I stumbled upon a quote the other day that I would like you to see. It is from "The Magus" by John Fowles.
It is one of my all time favourite books (and quotes), and therefore I'd love to share it with you.
Utram bibis? Aquam an undam? - What are you drinking? The Water or the Wave?
How do you interpret it?
\John Fowles
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Well, I will have to think a bit more about that one - but without the context, any furhter knowledge of John Fowles, and with the things that are currently on my mind, i would interpret it as:
SvarSletI initially came to think of water as the source of life.
That being said, I would like to start out by looking at the first question "What are you drinking" - This reminds me of the typical question, which I assume has been asked for more than the last few decades, what a person is drinking - in this case I will direct my focus, not the beverage in question, but the meaning of which type of beverage it is - in my opinion, the type of beverage can indicate several things, depending on the context - but in this opinion i choose to look at it as a question to whether the drink is drunk for the sake of the drink itself or in order to forget about everything else.
That being said I would like to look at the other question - The Water or the Wave - returning to the subject of life, though I intended it to be indirectly hinted at in the last part, I choose to look as both the water and the wave - not directly as life - but the way of looking at and living life:
are you enjoying every bit of it - or are you gushing it all down at once
But I also - still looking at it in the context of "LIFE" see another possibility:
Resembling the much more, at our time, common phrase or idiom if you like: You Can't see the forrest for the Trees
But I suppose you have already thought a great deal about this quote, since it is one of your ALL TIMME FAVOURITES, so I would love to hear your interpretation :)
\Maurice Conchis
Exciting interpretation I must say.
SvarSletBut with that being said I do not agree. After having read the book (almost) twice I can say, with quite certainty, that the quote are talking about modernism.
What Conchis refers to in the book (and with the quote) is the tendency in modernism which focuses on æesthetics before ethics. That is seen in litterature, music and in almost all sorts of art and philosophy. By asking wether he drinks the wave or the water he asks:
Do you focus on the æesthetics (the wave) og the ethics and the content (the water). What Conchis want Mr. Nicholas Urfe to answer, well ... you may wanna read the book to find out.
And to comment on your post in the you catch the last bit of the quote that not a lot of people do. The water is also life and life giving and therefore there is a sub-meaning to the questions that put your mind - not to litterature or art - but to live.
Do you live for the form or the content?
This makes me high.
\John Fowles.
"Which will you drink? The Water or the Wave?"
SvarSletThe substance or the expression.
The wave is an expression of water, as you say the content expressed as form.
A huge part of this story involves Conchis setting up dramatic scenarios that play with Nicholas's mind through manipulating his emotions.
The first post says how one can be drowned by the wave (the form, the emotion, the drama) without understanding the substance (the content, truth, reality?).
The question challenges the reader to look deeper...
The big question is "What are you? Your form (mind/emotions/body/morals etc.) or your substance (which is what exactly?)"
I'm going to read this book again.