In the New York Times this morning you can read some of Susan Sontag's journal entries, and though it felt a bit weird to be reading what someone has presumably written to herself, Sontag herself claims that journals are written "precisely to be read furtively by other people." I'm not sure I agree with that, but it made me feel better as I read on.
A couple things I liked or found interesting:
"The fear of becoming old is born of the recognition that one is not living now the life that one wishes. It is equivalent to a sense of abusing the present." Now that rings true -- how else can I explain what I experience as my impending doom (turning 30 next year)?
"It’s corrupting to write with the intent to moralize, to elevate people’s moral standards." Not entirely sure I agree with this, but it's interesting to consider.
"A freshly typed manuscript, the moment it’s completed, begins to stink. It’s a dead body — it must be buried — embalmed, in print."
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2 comments:
You must not have children?
Steve-O, thanks for stopping by. No, I don't have children. But my "impending doom" does not stem from a fear that I won't have children (there's nothing to stop me from having a child right now); it's actually connected more to the idea of being officially grown up at 30.
Nedric -- oh, I so need to revisit Kierkegaard's WORKS OF LOVE. But I am also invested in the possibility that "good hermeneutical practices" have the potential to "resuscitate finished manuscripts" -- hence, my fascination with midrash, or, more accurately, midrashic reading and writing. Reading everything midrashically.
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