"That
'person,' that 'friend,' that patsy, whom you secretly hold to be there only for your
ever-so-slightly sociopathic use: Has it ever occurred to
you, S., that he or she may be a spy? Any given stupid pushover, who allows himself to be
slighted at your snickering, hoggish will, may in fact be collecting the
data that reveals exactly how statistically bad your human race is—statistically, yes, yet down
to a woman, down to a man. 'Why would anyone do such a terrible thing
to us?' you cry, S., the betrayer betrayed. Oh! But you already know the answer:
there is no nobler calling. Or, to be blunt, there's nothing better to
do."
Twenty USD to the person who guesses this. I'm serious, I'll Paypal it.
Love,
Ann
Henry Bukowski?
ReplyDeleteInteresting... but no.
DeleteThis quote reminds me a bit of Thomas Bernhard, although it doesn't seem to be in the style of what I've read by him.
ReplyDeleteWild guess: is it from a book by Stig Sæterbakken? I've only read his book Siamese (recommended, BTW), but it seems similar to some of the passages in that book.
I hope someone guesses this soon so I can get the book.
I love Thomas Bernhard, but it isn't him. I haven't read Stig Saeterbakken, but sounds like I should. (Note to self: run name that quote contests INCESSANTLY, because this will point you to new authors.)
DeleteThe man himself...Thomas Ligotti?
ReplyDeleteSigh, no.
DeleteIs it from something written by you, Ann? :)
ReplyDeleteI thought about posting a link to this contest at Thomas Ligotti Online. I imagine if anyone can figure out who wrote that quote, one of them probably can. I'll do so if you give me the OK.
By the way, I should mention I just found a review of NVSQVAM by Matt Forney, in case you haven't seen it yet.
I hope that didn't come across the wrong way. It just occurred to me that you might have been testing your blog readers to see how much of your writing we had read. I've only read this blog and your short story at The Big Click, but have NVSQVAM and The Talkative Corpse. If I had stumbled upon the correct guess somehow, I would have asked for a copy of Girl Detectives instead of the money.
DeleteI tend to put off reading books I own for quite some time since I usually have a bunch of library books checked out at any given time as well. Your books seems like they would appeal to me more than those by most other contemporary writers, though, so I look forward to reading them.
I don't have any more guesses as to the quote for now, but will point out that I noticed it seems to have a sci-fi feel to it ("...may in fact be collecting the data that reveals exactly how statistically bad your human race is"). Hmmm...
If it sounds like me, it's because I translated it. From a book whose author and title I can't remember. A number of years ago. While drunk. This is why I'm offering money... because I haven't got a goddamned clue. (In general? Yeah, you could probably say that. I do proofread cracker ads for a living.)
DeletePS Thanks for posting Matt Forney's review! I read it just now, right after answering your question with a swipe at my own loser, Gen-X, middle-aged job, and had to laugh... he's got our number. It's an extremely flattering review though. I'm chuffed.
DeletePPS Do post it, by all means!
Delete