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Quote by Christian Kracht

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1979

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Christian Kracht

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“What saved me from open conflict with him from the first moment I set foot in #1409 was partly self-discipline on my side, partly the fortunate circumstance that I was able to muffle the effect of this jungle themed wallpaper by thinking of my own wallpaper, i.e. wallpaper of the highest Kroft & Aklam quality, where the same tiny little puppy is reproduced over and over again in groups or rather in wheels or circles of five and five, or, if you like, in rosette-patterns which are made up of five little walldogs springing at each other's tails, that's to say five walldogs to each rosette. I don't doubt for one moment that it was the thought of the five rosette-dogs which saved my relationship with Lem from degenerating into fisticuffs”

“They returned to the gallery and circled its rim, then went down a short hall. Scrap's tail twitched angrily when they reached Tristan's door: it was shut. Daine grabbed the knob. It stung her hand, making her yelp. "Kit? This ones magicked. Can you do anything?" Kitten stood on her hind feet and peered into the lock, then whistled two cheerful notes. Nothing happened. She scowled and whistled again, less cheerfully, more as a demand. Nothing happened. Daine was trying to decide what to do now when the dragon moved back and croaked. The lock popped from the wood to land at Daine's feet, smoking, and the door swung open. Kitten muttered darkly and kicked the lock mechanism aside as she went in. Daine followed, trying not to laugh.”

“Now and again, one could detect in a childless woman of a certain age the various characteristics of all the children she had never issued. Her body was haunted by the ghost of souls who hadn't lived yet. Premature ghosts. Half-ghosts. X's without Y's. Y's without X's. They applied at her womb and were denied, but, meant for her and no one else, they wouldn't go away. Like tiny ectoplasmic gophers, they hunkered in her tear ducts. They shone through her sighs. Often to her chagrin, they would soften the voice she used in the marketplace. When she spilled wine, it was their playful antics that jostled the glass. They called out her name in the bath or when she passed real children in the street. The spirit babies were everywhere her companions, and everywhere they left her lonesome - yet they no more bore her resentment than a seed resents uneaten fruit. Like pet gnats, like phosphorescence, like sighs on a string, they would follow her into eternity.”

“She had lived through years of teasing as a child because of her slow speech, first in Babylon, and later in Susa, being told she was a dolt, or worse, a bore, too dull to befriend. By the time she thought of the answer to one thing, the conversation had often moved in a different direction. People her own age had found her tedious, not having the patience to wait until she said her piece. To them, she was hardly present. Not worth the effort of friendship. She had learned to protect herself by not risking new friendships, a habit that had stuck into adulthood. Jadon had been different from the start. He had waited on every word, his easy smile reassuring her anxious heart. Never once had he made her feel unwanted. At times she wondered if he had been born to understand her.”