Two young policemen patrol the street with tense expressions, but no one seems to notice them. The car looks like a deep-sea creature with specialized skin and organs. A flashy black station wagon drifts down the street as if taking stock of the district through its black-tinted windows.
… Even at this hour, the karaoke club pitchmen keep shouting for customers. Our line of sight chooses an area of concentrated brightness and, focusing there, silently descends to it-a sea of neon colors. Midnight is approaching, and while the peak of activity has passed, the basal metabolism that maintains life continues undiminished, producing the basso continuo of the city’s moan, a monotonous sound that neither rises nor falls but is pregnant with foreboding. To the rhythm of its pulsing, all parts of the body flicker and flare up and squirm. Countless arteries stretch to the ends of its elusive body, circulating a continuous supply of fresh blood cells, sending out new data and collecting the old, sending out new consumables and collecting the old, sending out new contradictions and collecting the old. In our broad sweep, the city looks like a single gigantic creature-or more like a single collective entity created by many intertwining organisms. Through the eyes of a high-flying night bird, we take in the scene from midair. TL DR: After the ignominious rank I offered After Dark, its ardent fans came to its defense in Reddit and Facebook discussion threads: so I reread it, and found out I was so, so wrong….
Published by Vintage International in 2007.
0 kommentar(er)
