It was the first time that I came face to face with madness and feared it and was fascinated by it.
Interpretation
The quote reflects the complex relationship between fear and intrigue, particularly regarding madness.
In this quote, Edna O'Brien describes a powerful encounter with madness, suggesting that it can evoke both fear and fascination. This duality indicates how humans often react to concepts that challenge their understanding of sanity, showing that fear can coexist with a deep curiosity that compels us to explore the unknown aspects of the human psyche.
In practice
During a speech on mental health, I referenced Edna O'Brien's reflection on madness to highlight both the fear and fascination that many have with mental illness.
Love . . . is like nature, but in reverse; first it fruits, then it flowers, then it seems to wither, then it goes deep, deep down into its burrow, where no one sees it, where it is lost from sight, and ultimately people die with that secret buried inside their souls.
That is the mystery about writing: it comes out of afflictions, out of the gouged times, when the heart is cut open.
Cities, in many ways, are the best repositories for a love affair. You are in a forest or a cornfield, you are walking by the seashore, footprint after footprint of trodden sand, and somehow the kiss or the spoken covenant gets lost in the vastness and indifference of nature. In a city there are places to remind us of what has been.
Darkness is drawn to light, but light does not know it; light must absorb the darkness and therefore meet its own extinguishment.
Oh, love, what an unreasoning creature it grew to be.
Recollection is not something that I can summon up, it simply comes and I am the servant of it.
In matters of honesty, there are no shortcuts; no little white lies, or big black lies, only the simple, honest truth spoken in total candor... Being true is different than being honest.
I have done for my country, and for all mankind, all that I could do, and I now resign my soul, without fear, to my God - my daughter to my country.
We continue to shape our personality all our life. If we knew ourselves perfectly, we should die.
Even nothing cannot last forever.
One always pulls the trigger out of self-interest and quotes history to avoid responsibility or pangs of conscience.
If you belonged to a political party or a social club that was tied to as much bigotry, misogyny, homophobia, violence, and sheer ignorance as religion is, you'd resign in protest.
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