| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Confidence by Henry James: obstacles to enjoyment so that he might have the pleasure of seeing
a pretty girl attempt to remove them. But it must be admitted that
if Bernard really thought at present that he had better leave Baden,
the observation I have just quoted was not so much a sign of this
conviction as of the hope that his companion would proceed to gainsay it.
The hope was not disappointed, though I must add that no sooner had it been
gratified than Bernard began to feel ashamed of it.
"This certainly is not one of those cases," said Angela.
"The thing is surely very simple now."
"What makes it so simple?"
She hesitated a moment.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Prufrock/Other Observations by T. S. Eliot: each momentary recovery, lost finally in the dark caverns of her
throat, bruised by the ripple of unseen muscles. An elderly waiter
with trembling hands was hurriedly spreading a pink and white checked
cloth over the rusty green iron table, saying: "If the lady and
gentleman wish to take their tea in the garden, if the lady and
gentleman wish to take their tea in the garden ..." I decided that
if the shaking of her breasts could be stopped,some of the fragments
of the afternoon might be collected, and I concentrated my attention
with careful subtlety to this end.
Conversation Galante
I observe: "Our sentimental friend the moon
Prufrock/Other Observations |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Girl with the Golden Eyes by Honore de Balzac: reply.
"In what have I angered you?" she asked. "Speak, let us understand
each other."
Henri maintained the phlegmatic attitude of a strong man who feels
himself vanquished; his countenance, cold, silent, entirely English,
revealed the consciousness of his dignity in a momentary resignation.
Moreover, he had already thought, in spite of the vehemence of his
anger, that it was scarcely prudent to compromise himself with the law
by killing this girl on the spur of the moment, before he had arranged
the murder in such a manner as should insure his impunity.
"My beloved," went on Paquita, "speak to me; do not leave me without
The Girl with the Golden Eyes |
