Do you have a quote you live your life by or think of often?
In the 90’s my great aunt gave me a box of books, that she had read. One of these boxes contained the book “The Secret History” by Donna Tartt. It ended up becoming one of my favorite all time books. Every word a delicious morsel for the mind. It was written so beautifully for what is characteristically a dark tale. In particularly there is a quote from it that when I read it, I felt thunderstruck as it resonated with me so much, I felt as if the author was speaking about me.
“Does such a thing as ‘the fatal flaw,’ that showy dark crack running down the middle of a life, exist outside literature? I used to think it didn’t. Now I think it does. And I think that mine is this: a morbid longing for the picturesque at all costs.”
Whether it is in writing, taking a photo or even in preconceiving a moment yet to happen, I always have in mind a specific image of what I am hoping to obtain or convey and when something falls short of that, I find myself disappointed. Sometimes even completely thrown off the rails.
In the book there is a period of time where these friends spend weekends at a country home, belonging to a family member of the one character, and those moments spent there, the description of the home, the way they spend their time are all so idyllic that one can’t help but wish they could step into the story and be there with them. At least I do anyway. It’s picture perfect.
So if you were to contemplate your “fatal flaw”, what do you think it would be?
Stardust Musings 