CONTENTS

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. CONTENTS vii
3. The Dove and the Two-Headed Eagle 1
4. The Innkeeper and His War 5
5. Unreliable Death 7
6. Thirteenthousandeighthundredseventynine Evenings 9
7. At the Castelli Gallery 11
8. Be With or Go With? 13
9. (Open?) Couple at the Conference 15
10. Forget Colors 21
11. Sacred and Profane 23
12. Losing Your Marbles 25
13. A Crowd for No One 29
14. Group Portrait with Sleeping Jurist 33
15. We’ll Talk 35
16. The Bankers and the Devil 39
17. Orphaned Embryos 41
18. An Overturned Head of Medusa 45
19. The Scourge of the 800 Number 47
20. Benefits for Polygamists and Taxes on Bachelors 52
21. Let the Little Children Come unto Me 53
22. Pissing Against the Wind and Contra Legem 57
23. The Menu of the Revolution 61
24. On the Rocky Beach 65
25. A New Writer: The Censor 69
26. The Wall Will Last for Years . . . 73
27. Limping Verses from the Hereafter 75
28. The Stray and a Model 77
29. At the Seashore 79
30. The Place Where the Heart Is Silent 81
31. On the Tracks 85
32. The Sacred Hours 89
33. A Rose of the Blessed 91
34. The Devil’s Dung 93
35. The Beautiful Summer 97
36. Writing, Entry Prohibited 99
37. Down with the Poor 103
38. The Right Word in the Wrong Mouth 105
39. Sea Lion 109
40. Jens’s Gravestone 111
41. Mute Scenes of a Marriage 115
42. Everything’s All Right 119
43. At the Window 121
44. Frecciabianca 123
45. Graffiti 125
46. Advertising, a Long, Tedious Sermon 127
47. The Rocky Beach of the Famous 129
48. The Sin of Acrimony 131
49. Untranslatable 133
50. Selfie 135
51. Translator’s Notes 139