A Review of the prose piece It Ended How It Began written by Grace Atta. Words by Connor Murphy
Published in the University of Adelaide’s May edition of On Dit, Grace Atta’s It Ended How It Began describes the heaving ebb of creation and destruction, and features the theme of circularity. The piece echoes the nostalgic voice of a person who seeks out the grandeur of the little moments and an appreciation of what once was. A song, a dance, friendship, and romance all reach finality, but that they happened, is enough to fill one’s heart. Atta’s prose is reminiscent of the philosophical phenomena described by Friedrich Nietzsche in The Birth of Tragedy which he titles ‘Eternal Return’: a doctrine which frames human existence as a continuous cycle of reoccurring events. The circularity of the events portrayed in the subdued eloquence of Atta’s writing evokes a sense of sentimentality. It is in the revelation, that it isn’t the beginning or end which matters, but the “space in-between” which grants life and these moments meaning. The paradox of Atta’s piece is that it begins as something totally inconsequential, a thought, and ends with a revelation that means everything. The beauty of it lies not in the subtle pessimism of an end, but the celebration of existence. I felt my heart shatter before Atta pieced it back together in her undying optimism of these moments. And once mended upon reading her work, each chamber was bound by gold; her lyricism became kintsugi, and within the space between lay something beautiful.
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