718 lines
16 KiB
HTML
718 lines
16 KiB
HTML
<!doctype html>
|
||
<html lang="en">
|
||
<head>
|
||
<meta charset="utf-8">
|
||
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
|
||
<title>La plus rare et la plus pure</title>
|
||
<meta name="description" content="The long-running and erratically updated blog of Kathleen Fitzpatrick.">
|
||
<link rel="alternate" href="feed/feed.xml" type="application/atom+xml" title="kfitz">
|
||
<script async="" src="https://talk.hyvor.com/embed/embed.js" type="module"></script>
|
||
<link rel="webmention" href="https://webmention.io/kfitz.info/webmention">
|
||
<link rel="pingback" href="https://webmention.io/kfitz.info/xmlrpc">
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
<style>/**
|
||
* okaidia theme for JavaScript, CSS and HTML
|
||
* Loosely based on Monokai textmate theme by http://www.monokai.nl/
|
||
* @author ocodia
|
||
*/
|
||
|
||
code[class*="language-"],
|
||
pre[class*="language-"] {
|
||
color: #f8f8f2;
|
||
background: none;
|
||
text-shadow: 0 1px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.3);
|
||
font-family: Consolas, Monaco, 'Andale Mono', 'Ubuntu Mono', monospace;
|
||
font-size: 1em;
|
||
text-align: left;
|
||
white-space: pre;
|
||
word-spacing: normal;
|
||
word-break: normal;
|
||
word-wrap: normal;
|
||
line-height: 1.5;
|
||
|
||
-moz-tab-size: 4;
|
||
-o-tab-size: 4;
|
||
tab-size: 4;
|
||
|
||
-webkit-hyphens: none;
|
||
-moz-hyphens: none;
|
||
-ms-hyphens: none;
|
||
hyphens: none;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
/* Code blocks */
|
||
pre[class*="language-"] {
|
||
padding: 1em;
|
||
margin: .5em 0;
|
||
overflow: auto;
|
||
border-radius: 0.3em;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
:not(pre) > code[class*="language-"],
|
||
pre[class*="language-"] {
|
||
background: #272822;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
/* Inline code */
|
||
:not(pre) > code[class*="language-"] {
|
||
padding: .1em;
|
||
border-radius: .3em;
|
||
white-space: normal;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
.token.comment,
|
||
.token.prolog,
|
||
.token.doctype,
|
||
.token.cdata {
|
||
color: #8292a2;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
.token.punctuation {
|
||
color: #f8f8f2;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
.token.namespace {
|
||
opacity: .7;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
.token.property,
|
||
.token.tag,
|
||
.token.constant,
|
||
.token.symbol,
|
||
.token.deleted {
|
||
color: #f92672;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
.token.boolean,
|
||
.token.number {
|
||
color: #ae81ff;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
.token.selector,
|
||
.token.attr-name,
|
||
.token.string,
|
||
.token.char,
|
||
.token.builtin,
|
||
.token.inserted {
|
||
color: #a6e22e;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
.token.operator,
|
||
.token.entity,
|
||
.token.url,
|
||
.language-css .token.string,
|
||
.style .token.string,
|
||
.token.variable {
|
||
color: #f8f8f2;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
.token.atrule,
|
||
.token.attr-value,
|
||
.token.function,
|
||
.token.class-name {
|
||
color: #e6db74;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
.token.keyword {
|
||
color: #66d9ef;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
.token.regex,
|
||
.token.important {
|
||
color: #fd971f;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
.token.important,
|
||
.token.bold {
