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Georges Perec

Georges Perec Quotes

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Famous Georges Perec Quotes

“Estás solo, y al estar solo, no has de mirar nunca la hora, no has de contar nunca los minutos. No has de abrir de nuevo tu correo febrilmente, no has de seguir decepcionado si sólo encuentras en él un prospecto invitándote a adquirir por la módica suma de setenta y siete francos los tesoros del arte occidental o una vajilla de postre con tus iniciales grabadas. Has de olvidarte de esperar, de emprender, de tener éxito, de perseverar. Te dejas llevar, y eso te resulta casi fácil.”

IndifferenceExistentialismYouTúUn Hombre Que Duerme
Book:Un homme qui dort
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“Uzunca bir süre kendine sığınaklar kurup yıktın: düzen ya da eylemsizlik, başıboş sürüklenme ya da uyku, geceleyin devriye gezmeler, yansız anlar,gölgelerin ve ışıkların kaçışı.Daha uzun bir süre kendine yalan söylemeyi,kendini sersemleştirmeyi,kendi oyununa gelmeyi sürdürebilirsin belki.Ama oyun bitti,büyük şenlik,ertelenmiş yaşamın yalancı sarhoşluğu bitti.Dünya yerinden kıpırdamadı ve sen değişmedin. Kayıtsızlık seni farklı kılmadı.”

SolitudeIndifference
Book:Un homme qui dort
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“There are two people in the waiting room. One is an extremely thin old man, a retired teacher of French who still gives tuition by correspondence, and who whilst waiting his turn is correcting a pile of scripts with a pencil sharpened to a fine point. On the script he is about to examine, the essay title can be read: In Hell, Raskolnikov meets Meursault (“The Outsider”). Imagine a dialogue between them using material from both novels.”

HellCrime And PunishmentThe Outsider
Book:Life: A User's Manual
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“They dreamed of living in the countryside, out of temptation’s way. They would live a calm and frugal life. They would have a white stone house, on the edge of a village, warm elephant-cord trousers, heavy shoes, anoraks, metal-tipped walking sticks and hats, and every day they would go for long walks in the forest. Then they would come back home, would make tea and toast, like the English do, put big logs on the hearth; they would play a quartet on the gramophone, which they would never tire of hearing, would read the great novels they had never had time to read, would have their friends to stay.”

HappinessCountry LifePerfect Life
Book:Things: A Story of the Sixties and A Man Asleep
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“Maintenant tu n'as plus de refuges. Tu as peur, tu attends que tout s'arrête, la pluie, les heures, le flot des voitures, la vie, les hommes, le monde, que tout s'écroule, les murailles, les tours, les planchers et les plafonds; que les hommes et les femmes, les vieillards et les enfants, les chiens, les chevaux, les oiseaux, un à un, tombent à terre, paralysés, pestiférés, épileptiques; que le marbre s'effrite, que le bois se pulvérise, que les maisons s'abattent en silence, que les pluies diluviennes dissolvent les peintures, disjoignent les chevilles des armoires centenaires, déchiquettent les tissus, fassent fondre l'encre des journaux; q'un feu sans flammes ronge les marches des escaliers; que les rues s'effondrent en leur exact milieu, découvrant le labyrinthe béant des égouts; que la rouille et la brume envahissent la ville.”

End Of The WorldPhantasm
Book:Un homme qui dort
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“During the day, the light flooding in would make the room seem a little sad, despite the roses. It would be an evening room. But in the winter, with the curtains drawn, some spots illuminated--the bookcase corner, the record shelves, the desk, the low table between the two settees, and the vague reflections in the mirror--and large expanses in shadow, whence all things would gleam--the polished wood, the rich, heavy silks, the cut glass, the softened leather--it would be a haven of peace, a land of happiness.”

ComfortInteriorsMaterial Possessions
Book:Things: A Story of the Sixties / A Man Asleep
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“I write in order to live and I live in order to write, and I've come close to imagining that writing and living might merge completely: I would live in the company of dictionaries, deep in some provincial retreat, in the mornings I would go for a walk in the woods, in the afternoons I would blacken a few sheets of paper, in the evenings I would relax perhaps by listening to a bit of music.”

Writers On WritingWriters LifeIdyll
Book:Brief Notes on the Art and Manner of Arranging One's Books
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“Forse sapevano, un po' meglio degli altri, decifrare, o magari suscitare, questi segni favorevoli. Le loro orecchie, le loro dita, il loro palato, come se fossero stati costantemente all'erta, aspettavano solo questi istanti propizi, scatenabili con un nonnulla. Ma, in questi momenti in cui si lasciavano trasportare da un sentimento di calma totale, di eternità, che nessuna tensione turbava, in cui tutto era in equilibrio, deliziosamente lento, la forza di quelle gioie esaltava tutto quel che c'era in esse di effimero e fragile.”

