hi there, this reminds me of miller's 'colossus of maroussi' - his journey to greece before ww2 in which he discovers the soul of this nation that produced literally thousands of geniuses - he gets to the spirit of the place, the culture which informs and nurtures this genius - whilst also drawing some of the most beautiful, insightful, loving portraits of the individuals he is befriended by....
miller is a big fan of emerson 'the quote at the beginning of tropic of cancer is emerson: these novels will give way, by and by, to diaries or autobiographies—captivating books, if only a man knew how to choose among what he calls his experiences that which is really his experience, and how to record truth truly.' such an important insight --- On Wed, 10/3/10, X Acto <[email protected]> wrote: > From: X Acto <[email protected]> > Subject: [MD] Emerson > To: [email protected] > Received: Wednesday, 10 March, 2010, 1:30 PM > "Our native love of reality joins > with this experience to teach us a little reserve, and to > dissuade a too sudden surrender to the brilliant qualities > of persons. Young people admire talents or particular > excellences; as we grow older, we value total powers and > effects, as, the impression, the quality, the spirit of men > and things. The genius is all. The man, — it is his > system: we do not try a solitary word or act, but his habit. > The acts which you praise, I praise not, since they are > departures from his faith, and are mere compliances. The > magnetism which arranges tribes and races in one polarity, > is alone to be respected; the men are steel-filings. Yet we > unjustly select a particle, and say, 'O steel-filing number > one! what heart-drawings I feel to thee! what prodigious > virtues are these of thine! how constitutional to thee, and > incommunicable.' Whilst we speak, the loadstone is > withdrawn; down falls our filing in a heap with the rest, > and we > continue our mummery to the wretched shaving. Let us go > for universals; for the magnetism, not for the needles. > Human life and its persons are poor empirical pretensions. A > personal influence is an ignis fatuus. If they say, it is > great, it is great; if they say, it is small, it is small; > you see it, and you see it not, by turns; it borrows all its > size from the momentary estimation of the speakers: the > Will-of-the-wisp vanishes, if you go too near, vanishes if > you go too far, and only blazes at one angle. Who can tell > if Washington be a great man, or no? Who can tell if > Franklin be? Yes, or any but the twelve, or six, or three > great gods of fame? And they, too, loom and fade before the > eternal." > > > > Moq_Discuss mailing list > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > Archives: > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org/md/archives.html > Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org/md/archives.html
