the purest of treats

The Map and the Territory

2012-02-26T00:01:00.001-05:00

The Map and the Territory

2012-02-25T00:01:00.001-05:00

A profile of Ellroy published a few years ago mentioned his plot outlines: The Black Dahlia’s ran to 142 pages (the book itself is 358 pages long in paperback) and that of L.A. Confidential to 211 (the paperback has 496). At the time, he had just finished the outline for Tabloid; it came to 345 pages, while the book itself runs a mere 576. This is reminiscent of Borges’s famous map which is the same size as the country it describes.

Luc Sante

[mask] doll [puppet]

2012-02-24T00:01:00.001-05:00

Sapi3512

opening lines

2012-02-23T00:01:00.002-05:00

“May I, monsieur, offer my services without running the risk of intruding?”

The Fall
Camus

[mask] doll [puppet]

2012-02-22T00:01:00.001-05:00

c a r o l i n e*

opening lines

2012-02-21T00:01:00.002-05:00

It is a long trip. We are the only riders.

The Ticket That Exploded
Burroughs

[mask] doll [puppet]

2012-02-20T00:01:00.001-05:00

Barbie and Jamal

opening lines

2012-02-19T00:01:00.004-05:00

Once an angry man dragged his father along the ground through his own orchard. “Stop!” cried the groaning old man at last, “Stop! I did not drag my father beyond this tree.”

The Making of Americans
Gertrude Stein

[mask] doll [puppet]

2012-02-18T00:01:00.005-05:00

Sapi3512

opening lines

2012-02-17T00:01:00.007-05:00

Nous voici encore seuls.

(Here we are, alone again.)

Death on the Installment Plan
Céline

[mask] doll [puppet]

2012-02-16T00:01:00.003-05:00

Lazybones

opening lines

2012-02-15T00:01:00.002-05:00

It was the afternoon of my eighty-first birthday, and I was in bed with my catamite when Ali announced that the archbishop had come to see me.

Earthly Powers
Anthony Burgess

It’s Valentine’s Day!

2012-02-14T00:01:00.001-05:00

Because

FEBRUARY 13, 1975

2012-02-13T00:01:00.001-05:00

Tomorrow is St. Valentine’s:
tomorrow I’ll think about
that. Always nervous, even
after a good sleep I’d like
to climb back into. The sun
shines on yesterday’s new-
fallen snow and yestereven
it turned the world to pink
and rose and steel-blue
buildings. Helene is restless:
leaving soon. And what then
will I do with myself? Some-
one is watching morning
TV. I’m not reduced to that
yet. I wish one could press
snowflakes in a book like flowers.

James Schuyler

exercises in suffering

2012-02-12T00:01:00.001-05:00

Because

They’re not our cats. They’re my cats. You are never going to see them again.

2012-02-11T01:01:00.001-05:00

exercises in suffering

2012-02-10T00:01:00.001-05:00

Paolo and Francesca

Edmund Wilson’s marriage to Mary McCarthy

2012-02-09T00:01:00.001-05:00

was a mistake that neither side wanted to be first to admit. When they fought, he would retreat into his study and lock the door; she would set piles of paper on fire and try to push them under it.

Louis Menand

exercises in suffering

2012-02-08T00:01:00.001-05:00

Paolo and Francesca

There you lay, your small, white

2012-02-07T00:01:00.002-05:00

body throbbing in my hand
like a bird. We were silent.
The right word was not needed.

James Tate

exercises in suffering

2012-02-06T00:01:00.001-05:00

Jon J. Muth

Another Saturday night in front of my computer Googling girls from my middle-school class.

2012-02-05T00:01:00.002-05:00

exercises in suffering

2012-02-04T00:01:00.001-05:00

September 18, 1918

(847): I accidentally had sex with my boyfriend’s twin last night...and he didn’t stop me.

2012-02-03T00:01:00.001-05:00

(1-847): How was it?
(847): Fantastic, but that’s not the point.

textsfromlastnight

exercises in suffering

2012-02-02T00:01:00.002-05:00

on a motorcycle