05 November 2008

Mystery Passage

Needless to say, no one could pick out a type of bookstore in this way today. 


No googling allowed!
I seemed to be standing in a busy queue by the side of a long, mean street.   Evening was just closing in and it was raining.  I had been wandering for hours in similar mean streets, always in the rain and always in evening twilight.  Time seemed to have paused on that dismal moment when only a few shops have lit up and it is not yet dark enough for their windows to look cheering.  And just as the evening never advanced to night, so my walking had never brought me to the better parts of the town.  However far I went I found only dingy lodging houses, small tobacconists, hoardings from which posters hung in rags, windowless warehouses, goods stations without trains, and bookshops of the sort that sell The Works of Aristotle.  I never met anyone.  But for the little crowd at the bus stop, the whole town seemed to be empty.  I think that was why I attached myself to the queue.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

Obviously from "The Great Divorce" by C.S. Lewis. I've read the book several times, and each time that quip about the works of Aristotle has caught my eye.

And now I shall give you a mystery passage:
"There are none [philosophers] who come nearer to us [Christians] than the Platonists."

Unknown said...

Oh, and I want both the author and the book's title.

Anonymous said...

You are exercising only memory.

Brazilian Anonymous

The Grand Cosmic Grid said...

Refreshing Blog, thank you.

Vincent said...

Ryan, isn't your quotation from St. Augustine's the City of God?

Michael Roberts said...

No googling allowed? Great quotation. City of God, Night train to Lisbon? Thumbs up.

Bernard Brandt said...

Without googling or looking at the other comments, it is of course the first paragraph of The Great Divorce, by C.S. Lewis.

Ralph Blanchette said...

Off topic:

Michael Pakaluk, I missed your Dissoi Blogoi presence a lot.

Naturally I looked for you and I am pleased to report to others who may look here that you are still online at:

http://michaelpakaluk.com/

I especially appreciate the online postings of your scholarly papers. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Ralph Blanchette

Molly said...

I thought it was from Mr. Perumbra's 24-hour Bookstore.

Cara Menggunakan Pupuk Organik Cair said...

Love your writing so much