Status Updates From The Magic Mountain

Het boek is berucht om de trage opbouw, echt nog nauwelijks wat gebeurd. Gelukkig draag ik met mijn trage tempo van lezen in dit boek daar goed aan bij

Great spaces of time passed in unbroken uniformity tend to shrink together in a way to make the heart stop beating for fear; when one day is like all the others, then they are all like one; complete uniformity would make the longest life seem short, and as though it had stolen away from us unawares.

That seems so strange to me: diseased and stupid both—I don’t exactly know how to express it, but it gives me a most peculiar feeling, when somebody is so stupid, and then ill into the bargain. It must be the most melancholy thing in life.

And at that there swept over him anew, from head to foot, the feeling of reckless sweetness he had felt for the first time when he tried to imagine himself free of the burden of a good name, and tasted the boundless joys of shame. This feeling he experienced anew in his dream, only a thousand fold stronger than in his waking hour.

“contemplou uma parte familiar do seu corpo, estudou-a com olhos videntes e penetrantes, e pela primeira vez na vida compreendeu que estava destinado a morrer.”