This poem from Cavafy would be worth a post in its own right.
It is one stunning example of why he was known simply as "The Poet" in Alexandria, or at least the enhanced, somewhat holographic version of Alexandria created by Lawrence Durrell in his famous Quartet.
This poem also allows me to provide an example of the technique that I call "Fragments in Homage" by which I set small fragments of the work of the greats (such as Cavafy, Seferis, Jeffers) into the fabric of my fiction.
This technique (explained on this site at #4 of my General Style Notes) centres around a respectful admission that once the words have been perfected by a master there is no need to attempt any further improvement. These fragments are "set" in the text rather like jewels, providing meaning and a sense of familiarity and enhancing the beauty of the whole. The technique is reminiscent of various techniques in Jazz (and also hip hop) including improvisational departure from a well known theme, or just setting a solo with hints of and homage to previous masters as a mark of respect.
A fragment of "Che Fece..." makes its way into my description of Jesse Quinn's work as a criminal defence lawyer, where his care for his clients extends past providing them with mere legal counsel:
He would take his clients out for coffee and a sandwich and speak to them from his heart, and many clients came to believe that there was some value in their lives merely by hearing Jesse assert this truth to them. He also outlined their choices: their own past of depravity and suffering sprawling hopelessly into the future, or the path of honour and their own conviction. And though there were many clients who heard Jesse and did not listen, there were many who were moved by his words and went on to prove his faith in them. [From the Chronicle of Lupa Volume 1 Chapter 8].
My debt to these writers extends well past these fragment in homage.
Reading their words and emulating their style was really the whole of my literary apprenticeship, and remains (somewhat ironically) the best and I think the only way for writers to develop a unique and beautiful style.
I plan to write another short post about this kind of literary apprenticeship: how these (long dead) teachers are far greater and more useful than any living teacher I have ever found, and how "strangely you gain strength conversing with the dead, when those left living are no longer enough."
I'll leave that fragment as a puzzle for you, to see if you can find the (long dead) author who himself owed a very great debt to Cavafy.
P. Julian
1 August 2018
CHE FECE... IL GRAN RIFIUTO
To certain people there comes a day
When they must say the great Yes or the great No.
He who has the Yes ready within him
Reveals himself at once, and saying it he crosses over
To the path of honour and his own conviction.
He who refuses does not repent. Should he he asked again,
He would say No again. And yet this No -
The right No - crushes him for the rest of his life.
Translation (c) Rae Dalven 1948/49 - The Complete Poems of Cavafy - available at Book Depository. You can find Keeley and Sherrard's alternative translation at this page of The Poetry Foundation.
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