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Spaces devoted to Hannibal Lecter’s earliest years differ from the other archives in being incomplete. Some are static scenes, fragmentary, like painted attic shards held together by blank plaster. Other rooms hold sound and motion, great snakes wrestling and heaving in the dark and lit in flashes. Pleas and screaming fill some places on the grounds where Hannibal himself cannot go. But the corridors do not echo screaming, and there is music if you like.
Thomas Harris
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote reflects on the fragmented and complex nature of memories and experiences, particularly in the context of dark pasts.

In this quote, Thomas Harris conveys the idea that our memories and experiences can be chaotic and disjointed, much like fragments of a painting. Certain moments are filled with turmoil and noise, while others remain eerily silent, presenting a duality of existence where both pain and beauty coexist. The imagery of dark corridors and music evokes the contrasting elements of horror and art, suggesting that even amidst chaos, there can be a sense of harmony and creation.

Themes

MemoriesFragmentationExperienceDarknessArtChaos

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used in discussions about the complexity of human emotions in a psychological seminar.

More from Thomas Harris

It occurred to Dr. Lecter in the moment that with all his knowledge and intrusion, he could never entirely predict her, or own her at all. He could feed the caterpillar, he could whisper through the chrysalis; what hatched out followed its own nature and was beyond him. He wondered if she had the .45 on her leg beneath the gown. Clarice Starling smiled at him then, the cabochons caught the firelight and the monster was lost in self-congratulation at his own exquisite taste and cunning.
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I'm doing one of three things: I'm writing. I'm staring out the window. Or I'm writhing on the floor.
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It rubs the lotion on its skin. It does this whenever it is told.
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We rarely get to prepare ourselves in meadows or on graveled walks; we do it on short notice in places without windows, hospital corridors, rooms like this lounge with its cracked plastic sofa and Cinzano ashtrays, where the cafe curtains cover blank concrete. In rooms like this, with so little time, we prepare our gestures, get them by heart so we can do them when we're frightened in the face of Doom.
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Did you ever think, Clarice, why the Philistines don't understand you? It's because you are the answer to Samson's riddle. You are the honey in the lion.
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Shiloh isn’t haunted – men are haunted. Shiloh doesn’t care.
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Quote by Thomas Harris | QuoteProject