I'm hunting. Hunting for the ‘right’ book—the one, the most important, comprehensive, the best... the one which is great, which can give more than take, which will be remembered forever and will worry you about and for no reason, like the sun or the moon—it is always clear ‘where it comes from’, well, that is, who shines and why, for which reason and how. Yes, of cause... all the same questions give no peace. Although it's not just about finding answers to Questions.
In this case it’s important for me to find the author and the book of the highest significance both in meaning, and in word, and in form as well. And frankly speaking the empty cell The best book in the ‘Hall of Fame!’ is irritating me restlessly. It turns out that everything has come together in the effort to answer the question—Is this the one? I'll try. For better or worse!
Having listened to a recommendation to read The Elegance of the Hedgehog by a certain Muriel Barbery (Muriel is the author, not the source of the recommendation, just to be clear), I put this book on my reading list. To be fair, without much enthusiasm. The name itself, not that I haven’t heard about the author, but... I couldn't have helped but listened to the words of the adviser. On the list—Go! The right moment came, and I read it. Of course I liked the fact that it was easy reading. Even on the tube in the morning and during rush hour, when everything and everyone around can be (or is) annoying. The Hedgehog went easy, without a hint of resistance. And it’s not that the author’s writing is somewhat primitive at all or the setting of the story is very simplistic—no, not at all. But it went on easy. Even more so, considering that in parallel with the ‘hedgehog’ there were three more books (at the time) in my reading process: Summa Technologiae by Lem; Start with No ... uh... I don't remember who the author is at all; The Divine Comedy by… you do know by whom. I was looking for something to complement Start with No, since the book is not that hard-to-read. I wanted to find a book that could be absorbed without much effort, since the other two— about technology and comedy—are difficult to be ‘translated’ into ‘human language’ in the hustle and bustle (metaphorically describing Moscow metro or suburban trains at rush hour).
By the way, I am happy of course to plan putting on paper, so to say, my thoughts on the other three books. I miss my ‘writing process’ a bit, so words overwhelm me... Excuse me. Now so many things are happening in my parallel life—this is where they still pay— you know, I have to set priorities. There is no other way! They would stop paying, if you miss the mark. Ugh, ugh! And here no one pays anything anyway, so do (or don't do) whatever you want and whichever way you want... Well, in general it is clear. To the point then!
So, first things first. I say it again, it’s easy to read. At the same time, the author, as it seems to me, is exceptionally sarcastic and straightforward in conclusions and in no way tries to embellish them (the author’s own thoughts or the main character’s ones)... No hints—everything is clear, all the dots are exactly where they belong.
By good tradition (I introduced it myself and I adhere to it myself! once and for all! that's it!) I ‘went’ to look the author ‘in the face’—well, that is I studied the photo. The author is French and she is unlikely to analyze my linguistic exercises in depth. All of this is to the fact that the author's face did not seem to me to be somewhat ‘sophisticated’ in a way... And what does it mean ? One might wonder how to narrow down the focus of the image search in synapses.
‘Well,’ he mumbled a little again, ‘well, let us say Mikhail Shemyakin or, for example, here's another one—Solzhenitsyn!’ But it's true, who could say that their faces are in any way ‘non-sophisticated’?! And Dickens? Just look at his face! Face! ‘Well, uh,’ he mumbles again, ‘Muriel is not like that. After all, she is a woman. Yes, the times are somewhat different now. Aren't they? Shemyakin and Solzhenitsyn... ‘this is not like sitting with ones legs dangling on the embankment in Paris or drinking coffee while snacking on a baguette!’
ОК, fine! The person's face is completely prosaic!
It’s not always that clothes count for first impressions, same for a human face. Here, look at how Michal Shemyakin appears in the latest YouTube videos—the ‘branded’ boots alone could earn the award! No, I do have a lot of respect! It’s nothing! Really! Not at all! But the image! This is also important! A healthy mind in a healthy body. That's what I mean: both are important—both external and internal. No one would argue this.
