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Selected
Quotes from the Novel...
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“Mine
was the twilight and the morning.
Mine was a world of rooftops and
love songs."
-
from the 1st Soliloquy
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“I’m
staying here in Paris, ‘in
the polis,’ where I’ll
squander my health and my sanity.
Morning after morning, waking
up in a bachelor’s mansard,
washing my face in a basin while
the fat boulangères open
their bread shops down on the
street below, the plump pigeons
coo and mate in the planters,
weaving nests with poppy stems
and panty straps and other relics
of last night’s feasts.
I’ll squander the final
rays of youth rolling in the
flesh of passion, and the sun
will eventually set, casting
shade over my soul. But rich
will be my life if I can keep
my memories full and brimming,
and record them on clear-eyed
mornings while I set joyously
to work setting pen to holy craft."
-
from the 17th Soliloquy
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“My
work will flourish as the days
grow cold. Let Autumn wipe her
moist glove on my cheek, for
I will subdue her with the heroic
work that will soon gush from
my mighty and inexhaustible pen!"
-
from the 2nd Soliloquy
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[Author's
Note] "Finished
with my hero’s Tale,
I see the square filling up
with tender-throated girls
and I agree to run down and
celebrate. I drink fine liquers,
red-carbonated waters from
Swiss springs infused with
rice liquors infused with desert
spices. I kiss some sweet girls
and then something inspires
me to run back up to my room
and start my next work: a tragedy.
I get suddenly angry at the
people in the square but I
feel myself victorious that
they are not able to wrestle
me away from my desk. The music
grows louder but I am not tempted.
I tell of the tragedy of P--
dying. Good story. When I wake
up my head is stuffed in a
pile of papers."
-
From Payne's
notes for the novel (unpublished)
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“Go,
you two! Lie on your holy bed.
The moon is vast and steady tonight,
and it will bathe you in its
light. Everything here is beautiful.
Take the key, I am going now.
Be still.”
-
from the 20th Soliloquy
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“Then
there was bald-headed August
who knew nothing of travel, having
never left Paris city-limits.
His ambitions were few but his
virtues were many. He loved people
and delighted in hearing wild
stories told. His mother had
opened the Bone Shop during the
Second World War to sell fortunes
to credulous people, along with
tarot cards, animal skeletons,
loose semi-precious stones, silver
and copper in many forms, dyes
and powders, crushed insects
legs and wings to make magic
potions, as well as healing herbs.
She performed mystic curiosities
and became a well-known clairvoyante
in her time. People gathered
in the Bone Shop at night to
ask her to read their palms and
grant them passionate love and
eternal life. When she herself
died of old age and a weak heart,
August took over the shop. He,
however, performed no rites,
having little interest in the
occult. He simply sold the jewels
and silver lockets and other
curiosities to denizens of the
quarter and tourists alike. When
he met the young Pavel, the two
became great friends and the
one offered the other a place
to live in exchange for work.
The loft upstairs where they
slept was very small: having
only a medium-sized bed for August,
a tiny cot for Pavel, as well
as a table and four chairs. ”
-
from the 13th Soliloquy
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"From
all that I saw,
And everywhere I wandered,
I learned that time cannot be spent
It only can be squandered."
- from the
8th Soliloquy
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“What
an assortment of crockery that was! Forsake
Parisian society? And for a Cuban fishing
village of all things?! No, my good sir,
that won’t do at all. There is 'no
world without Paris walls'—as the
old saying goes. No, they’d have
exile me again to leave this land for good.
And then it’d be off to Patagonia
... or Phuket! Hey what is this here on
the sidewalk? A silver bracelet? Oh, no
it’s nothing. I thought it was a
silver bracelet but it’s just a bit
of cord…"
-
from the notes for the novel (unpublished)
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"After
joyfully working each morning, I would
leave off around midday to challenge
myself to a footrace. Speeding along
the sunny paths of the Jardin du Luxembourg,
ideas would breed like aphids in my
head—for creative invention is
easy and sublime when air cycles quickly
through the lungs and the body is busy
at noble tasks."
-
from the 19th Soliloquy
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"And
with that she was off, leaving me in
the doorway with a stack of mail and
a heart shivering with relief. “I’m
saved! I can finish my hero’s
tale, after all! [...] The envelopes
were uninteresting. Some commercial
offers. A discount on Marie’s
Provincial Tartines at the local grocery.
One crisp envelope informed me that
the city was experiencing an abundance
of stylish neckties at all-time low
prices. I tossed these aside and started
opening the package. Pretty was the
paper—and scented too!"
-
from the 20th Soliloquy
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"Autumn,
that wild season when rural men rack
orchard trees with sticks and weep
with the desire to kiss faraway Demeter’s
supple breasts, to set lips to her
travel-swollen eyes. They seek goddesses,
but I desired only Anne."
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from the 11th Soliloquy
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"It’s
not that we have to quit this life
one day, but it’s how many
things we have to quit all at once:
music and laughter, the physics of
falling leaves, coffee, holding
hands, automobiles,
vanilla and poppies, rain, the
concept
of subway trains... if only
one could leave this life slowly!"
-
from the notes for the novel
(unpublished)
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"‘Rest
in Peace?’ Why that phrase? That’s
the most ridiculous phrase I’ve
ever heard! You die, and they say ‘Rest
in Peace!’ …Why would one
need to ‘rest’ when they’re
dead?! I spent thousands of years of
world history resting. While Agamemnon
was leading his ships to Troy, I was
resting. While Ovid was seducing women
at the chariot races, I was resting.
While Jeanne d’Arc was hallucinating,
I was resting. I wait until airplanes
are scuttling across the sky to burst
out onto the scene, and I’m only
going to be here for a short while,
so when I die, I certainly won’t
need to rest again! Not while more
adventures of the same kind are going
on…"
-
from the 13th Soliloquy
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“Once
the monk Ascidas had left the room,
the young man locked the door and led
his twice-wedded bride to the bed and
lay her down on the mattress and cupped
her knees in his hands and kissed her.
Their bodies were washed in moonlight
as they made love together for the
first time. It was beautiful and it
was holy and they prayed upon each
other’s firm and sweaty bodies
and though the bodies were beautiful
alters of flesh."
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from the 20th Soliloquy
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"Fueled
by my inspiration, I ran across the room
to steal the cup of coffee the bookshelf
had taken prisoner. Lapping the black
watery brew like a hyena, I tossed the
empty cup aside. I then returned to the
chair to continue my divine act of creation.
Hot blood swished in my head as my mighty
pen stole across the page…"
-
from the 19th Soliloquy
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“I
was surrounded by friends, my work
was immense, and pleasures were abundant.
Life, now, was unfolding before me,
constantly and visibly, like the flowers
of summer that drop fanlike petals
on eternal soil. Overall, I was happiest
to be alone; for it was then I was
most aware of what I possessed. Free
to look out over the rooftops of the
city. Happy to be alone in the company
of friends, the company of lovers and
strangers. Everything, I decided, in
this life, was pure pleasure."
-
from the 2nd Soliloquy
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More
information about Roman Payne or this
novel? Search RomanPayne.com by entering
keyword(s) below:
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