A Great Quotation

I flipped on the TV and caught an episode of Judging Amy that I'd never seen. The themes were grief, and finding the strength to trust or love again. In one scene Amy visits her brother who's in the hospital. Previously, she'd chewed him out accusing him of retreating and giving up. She finds he's been reading the Collected Prose of Samuel Beckett. (See TV can be erudite, accessible and entertaining.) This quotation struck me as poignant and true:

“Memories are killing. So you must not think of certain things, of those that are dear to you, or rather you must think of them, for if you don’t there is the danger of finding them, in your mind, little by little. That is to say, must think of them for a while, a good while, every day several times a day, until they sink forever in the mud. That’s an order.” - Samuel Beckett, “The Expelled” (1945)

To find the exact quote, I searched google. (I don't usually watch TV with a steno pad on hand.) This blog had an interesting essay on this episode.

All aspects of memory are on my mind as I read Proust--even during my Proust hiatus.