—– October 11th, 2012 —–
(MixLit made for london-based company And Other Stories)
A man of certain age in a student bar
Standing by the counter in a student bar1 didn’t improve my mood.2 Music at full blast3, no one feels like a conversation.4 It’s something a man of my generation has trouble with, but the younger men are a different breed,5 unaware of each other’s existence.6
Lungs filling with smoke,7 I had a really strange feeling in my chest. It was hot and it didn’t hurt, but it made me think8 I’m a social animal, not a loner, I like to have company.9
‘Give me a drink,’ I croaked.10 ‘I’ll have another beer. A large one.’11
I approached12 a girl with a brace and a school bag and dangling legs.13 Her front teeth were crooked, snarled into each other, and her hair was drying into copper-coloured curls. ‘What’s your name?’
‘Nina.’14
‘I’m devastatingly desperately bored.’15
‘Yes, Granda, I think so.’16
‘What a delightful child!’
‘Yes, that’s what everyone tells me,’ she said, smiling so that the dimples in her cheeks twinkled.17 ‘Have you got a wife outside, I mean, is there a girl waiting for you?’18
‘I see what you’re saying.’19
‘Don’t get your hopes up,20 old man21,’ Nina rolled her eyes and22 I watched her swaying to the exit, raising both hands and saying something I didn’t understand.23
I went over to the dance floor, wanting to disappear too, closed my eyes and started moving slowly. I was a bit scared I might have forgotten how to do that as well, but once I moved my feet to the rhythm my shoulders started relaxing, my arms still dangling on either side, but then I raised them slightly, moving them at chest level, someone nudged me in the back, pretty hard, but it didn’t bother me24 everyone thought25 I was the most pathetic person in the whole universe.26 I thought this would be the moment to show I was worthy of the honour.27
This MixLit piece was made specially for And Other Stories. And Other Stories is a london-based editorial company and invited me to build a MixLit only with their books. This MixLit is the piece that launched their blog, as you can see here.
1 Iosi HAVILIO. Open Door, page 121.
2 Carlos GAMERRO. The Islands, page 210.
3 Iosi HAVILIO. Open Door, page 121.
4 Cristoph SIMON. Zbinden’s Progress, page 8.
5 Helen DeWITT. Lighting Rods, page 67.
6 Oleg ZAIONCHKOVSKY. Happiness is Possible, page 3.
7 Iosi HAVILIO. Open Door, page 25.
8 Juan Pablo VILLALOBOS. Down the Rabbit Hole, page 49.
9 Cristoph SIMON. Zbinden’s Progress, page 11.
10 Oleg ZAIONCHKOVSKY. Happiness is Possible, page 190.
11 Deborah LEVY. Swimming Home, page 86.
12 Carlos GAMERRO. The Islands, page 112.
13 Cristoph SIMON. Zbinden’s Progress, page 8.
14 Deborah LEVY. Swimming Home, page 9.
15 Juan Pablo VILLALOBOS. Down the Rabbit Hole, page 21.
16 Cristoph SIMON. Zbinden’s Progress, page 108.
17 Oleg ZAIONCHKOVSKY. Hapinness is Possible, page 58.
18 MEYER. All the Lights, page 112.
19 Helen DeWITT. Lighting Rods, page 63.
20 Clemens MEYER. All the Lights, page 112.
21 Carlos GAMERRO. The Islands, page 94.
22Deborah LEVY. Swimming Home, page 85.
23 Clemens MEYER. All the Lights, page 117.
24 Clemens MEYER. All the Lights, pages 115/116.
25 Cristoph SIMON. Zbinden’s Progress, page 109.
26 Juan Pablo VILLALOBOS. Down the Rabbit Hole, page 49.
27 Carlos GAMERRO. The Islands, page 15.
—– April 17th, 2012 —–
Salvation
The door opened and a lady came out. It was Wendy. They all whipped off their hats.
She looked properly surprised, and this was just how they had hoped she would look1.
“What is that noise?”2, she said3.
A profound silence, broken by the occasional notes of a tree-frog, or the flapping of the night-hawk’s wings, was but the prelude to that wonderful concert of animated nature heard only in the tropical forest4.
“Good evening5, Wendy”6, Marilla said briskly, “This is a real fine evening, isn’t it? Won’t you sit down?”7
The chair she sat in, like a burnished throne, glowed on the marble8.
The sorcerer was brought, and he stood up in the council and looked from one to another9.
