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“We need, in love, to practice only this: letting each other go. For holding on comes easily; we do not need to learn it.”
― Translations from the Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke
― Translations from the Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke
“The fairy tale belongs to the poor...I know of no fairy tale which upholds the tyrant, or takes the part of the strong against the weak. A fascist fairy tale is an absurdity.”
―
―
“That is what literature offers—a language powerful enough to say how it is. It isn't a hiding place. It is a finding place.”
― Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?
― Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?
“My heart is warm with the friends I make,
And better friends I'll not be knowing,
Yet there isn't a train I wouldn't take,
No matter where it's going.”
― The Selected Poetry
And better friends I'll not be knowing,
Yet there isn't a train I wouldn't take,
No matter where it's going.”
― The Selected Poetry
“I have come to see this fear, this sense of my own imperilment by my creations, as not only an inevitable, necessary part of writing fiction but as virtual guarantor, insofar as such a thing is possible, of the power of my work: as a sign that I am on the right track, that I am following the recipe correctly, speaking the proper spells. Literature, like magic, has always been about the handling of secrets, about the pain, the destruction and the marvelous liberation that can result when they are revealed. Telling the truth, when the truth matters most, is almost always a frightening prospect. If a writer doesn’t give away secrets, his own or those of the people he loves; if she doesn’t court disapproval, reproach and general wrath, whether of friends, family, or party apparatchiks; if the writer submits his work to an internal censor long before anyone else can get their hands on it, the result is pallid, inanimate, a lump of earth. The adept handles the rich material, the rank river clay, and diligently intones his alphabetical spells, knowing full well the history of golems: how they break free of their creators, grow to unmanageable size and power, refuse to be controlled. In the same way, the writer shapes his story, flecked like river clay with the grit of experience and rank with the smell of human life, heedless of the danger to himself, eager to show his powers, to celebrate his mastery, to bring into being a little world that, like God’s, is at once terribly imperfect and filled with astonishing life.
Originally published in The Washington Post Book World”
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Originally published in The Washington Post Book World”
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Around the World in 80 Books
— 31115 members
— last activity 3 hours, 50 min ago
Reading takes you places. Where in the world will your next book take you? If you love world literature, translated works, travel writing, or explorin ...more
Zen Buddhism
— 209 members
— last activity Aug 15, 2022 12:17AM
Discussion of books about Zen Buddhism in general and American Zen in particular.
Goodreads Librarians Group
— 316447 members
— last activity 21 minutes ago
Goodreads Librarians are volunteers who help ensure the accuracy of information about books and authors in the Goodreads' catalog. The Goodreads Libra ...more
A Place for Recommendations
— 98 members
— last activity Jan 03, 2018 07:46PM
If you want to give recommendations, receive recommendations or have more people check out your reviews, this is the place for you.
Saskia’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Saskia’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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