Thursday, April 30, 2020

a correct sum

"This time the advance he sent Archimboldi was bigger than any previous advance, in fact so large that Martha, the secretary, before mailing the check to Cologne, brought it into Mr. Bubis's office and asked (not once but twice) whether the sum was correct, to which Mr. Bubis answered yes, it was, or it wasn't, what did it matter, a sum, he thought when he was alone again, is always approximate, there is no such thing as a correct sum, only the Nazis and teachers of elementary mathematics believed in correct sums, only sectarians, madmen, tax collectors (God rot them), numerologists who read one's fortune for next to nothing believed in correct sums. Scientists, meanwhile, knew that all numbers were only approximate. Great physicists, great mathematicians, great chemists, and publishers knew that one was always feeling one's way in the dark."

~~ from 2666 by Roberto Bolano



Monday, April 27, 2020

Fear of being no good.

"Ivanov's fear was of a literary nature. That is, it was the fear the afflicts most citizens who, one fine (or dark) day, choose to make the practice of writing, and especially the practice of fiction writing, an integral part of their lives. Fear of being no good. Also fear of being overlooked. But above all, fear of being no good. Fear that one's efforts and striving will come to nothing. Fear of the step that leaves no trace. Fear of the forces and chance of nature that wipe away shallow prints. Fear of dining alone and unnoticed. Fear of going unrecognized. Fear of failure and making a spectacle of oneself. But above all fear of being no good. Fear of forever dwelling in the hell of bad writers."

~~ from 2666 by Roberto Bolano

Thursday, April 23, 2020

a president for writers

Becky Tuch wrote, "Bernie Sanders Would be a Great President for Writers," and although the candidate is one no longer, it seems important to recognize how such a presidency, and the expressed policies of the candidate, would positively impact the lives of a large group of writers who survive through adjunct classes, freelance work, and other gig employment.

Monday, April 20, 2020

customs

"Rosa was seventeen and she was Spanish. Amalfitano was fifty and Chilean. Rosa had had a passport since she was ten. On some of their trips. . . they had found themselves in strange situations, because Rosa went through customs by the gate for EU citizens and Amalfitano went by the gate for non-EU citizens. The first time, Rosa threw a tantrum and started to cry and refused to be separated from her father. Another time, since the lines were moving at different speeds, the EU citizens' line quickly and the noncitizens' line more slowly and laboriously, Rosa got lost and it took Amalfitano half an hour to find her. Sometimes the customs officers would see Rosa, so little, and ask whether she was traveling alone or whether someone was waiting for her outside. Rosa would answer that she was traveling with her father, who was South American, and she was supposed to wait for him right there. Once Rosa's suitcase was searched because they suspected her father of smuggling drugs or arms under cover of his daughter's innocence and nationality. But Amalfitano never trafficked in drugs, or for that matter arms."

~~ from 2666 by Roberto Bolano

Friday, April 10, 2020

Reading

"I was doing something useful. Something useful no matter how you look at it. Reading is like thinking, like praying, like talking to a friend, like expressing your ideas, like listening to other people's ideas, like listening to music (oh yes), like looking at the view, like taking a walk on the beach. And you, who are so kind, now you must be asking: What did you read, Barry? I read everything."

~~ from 2666 by Roberto Bolano

Tuesday, April 7, 2020

Bolano's Geometry

"Espinoza went out into the backyard and saw a book hanging from a clothesline. He didn't want to go over and see what book it was, but when he went back into the house he asked Amalfitano about it.

"'It's Rafael Dieste's Testamento geometrico,' said Amalfitano.

"'Rafeael Dieste, the Galician poet,' said Espinoza.

"'That's right,' said Amalfitano, 'but this is a book of geometry, not poetry, ideas that came to Dieste while he was a high school teacher.'

"Espinoza translated what Amalfitano had said for Pelletier.

"'And it's hanging outside?' said Pelletier with a smile.

"'Yes,' said Espinoza as Amalfitano looked in the refrigerator for something to eat, 'like a shirt out to dry.'"

~~ from 2666 by Roberto Bolano

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