|
||
font-weight: bold;
|
||
}
|
||
.token.italic {
|
||
font-style: italic;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
.token.entity {
|
||
cursor: help;
|
||
}
|
||
/*
|
||
* New diff- syntax
|
||
*/
|
||
|
||
pre[class*="language-diff-"] {
|
||
--eleventy-code-padding: 1.25em;
|
||
padding-left: var(--eleventy-code-padding);
|
||
padding-right: var(--eleventy-code-padding);
|
||
}
|
||
.token.deleted {
|
||
background-color: hsl(0, 51%, 37%);
|
||
color: inherit;
|
||
}
|
||
.token.inserted {
|
||
background-color: hsl(126, 31%, 39%);
|
||
color: inherit;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
/* Make the + and - characters unselectable for copy/paste */
|
||
.token.prefix.unchanged,
|
||
.token.prefix.inserted,
|
||
.token.prefix.deleted {
|
||
-webkit-user-select: none;
|
||
user-select: none;
|
||
display: inline-flex;
|
||
align-items: center;
|
||
justify-content: center;
|
||
padding-top: 2px;
|
||
padding-bottom: 2px;
|
||
}
|
||
.token.prefix.inserted,
|
||
.token.prefix.deleted {
|
||
width: var(--eleventy-code-padding);
|
||
background-color: rgba(0,0,0,.2);
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
/* Optional: full-width background color */
|
||
.token.inserted:not(.prefix),
|
||
.token.deleted:not(.prefix) {
|
||
display: block;
|
||
margin-left: calc(-1 * var(--eleventy-code-padding));
|
||
margin-right: calc(-1 * var(--eleventy-code-padding));
|
||
text-decoration: none; /* override del, ins, mark defaults */
|
||
color: inherit; /* override del, ins, mark defaults */
|
||
}
|
||
/* This is an arbitrary CSS string added to the bundle */
|
||
/* Defaults */
|
||
@font-face {
|
||
font-family: "Atkinson Hyperlegible";
|
||
src: url('/css/files/atkinson-hyperlegible-latin-400-normal.woff2') format('woff2');
|
||
font-display: swap;
|
||
}
|
||
@font-face {
|
||
font-family: "Atkinson Hyperlegible";
|
||
font-weight: bold;
|
||
src: url('/css/files/atkinson-hyperlegible-latin-700-normal.woff2') format('woff2');
|
||
font-display: swap;
|
||
}
|
||
@font-face {
|
||
font-family: "Atkinson Hyperlegible";
|
||
font-style: italic
|
||
src: url('/css/files/atkinson-hyperlegible-latin-400-italic.woff2') format('woff2');
|
||
font-display: swap;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
:root {
|
||
--font-family: "Atkinson Hyperlegible", -apple-system, system-ui, sans-serif;
|
||
--font-family-monospace: Consolas, Menlo, Monaco, Andale Mono WT, Andale Mono, Lucida Console, Lucida Sans Typewriter, DejaVu Sans Mono, Bitstream Vera Sans Mono, Liberation Mono, Nimbus Mono L, Courier New, Courier, monospace;
|
||
font-size: 18px;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
/* Theme colors */
|
||
:root {
|
||
--color-gray-20: #e0e0e0;
|
||
--color-gray-50: #C0C0C0;
|
||
--color-gray-90: #333;
|
||
|
||
--background-color: #fff;
|
||
|
||
--text-color: var(--color-gray-90);
|
||
--text-color-link: #d61d4a;
|
||
--text-color-link-active: #853439;
|
||
--text-color-link-visited: #e8325e;
|
||
|
||
--syntax-tab-size: 2;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
|
||
:root {
|
||
--color-gray-20: #e0e0e0;
|
||
--color-gray-50: #C0C0C0;
|
||
--color-gray-90: #dad8d8;
|
||
|
||
/* --text-color is assigned to --color-gray-_ above */
|
||
--text-color-link: #1493fb;
|
||
--text-color-link-active: #6969f7;
|
||
--text-color-link-visited: #a6a6f8;
|
||
|
||
--background-color: #15202b;
|
||
}
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
|
||
/* Global stylesheet */
|
||
