LOOK!
If you鈥檙e reading this, it鈥檚 too late.
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THE BEGINNING
Rejoice!
Don鈥檛 you find these flame movements very graceful?
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THE STALKER
You wouldn鈥檛 even lend a book to yourself.
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COME WITH ME!
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Relax! Each movement has its center of gravity; it is enough to control this.
THE PAIR
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THE SAME PAIR
The pages, which are only pendulums, then follow mechanically of their own accord, without further help.
THE SAME
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This movement is very simple. When the center of gravity is moved in a straight line, the pages describe curves.
THE STALKER
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Often shaken in a purely haphazard way, the book falls into a kind of rhythmic movement which resembles dance.
THE DIFFICULTY TO BREATHE
You鈥檙e wondering:
THE COUNTRYSIDE, MEANWHILE
鈥淪hould the one who manipulates these books herself be a dancer or at least have some idea of beauty in dance?鈥
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THE STALKER
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The job may seem really easy to you, though you should know that this can鈥檛 be done without a devilish sensitivity.
THE FIREBOX
The line the center of gravity has to follow is indeed very simple, and in most cases, straight. When it is curved, the law of its curvature seems to be at the least of the first and at the most of the second order.
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Even in the latter case the line is only elliptical, a form of movement natural to the human body because of the joints, so this hardly demands any great skill from the reader.
But, seen from another point of view, this line could be something very mysterious.
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THE PRINTER’S TOOL
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It is nothing other than the path taken by your soul.
THE PRACTICE
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聽This cannot be found unless you can transpose yourself into the book鈥檚 center of gravity. Please, try this!
THE BIBLIOMANIAC WITHIN
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You see? There’s a subtle relationship between the movements of your fingers and the movements of the pages attached to them, something like the relationship between numbers and their logarithms or between asymptote and hyperbola.1
THE END
- Bibliomania, a play in five acts originally performed during the first edition of Speech at Het Bos, Antwerp. Thanks Yana! [↩]