Hard-Boiled Wonderland and The End of The World

 

 

 

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and The End of the World

 

First Vintage International Edition, March 1993

 

 

 

村사람의 소설이다. 壓卷.

 

[여러 책이나 작품 가운데 재일 잘된 책이나 작품. 고대 중국의 관리 등용 시험에서 가장 뛰어난 답안지..]

 

日書를 당장 구하기로 마음먹는다. 英文 그 자체로 獨自的.

 

 

 

 

 

P22. Or was it the chubby woman in the pink suit?

 

P28 All the skulls has their mouths popped open

 

P38 Here, is this a post office for dead letters?

 

P39 Ask whatever questions you want, but remember, I may not answer

 

 

 

• Peg=Pin=Stick= Leg

 

P42 She stares at me and searches her memeory, but in the end shakes her head

 

I suppose. Still, I have the impression that elsewhere we may all have lived totally other lives,

 

P43 I look up at the ceiling again, then back at her. It is certain: her face bears a fatal connection to something in me.

 

P45 There are people who drive luxury cars, but have only second- or third-rate sofas in their homes.

 

P47 Got t’let your sex drive out in some constructive way.

 

P59 the skull is unnaturally light, with virtually no material presence.

 

P62 You cannot come into Town with that. Either you lose the shadow or forgot about coming inside.

 

I surrendered my shadow.

 

The Gatekeeper had me stand in an open space beside the Gate. The three-o’clock afternoon sun fixed my shadow fast to the ground. Keep still now, the Gatekeeper told me. Then he produced a knife and deftly worked it in between the shadow and the ground. The shadow writhed in resistance. But to no avail. Its dark form peeled neatly away.

 

 

 

P75 I’d love a double cone of mocha chip on top of pistachio, would you mind?

 

P76 glimpsed from above, the nape of her neck was sweet and defenseless.

 

P78 They did whatever they felt like, whenever. Which is why no one could read their Modus Operandi.

 

P106 My shadow glances in my direction, then resuming work. He is furious with me, I can tell.

 

P110 As the autumn deepens, the fathomless lakes of their eyes assume an ever more sorrowful hue.

 

P123 There is no beyond. She says. Did you not know? We are at the end of the World. We are here forever.

 

P135 Consider the gravity of the situation.

 

P136 Junior made a c’mon–anything-at-all gesture with his hand.

 

P141 no bait no bite

 

P 143 the passing of autumn leaves a temporary blank, an empty hole in the year that is not of a season at all.

 

P144 Winter is a season unto itself. The short cries of the birds grow thin and shrill; at time only flapping of the wings disturb the void.

 

P173 the scent of winter wind is on her.

 

P240 I craved a swig of whiskey

 

P246 How are you holding up? I ask. How do you expect? Says my shadow

 

P247 In order to make sense, we’d have to be put back together, which is not going to happen.

 

P249 My shadow gazes up at the sky and closes his eyes.

 

P257 Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and leave the rest alone.

 

As long as an individual’s alive, he will undergo experience in some form or other, and those experiences are stored up instant and instant. To stop experiencing is to die.

 

P273 Will you permit me to get a little mad?

 

P304 I am thinking I would be wonderful if I could follow you into that world where you are going.

 

P306 Alcoholic, always keeps shot glass of gin, straight with twisted lemon, on top of piano.

 

P322 above the ground, fine needles of rain were coming down.

 

P323 listen to what it says here. The typical man enjoys it when a woman swallows his semen. This is a sign of total obedience toward the man on the part of the woman. It is at once a ceremony and an affirmation.

 

P341 but like a boat with a twisted rudder, I kept coming back to the same places.

 

P346 we should get together sometime

 

P351 No your shadow is dead and buried in the Apple Gove.

 

P357 Great, she said. I never trust people with no appetite.

 

It’s like they’re always holding something back on you.

 

P358 Turgenev, Flaubert, Maugham_ the razor’s edge.

 

Wiping squid ink from my lips

 

P363 She set the skull on the table and reclaimed her wine glass.

 

Pat Boone sang softly, I’ll Be Home. Time seemed to flow in the wrong direction, whichever way it pleased.

 

She drew the lace curtain on the window to the yard and turned out the lights. We stripped by the moonlight. She removed her necklace, removed her bracelet-watch, took off her velvet dress…..Up front, she prompted. Things do evolve after all.

 

P365 Oh Danny boy,

 

P372 Holding my hands over the skull, I sensed the slightest ember of heat, as my fingers were enveloped in that pale membrane of light.

 

P375 I like the moments of darkness before dawn.

 

P386 It’s not the best of all worlds, says my shadow

 

P387 The autumn sky was as clear as if it had been made that very morning.

 

P388 Two people can sleep in the same bed an still be alone when they close eyes. if you know what I mean.

 

P 395 I wanted to think I gave the Professor and his chubby granddaughter and my librarian friend a little happiness.

 

 

 

가을 묘사가 아름답다

 

행복’을 준 사람이었기를 바라다

 

재미있는 소설이다

 

363페이지의 두 쪽은 다시 읽을 만.

 

위스키보다는 레드와인’인가

 

2018년10월26일 胡志明의 都市 []鎭[]