“Is the situation in Plato’s Cave tragic or comical?”, Virginia Woolf asks herself in the Chimera Departament.
“Hmmm, tough decision.” she adds.”It depends on how far or how close you look at it. But if you’re inside Plato’s cave, it’s neither tragic nor comical, it’s very real.”
“I’m sure the philosopher didn’t like it. Philosophers don’t like to be held hostage, they value their freedom of thought. But is this true for philosophers only? What if we replace philosophers with specialists?”
Virginia Woolf picks up the phone and calls Henry Miller.
“Henry, darling, how are you?”
“I’m fine, everything is fine.”
(Henry Miller has been painting last night)
“I am having trouble again with this first degree chaos literary system. As writers, we value our own freedom, that’s the supreme commandment. Do you think people in general would appreciate being held hostage in Plato’s Cave?”
“Definitely not, Henry replies. In the Tropic of Capricorn I dealt with this extensively. It’s difficult, Virginia, it really is…”
“So what do you advise me to do?
“Put a painting on the wall.”
“Oh, that’s a great idea! Thanks, Henry!”
“You’re welcome. And call me later and let me know if it works.”
“Sure, talk to you.”
“Talk to you!”
Virginia hangs up. At her back, In the Chimera Departament, a drawing becomes more and more clear. It’s Escher. The hands.
Author’s note: In order to solve the Pegasus Paradox or the Chimera Paradox, we need to make a clear distinction between characters in a story, which are contained within a fictional literary system and the real personalities who inspired it, such as Virginia Woolf. The characters in the story borrowed partially some traits. The author is aware that it would have been maybe more straightforward to stage a conversation between Henry Miller and Anaïs Nin, but the point of Healing, A Magical Story for Cheerful Hearts is not to re-write history as it was, but to blend everything together in a unique manner.
Please see the Allegory Disclaimer and the Psychological Disclaimer as well. And please remember to respect the authors.
Text and art: Laura Livia Grigore
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
paintings and adventures 