Things Seen by Annie Ernaux

Author:Annie Ernaux [Ernaux, Annie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Literary Collections, Essays
ISBN: 9780803228153
Google: TDi8wAEACAAJ
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
Published: 2010-10-15T12:43:41.858569+00:00

January 19

A story to enact, one already dating from last year.

You place a pair of shoes on the ground, in front of the audience, ankle boots, if possible. Slide a lit cigarette inside a shoe, having been careful to take a good drag in order to produce abundant smoke. The audience is then greeted with the view of a pair of shoes from which smoke escapes and you ask: “what is it?” Hesitation in the audience, nervous laughter. Then you say, “this is a guy who was waiting for the bus in Sarajevo.” This story creates great mirth, provided it is set up: it is absolutely essential to see the shoe from which the thin wreaths emerge. In one second — the time needed for a grenade — we see the man vanish into thin air, ruins, the pair of shoes change into a hideous symbol. We cannot endure such a metaphor without howling with laughter.

Writing this story is perhaps not the worst way of not forgetting the war in Bosnia.

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