Catégorie : Reading

The definition of true friendship

« So has the experience affected your philosophy of life? » he said. « That’s not the right way to put it. What I mean is, has it changed what you believe in? »

He didn’t say any of this in an ironic tone. He wanted to know.

« I think I just believe more intensely in the things I believed in the first place. »

« For example? »

« That there is no God, and that the universe doesn’t give a flying fuck about us. That’s probably it. »

« And does that imply a code of behavior? The universe doesn’t give a flying fuck about us, and therefore…? »

Ralph was a friend who asked the second question. She thought that this might be one of the definitions of true friendship. If you have a friend who pays enough attention to you to ask the right question, you’re lucky; if you have a friend who listens to the answer, thinks some more, and asks the second question, then you’re blessed.

« There is no therefore that I can find. No universal therefore. I still believe the same things I always believed, but it’s a choice. Life doesn’t care about us, everyone gets pulverized sooner or later, and therefore we should take care of each other. But I believe that because I choose to believe that. If it’s a therefore, it’s just a personal therefore. »

From Breakable You, by Brian Morton.

Technology gone backward

« What? » she said. Their connection was bad. He heard three short beeps and then they were cut off.
He called her again.
« Are you in a spaceship or something? » she said. « You sound all… futuristic. »
« Taxi on Lex. Is that futuristic enough for you? »
Again he heard the series of beeps, and again the connection failed.

It was as if technology had gone backward. In the old days, when a telephone was a bulky thing that stayed plugged into your wall, you could actually hear the person on the other end of the line. Now you could take your phone anywhere, but you couldn’t actually talk.

But he had come to like cell phones for just this reason. The phone cuts you off and you don’t have to call back. It was as if the capriciousness of the cellular phone had enabled us to admit that we don’t want to talk to one another at all.

From the novel Breakeable You, by Brian Morton.

Fréquentations d’un secret

Lire: En ce sens, aimer et écrire sont donc deux fréquentations d’un secret qu’il faut accepter de ne jamais percer?

Eric-Emmanuel-Schmitt: Oui, la similitude est grande. Au départ, il y a un impérialisme dans l’écriture, c’est-à-dire une volonté de s’approcher du secret, de le révéler et de le résoudre. Puis vient la période de l’humilité, c’est-à-dire le moment où l’on comprend que ce secret est précisément ce qui nous rend fécond, qu’on ne parviendra jamais à le posséder et qu’on ne doit pas y parvenir. L’amour est semblable: accepter de ne pas posséder le secret de l’autre, se rendre compte que c’est précisément parce qu’on ne cherche pas à le percer que l’amour se fortifie. La littérature vise à rendre du mystère, pas à en percer. L’amour aussi, je crois.

Tiré d’un entretien entre Lire et Eric-Emmanuel-Schmitt.