Sublime

En dépit de l’aimée lointaine d’Ukraine et de celle qui est là, toute proche, aux Champs-Élysées, il est seul, plus seul que jamais dans sa vie. Avec cette mort s’éveille en lui quelque chose de nouveau, un sentiment que cette nature débordante de vitalité, d’optimisme, de foi en son étoile n’avait jamais connu, une angoisse, une mystérieuse, inson

William Gass’s novel Omensetter’s Luck.

Certainly he seemed more and more bent on making her talk to him, on drawing her out, as Celia remarked to herself; and in looking at her, his face was often lit up by a smile like pale wintry sunshine. Before he left the next morning, while taking a pleasant walk with Miss Brooke along the gravelled terrace, he had mentioned to her that he felt th

Speak, Ivan: is there a God, or not? Wait: tell me for certain, tell me seriously! Why are you laughing again?”

I looked up, and did not recognize the same man; before, I had seen death in his face; but now he was alive, and I recognized in him the presence of God.