quote · Legacy record
We know that attention acts as a lightning rod. Merely by concentrating on something one causes endless analogies to collect around it, even penetrate the boundaries of the subject itself: an experience that we call coincidence, serendipity – the terminology is extensive. My experience has been that in these circular travels what is really significant surrounds a central absence, an absence that, paradoxically, is the text being written or to be written.
We know that attention acts as a lightning rod. Merely by concentrating on something one causes endless analogies to collect around it, even penetrate the boundaries of the subject itself: an experience that we call coincidence, serendipity – the terminology is extensive. My experience has been that in these circular travels what is really significant surrounds a central absence, an absence that, paradoxically, is the text being written or to be written.
Approximate author period: c. 1938 AD · modern
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- Author or tradition
- Julio Cortázar
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
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- Approximate author period: c. 1938 AD · modern
Approximate author-period evidence for Julio Cortázar: documented activity in 1938. Wikidata Q174210, inspected 2026-10-08. Not a quotation composition date or independent verification of attribution. Source: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q174210 (accessed 2026-10-08).
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Supplied reference C; CSV row 40292; supplied attribution, independently unverified
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