Troubles - James Gordon Farrell [212]
On his last day in Kilnalough the Major paid a melancholy visit to the charred rubble which was now all that remained of the Majestic. He did not linger there, however, because he had a train to catch. Besides, there was very little to see except that great collection of wash-basins and lavatory bowls which had crashed from one burning floor to another until they reached the ground. He inspected the drips of molten glass which had collected like candle-grease beneath the windows. He noted the large number of delicate little skeletons (the charred and roasted demons had been picked clean by the rats). He stepped from one blackened compartment to another trying to orientate himself and saying: “I’m standing in the residents’ lounge, in the corridor, in the writing-room.” Now that these rooms were open to the mild Irish sky they all seemed much smaller—in fact, quite insignificant. As he was carefully stepping over a large pile of wood-ash (which he suspected must have once been the massive front door) he looked back and happened to notice something white, half concealed by rubble. It was the statue of Venus, strangely undamaged. It was much too heavy for him to lift by himself, but when he got back to Kilnalough he made arrangements for it to be packed and shipped to London.
As it turned out, this lady of white marble was the only bride the Major succeeded in bringing back with him from Ireland in that year of 1921. But he was still troubled by thoughts of Sarah. His love for her perched inside him, motionless, like a sick bird. For many weeks he continued to think about her painfully. And then one day, without warning, the bird left its perch inside him and flew away into the outer darkness and he was at peace. Yet even many years later he would sometimes think of her. And once or twice he thought he glimpsed her in the street.
This is a New York Review Book
Published by The New York Review of Books
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Copyright © 1970 by J.G. Farrell
Introduction copyright © 2002 by John Banville
All rights reserved.
Cover photograph: Anonymous, overturned hansom cab with spectators, Edwardian era. Cover design: Katy Homans
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Farrell, J.G. (James Gordon), 1935-
Troubles / J.G. Farrell ; introduction by John Banville.
(New York Review Books classics)
1. Family-owned business enterprises—Fiction. 2. World War,
1914–1918—Veterans—Fiction. 3. Ireland—History—1910–1921—Fiction.
4. Hotels—Fiction. I. Title. II. Series.
PR6056.A75 T76 2002
823'.914—dc21
2002002988
eISBN 978-1-59017-418-0
v1.0
For a complete list of books in the NYRB Classics series visit www.nyrb.com or write to:
Catalog Requests, NYRB, 435 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
Table of Contents
Cover
Biographical Notes
Title Page
Contents
Introduction
TROUBLES
Part One
Part Two
Copyright and More Information