Monday, January 19, 2009

Who am I ...

From the fascinating book I finished today, Midnight's Children, possibly the most interesting book I have ever read. (Please do not tell me Oprah loves it. I really hate it when I finish a good book and then discover that she adopted it for her book club, like she somehow contributed to creating it just by putting a little round "O" sticker on the cover. OK, so maybe she does contribute to making it sell. But that is very different from actually making it ...)

"Who what am I? My answer: I am the sum total of everything that went before me, of all I have been seen done, of everything done-to-me. I am everyone everything whose being-in-the-world affected was affected by mine. I am anything that happens after I've gone which would not have happened if I had not come. Nor am I particularly exceptional in this matter; each 'I,' every one of the now-six-hundred-million-plus of us, contains a similar multitude. I repeat for the last time: to understand me, you'll have to swallow a world." ~ Salman Rushie, Midnight's Children

2 comments:

P.S. said...

Anna and I went to see this play while we were in London. It was amazing-glad she introduced me to the world of good literature.
If it wasn't for her I probably would have seen Mama Mia for the 6th time. Not that there would be anything wrong by that!!!

J. said...

This is now on my to read list. That is one great quote.