agosto 25, 2009

The drowning twins


Virginia Woolf

Virginia Woolf died on March 28, 1941 near Rodmell, Sussex, England. She left a note for her husband, Leonard, and for her sister, Vanessa. Then, Virginia walked to the River Ouse, put a large stone in her pocket, and drowned herself. Some children found her body 18 days later.


Spalding Gray

A body that surfaced in the East River on Sunday (March 7, 2004) was identified by the city medical examiner yesterday as that of Spalding Gray, the confessional writer, monologist and actor who disappeared one month ago. The cause of death had not yet been determined, but the police were investigating reports that Mr. Gray, who had a history of depression, had committed suicide by jumping off the Staten Island ferry. (N. Y. Times, March 9, 2004)



He wrote this about Virginia´s drown:

“So one night I made a big mistake. I took Mom to see the recently released film of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? She wanted to go because she had this fascination with the life and death of Virginia Woolf. I’m not sure that she knew Virginia Woolf’s books all that well, but she did know the story of how Woolf ended her life by filling her pockets with rocks and walking into a river. She seemed to know that story as well as she knew the story of how Hart Crane, one depressed morning, walked off the stern of his cruising ship in the Gulf of Mexico, never to be seen again”.
(Impossible Vacation, page 28-29)


I found this while reading Impossible Vacation (written in 1992), and it seems to anticipate the event of his own moment of depression and drowning. That moment happened in the night when Spalding Gray took his kids to see Big Fish, the story of a dying old storyteller that was released in a river where he becomes a fish. After the movie, Gray left the kids at home and after that drowned himself into the East River. His body was found 20 days later. As was told Virginia’s body took 18 days to reappear. (Beto)

agosto 04, 2009

O JOÃO POR MANUELZÃO E BANANEIRA



Disse de não, conquanto os costumes. Conservava-se de chapéu. Via-se que passara a descansar na sela — decerto relaxava o corpo para dar-se mais à ingente tarefa de pensar. Perguntei: respondeu-me que não estava doente, nem vindo à receita ou consulta. Sua voz se espaçava, querendo-se calma; a fala de gente de mais longe, talvez são-franciscano.




Disse: — "A gente tem cada cisma de dúvida boba, dessas desconfianças... Só pra azedar a mandioca..." Agradeceu, quis me apertar a mão. Outra vez, aceitaria de entrar em minha casa. Oh, pois. Esporou, foi-se, o alazão, não pensava no que o trouxera, tese para alto rir, e mais, o famoso assunto.



O que frouxo falava: de outras, diversas pessoas e coisas, da Serra, do São Ão, travados assuntos, inseqüentes, como dificultação. A conversa era para teias de aranha. Eu tinha de entender-lhe as mínimas entonações, seguir seus propósitos e silêncios. Assim no fechar-se com o jogo, sonso, no me iludir, ele enigmava: E, pá:

— "Vosmecê agora me faça a boa obra de querer me ensinar o que é mesmo que é: fasmisgerado... faz-megerado... falmisgeraldo... familhas-gerado...?


(Textos do conto FAMIGERADO do livro PRIMEIRAS ESTÓRIAS de JOÃO GUIMARÃES ROSA)