Autobiography of No One
Published in Issue #11 Translated from French by Talya Halkin(Excerpt from a Novel)
subscribe to unlock the full story
I had come to join someone. Not a man. It’s always a man that one goes off to join. For whom one leaves one’s parents and friends. But I had come to join my child. My child had arrived before me in this city. In this country. I didn’t see her very often. My child had her own life. I had to make one for myself. Rebuild my life. But can you truly rebuild your life?
I arrived here, as one arrives in this country, at dawn. My child wasn’t waiting for me. Ever since she had left, she had never written even a short letter. Neither had I, I had never written to her. It was up to her to write. I received news through friends. The same friends who had encouraged me to come here.
It had taken a long time to prepare for this trip. It was not a regular trip. I didn’t come as a sightseer. Which, in any case, was rare at that time. Nor had I come to tour the land. Others had done that long before me. They described the country as a paradise. Or as a foretaste of paradise. Regardless of what they found there. It was a destination to be reached one day. And I did. At dawn. Some friends waited for me at the entrance to the port. I hadn’t seen them for twenty or twenty-five years. No, I must be exaggerating. Ten or fifteen years. I was still quite young. And so...
Subscribe now to keep reading
Please enter your email to log in or create a new account.