The barriers of self

The barriers of self

Literature--Twentieth Century--Sean O'Faolain--Lough Derg

As they drive away from Lough Derg in silence, Jenny reflects on her experience

Sean O'Faolain, 1900-1991

The Lovers of the Lake', in The Collected Stories of Sean O'Faolain, Vol. 2, pp. 18-43, here p. 37

Constable and Company, London

1981

Citation for the purposes of criticism

Edited edition

English

Collection of short stories

DD_0243

54.616218, -7.876212

“They were driving back out of the hills by the road they had come, both silent. At last she could hold in her question no longer:

‘Did you go, Bobby?’

Meaning: had he, after all his years of silence, of rebellion, of disbelief, make his peace with God at the price of a compact against her. He replied gently:

‘Did I probe your secrets all these years?’

She took the rebuke humbly, and for several miles they drove on in silence. They were close, their shoulders touched, but between them stood that impenetrable wall of identity that segregates every human being in a private world of self. Feeling it she realized at last that it is only in places like the lake-island that the barriers of self break down…. Only when love desires nothing but renunciation, total surrender, does self surpass self.”

Short stories