Esther Racah Writer & Literary Blogger

The Digital Manuscript of Poetry and Literature by Elisabetta

Synthetic Clouds

Synthetic Clouds

Being the existence full of pantomimes and unctuous laughs
As long as lies and hypocrisy create the reality of this world
Desertion and exclusion are the shields against the synthetic clouds of a plastic world
Disillusions are the only longings that remain alive in an artificial plastic reality
Merciless deceptions create the truth in an apparent meaningful existence
Each futile attempt to unveil a concealed integrity is a further failure
Despair and acceptance make their way through the emptiness of illusions
Inevitable sorrows and disappointments pierce the soul with a meticulous mannerism
Clowns and buffoons enjoy their void luxury far away from authenticity and honesty
Dazzling chandeliers and brocade wallpapers embellish tedious stagings
Therefore I seek refuge in an imaginary island that floats in the wind
Since it is possible to seek happiness and bliss pretending that everything is perfect
Once there is a fracture of the utopias of an ideal society where empathy, respect and connection
As a result of unconscious expectations and fears in consequence of preceding anguishes.
Esther Racah

October 27, 2020
Blue Sadness

Blue Sadness

Blue sadness is in the delicate scent and subtle aroma of candied violets
It is in the dusk of the autumnal season when the foliage descends in the form of soft auburn rain
The sweetness of beautiful memories intertwines the bitterness of squalid flashbacks
A deafening silence surrounds the coldness of ruthless instants
When the past is well aware of its resolute grip in the mind
The relentless routine of nightmares is eager and impressive
The constant turmoil of visions and thoughts besets the aimless and powerless soul
Wandering in the lost patterns of the deprivation of rationality
Once it is not essential anymore to disclose merits
No award can replace the ethereal virtues
A cruel corruption tames the innocence of the unconsciousness
Blue sadness unveils the enchantment of the dreams
Dreaming is the only anchor which saves the fragility of the innocence
The soul navigates through the imperils of this existence
Like a tiny and frail vessel in a stormy ocean
And so the restless turmoil of the emotions and ideas can refrain forever
In the sacred relics of an honoured devotion to a buried past
Blue sadness will always be an unexpected twist in a secret treasure chest.
Esther Racah

October 27, 2020
The Night

The Night

As the night inherits the sky and the earth from the day
The stars gleam, brightening the obscurity of the sky
A thick mist covers forests and gardens, caressing flowers and leaves
Dark green tints tinge forest trees and meadows
The misty moon overlooks the bluish-purple landscape
The silence reigns supreme among the softness of the blooming flowers
The beauty of nature and the purity of the blossoms are daunting
The dark blue sky is dotted with glinting stars
Shards of previous sensations and glimpses of ephemeral happiness crowd into my mind
A calm and deafening silence pervades the tenebrous darkness
The reflection of the moon shines on the silvery surface of lakes and rivers
The obliviousness of the night blends with the mysterious bewilderment of sublimity
Beauty lies in the concealment of secrets.
Esther Racah

October 20, 2020
Hypothetical Dreams

Hypothetical Dreams

As faint and golden glares stroke me
I think about a peaceful instant when I can fly away in my hypothetical dreams
Now and then, I can be myself without pretending to be someone else
Someone I am not, and I will never be
Far from society pretences and hypocritical conventions
Musical notes reach into my soul, which is a convergence of several temperaments
Wondering how many ways I can live parallel lives
Wondering how many ways I can detach myself from this foolish reality
Because I live in my imaginary and hypothetical dreams
And I’m trapped in a safe hideout
Hiding is the only way I can protect myself
Disappearing in the vastness of the universe
Fragile dreams like thin crystals, which are gleaming in the moonlight
Being my soul a frail fractal of an imaginary universe of stars
Lost in abandon and oblivion once my only companion is the solitude
Now that it is useless to be thoughtful and considerate
Now that I am not anymore my past self
I’m different versions of myself
It is never too late to discover an unusual and astonishing introspectiveness
Delight and sorrow wrap my soul as I touch purple roses
Lusting for their beauty and purity
I can rest forever in my cruel and hypothetical dreams
Now that the stars whisper in the luxuriant firmament.
Esther Racah

October 10, 2020
Cranford By Elizabeth Gaskell

Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell is an 1853 British novel, and it is the most renowned of this British author. This book consists of sixteen chapters, and it is the sixth novel in my second list of books. Between 1851 and 1853 Elizabeth Gaskell published the story in eight issues in the magazine Household Words. Charles Dickens was the editor in chief of this English magazine, besides being an extraordinary writer. Dickens was also a reporter and an editor. (If you are curious about Charles Dickens, I wrote three articles about the first, the second and the third book of his extraordinary novel A Tale of Two Cities). The plot of Cranford takes place in a small town in Victorian England.

