July 1, 2012
The seas inside my soul
As a rule, the seas inside my soul are so far from frozen, which is why I always roll my eyes at the Kafka quote about the book as ice-axe. And it occurs to me that while I have no need for an ice-axe, that perhaps I tend to employ my books as paddles, life buoys, fishing nets, and also that what I want from a book more than any other thing is for it to grab my soul and hold it steady for awhile.
Yes–this is so well-said. I think this is relevant to the recent CWILA-related debate about reviewing as well. (How unhappy some reviewers would be if asked to announce the usual state of their inner seas–but it might be useful to understand each critic’s starting position…). cheers.