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We are indeed already in the “inferno of the living”… | blogjou

Harold Bloom

How to Read and Why

p. 64
19 May 2021

We are indeed already in the "inferno of the living"...


We are indeed already in the “inferno of the living”. We can accept it, and so cease to be conscious of it. But there is a better way, and it might be called the wisdom of Italo Calvo:

…seek and learn to recognize who and what, in the midst of inferno, are not inferno, then make them endure, give them space.

Calvino’s advice tells us again how to read and why: be vigilant, apprehend and recognize the possibility of the good, help it to endure, give it space in your life.