Brain Food #554
Our own antiheroes
Thoughts of the day
Yesterday would have been Patricia Highsmith’s 100th birthday. The American novelist gave us memorable —and often intimidating— stories and characters, the more known one, of course, being that of The Talented Mr. Ripley.
Highsmith allegedly was a difficult person, and often expressed her preference in distancing herself from people, instead opting for the company of her cats. Self-isolation, for her, like for many other artists, was a necessity.
Her demons came from within, but a diary entry from New Year’s Eve, 1947, reveals how she welcomed them instead of trying to be rid of them.
“To all the devils, lusts, passions, greeds, envys, loves, hates, strange desires, enemies ghostly and real, the army of memories, with which I do battle—may they never give me peace.”
Whether we come predisposed with a given set of passions, or whether some of these may come and go during one’s life, Highsmith’s words suggest that we should never attempt to be someone else, and instead consider channeling these passions into our work.
Ripley was the perfect anti-hero. Perhaps that is what made him so compelling. A more compelling thought is that we are also likely to have some antiheroes of our own hidden inside of us. What are they trying to tell us?
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