By the way, just to mention, there was a girl in Shemyakin boots on a public transport! (I really like it anyway…it’s amazing how much more one can notice there…uuu).
That's it! One wouldn’t say: all the girls are just ‘pouting their lips’ nowadays—that's not true! It’s simply wrong! There are still People out there! That girl was jumping up and down with her foot... a little bit... either in time with the music (I couldn't hear which song), or the shoes were stinging a little... I don't know for sure. But to the point, to the point!
In a word, the appearance, that’s my considered opinion after empirical observations, does not always happen to reflect the inner world of a person at all. Hedgehog is either Muriel's ‘alternative’ answer to a Question and Questions, or just a great story, told by the master with an excellent, subtle, truly beautiful sense of language.
In this case it’s important for me to find the author and the book of the highest significance both in meaning, and in word, and in form as well. And frankly speaking the empty cell The best book in the ‘Hall of Fame!’ is irritating me restlessly. It turns out that everything has come together in the effort to answer the question—Is this the one? I'll try. For better or worse!
Having listened to a recommendation to read The Elegance of the Hedgehog by a certain Muriel Barbery (Muriel is the author, not the source of the recommendation, just to be clear), I put this book on my reading list. To be fair, without much enthusiasm. The name itself, not that I haven’t heard about the author, but... I couldn't have helped but listened to the words of the adviser. On the list—Go! The right moment came, and I read it. Of course I liked the fact that it was easy reading. Even on the tube in the morning and during rush hour, when everything and everyone around can be (or is) annoying. The Hedgehog went easy, without a hint of resistance. And it’s not that the author’s writing is somewhat primitive at all or the setting of the story is very simplistic—no, not at all. But it went on easy. Even more so, considering that in parallel with the ‘hedgehog’ there were three more books (at the time) in my reading process: Summa Technologiae by Lem; Start with No ... uh... I don't remember who the author is at all; The Divine Comedy by… you do know by whom. I was looking for something to complement Start with No, since the book is not that hard-to-read. I wanted to find a book that could be absorbed without much effort, since the other two— about technology and comedy—are difficult to be ‘translated’ into ‘human language’ in the hustle and bustle (metaphorically describing Moscow metro or suburban trains at rush hour).
By the way, I am happy of course to plan putting on paper, so to say, my thoughts on the other three books. I miss my ‘writing process’ a bit, so words overwhelm me... Excuse me. Now so many things are happening in my parallel life—this is where they still pay— you know, I have to set priorities. There is no other way! They would stop paying, if you miss the mark. Ugh, ugh! And here no one pays anything anyway, so do (or don't do) whatever you want and whichever way you want... Well, in general it is clear. To the point then!
So, first things first. I say it again, it’s easy to read. At the same time, the author, as it seems to me, is exceptionally sarcastic and straightforward in conclusions and in no way tries to embellish them (the author’s own thoughts or the main character’s ones)... No hints—everything is clear, all the dots are exactly where they belong.
By good tradition (I introduced it myself and I adhere to it myself! once and for all! that's it!) I ‘went’ to look the author ‘in the face’—well, that is I studied the photo. The author is French and she is unlikely to analyze my linguistic exercises in depth. All of this is to the fact that the author's face did not seem to me to be somewhat ‘sophisticated’ in a way... And what does it mean ? One might wonder how to narrow down the focus of the image search in synapses.
‘Well,’ he mumbled a little again, ‘well, let us say Mikhail Shemyakin or, for example, here's another one—Solzhenitsyn!’ But it's true, who could say that their faces are in any way ‘non-sophisticated’?! And Dickens? Just look at his face! Face! ‘Well, uh,’ he mumbles again, ‘Muriel is not like that. After all, she is a woman. Yes, the times are somewhat different now. Aren't they? Shemyakin and Solzhenitsyn... ‘this is not like sitting with ones legs dangling on the embankment in Paris or drinking coffee while snacking on a baguette!’