* {
|
||
box-sizing: border-box;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
@view-transition {
|
||
navigation: auto;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
html,
|
||
body {
|
||
padding: 0;
|
||
margin: 0 auto;
|
||
font-family: var(--font-family);
|
||
color: var(--text-color);
|
||
background-color: var(--background-color);
|
||
}
|
||
html {
|
||
overflow-y: scroll;
|
||
}
|
||
body {
|
||
max-width: 40em;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
/* https://www.a11yproject.com/posts/how-to-hide-content/ */
|
||
.visually-hidden {
|
||
clip: rect(0 0 0 0);
|
||
clip-path: inset(50%);
|
||
height: 1px;
|
||
overflow: hidden;
|
||
position: absolute;
|
||
white-space: nowrap;
|
||
width: 1px;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
p:last-child {
|
||
margin-bottom: 0;
|
||
}
|
||
p {
|
||
line-height: 1.5;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
li {
|
||
line-height: 1.5;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
a[href] {
|
||
color: var(--text-color-link);
|
||
}
|
||
a[href]:visited {
|
||
color: var(--text-color-link-visited);
|
||
}
|
||
a[href]:hover,
|
||
a[href]:active {
|
||
color: var(--text-color-link-active);
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
main,
|
||
footer {
|
||
padding: 1rem;
|
||
}
|
||
main :first-child {
|
||
margin-top: 0;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
header {
|
||
border-bottom: 1px dashed var(--color-gray-20);
|
||
}
|
||
header:after {
|
||
content: "";
|
||
display: table;
|
||
clear: both;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
footer {
|
||
border-top: 1px dashed var(--color-gray-50);
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
.links-nextprev {
|
||
display: flex;
|
||
justify-content: space-between;
|
||
gap: .5em 1em;
|
||
list-style: "";
|
||
border-top: 1px dashed var(--color-gray-20);
|
||
padding: 1em 0;
|
||
}
|
||
.links-nextprev > * {
|
||
flex-grow: 1;
|
||
}
|
||
.links-nextprev-next {
|
||
text-align: right;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
table {
|
||
margin: 1em 0;
|
||
}
|
||
table td,
|
||
table th {
|
||
padding-right: 1em;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
pre,
|
||
code {
|
||
font-family: var(--font-family-monospace);
|
||
}
|
||
pre:not([class*="language-"]) {
|
||
margin: .5em 0;
|
||
line-height: 1.375; /* 22px /16 */
|
||
-moz-tab-size: var(--syntax-tab-size);
|
||
-o-tab-size: var(--syntax-tab-size);
|
||
tab-size: var(--syntax-tab-size);
|
||
-webkit-hyphens: none;
|
||
-ms-hyphens: none;
|
||
hyphens: none;
|
||
direction: ltr;
|
||
text-align: left;
|
||
white-space: pre;
|
||
word-spacing: normal;
|
||
word-break: normal;
|
||
overflow-x: auto;
|
||
}
|
||
code {
|
||
word-break: break-all;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
/* Header */
|
||
header {
|
||
display: flex;
|
||
gap: 1em .5em;
|
||
flex-wrap: wrap;
|
||
align-items: center;
|
||
padding: 1em;
|
||
}
|
||
.home-link {
|
||
font-size: 1.5em; /* 16px /16 */
|
||
font-weight: 700;
|
||
margin-right: 2em;
|
||
}
|
||
.home-link:link:not(:hover) {
|
||
text-decoration: none;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
/* Nav */
|
||
.nav {
|
||
display: flex;
|
||
padding: 0;
|
||
margin: 0;
|
||
list-style: none;
|
||
}
|
||
.nav-item {
|
||
display: inline-block;
|
||
margin-right: 1em;
|
||
}
|
||
.nav-item a[href]:not(:hover) {
|
||
text-decoration: none;
|
||
}
|
||
.nav a[href][aria-current="page"] {
|
||
