Read Online Fremder by Russell Hoban - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Russell Hoban
Tags: Retail, 20th Century, Literature, USA, Amazon.com, 21st Century, Britain, British History, American Literature, Expatriate Literature
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The black.
S
: By?
G
: Johann Sebastian Schwarz.
S
: Do you mean Bach?
G
: I mean Black. That’s your name too – Schwarz. But you don’t listen.
S
: Which of Schwarz’s compositions are you listening to?
G
:
The Art of Frog
. I hate it.
S
: Why?
G
: No hop.
S
: What about you? Have you got hop?
G
: Don’t be stupid. If I had I wouldn’t be here, would I. Would you like to disappear?
S
: I’m interested in why
you
tried to disappear.
G
: ‘If I should take a notion to jump right into the ocean, ain’t nobody’s business if I do.’ Know that song?
S
: No.
G
: Neither do I, because whatever I do is Corporation business. If I weren’t who I am you wouldn’t be interested in me.
S
: I’m interested because what you’ve done is
my
business now.
G
: You really care about me, do you? (PUTS HER HAND BETWEEN HER LEGS) Do you fancy me?
S
: Can you remember what you were thinking when you took the Lethenil tablets?
G
: Life is a dis-integration.
S
: Can you say more about that?
G
: Before we’re born we’re integrated with the black. Birth tears us loose from that and dis-integrates us into life. So I thought, why not re-integrate. Haven’t you ever thought that, Dr Black? You’re quite hairy, aren’t you.
S
: No, I haven’t ever thought that.
G
: What – never thought that you’re quite hairy?
S
: Never thought of re-integrating with the black. When you took the tablets were you mindful of the fact that another life besides your own was involved?
G
: It was in my mind, yes.
S
: Can you say a little more about that?
G
: How can I say more to someone who’s never thought about re-integrating with the black?
S
: Two other lives, I should have said – there’s the father, isn’t there?
G
: You’re right, this was not an immaculate conception. That’s a very shrewd insight.
S
: Physio says you’re about six months pregnant. Does the father know?
G
: Now I know what happened: I died and went to hell and my punishment is to spend eternity talking to arseholes.
S
: You haven’t answered my question.
G
: Who the hell are you, that all your questions must be answered? You think all my questions get answered?
S
: Do you know who the father is?
G
: Do you know who yours was?
S
: Yes, I do.
G
: Was he an arsehole too?
S
: We were talking about the father of the child you’re carrying.
G
: You were, I wasn’t. I don’t think I can give you any more time just now. (GORN LEAVES THE ROOM)
That session followed Helen Gorn’s first attempt at reintegration with the black. A month later she made a better job of it.
In Izzy’s notebooks the handwriting was different but the voice is pretty much the same. Here’s one of his entries about two months before his death:
10.02.22
The black is all there is. That’s why if you build your house on the black it’ll last for ever.
12
Where is it hidden, the speechless
body of Osiris? Where is it hidden?
In a quiet place, in a place of no words
.
When will it speak, the silent
mouth of Osiris? When will it speak?
Later
.
Rodney Spoor,
Questions
There’s an asteroid in the Sixth Galaxy called A373 – it hasn’t even got a name, just a number. It’s a supply dump for the Thoth cluster, a desert-coloured rock with nothing on it but an open-frame warehouse with an oxybubble in one corner. There’s an automatic coffee shop and a robot modelled on Vermeer’s
Girl with a Pearl Earring
. Her questioning eyes are the same as those that look out of the painting. A plate in her back says that she’s donated by the Sixth Galaxy Poetry Society. Her catalogue includes everything from Sappho to T. P. Stumm. They haven’t named her but I call her Pearl. She’s strictly for poetry, with a contact-activated shielding circuit so there’s no fooling around. You can take her outside the bubble – she doesn’t need air – and you just tell her what you want to hear.
I was on A373 for an inventory a couple of years ago andPearl recited the
S
: By?
G
: Johann Sebastian Schwarz.
S
: Do you mean Bach?
G
: I mean Black. That’s your name too – Schwarz. But you don’t listen.
S
: Which of Schwarz’s compositions are you listening to?
G
:
The Art of Frog
. I hate it.
S
: Why?
G
: No hop.
S
: What about you? Have you got hop?
G
: Don’t be stupid. If I had I wouldn’t be here, would I. Would you like to disappear?
S
: I’m interested in why
you
tried to disappear.
G
: ‘If I should take a notion to jump right into the ocean, ain’t nobody’s business if I do.’ Know that song?
S
: No.
G
: Neither do I, because whatever I do is Corporation business. If I weren’t who I am you wouldn’t be interested in me.
S
: I’m interested because what you’ve done is
my
business now.
G
: You really care about me, do you? (PUTS HER HAND BETWEEN HER LEGS) Do you fancy me?
S
: Can you remember what you were thinking when you took the Lethenil tablets?
G
: Life is a dis-integration.
S
: Can you say more about that?
G
: Before we’re born we’re integrated with the black. Birth tears us loose from that and dis-integrates us into life. So I thought, why not re-integrate. Haven’t you ever thought that, Dr Black? You’re quite hairy, aren’t you.
S
: No, I haven’t ever thought that.
G
: What – never thought that you’re quite hairy?
S
: Never thought of re-integrating with the black. When you took the tablets were you mindful of the fact that another life besides your own was involved?
G
: It was in my mind, yes.
S
: Can you say a little more about that?
G
: How can I say more to someone who’s never thought about re-integrating with the black?
S
: Two other lives, I should have said – there’s the father, isn’t there?
G
: You’re right, this was not an immaculate conception. That’s a very shrewd insight.
S
: Physio says you’re about six months pregnant. Does the father know?
G
: Now I know what happened: I died and went to hell and my punishment is to spend eternity talking to arseholes.
S
: You haven’t answered my question.
G
: Who the hell are you, that all your questions must be answered? You think all my questions get answered?
S
: Do you know who the father is?
G
: Do you know who yours was?
S
: Yes, I do.
G
: Was he an arsehole too?
S
: We were talking about the father of the child you’re carrying.
G
: You were, I wasn’t. I don’t think I can give you any more time just now. (GORN LEAVES THE ROOM)
That session followed Helen Gorn’s first attempt at reintegration with the black. A month later she made a better job of it.
In Izzy’s notebooks the handwriting was different but the voice is pretty much the same. Here’s one of his entries about two months before his death:
10.02.22
The black is all there is. That’s why if you build your house on the black it’ll last for ever.
12
Where is it hidden, the speechless
body of Osiris? Where is it hidden?
In a quiet place, in a place of no words
.
When will it speak, the silent
mouth of Osiris? When will it speak?
Later
.
Rodney Spoor,
Questions
There’s an asteroid in the Sixth Galaxy called A373 – it hasn’t even got a name, just a number. It’s a supply dump for the Thoth cluster, a desert-coloured rock with nothing on it but an open-frame warehouse with an oxybubble in one corner. There’s an automatic coffee shop and a robot modelled on Vermeer’s
Girl with a Pearl Earring
. Her questioning eyes are the same as those that look out of the painting. A plate in her back says that she’s donated by the Sixth Galaxy Poetry Society. Her catalogue includes everything from Sappho to T. P. Stumm. They haven’t named her but I call her Pearl. She’s strictly for poetry, with a contact-activated shielding circuit so there’s no fooling around. You can take her outside the bubble – she doesn’t need air – and you just tell her what you want to hear.
I was on A373 for an inventory a couple of years ago andPearl recited the
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