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February 20, 2009

| Liberal Arts In Translation >>

The Egg and the Wall

Haruki Murakami in Israel:

If there is a hard, high wall and an egg that breaks against it, no matter how right the wall or how wrong the egg, I will stand on the side of the egg.

In the same speech, he says:

There are only a few days in the year when I do not engage in telling lies, and today happens to be one of them.

The pure language of it!

Via Jess.

Robin-sig.gif
Posted February 20, 2009 at 1:27 | Comments (3) | Permasnark
File under: Briefly Noted

Comments

What? What's that first quote supposed to mean?
"I don't side with who's right, I side with who's week"?

Posted by: Matan on February 20, 2009 at 04:41 AM

The speech is short and very sweet:

What is the meaning of this metaphor? In some cases, it is all too simple and clear. Bombers and tanks and rockets and white phosphorus shells are that high wall. The eggs are the unarmed civilians who are crushed and burned and shot by them. This is one meaning of the metaphor.

But this is not all. It carries a deeper meaning. Think of it this way. Each of us is, more or less, an egg. Each of us is a unique, irreplaceable soul enclosed in a fragile shell. This is true of me, and it is true of each of you. And each of us, to a greater or lesser degree, is confronting a high, solid wall. The wall has a name: it is “The System.” The System is supposed to protect us, but sometimes it takes on a life of its own, and then it begins to kill us and cause us to kill others--coldly, efficiently, systematically.

Posted by: Matt on February 20, 2009 at 03:14 PM

I was going to add that the answer to Matan's question is "Yes."

Posted by: Tim on February 20, 2009 at 03:41 PM
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