A House For Mr Biswas

A House For Mr Biswas

If, before Raghu left for the sugar-estate, Mr Biswas sneezed, Raghu remained at home, worked on his vegetable garden in the morning and spent the afternoon making walking-sticks and sabots, or carving designs on the hafts of cutlasses and the heads of walking-sticks....
Gödel, Escher, Bach

Gödel, Escher, Bach

Contracrostipunctus Achilles has come to visit his friend and jogging companion, the Tortoise, at his home. Achilles: Heavens, you certainly have an admirable boomerang collection! Tortoise: Oh, pshaw. No better than that of any other Tortoise. And now, would you like...
Homesick for Another World

Homesick for Another World

A Dark and Winding RoadAround nine o’clock, I pulled my sleeping bag out and unrolled it on the bed which was covered in old blankets and dust and mouse poop, and slept with no trouble at all. In the morning I guzzled a litre of mineral water and drove on the dark and...
Pale Fire

Pale Fire

The following note is not an apology of suicide – it is the simple and sober description of a spiritual situation. The more lucid and overwhelming one’s belief in Providence, the greater the temptation to get it over with, this business of life, but the greater too...
The Mower

The Mower

The mower stalled, twice; kneeling, I found A hedgehog jammed up against the blades, Killed. It had been in the long grass. I had seen it before, and even fed it, once. Now I had mauled its unobtrusive world Unmendably. Burial was no help: Next morning I got up and it...
The Sound And The Fury

The Sound And The Fury

A sparrow slanted across the sunlight, onto the window ledge, and cocked his head at me. His eye was round and bright. First he’d watch me with one eye, then flick! and it would be the other one, his throat pumping faster than any pulse. The hour began to...