Monsieur Pain - Opening

PARIS, 1938

On Wednesday the sixth of April, at dusk, as I was preparing to leave my lodgings, I received a telegram from my young friend Madame Reynaud, requesting, with a certain urgency, my presence that evening at the Cafe Bordeaux, on Rue de Rivoli, relatively close to where I live, which meant that if I hurried, I could still arrive punctually at the specified time.

P. Does the idea of death afflict you?

V. (Very quickly). No--no!

P. Are you pleased with the prospect?

V. If I were awake I should like to die, but now it is no matter. The mesmeric condition is so near death as to content me.

P. I wish you would explain yourself, Mr Vankirk.

V. I am willing to do so, but it requires more effort than I feel able to make. You do not question me properly.

P. What then shall I ask?

V. You must begin at the beginning

P. The beginning! But where is the beginning?

"Mesmeric Revelation"

Edgar Allen Poe

for Carolina Lopez

Copyright 1999 by Roberto Bolaño

Translation copyright 2010 by Chris Andrews

Originally published by Anagrama, Barcelona, Spain, as Monsieur Pain in 1999; published by arrangements with the Heirs of Roberto Bolaño and Carmen Balcells Agencia Literaria, Barcelona.

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