“Goonight Bill. Goonight Lou. Goonight May. Goonight. Ta ta. Goonight. Goonight. Good night, ladies10.Well, we’ve been thinking about it for some time, all winter in fact11. There is one way, and only one”, said he, “by which the land can be saved from destruction. Let the King’s only daughter, the Princess12 Wendy13 Gemlovely, be given to the Stoorworm as a sacrifice, and he will be satisfied and quit us.”
No sooner had the sorcerer said this than a great tumult arose in the council. The councillors were filled with horror, and cried aloud that the sorcerer should be torn to pieces for speaking such words14.
Slightly was the first to get his word in.
“Wendy lady”, he said rapidly, “for you we built this house.”
“That doesn’t matter”, said15 the sorcerer16, as if he were the only person present.17 “Who does not properly manage this business will soon lose what he has acquired, and whilst he does hold it he will have endless difficulties and troubles.”18
The King arose and bade them be silent, and he was as white as death.
“Is this the only way to save my people?”, he asked.
“It is the only way I know of”, answered the sorcerer19.
“Ought I?”, Wendy said20.
The King stood still and white for a time.
“Then”, said he, “if it is the only way, so let it be.”21
They looked at each other in a grin of understanding22, then all went on their knees23.
“It is, it is”, they all cried24.
“Very well”, she said, “I will do my best25. I hope it will turn out all right.”26
They sighed together27.
1 J.M. BARRIE. Peter Pan, p.50
2 T.S. ELIOT. The waste land, p.8.
3 J.M. BARRIE. Peter Pan, p.50
4 Mayne REID. The White Squaw, p.2.
5 L.M. MONTGOMERY, Anne of Green Gables, p.4.
6 J.M. BARRIE. Peter Pan, p.50.
7 L.M. MONTGOMERY, Anne of Green Gables, p.4.
8 T.S. ELIOT. The waste land, p.7.
9 Katharine PYLE. Tales of Folk and Fairies, p.4.
10 T.S. ELIOT. The waste land, p.8.
11 L.M. MONTGOMERY, Anne of Green Gables, p.5.
12 Katharine PYLE. Tales of Folk and Fairies, p.4.
13 J.M. BARRIE. Peter Pan, p.50
14 Katharine PYLE. Tales of Folk and Fairies, p.5.
15 J.M. BARRIE. Peter Pan, p.50
16 Katharine PYLE. Tales of Folk and Fairies, p.4.
17 J.M. BARRIE. Peter Pan, p.50
18 Niccolò MACHIAVELLI. The Prince, p.12.
19 Katharine PYLE. Tales of Folk and Fairies, p.4.
20 J.M. BARRIE. Peter Pan, p.50.
21 Katharine PYLE. Tales of Folk and Fairies, p.4.
22 Sinclair LEWIS. Babbitt, p.50.
23 Katharine PYLE. Tales of Folk and Fairies, p.4.
24 J.M. BARRIE. Peter Pan, p.50.
25 J.M. BARRIE. Peter Pan, p.50.
26 L.M. MONTGOMERY, Anne of Green Gables, p.6.
27 Sinclair LEWIS. Babbitt, p.50.
—– February 8th, 2012 —–
Bench mate
His chin resting on his hands, his hands on the crook of his cane1, he watched the young people, who soon chatted away like old friends2. To all appearance, he seemed to be occupied in the constant contemplation of something terrible3.
“I am a rather elderly man4. The slower fainter ticking of the clock is in me5.”
I refrained from looking at him, but I think I heard a short sigh; we took a turn or two in silence6. He now drew back with a long respiration7.
“As my sickness quitted me8,” he began again9, “I was absorbed by a gloomy and black melancholy that nothing could dissipate. The image of10 a lady with a little dog11, smoking a cigar12 under the darkness13…”, his voice changed14, “O Melancholy, turn thine eyes away!15 Find thyself another slave!16”
He sniffed sentimentally, while his17 eyes wandered in vacancy18. And then, feeling rather sick, he went to look for19 a drink20. He was absorbed, in fact21.
I might endure his agony as well as mine22.
