Is…
It is troubling to recognize that one is so mediocre as to have never taken a bold step, as remarkable men have customarily done, trusting entirely either in providence or in their own intuition. For such steps are the truly decisive ones, and those that, once taken, produce the fondest memories. And when they fail, well, when they fail, they do so in the same way that indecision and fear do; when they fail, they still leave open the possibility of correction.