| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Reason Discourse by Rene Descartes: procedure exactly the opposite was called for, and that I ought to reject
as absolutely false all opinions in regard to which I could suppose the
least ground for doubt, in order to ascertain whether after that there
remained aught in my belief that was wholly indubitable. Accordingly,
seeing that our senses sometimes deceive us, I was willing to suppose that
there existed nothing really such as they presented to us; and because
some men err in reasoning, and fall into paralogisms, even on the simplest
matters of geometry, I, convinced that I was as open to error as any
other, rejected as false all the reasonings I had hitherto taken for
demonstrations; and finally, when I considered that the very same thoughts
(presentations) which we experience when awake may also be experienced
Reason Discourse |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence: he sighed with relief. And when he was with her he was cruel again.
One day in March he lay on the bank of Nethermere, with Miriam
sitting beside him. It was a glistening, white-and-blue day.
Big clouds, so brilliant, went by overhead, while shadows stole
along on the water. The clear spaces in the sky were of clean,
cold blue. Paul lay on his back in the old grass, looking up.
He could not bear to look at Miriam. She seemed to want him,
and he resisted. He resisted all the time. He wanted now to give
her passion and tenderness, and he could not. He felt that she wanted
the soul out of his body, and not him. All his strength and energy
she drew into herself through some channel which united them.
Sons and Lovers |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Fanny Herself by Edna Ferber: and childish things--that were to affect the whole tenor of
her life. It is pleasant to predict thus. It gives a
certain weight to a story and a sense of inevitableness. It
should insure, too, the readers's support to the point, at
least, where the prediction is fulfilled. Sometimes a
careless author loses sight altogether of his promise, and
then the tricked reader is likely to go on to the very final
page, teased by the expectation that that which was hinted
at will be revealed.
Fanny Brandeis had a way of going to the public library on
Saturday afternoons (with a bag of very sticky peanut candy
Fanny Herself |
