Friday, August 24, 2012

pieces of themselves


Anyone who falls in love is searching for the missing pieces of themselves. So anyone who's in love gets sad when they think of their lover. It's like stepping back inside a room you have fond memories of, one you haven't seen in a long time.

― Haruki Murakami




The brilliant Murakami leads the race in the Nobel Prize for literature...I wish him the best. 

Virginia Woolf's bedroom
photographed by Annie Leibovitz

17 comments:

  1. I might just sit here and stare at the screen all the live long day. Virginia Woolf's bedroom? Swoon. That quote? Swoon.

    Thank you for posting --

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  2. It's usually referred to as Vanessa Bell's bedroom, but no doubt Virginia slept there too. The three portraits are of Vanessa's three children Julian, Quentin, and Angelica. All three paintings are by Duncan Grant.

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    1. Oh Cro, I'm sure you've been there...I want to visit someday!

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  3. I had a lover once, who said love is only ego. This seems to agree, but i sure hope not. Seems like a sad definition.
    Rick

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    1. Yes, but in the best possible way...Sehnsucht...intensely yearning...

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  4. did you ever see this from Hedwig and the Angry Inch...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zU3U7E1Odc it's the Origin of Love and it's beautiful, much like you Tess!

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    1. Hopping around on one foot...looking through one eye...yes this is what it's like...lovely Dom...thank you...

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  5. Hmm...tried replying to your reply but it didn't go thru, so~
    But then, can love ever be selfless? Anything but selfish?
    And is it limited to lovers only, or children, parents, siblings as well?
    And don't sigh and roll your eyes, tess, you started this!:)
    Rick

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    1. How did you know I was sighing and rolling my eyes? This quote from Murakami is specifically about love between lovers. Yes, it does encompass a certain amount of selfishness, since lovers share pieces of each other.

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  6. Murakami gets my vote; marvelous insight, that bit of writing...sigh...
    Someday I hope to visit Monk's House (and Charleston, for that matter), but I must disagree with Cro Magnon: the two portraits nearest the bed are definitely Julian and Quentin Bell (I'll take his word for their provenance), but the third is of Virginia herself, and it was painted by Vanessa Bell.
    Sorry. Woolfhound...

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    1. Thanks for that clarification...I love that the portrait is of the young Virginia!

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    2. I think ds is right; the painting has been changed. The painting of Virginia has now been replaced by a pastel of Angelica. I wonder when the above photo was taken? If you visit Charleston today, you will see Vanessa's 3 children.

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  7. Hmm...ok, fair enough, i'll quietly retreat from the field, so you can stop bangin your head on the keyboard.
    And hey, thanks you! What a wonderful surprise to see you dropped by.
    (i'm a minnesota boy myself)
    Rick

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  8. I've always related a certain type of sadness with being in love. Not a bad sadness, but still sad. I always though it had to do with me giving someone else some control over my emotional well being.

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  9. I must say I don't agree with Murakami's idea of love.
    To me, anyone who falls in love is not searching for the missing pieces of themselves, but for that unique piece which makes the others meaningless.
    "Anyone who's in love gets sad when they think of their lover"(???) No, just the opposite: anyone who's in love gets happy when thinking of their lover.
    Murakami is a brilliant novelist, but I don't share his tragic ideas about love.

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  10. I absolutely LOVE Murakami's writing. It's so beautiful. His novels are like reading poetry to me. He gets my vote! Thanks for the quote, Tess.

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Inject a few raisins of conversation into the tasteless dough of existence.
― O. Henry (and me)