1 Kurt VONNEGUT JR. The big trip up Yonder, p.1.
2 Louisa May ALCOTT. Little women, p.45.
3 Victor HUGO. Les Misérables, p.88.
4 Herman MELVILLE. Bartleby, the scrivener, p.1.
5 Walt WHITMAN. Leaves of Grass, p.320 (Section: Good-bye My Fancy!).
6 Joseph CONRAD. Lord Jim, p.123.
7 Nathaniel HAWTHORNE. The Scarlet Letter, p.41.
8 Mary SHELLEY. Frankenstein, p.102.
9 Joseph CONRAD. Lord Jim, p.123.
10 Mary SHELLEY. Frankenstein, p.102.
11 Anton P. CHEKHOV. The Lady with the Dog and Other Stories, p.2.
12 Guy de MAUPASSANT. Bel Ami, p.25.
13 Walt WHITMAN. Leaves of Grass, p.320 (Section: Unseen buds).
14 Joseph CONRAD. Lord Jim, p.123.
15 John KEATS: Poems Published in 1820, p.33 (Section: Isabella; Or, The pot of Basil – a story from Boccaccio).
16 Johann Wolfgang Von GOETHE. Faust; a Tragedy, p.6.
17 Kurt VONNEGUT JR. The big trip up Yonder, p.2.
18 Mary SHELLEY. Frankenstein, p.111.
19 Beatrix POTTER. The Tale of Peter Rabbit, p.3.
20 Johann Wolfgang Von GOETHE. Faust; a Tragedy, p.6.
21 Victor HUGO. Les Misérables, p.89.
And now what?
He shook his head1. Mme. Coquenard therefore entered the office from the house at the same moment her guest entered from the stairs2.
“I have already told you to go. I don’t want you here. Why don’t you go!”3
“Your manner, no less than your actions, assures me that you have never forgotten it, or ceased to think of it with bitterness – returned Mr. Brownlow.”4
“You didn’t want to come. The average man don’t like trouble and danger. YOU don’t like trouble and danger. But if only…”5
There was something else which she would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the air in the direction of the doctor’s room, but a freshconvulsion seized her and choked her words6. Then she broke out again into one of her gay, happy, laughing moods7.
“This is all mighty fine.”8
“I’m not hankering to be the man that lays hands on you while he’s around9 – said Mr. Brownlow, rousing himself.”10
She was considering in her own mind11: who could know the truth? Not the jealous lord Belvedere and not her confessor if she had not committed adultery fully – eiaculatio seminis inter vas naturale mulieris – with her husband’s brother? She would half confess if she had not all sinned as women did. Only God knew and she and he, her husband’s brother12.
“How can you sit there, calmly eating muffins when we are in this horrible trouble, I can’t make out. You seem to me to be perfectly heartless.”13
“I wonder – said he, at the next opportunity of speaking – whether he is likely to be in this country much longer14. How does it look to you?”15
After a few minutes reflection, however, she16 was quiet17.
He snapped open the case he carried, glancing inside for a second. Then he closed it again, grasping the handle firmly.
“Let’s go”, he said18.
1 Jane AUSTEN. Pride and prejudice, pg.53. 2 Alexandre DUMAS. The Three Musketeers, pg.304. 3 Oscar WILDE. The Importance of Being Earnest, pg.48. 4 Charles DICKENS. Oliver Twist, pg.320. 5 Mark TWAIN. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, pg.103. 6 Arthur CONAN DOYLE. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, pg.141. 7 Edgar RICE BURROUGHS. A Princess of Mars, pg.57. 8 Charles DICKENS. Oliver Twist, pg.320. 9 Jack LONDON. The Call of the Wild, pg.40. 10 Charles DICKENS. Oliver Twist, pg.320. 11 Lewis CARROL. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, pg.1. 12 James JOYCE. Ulysses, pg.200. 13 Oscar WILDE. The Importance of Being Earnest, pg.47. 14 Jane AUSTEN. Pride and prejudice, pg.51. 15 Philip K. DICK. The Crystal Crypt, pg.10. 16 Jane AUSTEN. Pride and prejudice, pg.52. 17 James JOYCE. Ulysses, pg.200. 18 Philip K. DICK. The Crystal Crypt, pg.11. All of the references above were taken from online Project Gutemberg´s versions. That’s because I don’t have so many english books at home. Of course, these are MixLits made originally in english, not english versions of the portuguese ones.
MixLit, the literature’s DJ, is a parallelal work of Leonardo Villa-Forte. It is a research and a provocation about the flickleness of the borders between reader and author. Leonardo sees this remixed literature work as a game, where the intention is to create a new reading path, on which the reader jumps from a book’s certain line to another book’s specific dialogue, then to another’s book passage and so on and so on, disrupting and bringing together, in a way that it creates sense and coherence, so that altogether it builds a new meaning.
Contact: leovillaforte@yahoo.com.br or mixlit@ymail.com
MixLit is a trademark by Leonardo Villa-Forte.
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