The Book Of Cranford By Elizabeth Gaskell

Cranford is a small town where a group of women leads a quiet life. They know all about each other’s lives, although they don’t pay too much attention to others’ opinions. Each woman keeps her individuality or eccentricity, nevertheless in this little town “good-will reign among them”. Time to time, there is some altercation, but all return to a natural peace and calm. They wear ordinary and suitable dresses, not caring about fashion rules. Regulations rule all the visits and calls, which the ladies sometimes organise. Most of the Cranford families’ standard of living is lowly, and it is forbidden to talk about poverty and money. The people of Cranford try to ignore all the life flaws due to their poverty. Expensive food and drinks are considered vulgar and ostentatious. Frugal and inexpensive lifestyle is an elegant way of living, which satisfies this quiet and humble community.

A Pretty Quiet Novel

This novel is not a real romance or poetry. There are no heroes, and everything is pretty quiet. No rich and wicked people are present in the book. And the poor is no extraordinary at all since the crowd of Cranford includes ordinary and regular persons. Cranford is a small country town with a torporific ambience. The main characters are old “gentlewomen of limited incomes”. Among them, there is Matilda Matty Jenkyns, who is the daughter of a deceased rector. The mise en scene is indoor, where the gentlewomen organise meetings to take the tea and talk about everything. It is a book about ordinary people experiencing common circumstances in their life. The realism of Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell is evident in the homely details of those ladies’ daily lives.

A Country-Town Life

In Cranford, there is a particular art of telling a story. Although neither poetry nor passions are present in this household novel, humour and fun don’t miss. In the beginning, the picturesque chronicles of a “country-town life” were under Household Words. It is the humoristic description of life sketches in a small country town. Madame George Sand expressed her opinion regarding Elizabeth Gaskell, claiming that “Mrs Gaskell has done what other female writers nor I in France can accomplish – she has written novels which excite the deepest interest in men of the world, and which every girl will be the better for reading.” Elizabeth was a hearted and kind person, and she was familiar with her poorer neighbours. Her interactions with the poor gave her an inside vision of the lower, middle and working classes, which influenced her writings. I suggest you read this book to get a different perspective on British literature. I’ve read this edition of Cranford on Apple Books.

October 6, 2020
Melancholic Twilight

Melancholic Twilight

A melancholic twilight was in one of my dreams
Shades of purple and pink were blending in the firmament
A cold wind was stroking the tree fronds
Dismay and fears were emerging like pale ghosts of my past
A past which I could not avoid nor forget
No choice is free when the mind is not pure
My reflection in the mirror of dreadful yore was pursuing me
I strove to escape a tangled past while feeling bewildered
While I was utterly overwhelmed by disconcertion
I discovered a melancholic twilight as my misty haven
Emptiness and apathy would protect my inner dismay
As I could bear all the disillusions, which life pretended to offer me
Like a treasure, which is lying under the ocean
Now, as always, I could keep it in a timeless lark.
Esther Racah

October 5, 2020
The Blue Castle

The Blue Castle is a 1926 novel by the Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery. It is a fictional story, which takes place in the Muskoka region of Ontario in Canada. This novel is the fifth book in my second list of books.

The Dreadful Life Of Valancy

The first part of this fantasy is pretty sad and dull. Valancy Stirling, who is the main character of this story, lives a segregated and lifeless life. A life, which is full of anguishes, abuses and repression. She lives in an ugly red brick house on Elm Street, with her dreadful and abusive family, which control her assiduously. Indeed, Valancy is not free to take a walk whenever she wishes. She has to keep the many rules of her family, such as attending the three meals regularly at the same hours and not sneezing at all. She has to be a submissive and docile girl. Valancy is twenty-nine and, her family and acquaintances consider her a hopeless and insignificant spinster. They love to humiliate her and abuse her unassertive nature. Hence Miss Stirling flees to her imaginary blue castle by night.

