"James Morrow - Towing Jehovah" - читать интересную книгу автора (Morrow James)

Towing Jehovah
JAMES MORROW



Copyright ┬й 1994 by James Morrow



To the memory
of my father-in -law,
Albert L. Pierce




ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I OWE A SINGULAR debt to my friend Able Seaman Gigi Marino, a
splendid writer who taught me everything I wanted to know about oil
tankers. The insights of my editor, John Radziewicz, were likewise
invaluable, as was the support of my agent, Merrilee Heifetz. Throughout
the composing process, I maintained close contact with many friends,
colleagues, and relatives, probing them for their reactions to particular
scenes as well as for their general views on theothanatology. Each of the
following people will know the special reasons for which I am grateful to
him or her: Joe Adamson, Linda Barnes, Deborah Beale, Lynn Crosson,
Shira Daemon, Sean Develin, Travis DiNicola, Daniel Dubner, Margaret
Duda, Gregory Feeley, Justin Fielding, Robert Hatten, Michael Kandel,
Glenn Morrow, Jean Morrow, Elisabeth Rose, Joe Schall, Peter
Schneeman, D. Alexander Smith, Kathryn Smith, James Stevens-Arce,
and Judith Van Herik. And, finally, a hearty thanks to the Sycamore Hill
Writers' Conference for improving the Eucharist.
WE HAVE LEFT the land and have embarked. We have burned our
bridges behind usтАФindeed, we have gone farther and destroyed the land
behind us. Now, little ship, look out! Beside you is the ocean: to be sure, it
does not always roar, and at times it lies spread out like silk and gold and
reveries of graciousness. But hours will come when you will realize that it
is infinite and that there is nothing more awesome than infinity! Oh, the
poor bird that felt free and now strikes the wall of this cage! Woe, when
you feel homesick for the land as if it had offered more freedomтАФand
there is no longer any "land."
тАФFriedrich Nietzsche,
"In the Horizon of the Infinite," The Gay Science


And the Lord said, "Behold ... I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt
see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen."
тАФThe Book of Exodus