Hindu literature, whose real exuberance existing translations have not yet been able to reveal to the West, can no longer inspire anything but awe in the Westerner who investigates it. The truth is that, sometimes, an imaginatively poor and precariously translated Hindu text is already capable of evoking a reality so impressive that only by using all his imaginative capacity can the Westerner conceive of it. It is therefore worth admiring it, even if grasping it may seem unfeasible or inconvenient.
Tag: literature
If There Is One Thing That Is Well Portrayed…
If there is one thing that is well portrayed in Brazilian literature, it is the discouraging, corrosive and even oppressive influence of an environment that represents the antithesis of any higher aspiration. The unfortunate who experiences it in this environment often finds himself crushed by a multiplicity of factors that not only exceed him in strength, but seem to work ceaselessly to ensure that he never breaks free. The most dramatic thing about this situation is that it does not just take a gigantic force of will to overcome it, but that it must be constant: a single weakening, a single giving way of the spirit and the whole of the said multiplicity of factors will reveal itself with maximum power, pulling him down. To resist it, it seems, one has to be more than just a man.
If the Future of Paper Books Seems Uncertain…
If the future of paper books seems uncertain, not to say that their days are certainly numbered, we cannot help but proceed to imagine libraries as relics of a distant past. Forming and maintaining them, therefore, would only be done by collectors. This simple fact, although it masks the range of facilities that modernity has given to the average reader, cannot inspire good feelings. A book as an antique… What to say?
Not Even the Most Deeply Ingrained Habit…
The truth has to be told: not even the most deeply ingrained habit can resist the real and unequivocal advantages that these modern electronic devices offer to reading when compared to a physical book. A single test is enough. The flexibility of reading positions, the possibility of customizing fonts and spacing, the need to pay no attention to external lighting and, above all, the tremendous, incomparable ease with which one can highlight passages, make notes and send them, ready-made, to a computer, where they can be instantly located in case of future need. This is undoubtedly something that goes far beyond habit: it is the possibility of reducing a monstrous amount of work, both in organization and in future research. Dozens of minutes effectively turned into seconds. Not embracing the novelty, therefore, is unwise. So there’s no question of predicting an uncertain future at best for paper books. So what?