Selma Lagerlöf knew what's what
The Story of Gösta Berling has never been my favourite of Selma Lagerlöf's novels, except in one respect: The description of Marianne Sinclair's detachment from her own actions. I read that as a teenager and went, "That's EXACTLY what it's like!" Of course, I tried then, and I try now, to fight that feeling, but it still pops up quite frequently.
Quote (lengthy, so quite a bit of it's behind a cut):
[W]e thought of the strange spirit of self-consciousness which had already taken possession of us. We thought of him, with his eyes of ice and his long, bent fingers, - he who sits there in the soul's darkest corner and picks to pieces our being, just as old women pick to pieces bits of silk and wool.
Bit by bit had the long, hard, crooked fingers picked, until our whole self lay there like a pile of rags, and our best impulses, our most original thoughts, everything which we had done and said, had been examined, investigated, picked to pieces, and the icy eyes had looked on, and the toothless mouth had laughed in derision and whispered, -
"See, it is rags, only rags."
There was also one of the people of that time who had opened her soul to the spirit with the icy eyes. In one of them he sat, watching the causes of all actions, sneering at both evil and good, understanding everything, condemning nothing, examining, seeking out, picking to pieces, paralyzing the emotions of the heart and the power of the mind by sneering unceasingly.
The beautiful Marianne bore the spirit of introspeciton within her. She felt his icy eyes and sneers follow every step, every word. Her life had become a drama where she was the only spectator. She had ceased to be a human being, she did not suffer, she was not glad, nor did she love ; she carried out the beautiful Marianne Sinclair's rôle, and self-consciousness sat with staring, icy eyes and busy, picking fingers, and watched her performance.
She was divided into two halves. Pale, unsympathetic, and sneering, one half sat and watched what the other half was doing; and the strange spirit who picked to pieces her being never had a word of feeling or sympathy.
This entry was originally posted at http://katta.dreamwidth.org/593166.html and has
comments there.
Quote (lengthy, so quite a bit of it's behind a cut):
[W]e thought of the strange spirit of self-consciousness which had already taken possession of us. We thought of him, with his eyes of ice and his long, bent fingers, - he who sits there in the soul's darkest corner and picks to pieces our being, just as old women pick to pieces bits of silk and wool.
Bit by bit had the long, hard, crooked fingers picked, until our whole self lay there like a pile of rags, and our best impulses, our most original thoughts, everything which we had done and said, had been examined, investigated, picked to pieces, and the icy eyes had looked on, and the toothless mouth had laughed in derision and whispered, -
"See, it is rags, only rags."
There was also one of the people of that time who had opened her soul to the spirit with the icy eyes. In one of them he sat, watching the causes of all actions, sneering at both evil and good, understanding everything, condemning nothing, examining, seeking out, picking to pieces, paralyzing the emotions of the heart and the power of the mind by sneering unceasingly.
The beautiful Marianne bore the spirit of introspeciton within her. She felt his icy eyes and sneers follow every step, every word. Her life had become a drama where she was the only spectator. She had ceased to be a human being, she did not suffer, she was not glad, nor did she love ; she carried out the beautiful Marianne Sinclair's rôle, and self-consciousness sat with staring, icy eyes and busy, picking fingers, and watched her performance.
She was divided into two halves. Pale, unsympathetic, and sneering, one half sat and watched what the other half was doing; and the strange spirit who picked to pieces her being never had a word of feeling or sympathy.
This entry was originally posted at http://katta.dreamwidth.org/593166.html and has
comments there.