I have been reading Jon Krakauer's book Into Thin Air.
I resonate to this quote by Harold Brodkey in "Manipulations." I suppose one could argue with him that an enlightened being can observe past events with detachment, but, for most of us, there is likely to be a change in the beat of our heart.
I distrust summaries, any kind of gliding through time, any too great a claim that one is in control of what one recounts; I think someone who claims to understand but is obviously calm, someone who claims to write with emotion recollected in tranquility, is a fool and a liar. To understand is to tremble. To recollect is to re-enter and be riven. I admire the authority of being on one's knees in front of the event.
- Harold Brodkey.
