November 17, 2006
Bewilderment
From the wonderful Interpreter of Maladies: “While the astronauts, heroes forever, spent mere hours on the moon, I have remained in this new world for nearly thirty years. I know that my achievement is quite ordinary. I am not the only man to seek his fortune far from home, and certainly I am not the first. Still, there are times I am bewildered by each mile I have traveled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have known, each room in which I have slept. As ordinary as it all appears, there are times when it is beyond my imagination.”
“The Third and Final Continent” is one of my favourite short stories, ever. I still have the New Yorker issue in which it first appeared. It’s heartful and stunning, both.
RR
“A flag on the moon boy! Isn’t it splendid? Say ‘splendid’!”
Yes, perhaps the most perfect story I have ever read.