The Absent City

'The State knows all the stories of all the citizens, and retranslates them into new stories that are then told by the president of the republic and his ministers. Torture is the culmination of that desire to know, the maximum degree of institutional intelligence. That is how the State thinks, and why the police mainly torture the poor, only the poor or the workers or the dispossessed . . . only in very exceptional cases have they tortured people belonging to other social classes, and these cases have become major scandals . . . and at the end they had to retreat before international pressure, which accepts as a given that the humble from the fields, the wretched and feverish from the ghettos and the poorest neighborhoods of the city will be massacred and tortured, but reacts when intellectuals and politicians and the children of well-to-do families are treated this way. Because, in general, the latter already collaborate of their own accord and serve as an example and adapt their lives to the criteria of reality established by the State, without there being any need to torture them. The others would do the same, but they cannot because they have been leveled and cornered, and even if they wanted to and took great pains to that end, they can no longer act like the model Japanese citizen who works fifteen hours per day and always greets the general manager of his company with the slighest of nods. They control everything, they have founded the mental State . . . which is a new stage in the history of institutions. The mental State, the imagined reality, we all think like they do and imagine what they want us to imagine.'

'Elena thought the man was a magnet that attracted and drew the iron shavings of the soul to itself. She was already thinking like a madwoman. She felt her skin release a metal dust. That is why her body was completely covered, including gloves and a long-sleeved blouse. The only part exposed was her face, the rusted skin of her external gears.'

Spring Snow - Yukio Mishima (Vintage 2000)

p. 18 'They reached the island at a spot where a single maple stood among the pines, and climbed the stone steps to the grassy clearing at the top with three iron cranes. The boys sat down at the feet of the pair that were stretching their necks upward in an eternal, mute cry, then lay back on the grass to stare up at the late autumn sky. The rough grass pricked through the backs of their kimonos, making Kiyoaki rather uncomfortable. It gave Honda, however, the sensation of having endure an exquisitely refreshing pain that was fragmented and spread out under his back. Out of the corners of their eyes, they could see the two cranes, weathered by wind and rain and soiled by chalky-white bird droppings. The birds' supple, curved necks, stretched against the sky, moved slowly by the rhythm of the shifting clouds.'

p. 30 "You remember that the story is set in Tang China. A man named Yuan Hsaio was on his way to the famous Mount Kaoyu to study the teachings of Buddha. When night fell, he happened to be beside a cemetery, so he lay down to sleep among the burial mounds. Then in the middle of the night he awoke with a terrible thirst. Stretching out his hand, he scooped some water from a hole by his side. As he dozed off again, he thought to himself that never had water tasted so pure, so fresh and cold. But when morning came, he saw what he had drunk from in the dark. Incredible though it seemed, what had tasted so delicious was water that had collected in a human skull. He retched and was sick. Yet this experience taught something to Yuan Hsaio. He realised that as long as conscious desire is at work, it will permit distinctions to exist. But if one can suppress it, these distinctions dissolve and one can be as content with a skull as with anything else." [later the conversation continues to what if the lover is the whore.]

p.33 - [About the Marquis 'dispensing useless knowledge' about what wine to go with what food, the different characteristics of wines in the cellar, what wine should be served on what occasion, the type of guest etc.

On Satoko's beauty - p.67 'And her face seemed to glow and fall into soft shadow; alternating with the quick, vivacious movement of her eyes. Alertness of eye is usually considered a vulgar trait in women, but Satoko had a way of delivering her sidelong glances that was irresistibly charming. He smile followed close upon her words, as her glance did upon her smile - graceful sequence heightening the bewitching elegance of her expression.

Satoko as a Gift p.153 ' - "Oh, a bit of dust...," the Countess exclaimed, gazing at Satoko's cheeks. But just as she reached out with her handkerchief to wipe it off, Satoko drew quickly away and the speck of dust vanished. It was then that her mother realised that the dust on her daughter's cheek ahd been noo more than a sahadow cast by a spot on the window. Satoko gave a wan smile; she didn;t find her mother's mistake particularly amusing. She disliked being given a special inspection today,as if she were a bolt of silk intended as a gift.

p.163 - 'He mad e it patently clear that in a situation as this, the emptiest words were those that aroused the strongest emotions.'

p.268 - washing sin with another sin to cancel each other out.

p. 302 - Abbot and young widow scroll

p.338 - The baldness of the nun, and the wig as the last secret weapon against Stoko's decision.

p .384 - Buddhist causality and the sects p.

350 - beautiful and ugly sons of Marquis