YoungEnjoymentEquilibrioThe MomentThe ThingPerecLes ChosesLe Cose
Book:Les Choses
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“Apenas has vivido y sin embargo ya está todo dicho, terminado. Sólo tienes veinticinco años pero tu senda está toda trazada. Los roles asignados, las etiquetas: del orinal de tu primera infancia a la silla de ruedas de tu vejez, todos los asientos están ahí y esperan tu turno. Tus aventuras están tan bien descritas que la revolución más violenta no haría pestañar a nadie. Da igual que bajes la calle lanzando por ahí los sombreros de la gente, cubriéndote la cabeza de basura, descalzo, publicando manifiestos, disparando con un revólver al paso de cualquier usurpador: tu cama ya está hecha en el dormitorio del asilo, tus cubiertos dispuestos en la mesa de los poetas malditos. Barco ebrio, milagro miserable: Harare es una atracción de feria, un viaje organizado. Todo está previsto, todo está preparado hasta el menor detalle: los grandes impulsos del corazón, la fría ironía, la aflicción, la plenitud, el exotismo, la gran aventura, la desesperación. No le venderás tu alma al diablo, no irás, en sandalias, a arrojarte al Etna, no destruirás la séptima maravilla del mundo. Todo está ya preparado para tu muerte: la bala que acabará contigo se fundió hace mucho, las plañideras ya han sido designadas para seguir tu ataúd.”

EspañolSpanishUn Hombre Que Duerme
Book:Un homme qui dort
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“...eninde sonunda öyle bir an gelir ki, herkesin bir kesinlik olarak gördüğü şey görevini yerine getirmez olur, hareketi kanıtlamak için yürümek, yaşamayı kanıtlamak için nefes almak yetersiz kalır. O andan itibaren her şey sorulara dönüşür ama cevapsız sorulara: daha dışa vurulduğu an, sorgulamanın yıkıcı olmaktan öte bir etkisi yokmuş gibidir: sorgulayan, gerçeği, kanıtı arayıp bulayım derken olsa olsa kuşkuyla karşı karşıya gelir. Hem zaten, sorgulayan ben artık var olduğundan bile emin değilken, nasıl bir sorgulama yapılabilir ki?”

VarlıkPerecVar OlmakKuşkuSorgulamaDoğdum
Author:Georges Perec
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“Parfois, tu rêves que le sommeil est une morte lente qui te gagne, une anestésie douce et terrible à la fois, une nécrose heureuse : le froid monte le long de tes jambes, le long de tes bras, monte lentement, t'engourdit, t'annihile. Ton orteil est une montagne lointaine, ta jambe un fleuve, ta joue est ton oreiller, tu loges tout entier dans ton pouce, tu fonds, tu coules comme du sable, comme du mercure.”

SleepPhantasm
Book:Un homme qui dort
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“Describe your street. Describe another street. Compare. Make an inventory of your pockets, of your bag. Ask yourself about the provenance, the use, what will become of each of the objects you take out. Question your tea spoons. What is there under your wallpaper? How many movements does it take to dial a phone number? Why? Why don’t you find cigarettes in grocery stores? Why not?”

HumanityPeaceQuestioningBeing HumanBeingGeographyPlace
Book:Brief Notes on the Art and Manner of Arranging One's Books
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“What we need to question is bricks, concrete, glass, our table manners, our utensils, our tools, the way we spend our time, our rhythms. To question that which seems to have ceased forever to astonish us. We live, true, we breathe, true; we walk, we go downstairs, we sit at a table in order to eat, we lie down on a bed on order to sleep. How? Where? When? Why? Describe your street. Describe another. Compare.”

WayNeedsSeemsLyingOrderSleepWalksForeverStreetsBedToolsTablesGlassesBreatheRhythmMannersCompareOur TimeConcreteBricksTable MannersUtensils
Author:Georges Perec
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“This is how space begins, with words only, signs traced on the blank page. To describe space: to name it, to trace it, like those portolano-makers who saturated the coastlines with the names of harbours, the names of capes, the names of inlets, until in the end the land was only separated from the sea by a continuous ribbon of text. Is the aleph, that place in Borges from which the entire world is visible simultaneously, anything other than an alphabet?”

WorldEndsNamesSpaceSeaLandPagesVisibleMakersBlankAlphabetRibbonsCapesSaturatedBlank PagesBorgesHarbourCoastline
Author:Georges Perec
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“From this, one can make a deduction which is quite certainly the ultimate truth of jigsaw puzzles: despite appearances, puzzling is not a solitary game: every move the puzzler makes, the puzzlemaker has made before; every piece the puzzler picks up, and picks up again, and studies and strokes, every combination he tries, and tries a second time, every blunder and every insight, each hope and each discouragement have all been designed, calculated, and decided by the other.”

TryingMadeMovingGamesStudyPiecesPicksDecidedUltimateAppearanceInsightDespiteCombinationSolitaryStrokesPuzzlesDiscouragementBlundersDeductionsPuzzlingUltimate TruthJigsawJigsaw Puzzles
Book:Life: A User's Manual
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“Force yourself to write down what is of no interest, what is most obvious, most common, most colourless...antique shops, clothes, hi-fi, etc. Don't say, don't write 'etc'. Make an effort to exhaust the subject, even if that seems grotesque, or pointless, or stupid. You still haven't looked at anything, you've merely picked out what you've long ago picked out.”

IfsWritingLongStillsSeemsForceInterestCommonEffortSubjectsHavensStupidClothesObviousShopsEtcLong AgoPointlessGrotesqueAntiques
Author:Georges Perec
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