"Memories" of different sorts ...

I have just finished reading two books, which though very different in theme and style focussed on aspects of religion, freedom ... freedom of thoughts and attempted actions towards "freedom".

 "Memoires d'une fille rangée" by Simone de Beauvoir touched me profoundly mainly because her childhood, her initiation on religion and even her religious doubts reminded me of my own, and so did many of the things that followed, including her attitudes regarding life and what it should be about.

"Je souhaitais ardemment me rapprocher de Dieu, mais je ne savais pas comment m'y prendre. Ma conduite laissait si peu à désirer que je ne pouvais guère l'améliorer; dailleurs je me demandais dans quelle mesure elle concernait Dieu." 

"(...) Ce qu'il y avait d'embarrassement, c'est que Dieu interdisait beaucoup de choses, mais ne réclamait rien de positif, sinon quelques prières, quelques pratiques qui ne modifiaient pas le cours des journées."

"Syngué sabour", pierre de patience by Atiq Rahimi touched me in a rather different way bringing back memories of countries I have travelled to, where women don't seem to have the right to having an opinion, a face, love ... and yet in their own way, sometimes risking their own life do show how strong and determined  they are ... being themselves ... exposing themselves by breaching the rules ... going far beyond what is expected of them as human beings with very few rights.

"(...) C'est  ..., c'est la première fois que je te parle ainsi ... j'ai honte. Je ne sais vraiment pas d'òu ça sort. Avant, je ne pensais jamais à tout cela. Crois-moi. Jamais!" (...) Même quand je te voyais, toi, être le seul à jouir, ça ne me déplaisait pas du tout. Au contraire, je m'en réjoussais. Je me disais que c'était cela notre nature. C'était cela notre différence. Vous les hommes, vous jouissez, et nous les femmes, nous en réjouissons. Cela me suffisait. Et c'était à moi toute seule de me donner du plaisir en me ... touchant."




I decided to read them in the Language they were written in - French, having taken slightly longer than I would, had I read them in Portuguese or English, though I feel Language was not so much the reason as to why I took longer but rather a strong necessity to re-read some passages and let myself wander about the multiple implications associated with them.




They are both worth reading and "re-reading" ...