Monday, November 25, 2013
what books do to us
A brief bit from the aforementioned Commonplace Book of E.M. Forster, edited by Philip Gardner (Stanford 1985) - a collection of quotations from his reading, thoughts about his work, notations on everything and everyone under the sun. Including this, from 1932 (p.93):
"I have to read a book at a certain rate and cannot look backwards or on. One of the pages turns out to be gold. I come to it with surprise joy and terror, and know it must be turned over like the others. How lovely if the next page could be The End."
No mention of what book he was reading at the time. But oh the shock of recognition, despite that!
