A quintessential Stefan piece on legacy and decay (your favourite motifs, I realize). The formatting especially gave this the ethos of a ‘proper’ text.
Thank you for reading, Ellis, and for the kind words. Really appreciate you appreciating the formatting as I struggled for almost two hours to get it right on my iPad.
“But through a pagan lens, you die twice: first when your body dies, and then again when your name is spoken for the last time.”
I pulled this from one of your replies to a comment because Vincent‘s friend Peter, who visited him right before he died wrote me a letter and this quote was in that letter. At the time, it pierced my heart so deeply.
When we spoke during the interview, I told you how much I wanted people, i.e. readers to know Vincent, to remember his name. It reminds me of that library inside the mind of God with all of our names remembered, and the totality of our stories remembered.
This was a very moving and heart, wrenching piece of writing. Thank you!
Rachel, thank you for these kind words. That is also one of the aspects of your novel that I appreciate most. I love how you conveyed your affection for Vincent through such a beautiful portrait of a damned man, one that has definitely stayed with me.
Your character work was one of the novel’s many highlights, and certainly one of the most important for me. This idea of keeping their names alive informs a great deal of my own writing, if not most of it.
Thank you very much for your kind words. I especially appreciate you saying so, because my back was killing me after trying to record the sea and repeatedly messing up the recording.
I am only replying now because the coverage in Greece was terrible. I did try to respond at the time, but the connection kept failing and losing the message.
Even when I have memorized and spoken passages aloud from some of these ancient texts in English, there is still something that takes hold of me: the song, alive and undying, is a force of its own that lives and breathes with our own voices.
You make me want to practice memorizing poetry again.
I have this translation of the Iliad and the Odyssey that preserves the Greek spellings of the names because the translator wanted to keep the heroes’ names alive, in accordance with the ancient ideal of glory. Now, we two as Christians have a very different understanding of immortality. But through a pagan lens, you die twice: first when your body dies, and then again when your name is spoken for the last time.
Ooh, that's neat! I think there is a beauty to that way of thinking (I.e., the honoring of the original name), even though it is unnecessary. Many of us (at least in the U.S.) could do with a little more respect for the heroes who came before us. Also having Greek heritage, that just generally appeals to me, lol
It's been many years since I read that one! My parents had me and my siblings do performing arts competitions since we were small, wherein one of the categories was poetry (read or memorized). I think my favorite that I ever memorized (as a singular poem) was the Charge of the Light Brigade. I don't think I memorized Poe's The Bells, but I read/performed it and can still recall snatches of it. I also played Romeo in a high school production, and some of those lines come back to me from time to time. It really does rewire how you think.
Have you ever memorized any poetry (either for your own amusement, or for performative purposes)?
Emotion evoked masterfully from the smallest of atoms to the most rousing of songs. I am moved by the might of this piece and find myself sitting on the edge of becoming overwhelmed. You gain depth and seemingly grow in talent with every new work published. As always, thank you for sharing Stefan.
Kerr, I have to thank you for always leaving comments like this. Your energy is honestly one of the main things keeping my eyes on the Substack ball and pushing me to bring my A-game.
Man, you never disappoint. To read you is always an experience 😮💨
Experience is what I am for, thank you for the kind words and for reading :*
Awesome stuff Stefan. Romania’s finest writer. Beautiful prose 🙏🏻
The respect of young rippers such as yourself is one of the main reasons why I love doing this stuff :* thanks for reading and for the kind words
A quintessential Stefan piece on legacy and decay (your favourite motifs, I realize). The formatting especially gave this the ethos of a ‘proper’ text.
Thank you for reading, Ellis, and for the kind words. Really appreciate you appreciating the formatting as I struggled for almost two hours to get it right on my iPad.
this is great!
Thank you for reading and for the kind words, Luca :*
“But through a pagan lens, you die twice: first when your body dies, and then again when your name is spoken for the last time.”
I pulled this from one of your replies to a comment because Vincent‘s friend Peter, who visited him right before he died wrote me a letter and this quote was in that letter. At the time, it pierced my heart so deeply.
When we spoke during the interview, I told you how much I wanted people, i.e. readers to know Vincent, to remember his name. It reminds me of that library inside the mind of God with all of our names remembered, and the totality of our stories remembered.
This was a very moving and heart, wrenching piece of writing. Thank you!
Rachel, thank you for these kind words. That is also one of the aspects of your novel that I appreciate most. I love how you conveyed your affection for Vincent through such a beautiful portrait of a damned man, one that has definitely stayed with me.
Your character work was one of the novel’s many highlights, and certainly one of the most important for me. This idea of keeping their names alive informs a great deal of my own writing, if not most of it.
“A beautiful portrait of a damned man.” Now, that brings tears to my eyes. Thank you!
My heart rate dropped to forty
Thank you very much for your kind words. I especially appreciate you saying so, because my back was killing me after trying to record the sea and repeatedly messing up the recording.
I am only replying now because the coverage in Greece was terrible. I did try to respond at the time, but the connection kept failing and losing the message.
No problem. Glad that there’s writers like you here, no matter how rare. Also refreshing to find a fellow European
Epic and opaque —opic?
Even when I have memorized and spoken passages aloud from some of these ancient texts in English, there is still something that takes hold of me: the song, alive and undying, is a force of its own that lives and breathes with our own voices.
You make me want to practice memorizing poetry again.
I have this translation of the Iliad and the Odyssey that preserves the Greek spellings of the names because the translator wanted to keep the heroes’ names alive, in accordance with the ancient ideal of glory. Now, we two as Christians have a very different understanding of immortality. But through a pagan lens, you die twice: first when your body dies, and then again when your name is spoken for the last time.
Ooh, that's neat! I think there is a beauty to that way of thinking (I.e., the honoring of the original name), even though it is unnecessary. Many of us (at least in the U.S.) could do with a little more respect for the heroes who came before us. Also having Greek heritage, that just generally appeals to me, lol
There are a lot of beautiful texts in English to memorize. I highly recommend this one.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43187/the-highwayman
It's been many years since I read that one! My parents had me and my siblings do performing arts competitions since we were small, wherein one of the categories was poetry (read or memorized). I think my favorite that I ever memorized (as a singular poem) was the Charge of the Light Brigade. I don't think I memorized Poe's The Bells, but I read/performed it and can still recall snatches of it. I also played Romeo in a high school production, and some of those lines come back to me from time to time. It really does rewire how you think.
Have you ever memorized any poetry (either for your own amusement, or for performative purposes)?
Emotion evoked masterfully from the smallest of atoms to the most rousing of songs. I am moved by the might of this piece and find myself sitting on the edge of becoming overwhelmed. You gain depth and seemingly grow in talent with every new work published. As always, thank you for sharing Stefan.
Kerr, I have to thank you for always leaving comments like this. Your energy is honestly one of the main things keeping my eyes on the Substack ball and pushing me to bring my A-game.
I want us to conquer everything that we touch. We will lead the new way. We are the new way.
I want us to conquer everything that we touch. We will lead the new way. We are the new way.