text-decoration: underline;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
/* Posts list */
|
||
.postlist {
|
||
list-style: none;
|
||
padding: 0;
|
||
padding-left: 1.5rem;
|
||
}
|
||
.postlist-item {
|
||
display: flex;
|
||
flex-wrap: wrap;
|
||
align-items: baseline;
|
||
counter-increment: start-from -1;
|
||
margin-bottom: 1em;
|
||
}
|
||
.postlist-item:before {
|
||
display: inline-block;
|
||
pointer-events: none;
|
||
content: "" counter(start-from, decimal-leading-zero) ". ";
|
||
line-height: 100%;
|
||
text-align: right;
|
||
margin-left: -1.5rem;
|
||
}
|
||
.postlist-date,
|
||
.postlist-item:before {
|
||
font-size: 0.8125em; /* 13px /16 */
|
||
color: var(--color-gray-90);
|
||
}
|
||
.postlist-date {
|
||
word-spacing: -0.5px;
|
||
}
|
||
.postlist-link {
|
||
font-size: 1.1875em; /* 19px /16 */
|
||
font-weight: 700;
|
||
flex-basis: calc(100% - 1.5rem);
|
||
padding-left: .25em;
|
||
padding-right: .5em;
|
||
text-underline-position: from-font;
|
||
text-underline-offset: 0;
|
||
text-decoration-thickness: 1px;
|
||
}
|
||
.postlist-item-active .postlist-link {
|
||
font-weight: bold;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
/* Archive list */
|
||
.archivelist {
|
||
padding: 0;
|
||
padding-left: 2.5rem;
|
||
}
|
||
.archivelist-item {
|
||
align-items: baseline;
|
||
margin-bottom: 1em;
|
||
}
|
||
.archivelist-item::marker {
|
||
text-align: right;
|
||
margin-left: -1.5rem;
|
||
font-size: 0.8125em; /* 13px /16 */
|
||
color: var(--color-gray-90);
|
||
}
|
||
.archivelist-date {
|
||
font-size: 0.8125em; /* 13px /16 */
|
||
color: var(--color-gray-90);
|
||
word-spacing: -0.5px;
|
||
}
|
||
.archivelist-link {
|
||
font-size: 1.1875em; /* 19px /16 */
|
||
font-weight: 700;
|
||
flex-basis: calc(100% - 1.5rem);
|
||
padding-left: .25em;
|
||
padding-right: .5em;
|
||
text-underline-position: from-font;
|
||
text-underline-offset: 0;
|
||
text-decoration-thickness: 1px;
|
||
}
|
||
.archivelist-item-active .archivelist-link {
|
||
font-weight: bold;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
|
||
/* Tags */
|
||
.post-tag {
|
||
display: inline-flex;
|
||
align-items: center;
|
||
justify-content: center;
|
||
text-transform: capitalize;
|
||
font-style: italic;
|
||
}
|
||
.postlist-item > .post-tag {
|
||
align-self: center;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
/* Tags list */
|
||
.post-metadata {
|
||
display: inline-flex;
|
||
flex-wrap: wrap;
|
||
gap: .5em;
|
||
list-style: none;
|
||
border-top: 1px dashed var(--color-gray-20);
|
||
border-bottom: 1px dashed var(--color-gray-20);
|
||
padding: 3px 0px 3px 0px;
|
||
margin: 0;
|
||
font-size: .8em;
|
||
}
|
||
.post-metadata time {
|
||
margin-right: 1em;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
/* Direct Links / Markdown Headers */
|
||
.header-anchor {
|
||
text-decoration: none;
|
||
font-style: normal;
|
||
font-size: 1em;
|
||
margin-left: .1em;
|
||
}
|
||
a[href].header-anchor,
|
||
a[href].header-anchor:visited {
|
||
color: transparent;
|
||
}
|
||
a[href].header-anchor:focus,
|
||
a[href].header-anchor:hover {
|
||
text-decoration: underline;
|
||
}
|
||
a[href].header-anchor:focus,
|
||
:hover > a[href].header-anchor {
|
||
color: #aaa;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
h2 + .header-anchor {
|
||
font-size: 1.5em;
|
||
font-weight: bold;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
h1 {
|
||
font-weight: bolder;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
summary {
