i have loved Italo Calvino's fiction since my graduate school days and have picked up this book recently. it is a series of lectures he was supposed to give when he passed away, so there's actually 5 "memos" - the sixth was never completed. i wanted to share an excerpt from the chapter titled "Quickness". while he writes about the writing process, i think in so many ways, it is about life too.
"A writer's work has to take account of many rhythms...a message of urgency obtained by dint of patient and meticulous adjustments and an intuition so instantaneous that, when formulated, it acquires the finality of something that could never have been otherwise. but it is also the rhythm of time that passes with no other aim than to let feelings and thoughts settle down, mature, and shed all impatience or ephemeral contingency.
"I began this lecture by telling a story. let me end it with another story, this time Chinese: among Chuang-tzu's many skills, he was an expert draftsman. the king asked him to draw a crab. Chuang-tzu replied that he needed five years, a country house, and twelve servants. five years later the drawing was still not begun. 'i need another five years,' said Chuang-tzu. the king granted them. at the end of these ten years, Chuang-tzu took up his brush and, in an instant, with a single stroke, he drew a crab, the most perfect crab ever seen."
No comments:
Post a Comment