" I do believe, that in spite of everything, people are still good at heart."
Dear Liria, even I held that for long ... but then I read that..."... optimism is a disease..." and dunno why I feel I was diseased till now. First, the disease of depression and then excess Optimism. Is there no other way to take things? Balance , but then in this maddening world where the balance is?
This book , Midnight's Children , is no doubt a fascinating book. Mr. Rushdie has got his gifts and in it he exploited them at their best. But still its baffling... too much... it calls your attention , a literary nose ears eyes and then just punch you on your face and you feel it was just an another book but yes very fascinatingly told , to baffle you? Or the lines make a labyrinth?
Well , I am looking forward to read some literary articles on the book. Specially on - Saleem and Women, Saleem and History , The Ironies , The Paradoxes and Magic Realism...
No doubt I loved the technique and there are some lines which you just cant put off - for instance,
"Love does not conquer all ... and optimism is a disease..."
"...I hear lies being spoken in the night, anything you want to be you can be, the greatest lie of all..."
And many more...
Rest for later.
Ciao...
Dear Liria, even I held that for long ... but then I read that..."... optimism is a disease..." and dunno why I feel I was diseased till now. First, the disease of depression and then excess Optimism. Is there no other way to take things? Balance , but then in this maddening world where the balance is?
This book , Midnight's Children , is no doubt a fascinating book. Mr. Rushdie has got his gifts and in it he exploited them at their best. But still its baffling... too much... it calls your attention , a literary nose ears eyes and then just punch you on your face and you feel it was just an another book but yes very fascinatingly told , to baffle you? Or the lines make a labyrinth?
Well , I am looking forward to read some literary articles on the book. Specially on - Saleem and Women, Saleem and History , The Ironies , The Paradoxes and Magic Realism...
No doubt I loved the technique and there are some lines which you just cant put off - for instance,
"Love does not conquer all ... and optimism is a disease..."
"...I hear lies being spoken in the night, anything you want to be you can be, the greatest lie of all..."
And many more...
Rest for later.
Ciao...
Whoever writes, creates. The mystics say: words create reality. You conjure up a reality, a place with its own people who live their lives in their own simple (or in Salman Rushdie’s case, very peculiar) ways. Rushdie has many things to say and he has a very strange way of saying it. To me, his words seem to be dancing, never quite ending on the right foot, never quite doing the same as everyone. It’s different, it’s a cloud of smoke, which he whirls with his pen: he creates a world of confusion and utter chaos. Once you have dove into his words long enough, you start to believe them. And it starts making sense.
ReplyDeleteIs he leading us into a labyrinth? Or trying to free us from it? I do not know why, but Godel’s incompleteness theorem comes to mind. It speaks along the lines that until you are free from a state, you cannot prove anything in it. A state could mean anything, including this universe and all its grandeur. Maybe, Rushdie himself did not know what he was talking about. It could be, all he had was just a plan, a story, and everything else just flowed from his brain, largely unedited in their style, just pure, mental imagery in his mind. And maybe it made sense to him, as would to anyone who lingers around too long. :P
Going back to your first lines, love, is too much optimism a disease? It could be. It’s debatable though. How much optimism is too much? Is it only optimism that is the culprit? What about expectations which are based on unrealistic foundations? Is it the optimism that is to be blamed, or the miscalculated judgements of the person? Is it silly to expect good health, when all I’ve ever done was eat and drink insatiably? Is the optimism to be blamed, or the goal? Is it because of that optimism that change is not possible? Or the goal? What if I choose to draw the lines between expectations and optimism? Is expecting something different from being optimistic about it?
ReplyDeleteLet’s think of an example:
I expect the train to arrive early and I hope it will.
Are they the same? Optimism and expectation? I believe optimism is changeable. It’s very subtle; one does not quite know what to do with this optimism. The expectations are usually very clear. I want to be rich. I want the train to come early. But, this thing we call optimism is a little tricky. It’s flexible. It’s willing to bend a little (or more). It’s willing to compromise.
How can I say that?
Imagine a man. Very spiritual, devoted his entire life to understanding the incomprehensible. He wants to win the lottery. He really hopes he does. He prays he does. But he doesn’t win. He then thinks to himself, that maybe, that’s not what he needs right now. The man who once had strong optimism that he will win the lottery is now optimistic that that is not what he needs right now.
All we need is a little convincing. With that, we are ready to change a little. Or a lot more.
Do let me add though, too much optimism for a reward which one is not worthy of is a disease. Too much optimism for a goal that is very unlikely is a disease.
By the way, I should have probably mentioned that it was Anne Frank who wrote that (quote). Young as she may have been, she was a very bright and philosophical (albeit unknown to her) young woman. She was a Jew in Nazi ridden Germany which I guess speaks for itself. She had to have that optimism, to make her go through her horrific ordeal. I guess we all should have this optimism, if not any other, just in the hope that it might turn true.
Full quote:
"It's difficult in times like these: ideals, dreams and cherished hopes rise within us, only to be crushed by grim reality. It's a wonder I haven't abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart. I simply can't build my hopes on a foundation of confusion, misery, and death. I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too, I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that this cruelty too shall end, and that peace & tranquility will return once again."
~Annelies Marie Frank (12 June 1929 - February/March 1945)
Its nice to read you your thoughts after a long time... :)
ReplyDeleteLiria , I think I get you on this point... well first let us talk about Optimism in the novel. In the deference to the novel, I understand it this way , disease is not to indicate something bad but to indicate its characteristic of infection.The way it infects people on a particular occasion , for instance, at present with the Motto of Anna hazare "Bhrashtachaar Bharat Chhodo" the world is damn infected with optimism that Corruption will be demolished soon. So optimism is a disease. It does not leave a man.
Then, it may be called a disease because it blinds you to the realistic aspects of a thing.
Dr. Aziz's too much optimism (Saleem's grandfather) restrained him to evaluate things with their practical aspects. Later when Saleem is filled with an urge to save the country he is also infected with this disease because its too impractical (or at least it seems so) to revolt against the Sarkar.
And being in India I feel it too deeply that people are unerringly too optimist. Its a common disease here. May be because there are always plenty things to lament. So there seems only one way out to everything - Be Optimist.
But I tell you I am damn an optimist. I cant help being optimist (may be because there seems no other way around?) But no I have seen being damn pessimist too and it only resulted in insanity (although it subsides it lingers somewhere inside still) And this unforgotten pungent taste of pessimism let me see optimism as a disease.
Liria , may be , really there can be strong personal reasons that I refuse to agree with this sentence " ...in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart..." They might be good but they aren't so good today and that makes all the difference.
:) Love.
hey, btw , Miss you on FB :)
ReplyDeleteHope to see you soon there!
tc!!
Ah, maybe I've long forgotten what was really in the book, Angel :)
ReplyDeleteTo each, their own.
P.S: I asked S to ask you something. Waiting. Will call you someday :)