We have all of us eaten the pomegranate seed of language, and we are its Persephones in its ways of structuring our experience of ourselves and the world.
~ John Moriarty
(Turtle Was Gone a Long Time)
They weren’t true stories; they were better than that.
~ Alice Hoffman
(The Story Sisters)
Memory is the way we keep telling ourselves our stories – and telling other people a somewhat different version of our stories. We can hardly manage our lives without a powerful on-going narrative.
~ Alice Munro
(Sport & Memory in North America)
The world is shaped by two things – stories told and the memories they leave behind.
~ Vera Nazarian
(Dreams of the Compass Rose)
I love Rossetti’s paintings of women. Apparently he was in love with one woman and painted her face into all his subjects. This one of Persephone looks so hauntingly sad.
Your comment sent me off to Wikipedia Commons to see Rossetti’s gallery and I see what you mean about his muse’s face being in most, if not all, of his paintings. Wow! Persephone does look sad here, probably full of regret for eating those seeds and having to stay in Hades half of every year…
Hi,
An absolutely gorgeous painting.
Had a bit of a laugh about “Sport and memory in North America” that is brilliant. 🙂
It did seem like a strange name for a book that included a quote from a fiction writer. But I think the gist of the book is that nations use sports to create and tell their national stories and illustrate their national values. I’m not a sports fan, but occasionally I watch figure skating competitions and the commentary seems to emphasize the perseverance and dedication against all odds that each skater went through to realize her dream.
“Memory is the way we keep telling ourselves our stories – and telling other people a somewhat different version of our stories.”
Memories makes us appreciate the good things we had in the past, the love we experienced, the joys and laughter we shared with friends and family. It is the one that makes us smile on a cold, lonely night. It is the one thing that makes us humble and grateful when we look back to our past and the journeys we travelled. It is going to be our constant friend when we feel alone. It is the one that keeps our heart glow in love. Have a blessed day my friend and best wishes to you and your family.
Well said, Island Traveler! It’s wonderful that we can recall the good times and the dear ones from our past to help us through whatever difficulties we may face in the present. You have a generous, open heart, and I appreciate your visit and kind words. Many blessings to you and your precious family.
Life as a ‘powerful ongoing narrative’ is an excellent metaphor. As usual, the quote and painting are first-rate!
Thanks, Tracy! We all have our own narratives, subject to change… 🙂
Hi Barbara,
I haven’t been receiving email notifications of your posts. I thought your silence meant thought you weren’t well and weren’t writing …
It’s good I came to check up on you. I don’t know what to do about getting the posts…
I also didn’t know the story of Rosetti’s muse. I love Alice Munro’s quote:
“Memory is the way we keep telling ourselves our stories – and telling other people a somewhat different version of our stories.”
Is that why many people who’ve written memoirs report that their siblings didn’t speak to them again because their memory of certain incidents was totally different?
Oh dear Rosie, I’m sorry you’re still having trouble with the subscription. Janet’s seems to have been interrupted as well. And I seem to be getting notified three times for each post – I subscribed to my own blog to see if and how it was coming through. Nate is in the process of moving so I’ll ask him if he knows what is going on after things settle down. Perhaps if you try to subscribe one more time – it might be working now when it wasn’t before…
Yes, we all perceive how things happen through our own lenses. My sister and I are constantly amazed at how differently we remember the same event! And what I discovered as my life went on is that sometimes we look at the past through a different lens when we are, say 50, then we did when we were 30. As we experience more and more in life we rewrite our narratives. I think we’re not growing if we don’t!
I wrote a post about this over a year ago: http://www.ingebrita.net/archives/422
Hi Barbara. I think ‘story’ is basic to our being. My Mom told wonderful stories, always amusing, always memorable. What people tell and what others hear may be different, but it doesn’t really matter. Jane
I agree. You made me think of one of my favorite quotes, Jane:
“Things need not have happened to be true. Tales and dreams are the shadow-truths that will endure when mere facts are dust and ashes, and forgot.”
~ William Shakespeare
(A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
Love that painting, and the words that you’ve used to illustrate it. Pondering…the way stories change as they pass from storyteller to storyteller. The stories might not be “truth” but they are living. If that makes sense. They are alive, shimmering with the essence of the person who passes them along.
It makes perfect sense to me! The main thread of the story is always there, but the details and focus change as they need to for the teller and for the receiver.
This is one of my favourite paintings, I adore the pre raphaelites. (I’ve several books – large ‘coffee table’ books – with these paintings in them.
Pomegranates. So many things written about them.
Slightly off-topic, something you might enjoy is the poetry of Penelope Shuttle. Have a look for it online or in a library.
Ohhhhhh, I love the sound of your coffee table books. When I lived in Greece there was a pomegranate tree in the school yard – I had never seen one before 1972 and loved them at first bite! Now we get them in the grocery stores here, especially this time of year.
Found a used copy of a Penelope Shuttle book online and ordered it – thanks for the suggestion, Val! I had never heard of her before.