The Empirical Approach to Learning
1 day ago
Saturday, December 27, 2008
One of the more heartfelt stories involving literature I have read this year
This past week, The Elegant Variation has been hosting a 2666 Week for late Chilean author Roberto Bolaño's last work before he succumbed to liver disease in 2003. The last of three articles written is the most poignant and moving stories involving the dual loves of literature and life I have ever read. It is written by Francisco Goldman and it mixes in Bolaño's works with his love for his recently-deceased wife, Aura. No more descriptions, just read this link.
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4 comments:
I found this artical a few weeks ago. I didn't cry, but I acknowledged the association with a little throat tightness. A similar thing happened to me after my son was killed in a car accident 5 years ago. He was 16. Amid all the funereral chaos, someone pointed me toward the novelist, Jim Harrison, who used to live in my home town in Michigan. I picked up "Dalva," and after reading the passage about Crazy Horse grieving for his daughter (climbing the burial scaffolding to embrace her), I became obsessed. From there, I read everything I could find by JH as well as many of the books he mentions in his works. Including Mari Sandoz "Crazy Horse: Strange Man of the Oglalas," the one that finally opened the flood gates of my grief (diamond hard and several feet thick). Now, both Jim Harrisin and Crazy Horse are mixed in with my memories of that period.
Mary C from NC
It always amazes me just how powerful of a connection we can form with books (or other forms of storytelling) when there is something inside them that relates to our own griefs, sorrows, or joys. It is always good to have something comforting like that, no? Thanks for sharing what had to have been a personal moment with me, Mary.
Our personal moments can appear odd to some, but that makes them all the more human. Don't you think?
I agree totally. On a lighter note, I was thinking earlier about how a shared love of The Little Prince has led to a wealth of shared comments between me and a ladyfriend of mine that would be only barely comprehensible to others who hadn't been exposed to that wonderful tale.
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