Crab Nebula - Closing

And then Crab sank into silence, slowly, inexorably, vertically, he sank in and eventually disappeared from the gaze of the audience. There was some confusion among the spectators, a moment of uncertainty, of incomprehension, but they quickly settled on the only credible hypothesis: a trapdoor had opened beneath Crab's feet -- of course, there was a trapdoor concealed in the stage -- and, by common agreement, this symbolic burial of the character, replacing the fall of the curtain or the sudden blackout that traditionally signifies the end of a show, was in itself worth the price of admission; with one blow it erased the long days of boredom that had preceded it. (Applause.)

Crab Nebula - pg. 111

Take this hypothesis for what it's worth -- coming from Crab, it should inspire prudence -- but, true or false, we must agree with him that it has at least some basis in truth: Given the fact that it is possible to juxtapose anything with its opposite and thus to arrive at a definition by antithesis -- good as opposed to evil, death as opposed to birth -- should there not exist, in opposition to suicide, something like a deliberate and spontaneous self-generation? A diffuse, floating consciousness, a vague little soul, furtive as a cold draft, which might suddenly decide to incarnate itself, to take shape, to come into the world? This would finally explain why certain men seem so happy to be alive, so thoroughly at ease: they came into existence by choice. They chose the time and place. They gave themselves every advantage.

Crab Nebula - pg. 22

His long practice of solitary meditation has taught him, if nothing else, to distinguish the many forms of silence, which meet with only an unchanging and obtuse insensitivity in the untrained ear. There is, then -- among others -- a string silence, a wind silence, a percussion silence, no more allike than the instruments thus classified, but on occasion their sonorities meld into a symphonic silence in which slow, stately movements, or martial ones, alternate with sprightly little phrases annd silky arabesques, playing on a variety of motifs and rhythms in order to fully express the complexity of the situation, whatever that situation may be.
(Nor does Crab forget the variety of silence derived from floor or soot.)

Crab Nebula - pg. 8

Every butterfly on its wings carries precise dose of fairy dust required to make Crab believe, for one brief moment, that the world is as he likes it. But as the effects of the hallucinogen fade, he once again finds himself anxious, melancholy, his cold delirium drags him through apocalyptic landscapes deserted even by the birds -- it seems to him the trees are losing their leaves, the days are growing shorter, that sort of thing, aberrations, and the wind bites at his bones.
(What Crab wants then is a nice bowl of soup in which to soak his frozen feet.)

The Crab Nebula - pg. 6

No one and nothing will dissuade him -- your saliva would be better used to water your garden -- he will not reconsider his decision. Crab has chosen madness. Rest assured that this is no sudden brainstorm. Brainstorms are just so much wind. This is a long-cherished project., well ripened. After years of reflection and daily exercise of his intelligence, Crab has discovered that madness is indeed his only real defense against both mediocrity and boredom (which live together). He will not restate here the rigorous reasoning that led to this discovery; that would in itself conflict with his newfound principles. Suffice it to say that death lies at both ends.

The Crab Nebula - Opening

Given a choice between deafness and blindness, Crab would lose his hearing on the spot, without a moment's hesitation. Yet he values music far more than painting. And this is not Crab's only contradiction, as we shall see. If he then had to choose between his right eye and his right hand, he would opt for the latter. He would sooner keep his left hand than his right eye, and he would preserve his right hand at the expense of his left eye. But ask him to choose between both eyes and both hands, he who claimed to prefer either of his hands to either of his eyes, and he will gladly give up both hands in order to retain both eyes.

Publication of this translation was assisted by a grant from the French Ministry of Culture.
1993 by Les Editions de Minuit Translation copyright 1997 by the University of Nebraska Press. All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America. The paper in this book meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences - Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI ZZ39.48-1984. Ser in Font Company Vendome & Bitstream Maritime symbols by Tseng Information Systems. Book design: Richaard Eckersley.


Translated by
Jordan Stump and
Eleanor Hardin