"Just knowing that your exuberant and unwavering
passion-- matched with kindness-- existed in my
experience and will live on as you live on continues
to inspire me. I keep finding new instances of
inspiration all rooted in you as thoughts of you
bounce off new experiences. All the language in your
christmas email is in the past tense-- maybe the sign
of a healthy attitude. But I like what Faulkner said:
"The past isn't dead. It isn't even past." Your
wonder; your capacity to experience joy and give of
yourself will remain with me to the end, and I will
always think of you with love."
passion-- matched with kindness-- existed in my
experience and will live on as you live on continues
to inspire me. I keep finding new instances of
inspiration all rooted in you as thoughts of you
bounce off new experiences. All the language in your
christmas email is in the past tense-- maybe the sign
of a healthy attitude. But I like what Faulkner said:
"The past isn't dead. It isn't even past." Your
wonder; your capacity to experience joy and give of
yourself will remain with me to the end, and I will
always think of you with love."
posted by Frederick at Thursday, December 23, 2004
4 Comments:
Faulkner's assertion, of course, is not true. It was a rare moment of wishful thinking on his part. The past is, indeed, dead.
Our unique perception of the world, especially the nature of time and how are memories interact with experiences to create the thing we call reality is a portal to many unseen worlds. We sometimes lean on the past with our efforts to move forward, even when the past is not something we have consciously experienced in this lifetime. It is the echo of a thousand civilizations that have preceded us that we hear. Faulkner was actually talking about the South, part of a long series of poems that belong to the tradition of Southern literature in exploring the impact of the past on the present. Strange how that quote is used by the girl that just broke my heart.
Our unique perception of the world, especially the nature of time and how are memories interact with experiences to create the thing we call reality is a portal to many unseen worlds. We sometimes lean on the past with our efforts to move forward, even when the past is not something we have consciously experienced in this lifetime. It is the echo of a thousand civilizations that have preceded us that we hear. Faulkner was actually talking about the South, part of a long series of poems that belong to the tradition of Southern literature in exploring the impact of the past on the present. Strange how that quote is used by the girl that just broke my heart.
Though usually used in support of southern traditionalism or other ideas contrary to its original purpose; in the novel (Requiem for a Nun), the line refers to how an individual's past acts continue to resonate in and shape the present. The scene depicts the wrangling between Temple Drake (wife of Gowan Stevens) and attorney Gavin Stevens (Gowan's uncle) over why Temple wishes to save the life of Nancy, Stevens' client, who has been sentenced to death for killing Temple's child:
"STEVENS
Yet you invented the coincidence.
TEMPLE
Mrs Gowan Stevens did.
STEVENS
Temple Drake did. Mrs Gowan Stevens is not even fighting in this class. This is Temple Drake's.
TEMPLE
Temple Drake is dead.
STEVENS
The past is never dead. It's not even past."
The quote seemed misappropriated, but it was actually simply misquoted.
Cheers,
Christopher (aka Anonymous)
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