Friday, March 09, 2012

Closing "The Book of Eternity" and starting a game

I had "The Book of Eternity" on my table since years. I knew I have tried before to read it but I thought I didn't complete it. When I was reading it, every page seems to be read before. When a page seemed to be new to me, I usually conclude that I haven't read it before. But some later pages seemed familiar. It was only when I finished the novel that I knew for sure that I have read it before.
Accuse my memory of lethargy, accuse me of pretension, but this novel, is not a novel that you remember for a long time.
I have just finished it yesterday and today I am finding myself forgetful of the post that I thought I should write yesterday. Yesterday I felt so sleepy after that long trip and I had some written work to do, so the writing of the post was postponed till today, and it faded in my mind. Filtered out.
Waheed Hilmy (=Alone Dreamy) and Hanan (=Sympathy) did enter the writer's house and use his computer and find that desktop picture of the four drawings. One of the drawings is put as a cover for our novel. The four paintings (by: Edouard Manet, Toulouse-Lautrec, Velasquez, and ????) share the common character of including the painter himself in the painting. Waheed knew this fact about the paintings when consulting Talal Shakir (=Fine-rain Thankful) who knew that the four paintings got some relation with the experienced novelist.

The novel tells the story of a difficult relationship between three friends, where no positive emotions were sensed, but strong envy, jealousy and aggression.
The novel talks about how pain is necessary for tasting the pleasure of life.
The novel mentions, on the other hand, a quote by Nietzsche that is unforgettable: Amor Fati

The one personality that I liked the most was Yousif Shaba, an Iraqi Christian whose poverty and beauty made him play the role of a model to the students of beaux-art in Baghdad. He loves classic music, and he claims that he is writing a novel since years.
We knew about that particular piece of music of Beethoven that helped Talal in his partial recovery from paraplegia, the 14th quartet, the last piece of music composed by Beethoven before his death.
The novel tells about how relations between friends can be regarded as a game, which is a "painful game" the novel pretends.
The devil inside of me whispered in my ears: "you didn't like it because you are playing resistance to the painful facts the novel presents you!"
"Okay, then let us read what Hussein Sermek Hassan says about the novel in his psychoanalytic study entitled: Al-Rikabi, the Godfather of the Cunning Subconsious", I answered my devil. 


 I completed the study last evening but nothing significant is remembered after last night long sleep. "Resistance, Repression, Forgetfullness! Huh", the devil inside of me remarked.

 My ego, as have seen the happy sunshine this morning decided to take the positive point of view and read: "Games People Play" by Eric Berne, at least we might come with something helpful finally.




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