Storia di un'anima: manoscritti autobiografici

In one sense this book is very right side of the brain/left side of the body/women; it is like some old painting of Fra Angelico’s, or some frilly music about which it is impossible, I think, to say anything really sensible, that is, nothing so beautiful as the thing itself is. Though, it is not that Therese doesn’t have her riddles, for she does, they are just not the riddles of 1200s Thomas, to be solved with Riddle Mind. *enter cliche here to conclude paragraph*

It is also not entirely unlike what Jane tried to accomplish in Mansfield Park, although Jane, if we credit her with ambition, was unsuccessful, for the Park is only gossip’s Christianity, and not like this. No, that is just the knock-off, the gossip’s secret, and this is the genuine article…. I suppose despite the epoch of the Paris Bell, (yes, I mock you, Paris), and the whole Victorian-Wilhelmine conservative period, which is, in a sense, influential, yet it remains that Therese in spite of everything deals with herself primarily as a creature, more so than as a creature who is also a woman, or a woman unknown to alien races like gentlemen and the Africans.

…. I am only a chilly November soul, but Therese is the real girl and the real church.

…. Hudgins was right that the ‘I have to love this prissy person the most’ (not how he put it), is beautiful. (He’s a priest, a well-read, conservative priest. He’s not always right, because he’s always going to defend the ship of state, but.) And I guess that’s the secret to my behavior—I was a prissy perfectionist, so everybody was the worst person for me, and now I have to love everyone the most.

….
Prissy Sister: Why do you always smile when you see me, Therese?
Therese: Because I’m happy to see you.
Voice Over Therese: I did not explain that this was a spiritual and not an ordinary truth.

“Lies I have not told, and of the truth all I could.” John Tolkien

…. Therese is really something.

Of course, as to why I bother with all this, tap tap tap, tap tap tap, autocorrect, etc—it’s not that I think that this trade of mine is worthy For Its Own Sake, like the sort of 1890s encyclopedist that she’s implicitly dealing with, one or two degrees removed, you know—but it is a trade, for which perhaps I can hope for some good, though not (probably) in this life. There is a sort of relationship between the book and the world, the map and the territory, despite the illusions you get, working only with the map and the imagination, you dream of such things that even the leprechaun forest would spit out with a chortle. —This is a real place, not your mind, or a book!

But, honestly, though people say you should not work for the sake of wages, people pleasers, (men-pleasers), I do think that my little trade is a profitable enterprise. Though of course, I must admit that it will probably take many many of these little bananas that I put in baskets, to trade for some fine cook’s Chef’s Tofu Salad, or some delightful vegetarian entree, in whatever mansion I am assigned, probably to keep organized, you know.

…. She died because of us, like Jesus; she knew how to die, because of love.

…. (At the risk of being an elitist, lolz)

And we’ll keep praying like we’re twenty-two, ooo-ooo….

…. Practice being small. :)

…. (You’re a hobbit!)

It was a much shorter story then I was hoping for but it was a very good summary of St. Therese life. If you want a brief summary I would recommend this book. If you want a more detailed story of her life then you should probably look elsewhere. ( )

> Babelio : https://www.babelio.com/livres/de-Lisieux-Histoire-dune-ame/105341

DR-7

H-5