My rebellious fingers are itching after contact with Thomas Carlyle’s lectures. They want to answer him, they want to because they want to—but they will not. I regret to tell the slaves to control and content themselves with the brief irony they have already been allowed. Thomas Carlyle, indeed, is a remarkable and instructive intelligence; the interpretation of his “heroes” has much to add. I do not know why, analyzing him brings me Chesterton to mind: perhaps because both deserve, despite their patent incompatibility with me, my sincere handshake.
Tag: literature
Nelson Rodrigues’ Way of Constructing Prose
Nelson Rodrigues’ way of constructing prose is curious. Whether in novels, short stories or even chronicles, it is clear his obsession with framing the text within a predefined aesthetic—he acts in prose as poets do in verse. The flow of his narratives almost always follows a protocol, and the result is a pronounced and unmistakable style. There was a time when I thought standardization was essential to great style. Today I see it a little differently. I admire regular constructions, but I believe I prefer variety: speed one day; the next slowness, a lingering cadence, commas instead of periods. Styles, formats, measures, not static dynamism or terminating sluggishness. What is difficult, however, is to identify masters in multiple styles, capable of satisfying, in a single work, the cravings of who is accustomed to finding comfort by shifting of shelves.
A Play and Sixty Short Stories by Force
A play and sixty short stories came out of me by force. As for the play, I hope to be the only one, and I have no intention of returning to that format. As for the short stories… it is impressive: it is very clear that the format bores me, yet I am aware that the work is not finished; I feel indebted, psychologically obliged to finish what I started, and it is certain that the time has not come to give me the final word. One play and sixty short stories by force: driven by the awareness that there are themes I cannot stop writing about.
A Spectacular Scene!
A spectacular scene! I was standing in a line, waiting. The delay allowed me to notice a small television turned on at one end of the room. On it, a fashionable fellow dressed in a bright red jacket was holding a microphone and singing excitedly. I did not know him, nor could I hear him, since I had headphones on. But he was certainly one of the most famous singers of our time, because he sang on a sumptuous stage, backed by a huge band, with fifteen backing vocals correcting his voice. And there were many, many people in the audience. However, it was none of this that I noticed. What amused me was imagining that at any moment the women in the audience would throw their panties at the man, as they usually did a few decades ago. When the camera brought them into focus, the looks on their faces confessed that the moment was near. Then I began to notice that there was something strange about that show. That I did not know the artist was not strange: I would hardly be able to identify a single face among the ten best known these days. But something did not fit. It was not the red jacket, nor the showy hair… the keyboard player? Ah! so I understood! And it was not without astonishment that I distinguished, behind the stage, the details of the environment. They switched the shot and, from another angle, I was sure: the show was being performed in a church!