Pascal Quignard: Happiness of a Day

Pascal Quignard, the Goncourt Prize-winning author and writer of *Secret Life*, presents his reflections on "Carpe Diem." *Une Journée de Bonheur* (A Day's Happiness) by French author Pascal Quignard, who has long been loved in Korea for his deep insights into humanity and the universe as well as his unique writing that transcends genres, has been published by Munhak & Jiseongsa. This book contains Pascal Quignard's reflections on "Carpe Diem." The meaning of this Latin phrase is commonly known as "cut off/follow this day" or "seize the day/the present." This quote, spoken by the ancient Roman poet Horace, was constantly recounted until it spread rapidly following the movie *Dead Poets Society*, and has now taken root in our minds to the point where almost no one is unfamiliar with it. However, Quignard asks a serious question anew. “Why do you try to pluck this day? Wouldn’t it be better to live the passing moments more faithfully than to snatch them up from within the successive hours?” (p. 12) To find the precise meaning of this sentence, Kinyar embarks on a journey of contemplation that begins with the act of picking flowers and traverses Ikebana (the traditional Japanese flower arrangement), the origins of words, various myths and works of art, and the Lord’s Prayer. The destination of this contemplation is “Take the light of the day (diem).” Kinyar argues that it should be understood not as “cutting the day (diem)” or “snatching this day from the flow of time as if there were no next day,” but rather as meaning to “slowly pluck every moment of the day, little by little, like grazing on grass, grind it finely, and chew.” For that is precisely the “happiness of the day.”

Korean title: 하룻낮의 행복

Korean author: 파스칼 키냐르

Korean publisher: 문학과지성사

ISBN-13: 9788932039176