From the Possibility of an Island
"Your only chance of survival, if you are sincerely smitten, lies in hiding this fact from the woman you love, of feigning a casual detachment under all circumstances[...]love makes you weak, and the weaker of the two is oppressed, tortured and finally killed by the other, who in his or her turn oppresses, tortures and kills without having evil intentions, without even getting pleasure from it, with complete indifference; that's what men, normally, call love."
Houllebecq, Michel
The Possibility of an Island
London, Weidenfeld & Nicholson: 2005
Houllebecq, Michel
The Possibility of an Island
London, Weidenfeld & Nicholson: 2005
posted by Lovelorn Swain | 7:13 pm
very nice and interesting site, i invittes to visit mine on http://catmanenglish.blogspot.com
thank you
How do you think the oppressor will see the devotee if they find out - proud, disgusted, pityful, obliged or receptive just for the sake of vanity?
houellebecq is right : the big picture he paints is right - but love makes you strong before it makes you weak and it is as much the loss of that strength (or perceived strength) that you are mourning as the ending of a relationship…