Muriel Barbery: The Elegance of the Hedgehog
I feel compelled to write about a book that I have been reading now for four months. I read it first very slowly, a few pages a day, and now I am reading it again. I think the word 'ineffable' might well describe this book. Often I break down weeping, and wonder that once again, the author has penetrated deeply. At those times, I don't know if I am weeping out of sadness, or pain, or joy, or a sense of loss. However, on whatever pathway, the author has somehow managed to find the tendrils deep into my psyche. Here is an example:
"Snowflakes falling inside the globe. Before memory's eyes, on Mademoiselle's desk...is the little glass globe. When we were good pupils we were allowed to turn it upside down and hold it in the palm of our hand until the very last snowflake had fallen at the foot ... of the Eiffel Tower. I was not yet seven years old, but I already knew that the measured drift of little cottony particles foreshadowed what the heart would feel in moments of great joy. Time slowing, expanding, a lingering graceful ballet, and when the last snowflake has come to rest, we know we have experienced a suspension of time that is the sign of a great illumination. As a child, I wondered whether I would be allowed to live such moments -- to inhabit the slow, majestic ballet of the snowflakes, to be released at last from the dreary frenzy of time.... Monsieur Ozu's invitation has made me feel completely naked, soul naked, each glistening snowflake alighting on my heart with a delicious burning tingle. I look at him. And throw myself into the deep, dark, icy, exquisite waters beyond time." (p 178)
Perhaps it is because I am in an altered state, climbing everyday out of a very dark place. Perhaps when I am once again myself (whatever that is), I will not be so moved by these ideas. But there is also a good possibility that this author, Muriel Barbery, has written a book that is really, really important. There seems to be something sublime on every page. I wish that I could capture such exquisite thoughts in words.
Thank you, Muriel Barbery.
