we must struggle to change our institutions, but our resistance to the depravity and depletion of these times must go beyond that. it must also occur in our souls. we are animals, and we must not forget that we live in our bodies; but we are animals blessed with memory and language. each of us can create unprecedented beauty. we can transmit, even if imperfectly, the contents of our imaginations. we can learn from what has come before, and from what surrounds us. we are not doomed. 

claire messud