Ends and Odds

As we begin limbering up (exercises, movements, elevations, relaxations, elongations...)  for the 2012 series of Debts and Legacies, it seems a suitable time to reawaken this blog.

Beginning with something that I missed last year, but am now immersed in, I'd like to direct the attention of the equally unobservant to Alba Arikha's memoir, Major/Minor, published by Quartet. The book has received strong reviews in the press, and explores the impact of famous and talented adults, and tragic historical events, on Arikha's teenage self. She recalls Beckett enquiring about her fifteenth birthday:

"I owe you a present, he says.
My father becomes pale. Her birthday. Barbaric...
Not now, my mother interjects.
Why not? Instead of coming to my opening in Dijon, my daughter chose to have a party instead.
My father pauses and breathes in deeply.
I can still smell the spaghetti bolognese that was thrown against the walls of the flat. And I can see those degenerates smoking cigarettes and doing horrible things in the bathtub.
Enough, my mother snaps, Sam doesn't need to hear about this.

Sam smiles, flicks the ashes of his cigar into the ashtray, and says nothing."


Arikha's website can be seen here.