Despre iubire,dorinta si foame
De cateva zile citesc, in urmarea unei nazuinte de a ma imersa pur si simplu in cultura engleza, romanul lui Henry Fielding “The History of Tom Jones: A Foundling”. Pentru iubitorii delicateturilor baroce, pentru cei care pot gusta conventia literara a secolului XVIII: fraza elaborata, abundenta de volute stilistice, perifraze, eufemisme, sub care autorul isi misca sclipitor ironia, cartea este o bijuterie. Dau peste un fragment in care naratorul polemizeaza cu niste filozofi (nenumiti), care sustin inexistenta inexistenta “pasiunii” si cu precadere inexistenta acelei pasiuni intitulata “iubire”. Nu ma pot abtine sa nu reproduc acest fragment, in care distinctiile operate de autor dovedesc un gen de delicatete si de elaborare mentala in mod paradoxal aproape in intregime disparute astazi (sublinierile imi apartin).
„First, we will grant that many minds, and perhaps those of the philosophers, are entirely free from the least traces of such a passion.
Secondly, that what is commonly called love, namely, the desire of satisfying a voracious appetite with a certain quantity of delicatewhite human flesh, is by no means that passion for which I here contend. This is indeed more properly hunger; and as no glutton is ashamed to apply the word love to his appetite, and to say he LOVES such and such dishes; so may the lover of this kind, with equal propriety, say, he HUNGERS after such and such women.
Thirdly, I will grant, which I believe will be a most acceptable concession, that this love for which I am an advocate, though it satisfies itself in a much more delicate manner, doth nevertheless seek its own satisfaction as much as the grossest of all our appetites.”
“[...]I desire of the philosophers to grant, that there is in some (I believe in many) human breasts a kind and benevolent disposition, which is gratified by contributing to the happiness of others. That in this gratification alone, as in friendship, in parental and filial affection, as indeed in general philanthropy, there is a great and exquisite delight. That if we will not call such disposition love, we have no name for it. That though the pleasures arising from such pure love may be heightened and sweetened by the assistance of amorous desires, yet the former can subsist alone, nor are they destroyed by the intervention of the latter. Lastly, that esteem and gratitude are the proper motives to love, as youth and beauty are to desire, and, therefore, though such desire may naturally cease, when age or sickness overtakes its object; yet these can have no effect on love, nor ever shake or remove, from a good mind, that sensation or passion which hath gratitude and esteem for its basis.”
(Tom Jones, Book VI, Chapter I)