The Fairy Tale of The Blue Castle

Valancy tries to preserve her sanity, pretending to live a virtual life in her beautiful blue castle. A castle with its turrets and banners on a pine-clad mountain in an unknown land. Everything is gorgeous and exquisite in her blue castle. Handsome knights court her because she is the most beautiful and lovely dame of the castle. No man pays attention to her in her real-life, and everyone mocks her for being an old, lonely and undesired maid. Valancy is “insignificant-looking” with her always short and thin black hair. In the book, Miss Stirling appears as small and slender with a pale complexion. She found refuge in her lovely and exquisite hideout during her colourless life, where she identified herself as a twenty-five-year-old girl. Valancy Stirling closed herself in her small hideous room during the nights and fled to her dreamy castle. Since her family never allowed Valancy to read novels, she found comfort in the nature books by John Foster, which were all about woods, birds and bugs.

The End Of The Anguishes

Valancy’s life’s anguishes endure up to the day she finds out that she will die because of angina pectoris. At this very moment, she realises that “Fear is the original sin. Almost all the evil in the world has its origin because someone is afraid of something. It is a cold, slimy serpent coiling about you. It is horrible to live with fear, and it is of all things degrading”, as John Foster wrote in one of his books. She understands that her submissive “well-behaviour” is due to her fears. All her life, she has been trapped inside her fears to disappoint her family. She allowed her old dismays to overwhelm her, leading an unhappy and miserable life. So Valancy decides to start a new life with unapologetic behaviour, not anymore afraid to disappoint her family. She begins to behave as she wishes, and she expresses her real and unfiltered thoughts as they are in her mind.

Valancy And Her Real Blue Castle

Valancy decides to look for her blue castle. In reality, she goes to keep house for Roaring Abel Gay because of his dying daughter. Mr Gay has a bad reputation for being an alcoholic, and Valancy’s decision is a disgrace for the Stirlings. Even though Valancy works hard and takes care of the moribund Cecily “Cissy” Gay, she finds happiness and freedom, far away from her dreadful Stirling clan. Valancy is acquainted with Barney Snaith, who is well-known as a criminal living as a hermit on his island. She discovers that Barney is a gentleman, a very kind person, and falls in love with him. Therefore, Valancy askes Barney to be her husband because she is going to die soon. After they get married, Valancy lives with Barney on his island, where his house is amazingly similar to her blue castle. Barney hides his identity because, in reality, he is a millionaire and the famous writer John Foster. They love each other candidly, and they enjoy spending time together and travelling. It is a romantic and happy ending story where you will find the Muskoka region’s exquisite nature description.

Reflections

I enjoyed reading this book. It kept me distracted and engaged. I have to confess that in the beginning, I found it an unfortunate and depressing book. Nevertheless, after some chapter, I changed my mind, and I loved it. It indeed is a classic love story, which sometimes can help cheer yourself up, even though the patriarchal beliefs are present in this book. The heroine Valancy, has to be rescued by her charming prince Barney to improve her life. And also in this novel, every woman’s success is to marry a rich gentleman; indeed, without marriage, Valancy was continuing leading her sorrowful life with her dreadful family. Valancy prefers to have a short happy life rather than a long-lifeless existence, which is overflowing with enslavement and fear. She is delighted with her husband, having found the happiness she was seeking. Like a real princess of a fairy tale, Valancy preserves her integrity and pureness. She remains pure, honest and virtuous inside herself. I had read this digital edition in the Apple Book Store.

September 26, 2020
A Midsummer Night

A Midsummer Night

The rustle of leaves echoes in a midsummer night
Crickets constantly chirp, creating a nocturnal symphony
The vast darkness of the night stretches as far as the eye could see
Water drops trickle off tree leaves
The stars light up the Prussian blue sky on a midsummer night
Nocturnal moths dance chaotically like fairies
The mystical mist of the night envelops the city voluptuously
A silvery-grey stillness encloses the landscape
Silver green moonbeams shimmer on little puddles
The intoxicating perfume of tuberose and jasmine fills the air
The shining golden moon accompanies the lonely bright stars
In such a dream, I was wandering through a labyrinth of emotions and longings
Feeling lost in a chaotic life with uncertainties lingering inside my soul
Dreaming of a future where I could live exempt from anguishes and fears.
Esther Racah

