The phenomenon that occurred on Fernando Pessoa’s “triumphal day” never ceases to amaze. It is a majestic mystery to which all artists must bow. One can rationalize it in part; one can even attempt to replicate it with good results by methodically following predefined steps during the creative process. However, even if the process proves fruitful, nothing can be done to guarantee maximum power in the final act. This seems independent and sovereign: it occurs when and how it pleases. And perhaps it is for the best that it does so, because it prevents the author from falling into arrogance and considering himself the absolute master of the enigmatic act of creation.
Dangerous Writers
There is certainly some truth to the claim that there are dangerous writers, capable of transferring the bulk of their inner struggles to the reader. But these same writers tend to have a very different effect on readers who are already troubled. Sometimes, it is with them that the latter engage in the relationships that life has denied him, and sometimes these relationships are fundamental to him. Thus, where for some there is obvious danger, for him there is consolation, trust, and understanding. Through such writers, he discovers that his hidden anguish, intense though never expressed, is in fact a common experience. And, upon discovering this, he will carry forever a sense of gratitude.
Pär Lagerkvist Is Truly a Great Writer
Pär Lagerkvist is truly a great writer, who managed to convey the essence of his harrowing experience through his writing; and he did so in such a way that, from the very first encounter, the reader finds himself in the presence of an extraordinary spirit. It is curious: the person who advances in thought without allowing it to detach from experience, and who moves forward feeling it, trying to integrate it, wishing to use it only to obtain answers to the questions he considers fundamental, always ends up entering the realm of religion. And then, one of two things happens: either he is the fortunate type who obtains answers, or he is, like Lagerkvist, the type who cannot obtain them, nor rid himself of the questions, and who soon finds himself overcome by an invincible obsession. The latter type seems to produce more prolific writers; and not just writers: it produces men who, through a lifetime of effort, ultimately give meaning to their lives, thereby also giving meaning to the endless anguish that will always be passed down from generation to generation.
No Matter How Well-Versed an Investor…
No matter how well-versed an investor is in financial literature, he will only truly understand what a crisis is when he experiences it—when, with all his resources fully allocated to financial assets, a crisis breaks out. Before that, no matter how much he knows, it amounts to very little. Afterward, he can finally say he has been baptized as an investor. And so it is on countless other occasions. Sometimes, the nature of an experience can only be grasped when the blood boils and the heart races: it is only by suffering it that one can grasp its power.