Ilse’s Reviews > Un hiver à Majorque > Status Update
Ilse
is finished
Now, the moral of this tale, childish perhaps, but heartfelt, seems to be that man is not made to live with trees, stones, the clear sky, the azure sea, flowers and mountains, but with his fellow-men.
In the stormy days of our youth, we imagine that solitude is a sure refuge from the assaults of life, a certain balm for the wounds of battle. (ctd in comment section)
— Oct 06, 2026 08:42AM
In the stormy days of our youth, we imagine that solitude is a sure refuge from the assaults of life, a certain balm for the wounds of battle. (ctd in comment section)
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Ilse’s Previous Updates
Ilse
is on page 86 of 244
Emptiness & stillness terrify me,symmetry and strict order overwhelm me with gloom &if I could accept the idea of eternal damnation,my hell would certainly be to live eternally in a house ruled by meticulous order, where nothing is ever left lying about,where no animal is admitted.You may burn all the carpets in the world,if I may enjoy them only on condition of never seeing a child,a cat or dog frisking over them!
— Sep 21, 2026 05:42AM
Ilse
is on page 85 of 244
Especially detestable to me is an underfurnished and scrupulously tidy room. Unless the occupant happens to possess great intelligence and a nobility of heart that transcends the sphere of such unimportant material considerations, and allows him to treat his home as a mere tabernacle, I diagnose an empty head and a cold heart.
(Madame Sand doesn't seem a fan of a clear desk policy)
— Sep 19, 2026 05:36AM
(Madame Sand doesn't seem a fan of a clear desk policy)
Ilse
is on page 35 of 244
Our social order does not even command the sympathies of its defenders; each of us in dissatisfaction chooses whatever escape suits him best. One throws himself into art, another into science. All of us who have time and money to spare, travel – that is to say, we flee, since surely it is not so much a question of travelling as of getting away? Which of us has not some sorrow to dull, or some yoke to cast off?
— Sep 11, 2026 07:04AM
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I like that she is Janus faced. She has that love of other people, these important friendships and relationships, but also a love of places and landscapes and she is alert to ehat they offer. In her writing, at different moments in her life, first one tendency, than the other seems to be stronger...
Janus-faced is a interesting way to look at her, I like how she is open about her own contradictions, adding to the image I have of her as an intriguing and complex personality. I can see why you have become fond of her writing :). Does she turn even more to nature in her later writings? I'd like to read more about her ideas, so might look if there is more of her non-fiction writing first.
Great quotation. But I suppose that, together with our fellow humans, we are also not meant to be separate from nature and need that sky, those trees, flowers, and grasses and animals as well ...
I have often dreamed of living in a deserted land, and every honest man will confess that he has done the same. But believe me, friends, our hearts are too affectionate to live alone, and the only alternative left us is to live in mutual tolerance; for we are like children who, though they might tease, brawl, and even fight each other in the womb, can never part.