
“And this that you call solitude is in fact a big crowd.”
"The Shape and Society," p. 19
The Shape (2000), Sequence: “Happiness of Atoms”
Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction (1942), It Must Change
“And this that you call solitude is in fact a big crowd.”
"The Shape and Society," p. 19
The Shape (2000), Sequence: “Happiness of Atoms”
Spiritual Canticle of The Soul and The Bridegroom
Source: Factotum (1975), Ch. 17
Context: I got into bed, opened the bottle, worked the pillow into a hard knot behind my back, took a deep breath, and sat in the dark looking out of the window. It was the first time I had been alone for five days. I was a man who thrived on solitude; without it I was like another man without food or water. Each day without solitude weakened me. I took no pride in my solitude; but I was dependent on it. The darkness of the room was like sunlight to me. I took a drink of wine.
1840s, Essays: First Series (1841), Self-Reliance
Source: The Complete Prose Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson
Paris Review 154, Spring 2000 http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/732/the-art-of-poetry-no-82-derek-mahon