| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy: of our lives, and involuntarily a doubt arises, "on which side is
truth,--on the side of the thoughts which seem true and
well-founded, or on the side of the lives of others and myself?"
I, too, was weighed down by that same doubt when writing "The
Kreutzer Sonata." I had not the faintest presentiment that the
train of thought I had started would lead me whither it did. I
was terrified by my own conclusion, and I was at first disposed
to reject it, but it was impossible not to hearken to the voice
of my reason and my conscience. And so, strange though they may
appear to many, opposed as they undoubtedly are to the trend and
tenor of our lives, and incompatible though they may prove with
The Kreutzer Sonata |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from When a Man Marries by Mary Roberts Rinehart: indigestion and bad hours.
She spent the entire day going through the storeroom and linen
closets, and running her fingers over things for dust. Whenever
she found any she looked at me, drew a long breath, and said,
"Poor James!" It was maddening. And when she went through his
clothes and found some buttons off (Jim didn't keep a man, and
Takahiro had stopped at his boots) she looked at me quite
awfully.
"His mother was a perfect housekeeper," she said. "James was
brought up in clothes with the buttons on, put on clean shelves."
"Didn't they put them on him?" I asked, almost hysterically. It
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Lady Susan by Jane Austen: excellent understanding which her bitterest enemies have never denied her;
and equally low must sink my pretensions to common sense if I am suspected
of matrimonial views in my behaviour to her. Our difference of age must be
an insuperable objection, and I entreat you, my dear father, to quiet your
mind, and no longer harbour a suspicion which cannot he more injurious to
your own peace than to our understandings. I can have no other view in
remaining with Lady Susan, than to enjoy for a short time (as you have
yourself expressed it) the conversation of a woman of high intellectual
powers. If Mrs. Vernon would allow something to my affection for herself
and her husband in the length of my visit, she would do more justice to us
all; but my sister is unhappily prejudiced beyond the hope of conviction
Lady Susan |
