The shimmering bliss. A gift bestowed and unappreciated.

~ Live & Learn

by Philippe Halsman

“I became aware of the world’s tenderness, the profound beneficence of all that surrounded me, the blissful bond between me and all of creation, and I realized that the joy I sought in you was not only secreted within you, but breathed around me everywhere, in the speeding street sounds, in the hem of a comically lifted skirt, in the metallic yet tender drone of the wind, in the autumn clouds bloated with rain. I realized that the world does not represent a struggle at all, or a predaceous sequence of chance events, but the shimmering bliss, beneficent trepidation, a gift bestowed upon us and unappreciated.”

 – Vladimir Nabokov

Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (1899 – 1977) was a Russian-American novelist. Nabokov’s first nine novels were in Russian. He then rose to international prominence as a writer of English prose. Nabokov’s Lolita (1955) is his most famous novel, and often considered his finest work in English. He was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction seven times, but never won it. Nabokov was born Saint Petersburg to a wealthy and prominent family of minor nobility. He was the eldest of five children of liberal lawyer, statesman, and journalist Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov and his wife, Elena Ivanovna née Rukavishnikova. Nabokov’s childhood, which he had called “perfect”, was remarkable in several ways. The family spoke Russian, English, and French in their household, and Nabokov was trilingual from an early age. In fact, much to his patriotic father’s chagrin, Nabokov could read and write in English before he could in Russian. (Source: Wiki)

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14 thoughts on “The shimmering bliss. A gift bestowed and unappreciated.”

  2. His writing is transportive – his message undeniable. Perhaps we only occasionally recognize the bliss, but at the least each day we should appreciate its gifts.

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