Essay Discussion Today

 We talked a few things in (dis)order. 

1. 
   We began with Run(a)e from Nagaland. 
2. We moved to HAMNET and Bertleby the Scrivener. 
3. We then talked about 'Reembrace' as an act of defiance against the 'Erasure of time'. We then listened to "A Tribute to Rituporno Ghosh". Listening to "Remember Me" poem by Christiana Rossetti can be a wonderful way of looking at men's desire for eternity through remembrance. Also recalled the greatest modern French Novel "Remembrance of Things Past."
4. We then drifted into the world of songs - first, "Miss Sarajevo" by Bono and Pavarotti. Then the inevitable "Musee des Beaux Arts". Then we could do the ending of Keats' poem "Ode to the Grecian Urn", which makes reference to TWO types of truth - Beauty as Truth, and Truth as Beauty. This dichotomy can only be understood when we see that TRUTH is single-dimensional. That Truth can be understood only in Art, while Life is itself truth (whether ugly or beautiful). I would also love to go back to the unforgettable lines from Emily Dickinson's poem "Because I could not wait for Death." This is the link to a Wonderful Dramatization of the poem.
5. 
   Made a quick reference to Nietzsche's concept of Apollonian and Dionysian character in human beings. Apollonian characters are more logical, while Dionysian characters are more into physical pleasures. 
6. By the end, Zaina and Progga are 'requested' to write something that will give them some clue to what is coming for them. This exercise will be of use when we go into many such long exercises.
7. We all agreed that in writing ESSAYS, a beautiful thing can only surface, when there is a terrible depth of thoughts tugging at our hearts.