Why the story was written
Hilda placed her hands on Rebecca's head.
"The snow is coming," she said. "Soon it will be snow time. Together then as in other snow times. Drinking busthead 'round the fire. Truth is a locked room that we knock the lock off from time to time, and then board up again. Tomorrow you will hurt me, and I will inform you that you have done so, and so on and so on. To hell with it. Come, viridian friend, come and sup with me."
They sit down together. The pork with red cabbage steams before them. They speak quietly of the McKinley Administration, which is being revised by revisionist historians. The story ends. It was written for several reasons. Nine of them are secrets. The tenth is that one should never cease considering human love, which remains as grisly and golden as ever, no matter what is tattooed upon the warm tympanic page.
--Donald Barthelme, "Rebecca"
"The snow is coming," she said. "Soon it will be snow time. Together then as in other snow times. Drinking busthead 'round the fire. Truth is a locked room that we knock the lock off from time to time, and then board up again. Tomorrow you will hurt me, and I will inform you that you have done so, and so on and so on. To hell with it. Come, viridian friend, come and sup with me."
They sit down together. The pork with red cabbage steams before them. They speak quietly of the McKinley Administration, which is being revised by revisionist historians. The story ends. It was written for several reasons. Nine of them are secrets. The tenth is that one should never cease considering human love, which remains as grisly and golden as ever, no matter what is tattooed upon the warm tympanic page.
--Donald Barthelme, "Rebecca"
Labels: Other people's words
posted by GeoX, one of the GeoX boys. at 8:10 PM
You know that was hard to read, right?
Are you drunk? I think you might be drunk.
Rather, I am tired. I've been dealing with some level of sleep deprivation for at least 27 years now. Probably as a result, I'm more lucid on the few occasions I drink seriously. Were I drunk, I'd probably be better equipped to excoriate that snippet than I am now, sober as I am.
As it stands, I should just go to sleep.