|
||
font-size: 1.5em;
|
||
font-weight: bold;
|
||
margin-bottom: .5em;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
img {
|
||
display: block;
|
||
margin-left: auto;
|
||
margin-right: auto;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
blockquote {
|
||
display: block;
|
||
margin-left: 2em;
|
||
margin-right: 3em;
|
||
padding-left: 10px;
|
||
border-left: 10px solid var(--text-color-link);
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
hr.new {
|
||
border: none;
|
||
border-top: 1px dashed var(--color-gray-50);
|
||
}
|
||
/* Webmention Section */
|
||
|
||
.webmentions {
|
||
display:block;
|
||
text-align: left;
|
||
}
|
||
.webmentions__facepile {
|
||
display:flex;
|
||
align-items: center;
|
||
flex-wrap: wrap;
|
||
}
|
||
.webmentions__face {
|
||
width: 2rem;
|
||
height: 2rem;
|
||
border-radius: 50%;
|
||
object-fit: cover;
|
||
flex: none;
|
||
}
|
||
.webmentions__list {
|
||
list-style-type: none;
|
||
padding:0;
|
||
}
|
||
.webmentions__item {
|
||
margin-bottom: 2rem;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
/* Single Webmention */
|
||
|
||
.webmention {
|
||
display:block;
|
||
}
|
||
.webmention__meta,
|
||
.webmention__author {
|
||
display: flex;
|
||
align-items: center;
|
||
flex-wrap: wrap;
|
||
}
|
||
.webmention__meta {
|
||
margin-bottom:.5rem;
|
||
}
|
||
.webmention__author {
|
||
margin-right:.25rem;
|
||
}
|
||
.webmention__author__photo {
|
||
height: 3rem;
|
||
width: 3rem;
|
||
border-radius: 50%;
|
||
object-fit: cover;
|
||
margin-right:.5rem;
|
||
}
|
||
.webmention__pubdate {
|
||
font-style: italic;
|
||
}
|
||
/* Message Box */
|
||
.message-box {
|
||
--color-message-box: #ffc;
|
||
|
||
display: block;
|
||
background-color: var(--color-message-box);
|
||
color: var(--color-gray-90);
|
||
padding: 1em 0.625em; /* 16px 10px /16 */
|
||
}
|
||
.message-box ol {
|
||
margin-top: 0;
|
||
}
|
||
|
||
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
|
||
.message-box {
|
||
--color-message-box: #082840;
|
||
}
|
||
}</style>
|
||
</head>
|
||
<body>
|
||
<a href="#skip" class="visually-hidden">Skip to main content</a>
|
||
|
||
<header>
|
||
<a href="/" class="home-link">kfitz</a>
|
||
<nav>
|
||
<h2 class="visually-hidden" id="top-level-navigation-menu">Top level navigation menu</h2>
|
||
<ul class="nav">
|
||
<li class="nav-item"><a href="/">Home</a></li>
|
||
<li class="nav-item"><a href="/blog/">Archive</a></li>
|
||
<li class="nav-item"><a href="/about/">About</a></li>
|
||
<li class="nav-item"><a href="/projects/">Projects</a></li>
|
||
<li class="nav-item"><a href="/presentations/">Presentations</a></li>
|
||
<li class="nav-item"><a href="/teaching/">Teaching</a></li>
|
||
<li class="nav-item"><a href="/feed/feed.xml">Feed</a></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
</nav>
|
||
</header>
|
||
|
||
<link href="/pagefind/pagefind-ui.css" rel="stylesheet">
|
||
<script src="/pagefind/pagefind-ui.js"></script>
|
||
<div id="search"></div>
|
||
<script>
|
||
window.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', (event) => {
|
||
new PagefindUI({ element: "#search", showSubResults: true });
|
||
});
|
||
</script>
|
||
|
||
<main id="skip">
|
||
<heading-anchors>
|
||
|
||
<h1 id="la-plus-rare-et-la-plus-pure">La plus rare et la plus pure</h1>
|
||
|
||
<ul class="post-metadata">
|
||
<li><time datetime="2018-06-05">05 June 2018</time></li>
|
||
<li><a href="/tags/reading/" class="post-tag">reading</a>, </li>
|
||
