Greek Lessons: A Novel

Now your CD has played all the way through, the night has grown deeper than it was not long before. Your voice soaks into the quiet, until this quiet somehow comes to feel warm.

Hyeonamsa.

And if you are unable to forgive me, will you at least remember that I seek it of you?

A tremor would pass through my lips, which had never yet known another’s, like a tiny electric shock.

Hwaeom Sutra Lectures from Hyeonamsa;

There are times when my eyes burn and suddenly start to water. When these tears, which are but physiological, fail to stop for some reason, I quietly turn away from the road and wait for the moment to pass.

“From precisely the moment that it arrives at the zenith, language describes a slow, gentle arc, undergoing alterations that make it a little more convenient to use. In some senses this is decline, this is corruption, but in other aspects it can be called progress. The European languages of today have passed through that long process, becoming less

Buildings soar up in the distance, enormous digital billboards blazing from their tops. As always, she stops in front of the pedestrian crossing and looks up at those screens. Faces larger than life move enormous lips to speak inaudible words.

Whatever their motivation, those who study Greek share certain tendencies. They walk and talk slowly, for the most part, and don’t show much emotion (I guess this applies to me too). Perhaps because this language is a long-dead one and doesn’t allow for oral communication. Silence, shy hesitation and reactions of muted laughter slowly heat the air