el origen de la belleza, dice Mr. Mann

It is most certainly a good thing that the world knows only the beautiful opus but not its origins, not the conditions of its creation for if people knew the sources of the artist’s inspiration, that knowledge would often confuse them, alarm them, and thereby destroy the effects of excellence.

Death in Venice de Thomas Mann.

urge to flee, dice Mr. Mann

His yearning for new and faraway places, his desire for freedom, relief and oblivion was, as he admitted to himself, an urge to flee—an urge to get away from his work, from the everyday site of a cold, rigid, and passionate servitude. He certainly loved this servitude and almost loved the enervating conflict that recurred every day, the struggle between his proud, tenacious, so often tested willpower and this growing fatigue that one must know about, that was not to betray the results in any way, with any hint of laxity or failure.

"Death in Venice" por Thomas Mann.

parís

Desde que llegué de París he querido escribir algo al respecto. No de la ciudad. Suficiente se ha dicho de la ciudad. No pretendo tal hazaña. Hablo de la—mi—experiencia-parís. Esa experiencia francochilenamexicanabelgaruwandesapolacoamericana. Pero a veces hay que permitir que el tiempo haga estragos de las buenas memorias, que decida qué se queda y qué se va. Quizás entonces, cuando no sea yo el responsable de la selección, podré apuñalar algo que no sepa a artimaña.