<li><a href="/tags/writing/" class="post-tag">writing</a></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
<p>After yesterday’s search for the source of Simone Weil’s oft-quoted “Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity” <a href="/generosity-and-attention/">went a bit Lot-49ish on me</a>, I wondered whether I should just have been satisfied with that “attributed to.” But I’m glad I didn’t let it go, for a couple of reasons.</p>
|
||
<p>First, I did finally get ahold of a copy of a version of the actual source. The quote comes from a 1942 letter from Weil to poet Joë Bousquet, which from what I can tell was first published in a 1950 issue of <em>Cahiers du Sud</em>, and then subsequently in <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=BxpMAAAAMAAJ&dq=weil+bousquet+correspondance">a volume of Weil and Bousquet’s correspondence</a>. My library has neither of these, but thanks to the extraordinary institutional generosity of Interlibrary Loan, a scan of the <em>Cahiers du Sud</em> version landed in my inbox last night. (Seriously, can we all take a moment to be grateful for ILL?)</p>
|
||
<p>And second, the context of the quotation is even more important to my own context than I’d guessed it could be. Bousquet was in the hospital, suffering from a grievous war injury, when he and Weil corresponded. She’d apparently given him a piece of writing, on which he’d given her some kind of comment. And thus:</p>
|
||
<blockquote>
|
||
<p>J’ai été très touchée de constater que vous aviez fait véritablement attention aux quelques pages que je vous ai montrées. Je n’en conclus pas qu’elles méritent de l’attention. Je regarde cette attention comme un don gratuit et généreux de votre part. L’attention est la forme la plus rare et la plus pure de la générosité.</p>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
<p>That is:</p>
|
||
<blockquote>
|
||
<p>I was touched to see that you had truly paid attention to some pages that I showed you. I did not take from that that they deserved attention. I regard that attention as a gift freely and generously given on your part. Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.</p>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
<p>Being closely read, and receiving careful feedback, may in turn be the rarest and purest form of attention. I owe the readers of <a href="http://generousthinking.hcommons.org"><em>Generous Thinking</em></a> more than I can say.</p>
|
||
|
||
<ul class="links-nextprev"><li class="links-nextprev-prev">← Previous<br> <a href="/generosity-and-attention/">Generosity and Attention</a></li><li class="links-nextprev-next">Next →<br><a href="/3089-2/">Conclusions</a></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
<hyvor-talk-comments website-id="9100" page-id="/la-plus-rare-et-la-plus-pure/"></hyvor-talk-comments>
|
||
|
||
<div class="webmentions" id="webmentions">
|
||
<h3 id="webmentions-2">Webmentions</h3>
|
||
|
||
|
||
<p>No replies yet.</p>
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
</div>
|
||
|
||
|
||
</heading-anchors>
|
||
</main>
|
||
|
||
<footer>
|
||
<p><em>Built with <a href="https://www.11ty.dev/">Eleventy v3.0.0</a>. All content <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en">CC BY 4.0</a> if you're human.</em></p><p></p>
|
||
</footer>
|
||
|
||
<!-- This page `/la-plus-rare-et-la-plus-pure/` was built on 2024-12-10T12:32:21.505Z -->
|
||
<script type="module" src="/dist/rJ3_G-2ArF.js"></script>
|
||
</body>
|
||
</html>
|