Ho letto questo e mi è piaciuto: "Ci troviamo qui...per porci delle domande. E sono domande molto importanti; e abbiamo pochissimo tempo per trovare la risposta. Le domande che dobbiamo porci...e a cui dobbiamo trovare una risposta in questo momento di transizione sono così importanti, forse, da cambiare la vita di tutti gli uomini e di tutte le donne, per sempre...E' nostro dovere, ora, continuare a pensare...Non dobbiamo mai smettere di pensare: che "civiltà" è questa in cui ci troviamo a vivere?".
Le tree ghinee, Virgina Woolf.
AntoEnglish
I read this and I like it: " We are here, on the bridge, to ask ourselves certain questions. And they are very important questions; and we have very little time in which to answer them. The questions that we have to ask and to answer about that procession during this moment of transition are so important that they may well change the lives of all men and women for ever...Think we must...Let us never cease from thinking — what is this “civilization” in which we find ourselves?"
Three guineas, Virginia Woolf.
It doesn't seem like life has changed so much since Virginia Wolf wrote Three Guineas... I get a sense that many of us are living a rat race, where thinking is a luxury. Perhaps if we were more inquisitive about ourselves, about the world we live in, each as individuals trying to make a positive difference… Is it just a question of “generosity”? Or are we just too self-absorbed and caught up in our daily routines to take the time….
RispondiEliminaMan hath no Heaven and Time's coast is chartless.
He speeds; we pass away!
L’homme n’a point de port, le temps n’a point de rive ;
Il coule, et nous passons !
"Le lac", Alphonse de Lamartine.
Ohh there are plenty of things!
RispondiEliminaSome authors are able to be "true" irrespectively of the time they produced their works...(are they called classics in English too?)
The question about "otium" and "negotium"...how many of these classics needed, like me and maybe you too, to do negotium to live (I think Virginia for example didn't need I think:-))? It's easier not to be self absorbed if you do not need to work...
Of course I am being exceedingly materialistic. Even if I did not need to work I would certainly not be Virginia Woolf that's certain, and even if one is absorbed by daily routine she/he can still think about questions like the ones put forward by Virginia.
As for Lamartine (beautiful)...to end like I start...maybe genii (like Michelangelo, Woolf, Bach etc) have heaven and for themle temps a une rive (ou deux??)?:-))
Permettez-moi de suggérer une meilleure traduction de la citation de Lamartine :
RispondiEliminaMan has no haven, time has no shores;
it runs [like water]and we pass by.
Alors là, j'aime beaucoup. Et j'aime aussi beaucoup que dans un moment où en Italie on est submergé (on écrit comme ça??) par une laideur inutile (à quoi ça sert de savoir en détail les spectacles de Mr B. et l'idiotie sordide des participants)on m'envoit de la beauté. Merci deux fois:-).
RispondiEliminaThis "improved" translation opens up new options, because between Heaven and Haven, the only difference is one letter, but it changes the entire meaning of Lamartine's poetry. One could consider that Michelangelo, Woolf, and Bach are in a special place -- if heaven exists. But what do you think of this idea of mankind without a "port of call", meaning we are on a perpetual voyage, with no place to rest, think and "refuel? How does that relate to time?
RispondiEliminaThis is to much for me...I do not think though that our voyage is perpetual, and I think we can find a place to rest sometimes, however not all the times we wish, not precisely when we most need it sometimes. Human being can be at most a genius, never a god...in other words ...nobody is perfect:-)
RispondiEliminaTrovo che l'aspetto più interessante di questa citazione sia proprio nel suo percorrere il crinale tra classico e moderno, cioè contemporaneo. Devo ammetterlo: l'ho sottovalutata. Appena letta, infatti, mi sembrava una frase come se ne trovano tante in certa letteratura (Seneca etc.), classica, appunto. E invece no, perchè V.W., qui, è volutamente a cavallo della linea che separa una sorta di armonia autore-lettore dal suo esatto contrario. Insomma, ci tira in ballo, percorre con noi un tratto di strada e poi butta lì un'ultima domanda, inesorabile, perchè non ha nessuna voglia di compiacerci. Ecco dove è "moderna".
RispondiElimina