{ Monthly Archives }
October 2017
“Everyone is delighted that Dr Johnson’s writers’ prayer is the one that will be used as an epitaph for the print age.”
O God, who hast hitherto supported me, enable me to proceed in this labour, and in the whole task of my present state; that when I shall render up at the last day an account of the talent committed to me, I may receive pardon by the grace of God. Amen.
— in Enrique Vila-Matas’s Dublinesque, Trans. Harvey, R. & McLean, A., Vintage Books, 2013, pp. 232-233
“No one, except Riba, can understand what is going on when Walter then suddenly starts weeping inconsolably. In theory, he’s not a writer and so this problem linked to literary talent and work shouldn’t affect him. But the thing is, even if he were, it wouldn’t really be very logical for him to start weeping like this. After all, no writer has ever been overwhelmed by a single tear. But Riba knows that’s precisely where the clue to solving this enigma lies. Writers don’t cry for themselves or for other writers. Only someone like Walter who sees everything from the outside and who has a special intelligence and sensitivity can understand how much one should cry whenever one sees a writer.”
— Ibid., pp. 233-234
