Democracy Today.indb - Universidade do Minho

But it is extremely important to realize that Orpheus’ lookingback
was only possible because of the beauty of Eurydice that he had
sung about. The beauty of his songs was the only reason he gained
access to the underworld. The longing for a pure representation of
Eurydice was cultivated through nothing but the songs he sung. The
moment Orpheus looked back, the object of desire was touched but
immediately disappeared again. Orpheus is definitively condemned
again to meet Eurydice only within the limits of the song. The moment
of looking back is what Blanchot calls the birth of literature. But this
is a paradoxical statement, because looking back was only possible
through the singing about Eurydice. This is the paradox of writing
itself. One must only write to find the opening to what one longs for,
yet the writing itself is only possible through the longing itself. As
Blanchot himself puts it:
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“[…]one writes only if one reaches that instant which nevertheless one can
only approach in the space opened by the movement of writing. To write,
one has to write already.” [24]
Thus, the hope and the longing of the writer are inextricably bound
to the act of writing itself. The longing is born out of the act of writing
and the writing is born out of the longing. Longing and writing are like
head and tail of a snake which bites itself. The impossible moment in
which the snake has eaten itself is the moment when Orpheus looks
back and faces the true impossibility of his writing. But what keeps
the writer writing despite this fundamental impossibility is the longing
evoked in the very act of writing. In the act of writing, the longing
becomes an impossible promise. Writing can only exist by virtue of
this promise.
Wanted: a Discourse of Hope
Of crucial importance is the connection between longing and writing,
or, more generally, between acting and hoping. What counts for writing
24
Blanchot (1982) 176.