and then our exile

the deadly hour will offer me / poison to drink (Akhmatova)

i'm rereading Hesse (Unterm Rad & Narziss und Goldmund, specifically--i want to try the original German soon). i thought it would be apt, given where i am in life; i'd first read Beneath the Wheel last year in late June, while Narziss and Goldmund was mid-August...at any rate, they affect me much differently at this point. Perhaps because i'm through with the educational system for a while, i related less intensely with Giebenrath for the major portion of the work, while his awakening with Emma and subsequent loss of meaning became vividly poignant--you can build your own reasons for that. The extremity of the Narziss-Goldmund dichotomy i feel is overdone, but i see in myself some of both.

[political spectri and fearing Muslims: a relatively short and disjointed response by MyOwnSelf]