Paul Valéry, French Symbolist poet and public intellectual, was born Oct. 30, 1871 (d. 1945)…
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Paul Valéry: The Blank Sheet
In truth, a blank sheet
Declares by the void
That there is nothing as beautiful
As that which does not exist.
On the magic mirror of its white space,
The soul sees before her the place of the miracles
That we would bring to life with signs and lines.
This presence of absence over-excites
And at the same time paralyses the definitive act of the pen.
There is in all beauty a forbiddance to touch,
From which emanates I don’t know what of sacred
That stops the movement and puts the man
On the point of acting in fear of himself.
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Photo c. 1935
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