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.
Tag: literature
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.
It Is an Almost Heroic Act to Devote…
It is an almost heroic act to devote the final hours of an exhausting day to literature, when body and mind seem unable to bear any further effort. It really is the devil, as Carpeaux once vented. And through another venting, that of Ferreira de Castro, one realizes that the situation never takes any form other than that of a grueling struggle: even habit does not seem strong enough to prevent those days when one succumbs to exhaustion, when one cannot think, and cannot write. Ah, how much easier life would be without these two occupations! And yet, such is the lot of most writers, and it was under similar conditions that duty overcame nature and produced much of the best that literature has to offer.