Wednesday, April 23, 2014

To Gabo, With Love

“What do you think inspiration is? Does it exist?”
Marquez: “ It’s a word which has been discredited by the Romantics. I don’t see it as a state of grace nor as a breath from heaven but as the moment when, by tenacity and control, you are at one with your theme. When you want to write something, a kind of reciprocal tension is established between you and the theme, so you spur the theme on and the theme spurs you on too. There comes a moment when all obstacles fade away, all conflict disappears, things you never dreamt of occur to you and, at that moment, there is absolutely nothing in the world better than writing. That is what I would call inspiration.”

From The Fragrance of Guava – Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza in conversation with Gabriel Garcia Marquez


Picture from Esquire

Last night Neruda's lines came to mind -
I like on the table
When we are speaking
The light of a bottle
Of intelligent wine

I ate almonds last night and gave a thought to the greatest of them all, Gabriel Garcia Marquez. He who shall never cease to inspire. One hundred times.

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