| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad: with fright, maybe. I delivered a regular lecture. My dear boys,
it was no good bothering. Keep a lookout? Well, you may guess I
watched the fog for the signs of lifting as a cat watches a mouse;
but for anything else our eyes were of no more use to us than
if we had been buried miles deep in a heap of cotton-wool. It
felt like it, too--choking, warm, stifling. Besides, all I said,
though it sounded extravagant, was absolutely true to fact. What we
afterwards alluded to as an attack was really an attempt at repulse.
The action was very far from being aggressive--it was not even defensive,
in the usual sense: it was undertaken under the stress of desperation,
and in its essence was purely protective.
Heart of Darkness |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Daisy Miller by Henry James: placed himself beside her. "Don't forget Eugenio's pills!"
said Winterbourne as he lifted his hat.
"I don't care," said Daisy in a little strange tone, "whether I have Roman
fever or not!" Upon this the cab driver cracked his whip, and they rolled
away over the desultory patches of the antique pavement.
Winterbourne, to do him justice, as it were, mentioned to no one
that he had encountered Miss Miller, at midnight, in the Colosseum
with a gentleman; but nevertheless, a couple of days later, the fact
of her having been there under these circumstances was known to every
member of the little American circle, and commented accordingly.
Winterbourne reflected that they had of course known it
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Herodias by Gustave Flaubert: turtles, out of deference to the dove Azima.
Several groups stood talking near the middle of the banqueting-hall,
and the vapour of their breath, mingled with the smoke from the
candles, formed a light mist. Presently Phanuel slipped quietly into
the room, keeping close to the wall. He had been out in the open
courtyard, to make another survey of the heavens. He stopped when he
reached the pavilion of the tetrarch, fearing he would be splashed
with drops of oil if he approached the other tables, which, to an
Essene, would be a great defilement.
Suddenly violent blows resounded upon the castle gates. The news of
the imprisonment of Iaokanann had spread rapidly, and now it appeared
Herodias |
