Paradise of Thorns

This is a genre of discourse that our contemporary writers have not explored, either because they have not paid attention to it or because they have not paid attention to it. Yet, it is one of the most appropriate forms of discourse for the age in which we live. We live in an age of transition, as we have been told since we first learned about life. Ages of transition are characterized by a proliferation of turbulent opinions, confusion of affairs, and the deviation of individual and social behavior from the usual ways of life. All of this prompts criticism and encourages attention to correcting corruption and straightening out crookedness, pointing out goodness so that it may be sought after and evil so that it may be avoided, and highlighting what is good and what is not good in a powerful, captivating way, deeply impacting the soul, deeply appealing to taste, and greatly suited to nature. We live in an age we still hear is one of speed, in which time, no matter how long, is short of the burdens we need to fulfill, which have never been so numerous or burdensome to people in any other era as they are becoming more numerous, burdensome, diverse, and crowded these days. All this prompts us to prefer brevity to prolixity, and to aim for what suits our short time and our many tasks, and these moments when we have some leisure time to enjoy the pleasures of pure literature and refined art. There is no doubt that our modern life has found in our modern literature a true mirror that depicts it in the best, most accurate, and most fortunate way of entertaining the mind, satisfying taste, and suiting nature. We have known the essay since the end of the last century, and we have become familiar with its various genres, diverse arts, and successful attempts to depict the aspects of our lives that we need to be depicted. At times, it is critical and at other times praising, at other times educating and at other times concerned with artistic enjoyment, addressing politics in all its shades, social life in all its diverse forms, and intellectual life in all its diverse branches.