EVENT #2

Adolescence is thought to be the most complex and painful stage in human growth. But then we encounter a subsequent stage of life—perhaps an extension of adolescence itself—and we realize that we have not yet fully distanced ourselves from a certain idea of ourselves as youngsters, as children, as innocents. “This is the period of life in which such moments […] are likely to come. […] the moments of boredom, of weariness, of dissatisfaction. Rash moments. I mean moments when the still young are inclined to commit rash actions, such as getting married suddenly or else throwing up a job for no reason”. This is how Conrad describes the crossing of “the shadow line”, the turbulent entry into “the second youth”. Fiction has often dealt with this culminating stage of formation when we have to rationalize who we are, and at the same time detach ourselves from the place we come from.