Sunday, October 21, 2007

Robert Dessaix on Rituals and the Longing for the Unnatural

In his novel Corfu, Robert Dessaix has this to say about the impact of rituals upon him:

“The most dispiriting thing about failing to be moved by others’ rituals is that it brings you face to face with your own ordinariness. And, if you’re feeling even slightly oceanic, that ordinariness swamps everything in sight.”

“Who doesn’t long at times, in the midst of piles of washing or slumped in front of the television set, for something utterly unnatural to happen?”

Robert Dessaix, Corfu (A Novel) (London: Scribner, 2003), 49.

Image: Eucharistic ritual.