Selected Cronicas

AN UNTRANSLATED EPIGRAPH

As an epigraph for my novel A Paixão segundo G.H. [The Passion according to G.H.] I chose, or rather, miraculously came across, after finishing the book, a quotation from the art historian Bernard Berenson. Even though it had little to do with my novel, I could not resist using the phrase.

But in my enthusiasm, I made one mistake. I made no attempt to translate the epigraph but left it in English, forgetting that the Brazilian reader is not obliged to understand another language. It would be difficult, however, to capture the beauty and perfection of Berenson’s own words in any other language:

A complete life may be one ending in

so full an identification with the non-self

that there is no self to die.