I’m reading the recently-published retranslation of the Tin Drum, and this passage from the second page made me smile, despite its ominous note:
Bruno Münsterberg … bought five hundred sheets of writing paper on my behalf. Should this supply prove insufficient, Bruno, who is unmarried, childless, and hails from the Sauerland, will revisit the little stationery shop, which also sells toys, and provide me with whatever additional unlined space I need for my recollections, which I hope will be accurate. I could never have requested this favor of my visitors, my lawyer, or Klepp, say. The solicitous love prescribed for me would surely have prevented my friends from anything so dangerous as bringing me blank paper and allowing my incessantly syllable-excreting mind free use of it.
The translator, Breon Mitchell, is going to be in San Francisco November 10th for an author event at 111 Minna — I’m really hoping I’ll be able to finish at least half of it before then, but 60 pages a day is a lot of reading.
