Sublime

(le plus souvent avec des clients, parfois avec des subordonnés, de plus en plus rarement avec des amis car le temps de l'amitié commençait à décliner pour lui, il ne croyait plus vraiment qu'on puisse avoir des amis, que cette relation d'amitié puisse vraiment compter dans la vie d'un homme, ni modifier sa destinée),

watch the romances and comedies of his mind projected onto his face,

“What?” Sammy said. “What are you thinking?” “I wish he was real,” said Joe, suddenly ashamed of himself. Here he was, free in a way that his family could only dream of, and what was he doing with his freedom? Walking around talking and making up a lot of nonsense about someone who could liberate no one and nothing but smudgy black marks on a piece

He really had been through death, but he had returned because he could not bear the solitude.

“Can a man be a Tzaddik Ha-Dor but live hidden from himself and

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;

Ernest Hemingway said the book was “something over 60% shit.”

Updike’s “A&P”