see the real thing

 "I went to bed thinking how China exists so distinctly in people's minds that it is hard to shake that fantasy loose and see the real thing." 

~~ from Riding the Iron Rooster: By Train Through China by Paul Theroux

Letter from Chengdu

Peter Hessler returns to Sichuan Province, China.


difficult to read and impossible to write

 "I find it difficult to read and impossible to write with another person nearby. If the person is staring at me over a quart of jam and a crumbling load of bread, I am driven to distraction. So I did nothing but watch him because there was nothing but that to do. He was odd in another way: if I glanced out the window, so did he; if I went into the corridor, he followed; if I talked to the boy next door, whose father lay dying among empty champagne bottles, the zombie was at my heels and then peering over my shoulder. I couldn't rid myself of him—and I tried."

~~ from The Great Railway Bazaar: By Train Through Asia by Paul Theroux

Faulkner and Bellow in Kyoto

"'So you concentrate on the classics?'

"'Yes, eight century, ninth century, also eleventh century.' He enumerated the works and put the [Henry] James away. He was, he said, a university professor. His name was Professor Toyama and he taught at one of the universities in Kyoto. He said I would like Kyoto. [William] Faulkner had liked Kyoto, and Saul Bellow—well, he had liked it too. 'Mr. Saul Bellow was not enjoying himself. Then we took him to a strip show. He liked it quite a lot!'"

~~ from The Great Railway Bazaar: By Train Through Asia by Paul Theroux

Edward P. Jones in The Paris Review

This week, I found myself rereading The Paris Review interview with Edward P. Jones:

"We lived in eighteen different places by the time I was eighteen, but New York Avenue is the earliest place I can remember. It’s quite fancy now. Then we moved across the street, into a rooming house. My mother couldn’t read, and I remember she got a letter from the court, and she had to find a guy to read it, and it said that they were going to commit my brother. The phrasing at that time was 'feebleminded,' not 'retarded.' I can remember her crying. She had hard trouble with three kids, but just the idea of losing one . . ."

Two months since the riots, and still no "National Conversation"

"Residents of Chicago’s predominantly black South and West sides remarked that the looting appeared to begin at apparel stores like Foot Locker, and then branched out from there. Here’s how one man described the progression. Opportunistic 'looting' should generally be distinguished from the more ideologically-motivated 'rioting,' as those who 'looted' were generally locals (mostly but not exclusively blacks) who simply took advantage of an unprecedentedly chaotic situation to seize goods. Whereas 'riots' motivated by consciously insurrectionist ideology — consisting of arson attacks and other actions intended to maximize chaos — appear to have been largely instigated by left-wing activist whites. You could possibly group both activities under the banner of 'rioting,' but it’s worth drawing a distinction between these two different kinds of conduct which arise in a riot context."

~~ from "Two months since the riots, and still no 'National Conversation'" by Michael Tracey