Khe Iem
04-07-2009, 11:16 PM
PAGES (FROM A BOOK)
By Khe Iem
Translated by DoVinh
He steps out from
pages of whispered tales of
love stories from The Hunchback
of Notre Dame to the
Strange Tales of Liaozhai
to the “magical realism”
(One Hundred Years of Solitude)
thousands and tens of thousands
of love stories and all as fictitious
as reality and after he had
stepped out from the pages
he is no longer himself and
he is a fictitious character
he is no longer himself now
no longer the person he was
he is himself but why is it
that people are still crazy
about fiction unbelieving
of that which is real but he
still believes that he is himself
and not believing that he is not
himself although neither is real
and thus that which is fictitious
is considered to be real
after all he had stepped out
of the pages but the pages
had not stepped out of him
so that these stories are now
within him or without him
and he tells about stories or
the stories are telling about him
and then there are times when
he is telling about himself
and the stories are telling about
themselves or the stories are
just stories and he is just himself
etcetera etcetera until both
he and the stories are fictitious
fictitious as reality.
Note:
1. The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a novel of French writer Victor Hugo (1802-1885).
2. Strange Tales of Liaozhai by Chinese writer Pu Songling (1640-1715).
3. Magical Realism is the technique that Marbriel Garcia Marquez (born in Aracatara, Colombia, in March 1928) uses in his novels and short stories.
By Khe Iem
Translated by DoVinh
He steps out from
pages of whispered tales of
love stories from The Hunchback
of Notre Dame to the
Strange Tales of Liaozhai
to the “magical realism”
(One Hundred Years of Solitude)
thousands and tens of thousands
of love stories and all as fictitious
as reality and after he had
stepped out from the pages
he is no longer himself and
he is a fictitious character
he is no longer himself now
no longer the person he was
he is himself but why is it
that people are still crazy
about fiction unbelieving
of that which is real but he
still believes that he is himself
and not believing that he is not
himself although neither is real
and thus that which is fictitious
is considered to be real
after all he had stepped out
of the pages but the pages
had not stepped out of him
so that these stories are now
within him or without him
and he tells about stories or
the stories are telling about him
and then there are times when
he is telling about himself
and the stories are telling about
themselves or the stories are
just stories and he is just himself
etcetera etcetera until both
he and the stories are fictitious
fictitious as reality.
Note:
1. The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a novel of French writer Victor Hugo (1802-1885).
2. Strange Tales of Liaozhai by Chinese writer Pu Songling (1640-1715).
3. Magical Realism is the technique that Marbriel Garcia Marquez (born in Aracatara, Colombia, in March 1928) uses in his novels and short stories.