Anodyne
Friday, March 14, 2008
 

Highly educated social misfits love to play stump-the-guy-behind-the-bookstore-counter. You play by proffering an (obscure) author, title, or subject completely without context, hoping to generate something less than instant recognition from the poor sap at the desk. Bonus points for following up the clerk's hangdog non-recognition with something like, "Oh. You don't know," or, "You don't have it." Occasionally, though, one encounters a smartass who can hardly wait to move the expensive book that's been lurking in his stacks for years:

Q: Remedios Varo.

CJB [broad grin]: Right here! [$45 o/p UK hardcover in hand]. The most comprehensive book on her work I know...next to the catalog raisonee!

Q: [Silently forks over debit card]

Thanks, Thomas Pynchon!

(Image: Remedios Varo, Creation of the Birds, 1958)


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