More Zambrano

To know enough about María Zambrano to write about her with confidence, I will have to know much more about her than I need to know to support my basic points. Only a small fraction of what I learn will fit in the 30 pages I am writing about her. I cannot even estimate a percentage, but let's just say I'll have to go through a few thousand pages of secondary material in addition to understanding what she is about in several of her own works. She is not a verbose writer, but she wrote quite a bit and her prose is dense. I will have know her at the capillary level just to be able to make a point confidently at the level of veins and arteries.

Now here's the interesting thing: I actually like learning more than I need to. That's one of the pleasures or luxuries of my profession. The pleasure of mastery. If I just studied and thought enough until I could barely fill 30 pages, then I my work would not have the depth that I want it to have.

I will know when I know enough because I will reach the point where everything I am reading about her falls into the category of dejà vu.