Sublime

explorers invariably give their names to the places that haunt or kill them.

because of course he is conscious of his own superiority, as we all are, and very naturally—that he took to scorning everything, and became a genius;

He’s Sih Hsuin Ma now—his old self turned inside out, like a jaunty, reversible jacket.

fiction with detail and nuance.

When Kafka writes, “Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams…changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin,” you don’t say, “No, he didn’t, Franz,” and throw the book across the room.

“I think things started to fall apart with the Murphys when they flattered me into reading aloud from The Sun Also Rises to a group of their friends. I thoroughly disliked blowing my own horn, and what’s more, I came to realize they were showing me off like a prize horse.”

I found myself shaking his hand warmly. Minutes later I was out on the street. A boy walked splay-footed across a public lawn, nudging a soccer ball before him. A second kid sat on the grass, taking off his socks by grabbing the heels and yanking. How literary, I thought peevishly. Streets thick with the details of impulsive life as the hero ponder

When Simon was done working for the day, he always seemed a little bewildered. He kept patting his shirt pocket absentmindedly for his phone.

Holden’s an idiot, but he’s not stupid. If he realizes he’s being watched, he’ll start broadcasting pictures of all our Ganymede sources or something. Do not underestimate his capacity to fuck things up.”