THINGS

A STORY

OF SIXTIES

Translated from the French by David Bellos

To Denis Buffard Incalculable are the benefits civilization has brought
originated by the inventions and discoveries of science. Inconceivable the
marvellous creations of the human sex in order to make men more happy,
more free, and more perfect. Without parallel the crystalline and fecund
fountainsof the new life which still remains closed to the thirsty lips of
the people who follow in their griping and bestial tasks. - Malcolm Lowry

THE ROOM

The first door would open onto a
bedroom,its floor covered with a
light-coloured fitted carpet. An
English double bed would fill the
whole rear part of it. On the right
to both sides of the window,there
would be tall and narrow sets of
shelves holding a few books, to be
read and read again, photograph
albums, packs of cards, pots,necklaces,
paste jewellery. To the left, an old
oak wardrobe and two clothes horses
of wood and brass would stand opposite
a small wing-chair upholstered in
thin-striped grey silk and a dressing
table.

THEY WOULD?

THEY WOULD
• They would light their first cigarette.
• They would go out.
• Their work would keep them busy for a few hours only, in the morning.
• Their flat would rarely be tidy, but its very untidiness would be its
  greatest charm.
• Sometimes it would seem to them that a whole life could be led
  harmoniously between these book-lined walls, amongst these objects so
  perfectly domesticated that they would have ended up believing these
  bright, soft, simple and beautiful things had only ever been made for
  their sole use.
• But they wouldn't feel enslaved by them: on some days, they would go off
  on a chance adventure.
• No plan seemed impossible to them.
• They would open the mail, they would open the newspapers.
• They would not know rancour, or bitterness, or envy.
• For their means and their desires would always match in all ways.
• They would call this balance happiness and, with their freedom, with
  their wisdom.