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judithk
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| Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2005 6:20 pm
Post subject: pretend |
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'The real past matters less than we pretend.'
Could pretend be the same as think? Or is there more to it? (This is
also Banville. For those who have the book: page 157)
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Donna Richoux
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2005 7:09 pm
Post subject: Re: pretend |
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judithk <judithk@wxs.nl> wrote:
| Quote: | 'The real past matters less than we pretend.'
Could pretend be the same as think? Or is there more to it? (This is
also Banville. For those who have the book: page 157)
|
Pretense has an air of deliberate self-deception about it. Children
pretend they have magical powers, and so on. He's saying we tell
ourselves that the real past matters, and we act as if it does, but on
some level we know that is not true.
(Barring, again, that this is not some Irish expression meaning
something slightly different.)
"Think" would be more sincere and deep, what we actually think, even if
wrong.
--
Best -- Donna Richoux |
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John O'Flaherty
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| Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2005 10:48 pm
Post subject: Re: pretend |
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judithk wrote:
| Quote: | 'The real past matters less than we pretend.'
Could pretend be the same as think? Or is there more to it? (This is
also Banville. For those who have the book: page 157)
|
It might mean that the past as edited by the ego (extending the term to
personal, institutional, national levels) is what is actually
important. For the editing to be effective, we have to pretend that the
edited version is the real past.
--
john
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Chris Waigl
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| Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2005 11:07 pm
Post subject: Re: pretend |
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On Sun, 30 Oct 2005 03:20:49 -0800, judithk wrote:
| Quote: | 'The real past matters less than we pretend.'
Could pretend be the same as think? Or is there more to it? (This is
also Banville. For those who have the book: page 157)
|
I don't know anything about Banville, but in French, "prétendre" has a
slightly larger meaning than the English "pretend"[1]. "Le véritable
passé a moins d'importance que nous prétendons" would be unremarkable in
French.
Chris Waigl
[1] I know his first name is "John" and am not pretending he's French.
--
blog: http://serendipity.lascribe.net/
eggcorns: http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/
personal blog : just ask for the URL |
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Pat Durkin
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2005 11:09 pm
Post subject: Re: pretend |
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"judithk" <judithk@wxs.nl> wrote in message
news:1130671249.064610.131910@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
| Quote: | 'The real past matters less than we pretend.'
Could pretend be the same as think? Or is there more to it? (This is
also Banville. For those who have the book: page 157)
|
"To think, or "to have an opinion about" does not imply the follow-up
behavior that "pretend" seems to engender.
Sure, it can mean self-deception, or a lack of sincerity, but the
subsequent behavior is what matters. |
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judithk
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2005 11:39 pm
Post subject: Re: pretend |
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Thank you all very much for your answers.
Judith |
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Scotius
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2005 7:46 am
Post subject: Re: pretend |
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On 30 Oct 2005 03:20:49 -0800, "judithk" <judithk@wxs.nl> wrote:
| Quote: | 'The real past matters less than we pretend.'
Could pretend be the same as think? Or is there more to it? (This is
also Banville. For those who have the book: page 157)
|
In this instance, I think it means "want to believe", although
you didn't give us the full context in which it was said. |
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