Excerpts from Malina

For years my relationship with Malina consisted of awkward meetings, absolute follies, and the biggest possible misunderstandings I mean of course much greater misunderstandings than with other people. Certainly I was subordinate to him from the beginning, and I must have known early on that he was destined to be my doom, that Malina's place was already occupied by Malina even before he entered my life. I was only spared or perhaps I spared myself meeting him too soon, for there were numerous occasions at the E 2 and H 2 streetcar stop by the Stadtpark when something could have, and almost did, happen. There he stood holding a newspaper; I acted as if I didn't see him, although I kept staring over my paper in his direction, without flinching. I couldn't tell whether he was really so engrossed in the news or whether he had noticed my pinning him, hypnotizing him, wanting to force him to look up. Me forcing him! I thought: if the E 2 comes first, everything will be fine; but heaven forbid the unfriendly H 2 or the even rarer G 2 should arrive before. Finally the E 2 did indeed pull up, but by the time I had jumped onto the second car Malina had vanished: he wasn't to be found in the first car or in my own and he hadn't remained behind. He must have dashed into the train station as I had

Philosophy · Short Stories in Global Literature · Themes in Literature Analysis · Utopian, Dystopian, and Speculative Fiction