I have noticed an increase in traffic to my blog recently. Much of the search engine traffic is directed here because of the quote by Umberto
Eco that I have used as my blog title. I have always had the urge to provide the context of the quotation, which also adds to the reader’s appreciation of the text. So when i saw people driven to the blog for the quote without having the context, i found a reason to provide it. Here’s an excerpt from the interview where Eco talks of filling empty spaces, he further goes on to explain the idea. .
An Interview with Umberto Eco, by Mukund Padmanabhan, Sunday, Oct 23, 2005.
Source: The Hindu.
Umberto Eco…”I work in empty spaces”
Mukund: The English novelist and academic David Lodge once remarked: “I can’t understand how one man can do all the things he [Eco] does.”
Umberto Eco: Maybe I give the impression of doing many things. But in the end, I am convinced I am always doing the same thing.
Mukund: Which is?
Eco: Aah, now that is more difficult to explain. I have some philosophical interests and I pursue them through my academic work and my novels. Even my books for children are about non-violence and peace…you see, the same bunch of ethical, philosophical interests.
And then I have a secret. Did you know what will happen if you eliminate the empty spaces from the universe, eliminate the empty spaces in all the atoms? The universe will become as big as my fist.
Similarly, we have a lot of empty spaces in our lives. I call them interstices. Say you are coming over to my place. You are in an elevator and while you are coming up, I am waiting for you. This is an interstice, an empty space. I work in empty spaces. While waiting for your elevator to come up from the first to the third floor, I have already written an article! (Laughs).
Read the complete Interview here>>
Read my article on Filling Empty Spaces in your Life: A Secret to Success here>>
One Comment
“VOID” still remains the utmost relative term for a poet and expressionist!!
how do u define VOID ma’am?
Reply: Hello. that question from you s’how seem obvious…i see most of your poems, at least the ones i have read, have a similar theme. I suppose you mean vacuum, when you say void. though semantically, the words are more or less synonymous, but i’ll stress on the difference keeping Umberto Eco’s use of the word ‘empty’ and your comment on hubpages.
right, the term’s relative, to me it has always meant an invincible vacuum…when people talk of filling vacuum, not voids, i insist; they are talking of art in its real sense. voids can be understood as nihilistic, because they evade meaning. just as is portrayed in many modern works…”nothing leading to nothing”…giving way to all the philosophies of Absurd. But then man has a tendency to seek optimism, without which life becomes meaningless, and thus there can be many other positive interpretations.
Take the concept of passivity for that matter, people often consider suffering, surrendering as passive phenomena…and passivity being contrary to action can be considered a void. But passivity is actually an action on a different, higher scale. (Eliot’s concept of passivity in Murder in The Cathedral)… the fact that allowing things to happen to us need much more strength than making things happen to us. The concept of God’s will over Human will.
Thanks for writing.