I wasn’t able to work a really fabulous quote from Autumn by Ali Smith into my write up of the book, so here it is for some Monday thoughtfulness:
It’s a question of how we regard our situations, […] how we look and see where we are, and how we choose, if we can, when we are seeing undecidedly, not to despair and, at the same time, how best to act. Hope is exactly that, that’s all it is, a matter of how we deal with the negative acts towards human beings by other human beings in the world, remembering that they and we are all human, that nothing human is alien to us, the foul and the fair, and that most important of all we’re here for a mere blink of the eyes, that’s all. But in that Augenblick there’s either a benign wink or a willing blindness, and we have to know we’re equally capable of both, and to be ready to be above and beyond the foul even when we’re up to our eyes in it. So it’s important […] not to waste the time, our time, when we have it.
Easy to talk about, easy to say, but not so easy to do, eh? How to be “above and beyond the foul” and how to not waste time, how to not despair, and how to choose hope — how does one do this not just sometimes but all the time? I don’t know about you but I can’t do it all the time and because I can’t, I expect most people can’t, which is why I think compassion is also important and necessary. But it isn’t easy either. We all fail. Why is being kind to others who also fail so hard? This is possibly a rhetorical question. It possibly has no answer. Or many.
It loses me at “blink of an eye.” It’s a very unfortunate phrase, and others similar to it, because it’s been so abused by people who use it to argue that what we do ultimately doesn’t matter. “Not gonna matter 100 years from now.” and etc.
What I would have said is that it is moments of choice (rather than human lives) that are often here just for a blink of an eye, and that each is potentially important precisely because we don’t know what ripples our choices are going to have down the road, even many generations down the road, for ourselves and other people.
But that’s a minor quibble over wording, I suppose.
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Cameron, but she is saying that because we are here for such a short time, what we do matters a lot and we should make the most of the time we have to do the best we can. Perhaps some context will help – the quote is from a letter in the written by one of the main character’s elder sister during WWII. He was safe in the UK and ended up being killed and she was only 22. Here death is ever present to her surviving brother who misses her greatly for the rest of what turns out to be a very long life for him.
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Thank you. Sometimes my knee jerks so hard that it crashes into my forehead 🙂
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Carmen, heh, I have experienced those knee jerks myself! 🙂
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Thoughtful…but we have to strive, strive to hope and look beyond the foul. Difficult but hardly impossible!
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cirtnecce, yes, we have to strive!
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Empathy for the win! But how not to despair at times…that I don’t know.
I have been wanting to read her stuff for a while now! Really looking forward to it, but not sure which book to start with.
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nikki, I know, despair is so often the easier option. I’m not sure it matters where you start with Smith. The first book of hers I read was How to Be Both and I loved it. Autumn is the third book of hers I have read.
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this is resonating with me as I progress through my health issue. I’ve had so many friends/family say they are astonished at how positive I am – well yes I am mostly but sometimes in the wee hours I get a few bleak moments. How anyone can be 100% despair free I can’t imagine – clearly they are made of sterner stuff than I am
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BookerTalk, I am sure even the most positive people have moments of despair, but I think we then choose whether we remain there or we find hope again. Not easy, especially in regards to health issues! I hope you are well again soon!
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I’m finding despair harder to deal with this year. The news, each day, is so full of bad news. It is funny, but last night I had a moment of epiphany, telling myself not to react so intensely to each new threatening article that I find threatening. Being concerned and being despairing are completely different, and only one can be useful or helpful. The first sentence in the quote is what resonated with me–timely advice.
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Jenclair, It’s hard to not despair when practically ever day it seems like the world is about to fall apart completely. But you are right, concern and despair are two different things. I have to work to remember that too!
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I loved this excerpt! “Nothing human is alien to us, the foul or the fair…” I’m going to have to read this, I think. Do I need to read anything else by her before this one? (I’m being lazy by asking you this rather than looking at Goodreads, but there you go.)
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Laila, glad you liked it! No, you definitely don’t have to have read anything else by Smith. I think she is one of those authors where you can start anywhere and do just fine. And, hey, lazy is ok 🙂
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Is this the style of Ali Smith in her other works? I admit I haven’t read her, and often get confused with Zadie Smith. But this excerpt is a good prompter for me to put her books on the TBR mental pile. Again, see how important ripple effects are? 🙂
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Arti, yes, in the other two books of hers I have read her style is very similar. She’s quite enjoyable. I hope you get the chance to read her sometime!
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Yes, I love that statement too “Nothing human is alien to us, the foul or the fair…”. If only we could focus more on our similarities than our differences, be more tolerant, , empathetic and forgiving. Why is this so hard. Probably as you say, no answers or too many.
No posts for a few days? Hope all is well.
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whisperinggums, I liked that too. We tend to put ourselves on the moral high ground and forget or refuse to imagine that in different circumstances we might do some ugly things.
All is well, thanks. It was a busy and somewhat stressful week at work and when I got home I couldn’t bring myself to do anything but have a hard bike workout and read for a bit before crashing into bed. Ugh.
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Great, glad or was just busy-ness, albeit pressured busy-ness, than something worrying. I know the feeling.
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I’m having an Ali Smith extravaganza at the moment – finally reading How To Be Both (and loving it) and with Autumn to listen to on audio book. I’m so glad you enjoyed it. I’m looking forward to it immensely!
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Litlove, I am so glad you are reading How to Be Both! I knew you would love it! I hope you enjoy Autumn too!
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Great questions. Very thoughtful. This passage and your review of Autumn convince me I ought to read Smith sooner rather than later.
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