September 22, 2020
Sorrow

Sorrow

Sorrow stands magnificently like an imperious marble statue
Haughty and solitary, it does not fear the degeneration due to time
Deep anguish goes inside my bones in a spiritual dismemberment
Once the voluptuousness of the illusions veiled my eyes
And suddenly, it disappears into a thin aura, leaving me unconcealed and helpless
The numbness of sorrow envelops me in a star-quilted veil
And the silence caresses my senses as I lie vulnerable and defenceless
A glimmer of hope illuminates my soul, which lies in the darkness of uncertainty
Shattered dreams and hopes echo like distant memories of a lost past
My gasping soul strives to access the impenetrable world of chimaeras and utopias
Nightmares from the distant past re-emerge furiously like a storm of emotions
An unabashed rush of passions resurfaces from the leaden silence of discontent
More confused than ever, I try to reach out for the stars in the immensity of the universe
In this sorrow, I lie in silence, hiding in the voluptuous world of poetry.
Esther Racah

September 18, 2020
Animal Farm By George Orwell

Animal Farm by George Orwell is a 1945 short allegorical novel. It is about the rebellion of a group of animals on a farm. They want to rebel because of the oppression and abuses perpetrated by their farmers.

The Unusual Animal Farm by George Orwell

Animal Farm by George Orwell is the fourth novel of my second list of books. It is a fiction and phantasmagoric novel, which starts with a nocturnal meeting of all the animals on a farm in England. They organise a rebellion against their farmers, Mr and Mrs Jones. Once they succeed, they happily celebrate. Now the farm goes under the name “Animal Farm”, and they fought against the only creature, the man, who consumes without producing. Once the animals remove their real enemy, they organise their “society” following Animalism’s principles. Their leader is Napoleon, a large and fat Berkshire pig. Napoleon is an allegory of Joseph Stalin, and he stands out for his “reputation for getting his way”. It is the only farm in England to be managed by animals.

Getting Worse And Worse

In Animal Farm by George Orwell, the pigs lead the farm, and the other animals are simple workers, which work very hard in extreme conditions and eating a small amount of food. Indeed, the best food is owned by the pigs, which do not work physically with the excuse to be “responsible” of the organisation of the farm. Soon Napoleon becomes the cruel dictator of Animal Farm, and he makes sure that every subordinate animal works hard without complaining. All-day and every day, all the other animals work for the pigs surrounded by their frightening dogs. While the pigs can read and write correctly, the other animals cannot get further than the letter A. The animal prole is exploited by the pigs, which dominate over the other animals to raise the farm production and sell the products to human farmers.

Human Pigs

Napoleon loves to strike fear and eliminate rebel animals, like a good dictator. At the end of the book, he and his piggy squad start walking on their hind legs, wearing human clothes, smoking, and drinking alcohol. They humanise themselves, adopting the bad habits and customs of the human race. All animals are not equal anymore because “some of them are more equal than others”. The lower animals are more frightened by the pigs rather than human visitors. “Animal Farm” becomes “The Manor Farm” and the pigs become prosperous and powerful. In fact, Napoleon and his pig subalterns planned to replace the previous tyrant’s role from the beginning. The pig dictatorship is more cruel and oppressive than the previous human one.

Moral Of The Story of Animal Farm by George Orwell

This novel precedes Nineteen Eighty-Four, where there is a similar thematic. They are allegorical novels about dictatorship, abuse of power, exploitation of humans and animals, and mass slaughter. The ends justify the means. The suppression of free thought and free speech, and the constant intimidation, are the only ways to create an ignorant and docile prole. Indeed, this is how a dictator overuses his power and exploit the population. Animal Farm might be an allegory of Stalinism. The inspiration of the subject comes from the Stalinist purges in Barcelona. During that period George Orwell and his wife risked perishing. Different American publishers rejected Animal Farm, finding it too English and too anti-Soviet. Nevertheless, it was published in August 1945, and it became a great success.

Thoughts

After 75 years, the reality of Animal Farm is still actual and accurate. Everyone should read this book. Unfortunately, even nowadays, there are still fifty dictatorships around the world. There are countries where freedom is replaced by tyranny, terror, genocide, complete control of the mass. Human rights and every form of liberty are abolished. Usually, the rate of unemployed and impoverished people is very high. Persecutions of people because of their religion and ethnicity are typical of dictatorships and the organisation of concentration camps. It is sad and scary that today the young generation is not aware of past crimes and massacres such as the holocaust. Being Jewish, it hurts so much to read that there is a lack of holocaust knowledge among American millennials and Gen Z. To make this planet a better place, there should be a historical awareness. Hence study history is essential for cognitive moral development.

September 18, 2020