LE OPERE: Places of my infancy

" During these last few days ( mid - June, 1955 ) I have been rereading Sthendhal's Henri Brulard. I had not read it since long ago in 1922, when I must have still been obsessed by "explicit beauty" and "subjective interest", for I remember notliking the book.
Now I cannot but agree with anyone who judges it to be Stendhal's masterpiece; it has an immediacy of feeling, an obvious sincerity, a remarkable attempt to sweep away accumulated memories and reach the essence. And what lucidity of style! What a mass of reflections, the more precious for being common to all men!
I should like to try and do the same. Indeed it seems obligatory. When one reaches the decline of life it is imperative to try and gather together as many as possible of the sensations which have passed through our particular organism."