Credo

I’m afraid to write.  It’s so dangerous.  Anyone who’s tried, knows.  The danger of stirring up hidden things – and the world is not on the surface, it’s hidden in its roots submerged in the depths of the sea.  In order to write I must place myself in the void.  In this void is where I exist intuitively.  But it’s a terribly dangerous void: it’s where I wring out blood.  I’m a writer who fears the snares of words: the words I say hide others – which?  maybe I’ll say them.  Writing is a stone cast down a deep well.

Do I write or not?…A light and gentle meditation on the nothing…

Does “writing” exist in and of itself?  No. It is merely the reflection of a thing that questions.  I work with the unexpected.  I write the way I do without knowing how and why – it’s the fate of my voice.  The timbre of my voice is me.  Writing is a query.  It’s this: ?

I write for nothing and for no one…I don’t make literature: I simply live in the passing of time.  The act of writing is the inevitable result of my being alive…

I feel as though I’m still not writing…My problem is the fear of going mad.  I have to control myself…And so I’ll leave a page blank or the rest of the book – I’ll come back when I can.

Clarice Lispector, Breath of Life 

5 thoughts on “Credo

  1. Patrick jennings

    Thanks for this. Never heard of her before. As far as novels are concerned I have been re-reading John Cowper Powys “Wolf Solent” and “Weymouth Sands” or just sticking with the old classic standbys for the last few years. Everything contemporary looked lack-lustre. Have great hopes for Clarice! Just read the first few pages of her last work in download. Shall I spend precious money on the book? It’s the only way I can read a novel. In the flesh as it were.

  2. Well “Stream of Life” (or Agua Viva) & “Passion Accdg to GH” have been long favorites of mine – “Breath of Life” was an unfinished work – she is also a tremendous short story & journal writer – I recommend everything :). & also very much enjoy Powys!

"A word is a bridge thrown between myself and an other - a territory shared by both" - M. Bakhtin

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s