He came for Easter break.
He was a college student from New York and he came to volunteer and to have some fun in Costa Rica. He had an easy smile, was a bit loud -in that American way- and he was active.
The first few days he helped out in the slum. Then he visited a beach on the Pacific coast. Then he did a bungee jump. Then he did some white water rafting. Then he did some cross country All Terrain Vehicle driving. Then the ATV flipped over and crushed his spine. Then the doctors had to tell him that he was paralysed from the waist down. Now he will never walk again.
How was your Easter?
Difficile de faire de la bonne littérature avec de bons sentiments, le fil du rasoir est ténu. Eviter le pathos, ne pas tomber dans le cliché, préserver une note de distance qui ne soit pas de la froideur, renouveler à chaque regard l'innocence sans tomber dans la naïveté... si délicat. The comment by Leo Titjuice (Biroco?) was harsh but not entirely devoid of salt. I keep coming back to your website wondering how you're going to get out of this. The problem of salt is that it has an ambiguous effect. Hope you'll keep trying and find the way out.
ReplyDeleteBy someone who wrote a comment a couple of months ago that you thought was Biroco's.
C'est exact.
ReplyDeleteC'est tres difficile.
J'essaie d'evoquer les sentiments forts mais avec un peu d'humour. Peut etre devrais je choisir l'un ou l'autre...
Leo est surement Biroco. Il m'agace mais c'est sa maniere et qqfois il a du merite...
Merci pour les commentaires.
Il ne doit pas être impossible de combiner humour et sentiments. A mon avis, le problème ce sont les bons sentiments parce qu'alors le cliché n'est jamais bien loin. Oscillation fragile entre la naïveté et la fraîcheur de l'innocence. Ca interdit la facilité autant que le procédé.
ReplyDeleteL'environnement est peut-être trop grave pour fournir la matière brute d'une littérature qui ait du corps sans tomber dans le pathos. La cruauté sans cynisme peut-être ?