I just read a book from Michael Herr, an American writer and war correspondent, who wrote Dispatch, a great book about the Vietnam war.
He wrote a book, a “personal biography” about Stanley Kubrick. He worked for him for years as a writer (he co-wrote Full Metal Jacket).
Kubrick was exhausting, very intelligent, and constantly calling people on the phone. He was living near London but spent many hours a day talking to friends and collaborators. He stayed American all his life and stayed connected to his country all the time.
Herr writes that when Kubrick ended a conversation (called by him a “strenuous intercourse”) with you, he knew everything about what you had in your head about a subject. Devouring your brain…
- Well, I didn’t know this word, “strenuous“, so I found: energetic, vigorous, requiring strength. Also: unremitting, dogged, tenacious. OK!
- But “intercourse“, really? For me, it was about sex only, but I found: discussion, and this example: “The two businesses had a lot of intercourse over the years”. OKeyyyy!
I ADORE this ambiguity. If in this blog I look for structures, I can’t agree more:
A great conversation is very similar to great sex.
And it installs an “instant roof” over both persons.
- Listening
- Attention to the other
- Games
- Attempts
- Giving
- Deciding together
- Ecstasy
- Progress
- Talking
- Connecting
- Intimacy
- Exploring
- Laughing
- Staying silent together
- Pauses
- Going fast
- Changing rhythms
- Surprises
- Dancing
- Ideas
- Segments
- Communication
- Learning
- Listening!
Thanks for reading!
a french toolbox 