ОК, fine! The person's face is completely prosaic!
It’s not always that clothes count for first impressions, same for a human face. Here, look at how Michal Shemyakin appears in the latest YouTube videos—the ‘branded’ boots alone could earn the award! No, I do have a lot of respect! It’s nothing! Really! Not at all! But the image! This is also important! A healthy mind in a healthy body. That's what I mean: both are important—both external and internal. No one would argue this.
By the way, just to mention, there was a girl in Shemyakin boots on a public transport! (I really like it anyway…it’s amazing how much more one can notice there…uuu).
That's it! One wouldn’t say: all the girls are just ‘pouting their lips’ nowadays—that's not true! It’s simply wrong! There are still People out there! That girl was jumping up and down with her foot... a little bit... either in time with the music (I couldn't hear which song), or the shoes were stinging a little... I don't know for sure. But to the point, to the point!
In a word, the appearance, that’s my considered opinion after empirical observations, does not always happen to reflect the inner world of a person at all. Hedgehog is either Muriel's ‘alternative’ answer to a Question and Questions, or just a great story, told by the master with an excellent, subtle, truly beautiful sense of language.
Quates.
‘Indeed, what constitutes life? Day after day, we put up the brave struggle to play our role in this phantom comedy. We are good primates, so we spend most of our time maintaining and defending our territory, so that it will protect and gratify us; climbing—or trying not to slide down—the tribe’s hierarchical ladder, and fornicating in every manner imaginable—even mere phantasms—as much for the pleasure of it as for the promised offspring.’
‘This is eminently true of many happy moments in life. Freed from the demands of decision and intention, adrift on some inner sea, we observe our various movements as if they belonged to someone else, and yet we admire their involuntary excellence.’
‘So, we mustn’t forget any of this, absolutely not. We have to live with the certainty that we’ll get old and that it won’t look nice or be good or feel happy. And tell ourselves that it’s now that matters: to build something, now, at any price, using all our strength. Always remember that there’s a retirement home waiting somewhere and so we have to surpass ourselves every day, make every day undying.’
IP: (I can't help myself though): I totally agree. But how difficult it really is—this way one may get neurotic.
‘Living, eating, reproducing, fulfilling the task for which we were born, and dying: it has no meaning, true, but that’s the way things are. People are so arrogant, thinking they can coerce nature, escape their destiny of little biological things . . . and yet they remain so blind to the cruelty or violence of their own way of living, loving, reproducing and making war on their fellow human beings . . .
Personally I think there is only one thing to do: find the task we have been placed on this earth to do, and accomplish it as best we can, with all our strength, without making things complicated or thinking there’s anything divine about our animal nature. This is the only way we will ever feel that we have been doing something constructive when death comes to get us. Freedom, choice, will, and so on? Chimeras. We think we can make honey without sharing in the fate of bees, but we are in truth nothing but poor bees, destined to accomplish our task and then die.’
IP: I think it's a bit cheeky to refer to such quotes in this note... to ‘steal’ such a moment…
‘What is the purpose of intelligence if it is not to serve others? And I’m not referring to the false servitude that high-ranking state-employed flunkeys exhibit so proudly, as if it were a badge of virtue: the façade of humility they wear is nothing more than vanity and disdain.’
IP: Wow!
Translation by Alison Anderson.
Original title: L'élégance du herisson.
Translation copyright 2008 by Europa Editions.
End of quotes. Further on a short conclusion.
‘The book: is this the one?’ No. It's definitely not. That’s my answer.
‘Why not? Eh?’ Because not.
And maybe it's good that there are a lot of them... there are a lot of those ‘suns’ and ‘moons’. We will sort it out.
Thank you all! Good luck, friends!
‘The book: is this the one?’ No. It's definitely not. That’s my answer.
‘Why not? Eh?’ Because not.
And maybe it's good that there are a lot of them... there are a lot of those ‘suns’ and ‘moons’. We will sort it out.
Thank you all! Good luck, friends!