Agota Kristof, «The Notebook»
We start writing. We have two hours to deal with the subject and two sheets of paper at our disposal.
At the end of two hours we exchange our sheets of paper. Each of us corrects the other's spelling mistakes with the help of the dictionary and writes at the bottom of the page: «Good» or «Not good». If it's «Not good», we throw the composition in the fire and try to deal with the same subject in the next lesson. If it's «Good», we can copy the composition into the notebook.
To decide whether it's «Good» or «Not good», we have a very simple rule: the composition must be true. We must describe what is, what we see, what we hear, what we do.
For example, it is forbidden to write, «Grandmother is like a witch»; but we are allowed to write, «People call Grandmother the Witch».
It is forbidden to write, «The Little Town is beautiful», because the Little Town may be beautiful to us and ugly to someone else.
Similarly, if we write, «The orderly is nice», this isn't a truth, because the orderly may be capable of malicious acts that we know nothing about. So we would simply write, «The orderly has given us some blankets».
We would write, «We eat a lot of walnuts», and not «We love walnuts», because the word «love» is not a reliable word, it lacks precision and objectivity. «To love walnuts» and «to love Mother» don't mean the same thing. The first expression designates a pleasant taste in the mouth, the second a feeling.
Words that define feelings are very vague. It is better to avoid using them and stick to the description of objects, human beings, and oneself, that is to say, to the faithful description of facts.
At the end of two hours we exchange our sheets of paper. Each of us corrects the other's spelling mistakes with the help of the dictionary and writes at the bottom of the page: «Good» or «Not good». If it's «Not good», we throw the composition in the fire and try to deal with the same subject in the next lesson. If it's «Good», we can copy the composition into the notebook.
To decide whether it's «Good» or «Not good», we have a very simple rule: the composition must be true. We must describe what is, what we see, what we hear, what we do.
For example, it is forbidden to write, «Grandmother is like a witch»; but we are allowed to write, «People call Grandmother the Witch».
It is forbidden to write, «The Little Town is beautiful», because the Little Town may be beautiful to us and ugly to someone else.
Similarly, if we write, «The orderly is nice», this isn't a truth, because the orderly may be capable of malicious acts that we know nothing about. So we would simply write, «The orderly has given us some blankets».
We would write, «We eat a lot of walnuts», and not «We love walnuts», because the word «love» is not a reliable word, it lacks precision and objectivity. «To love walnuts» and «to love Mother» don't mean the same thing. The first expression designates a pleasant taste in the mouth, the second a feeling.
Words that define feelings are very vague. It is better to avoid using them and stick to the description of objects, human beings, and oneself, that is to say, to the faithful description of facts.