Novel Lines sample 1.13
by Stephen Bett
Danilo Kiš, Hourglass (trans, Ralph Manheim)
Had he ever postdated a document before? … In 1924, he… postdated a train ticket, on this occasion first-class reduced-fare ticket no. 755363… on the Vrbovsko—Novi Sad… line
No witness (angel or otherwise) for Kertész
unriffable news, sadly — ill-fated fare
And now this, gospodin Kiš
yust a kiss away, kiss away…
Bing Copilot say
- This number [755363] doesn’t correspond to any specific angel number or life path number. However, we can break it down: The sum of its digits is 29, which reduces to 2+9 = 11.
- In numerology, 11 is considered a master number associated with […blah blah blah]
- Pay attention to your inner guidance and trust the path you’re on.
- Hard work will pay off in the long run. [$!]
Your life path can break down (cash in?)
its sum of novel lines
Thx AI, ffs — kisses home our own
conniving dollarama as’pect [1]
Ivan Klíma, No Saìnts or Angels (opening lines; trans, Gerald Turner)
I killed my husband last night. I used a dental drill to bore a hole in his skull. I wanted to see if a dove would fly out but out came a big black crow instead.
Ahh, the J ’n L Bobbitt Syndrome,
a ticklish procedural manual [2]
Bad enough this worthy Euro star
appropriates womyn voice (oopsie)
Risky business in these pile-on
groupthunk daze
But of course he’s central yr-up, right?
& we know how old that gets
hanging out on deck
(Like bored-out crow in the hole)
Too gifted 1200 leagues from Cancel Cult
— neither saints nor angels in that crew
just dented mental frill
Somebody wanted to see a dove, cop
a feel for love, ate crow at a shove
Got a mole up the hole
spoke spy in the eye
Wolfgang Koeppen, The Hothouse (opening line; trans, Michael Hofmann)
He was traveling under parliamentary immunity, seeing as they hadn’t managed to catch him in flagrante.
No immunity in PoBiz
Time to mourn any thorn
whose side you’re on?
Caught one in flagrante [3]
playing with — oh no — thas’ sat·ire
Wry ’n high-octane pinball wit
tho thin & mean
Caught in a muddle of pissed-off agitprop
(the Mel Gibson of NAP… pop pop)
Who never even took one!
Ooch, triggers a’flirtin with hurtin
in Po’s Show’nuff World
Only a Sensitivity Reader [4]
could fix this… help!
Pls — no more friggin trigger riggers
Speller alert!
Groupthink cancel cult
thiz newer, cooler schooler
* Kan Kult *
the upside down Klan Kam
scam plan [5]
[1] Unfortunately, no room in the inn for Imre Kertész’s novel Fateless
[2] Tickless, & alternately, dickless: see Wiki on the wacky John & Lorena Bobbitt dick amputation gambit (“when they [MCI communications] cut off your service, they mean it”; “A cut above,” “Frankenpenis,” etc.). And not to be confused with ol’ Sect’y of the Interior, Bruce Babbitt
[3] The one (& only) Ed Dorn cancelled, slammed & shamed— his “chief enemies are authority, orthodoxy, and the production of conformity” (Keith Tuma); i.e., lots of orthodox, conforming folks whose feelings trigger vast hurt from the ‘mean’ of satire
[4] “A sensitivity reader is a professional who beta-reads writing projects” to ensure authors don’t spill anything triggering or hurtful for ‘sensitive’ readers—eg., “upsetting a reader who was expecting an enjoyable book” (by Genet & co.); “In Praise of the Sensitivity Reader,” Samantha Garner, Open Book columnist, June 26, 2023—& see yrs truly, SongBu®st, p. 89
[5] Italicized quotes re: Dorn: the nasty ones from Ron Silliman’s blog (Mar 20, 2007, & Oct 23, 2011; the kind ones are from Keith Tuma’s essay “Late Dorn” (Chicago Review, summer, 2004, the Dorn issue, Edward Dorn, American Heretic
