October 23, 2014 Roberto Bolaño
I have been spending a lot of time brushing up my Spanish lately and really can’t overstate how much I love Roberto Bolaño’s short story “Sensini”:
Miranda estaba acodada en la barda mirando las luces de Girona. Tienes una buena vista desde aquí, me dijo. Le Ilené su vaso, me Ilené el mío, y nos quedamos durante un rato mirando la ciudad iluminada por la luna. De pronto me di cuenta de que ya estábamos en paz, que por alguna razón misteriosa habíamos llegado juntos a estar en paz y que de ahí en adelante las cosas imperceptiblemente comenzarían a cambiar. Como si el mundo, de verdad, se moviera. Le pregunté que edad tenía. Veintidós, dijo. Entonces yo debo tener mas de treinta, dije, y hasta mi voz sonó extrafia.
In English:
Miranda was leaning on the balustrade, looking at the lights of Girona. You have a good view, she said. I filled her glass, then my own, and we stood there for a while looking at the moonlit city. Suddenly I realised that we were at peace, that for some mysterious reason the two of us had reached a state of peace, and that from now on, imperceptibly, things would begin to change. As if the world really was shifting. I asked her how old she was. Twenty-two, she said. I must be over thirty then, I said, and even my voice sounded different.
Read it here in Spanish or English.