Anyone whose dream is the establishment of an ideological totalitarianism suffers first and foremost from historical ignorance. If a lack of haughtiness prevents him from looking a little beyond his immediate interest, a little judgment would recommend him not to challenge an unpredictable and uncontrollable reaction. But history will always make him pay, because it is infallible in pointing out totalitarianism as an aspiration restricted to scoundrels. The course of a lifetime is too short for the consequences that can befall it, and while historical ignorance may not sometimes compromise in the short term, a little patience shows that it always does.
The Average Person Would Only Become Aware…
The average person would only become aware of the importance of the values and conditions that have been bequeathed to him if he could feel, in the flesh, all that his ancestors have suffered. That is impossible. Few words, for example, are as dry as “freedom” when uttered in free countries. Its semantics hide the amount of blood that was shed to win it, and for free citizens to understand it, they would have to experience its absence. The same is true in many other cases, and from this we realize that when history and education are useless, it is ridiculous to talk about this so-called “progress”.
Two Sincere Writers Should Cultivate…
Two sincere writers should cultivate a feeling similar to that which should exist between two well-meaning political opponents: a feeling of respect and identification. In both cases, however, there are very few exceptions that outweigh the commonplace pettiness. Leaving aside superficialities such as style, schools, generations, the fact that two writers, whatever they may be, have a link that sets them apart from the rest of men, both have made an identical choice in the face of the problem of existence, and it is natural that such a distinction should become an affinity. Much more do they agree in choosing literature as a vehicle for the expression of consciousness than they differ in external aspects of the vocation. Admitting this, however, is very difficult and seems to require a virtue that few of them possess.
Comfort Stimulates Inertia
Comfort stimulates inertia, and discomfort gives rise to the need for expression. This is true both individually and collectively. The great themes of every age are precisely what bothered them most. And as soon as a solution appears, either by custom or by change, we notice it by the disappearance of the theme in literature. We approach the individual and find the same thing: it is precisely from discomfort that all authentic literature is born. And if we see it this way, we cannot help but look at the difficulties from an entirely new perspective.