Reading check-in + Day Ten + Appreciation of Fine Foreign Essays + reading notes
Proust’s “The Shadow” tells the story of a little man, a lamplighter. No one knows him, no one wants to understand him, no one cares about him, and no one plays with him. He works at night like a ghostly shadow; no one even knows what he looks like. When he dies, no one knows where he is buried. A person comes into this world, and between him and the world, the world and him, it is as if no connection had ever been formed. The tragedy of small people lies not only in poverty, but even more in being forgotten.
Each of us comes into the world longing for connection, longing to be recognized. But because of the inequalities of reality, most people live as namelessly as ants. Social progress is driven forward by countless ordinary people together, yet those who reap the benefits are always few. The multitude of living beings are forever struggling, resisting, and then being forgotten. History repeats itself again and again, and tragedy runs through it all.