Remembrance of Things Past is too long and difficult, and what is interesting is the seventh volume, Time Regained. Otherwise, Proust’s work is conce… - Eugène Ionesco

BÉRENGER - (a Jean) Você tem força.
JEAN - Sim, eu tenho força: Tenho força por várias razões. Em primeiro lugar, eu
tenho força, porque eu tenho força e em segundo lugar, eu tenho força, porque tenho
força moral. E mais: também tenho força, porque não sou alcoólatra, meu caro. Eu não
o quero magoar, mas devo lhe dizer, que na realidade o que pesa é o álcool.
BÉRENGER - (a Jean) Quanto a mim, sinto pouca força para agüentar a vida. Talvez
também não tenha muito interesse nisso.
A solidão pesa-me. E a sociedade também.
JEAN - (a Bérenger) Você se contradiz. É a solidão que pesa ou é a multidão? Você se
toma por um pensador e não tem nenhuma lógica.
BÉRENGER - (a Jean) Viver é uma coisa anormal.

I found ancestors, like Shakespeare, who said, in Macbeth, that the world is full of sound and fury, a tale told by an idiot, signifying nothing. Macbeth is a victim of fate. So is Oedipus. But what happens to them is not absurd in the eyes of destiny, because destiny, or fate, has its own norms, its own morality, its own laws, which cannot be flouted with impunity. Oedipus sleeps with his Mummy, kills his Daddy, and breaks the laws of fate. He must pay for it by suffering. It is tragic and absurd, but at the same time it’s reassuring and comforting, since the idea is that if we don’t break destiny’s laws, we should be all right. Not so with our characters. They have no metaphysics, no order, no law. They are miserable and they don’t know why. They are puppets, undone. In short, they represent modern man. Their situation is not tragic, since it has no relation to a higher order. Instead, it’s ridiculous, laughable, and derisory.

You can stay in society and be alone, as long as you can be detached from the world. This is why I don’t think I have ever gone for the easy option or done things that were expected of me.