To revisit Carpeaux and his History of Western Literature for a little more than a consultation is to return, after half an hour’s reading, with a list of thirty or forty works to read. That is to say: a list sufficient to guide a good few months of study. Really, Carpeaux’s History is unparalleled; it is an inexhaustible source and a faithful companion for a lifetime. It never, ever disappoints; and when we evolve, when we mature and our mind wanders to new places, we can return to it and find treasures that were previously neglected or consciously overlooked, and then conclude that we change, but Carpeaux, despite our change, will always remain at our disposal.
Only Bad News Can Restore Reason
Only bad news can restore reason and put expectations in their proper place… And all the sloppiness, all the boredom and numbness towards existence suddenly dissipate, when circumstances compel the realization that it is from death that the meaning of all things derives, the sense of urgency, the need to do. Then the futile and the important, the true and the false become clear, the reason why one must proceed with firmness and resolution, leaving aside everything that is illusory and deviates from that core without which it would be best not to exist.
Much Less Impressive Is the Impact of Death…
Much less impressive is the impact of death and its countless heralds than the human capacity to live ignoring them all, to live as if the possibility of them suddenly appearing was non-existent. It is truly extraordinary that the bulk of minds spend their entire lives without reflecting for a second on what is perhaps the only existential certainty, and therefore do not even suspect the wide-open fragility of everything. And so, again and again, those who think will have to face the surprise of others with what should in no way surprise them.
Another Year Goes
Another year goes by, and another handful of pages are ready to grow old. It is a pleasure to say goodbye and abandon them, to forget about them, and thus free from the obligation that chains to them. More than that: it is pleasurable to see that habit is now an ally, and the previous uncertainties and oscillations are gone. There is a body that expands, that completes itself; and only by having it permits distancing and better appreciating the recent pages. The excitement has stabilized at a good level, and the future is less worrying than the present. Is just to keep going…