‘it will be quoted for many years to come? read nore wus penguin.con PENGUIN BOOKS THINGS | DON’T WANT TO KNOW A response to George Orwell's 1946 essay ‘Why | Write’ “Unmissable’ Guardian DEBORAH LEVY Author of Swimming HomeOne = Political Purpose — there was ators at there 12. Ie was as if the forwards pression of a conver: sation Twas having wit If. Escalators, w in the early days of theit invention were known as ing staircases’ or ‘magic stairways’, had mys Tmade This was the first pleased to read newspaper eys in my life I had ever been mns about the things ’ lawnmower. When is kind of thing (w! T wasn’t absorbed ina state of J fermented to somewhere 1 my brand new Political Purpose found myself sitting in aisle seat 22C 1¢ plane took off the earth ‘0 drive me u c been bi the steep J! ecas roads might hite clouds flo ‘one in the q ing across both his eyes. No c wanted to admit they were anxious he car and avoided him when he i rank. After we negotiated theWve without looking, fingers on the di feet. An hour later he began the up and n sucldenly shouted ‘NO NO NO’ and abruptly in every other have to sleep. Political Purpose pened at once. I heard thes ‘on the path and then I saw the feet of a woman in red lea ther shoes making her way towards me, She shouted but for some reason Iw said, he woman's face was lered if she was mad. But then I remembered tuse she was t et me dressed for st. [think you voked confused be het torch to the turing wh sed the path, as if she mething People who book vgs: a quiet place near the citrus orchards and si want particular1e great love of my 1: from the old fashioned coins that connected the coins inio the sl was the 6 Political Purpos the olive trees looked exactly the same when T last stayed here. Everything was the same. doors tee in the mimic the shape I started ‘and Other Demons, and secondly ind’s A Winter in Majorere dyed k* (cherry juice?) nthusiastic smokers, tl Political Purpose wat would not be lace in one of Kantor's ng, goodbye to three ‘women — his sister, his mother and his gilfriend, First he kisses his mother’s hand. Then he kisses his ly he kisses his girlfriend! nds economy is collapsing, that performances. A soldier is demonstra ‘on and steel works in Nowa Huta and nsk ship yard, wat what interests me (in my sheriff's the act of kis tastrophe, ov, Zofia ) necklaces to the ka wears two (sha sarsal of her play: one le from wormwood incient Eayptians soak wormwood! ith a taste for the ‘gecen fairy’, If they were not bitten by mosquitoes, they had newnt to Kiron reatte prov a8 a pause, It is an ate Bur when you are ready to wrong, Med n so she should wear a dress its stomach. Zofia e» 0 ust not speak her lines like poetry It occurred to me that id jogged along with my own writing for be bigger than form yes, that was a subversive note to a writer like self who had always experimer White borscht with boiled egg and sausage Traditional bunter’s stew with mash potatoes. Soft drink.Things 1 Don Want to Know Political P on i Polish enenmbe ives stuffed with meat and mash potatoes. Soft drank. nto her arms that were resting on top of the wash. y way to a table machine. She saw me make abba and turned her back on me. on LOT air. 10 nuTses from Odes ice of lemon in it, and two . As she unloacled the tray, Maria never fe in London or J abou rely looked mething so ceri 1s. As I made terrace for breakfast, I heard HUH HUH HUH. I did not rs in my ng came from errace where the Bdren — we had metamorphosed (new heavy mill: ¥ about our purpose we too had cal Purpose ire to not be disappoint- ely understand that Mother, ized by the Societal System, as imagined and ad The world loved the delusion more than it loved the mother. All the same, we felt gui bout unveiling thi on in case the niche we hhad made for ourselves and our much-loved chil- dren collapse Id slaves + the globe. It was mysterious ld and never in favour of chil: alous of the passion ccause it seemed to me that the male wo s political arrangements dren and women} was a be passive by but erotically energetic, sels we were to be S subjected to ic and dom sure what it was weThings I Don't Want to Know veery vepgic snifiy, And un ate and crisps and other nice words, rere to look, In the more ex balance I thought these were 12 words, p where to looke my Gods were 1 And we put a home for more ruthlessly, or c Duras. There is no feminist read that cuts wasn't too drunk s the intellectual energy to move o nother one. Pethaps when get her through January, the way to December. I hear Duras's vThings | Don't Want to Know ine ego speaking to me, to me, to me, in all is not a good place to live. No ise to seck ref uge inside our children be keen to make their wa ldren are always knew they w digans with seq ‘The Oh my Gods were skeletons wearing tracksuits. We sground so forensically and and poor skeletons. A particular mother of my acquaintance had eyes 50 5 the moanies and groanies would have them piggy eyes. It was not that her eyes were terally small, it was as if they wanted to disappear nto her head, Every time we met in the playground, 1 found myself trying not to stare but I couldn't help myself. When her tiny peepholes tried to wriggle rrher cha isband was the love of h Political Pespose pure chocolate that had so intoxicated Maequez's the other bars of more a bar of walk to the next astery where George Sand and Fred! ‘tick Chopin stayed during the winter of 1838-9. He smiled as a more of a grimace. Ab yes. Jorge Sand, The Major dressed in men’s clothing and she s ot 1 paid hhim for the chocolate, and then as a second thought bot ‘extra bar of the 99 per cent cacao for Maria,1 Don't Want to Kuno George S Aucore} fering wood coves, it secmed and to to rent red offer accommo: shake me to the core. ng happened at all, And was the poster in my bath System’ which I had mi ‘mote piano in Maria's hall wed every day but never n't know why it preoccupied me, but it my attention, In fact [had tried not to 2 litical Purpos look at it on my way down the stairs that morning, I thought about all the things I had hoped for and I laughed. ‘The soi laughter made id of my own ert wood smoke all over the valley and it was obvious to me that every house had a fire going. Sure enous res fire burning at back of the room and T made my way towards it, When waaay T took a not to understand yee This prompred le siting nearby wearing ident d walking boots to translate what she was saying into Ger intl T noticed he bar. He waved ar So, he asked were lucky to like Jorge Sand? told him, yes, they were very lucky to meet her and L was lucky to meet him too because I was just 2Things I Don't Want to Knox clragged away from my He sat down at 10 re Chinese than Spani that. It was as if calzone richer, but he to? T “You're a writer, aren't you! ‘was not exactly a straighi cause a few years back Pd. ists on the counter of his shop. He knew I was a writer, so T wondered what it was he actually wanted to know: I sensed he was thing else. Id 1d again was the poster o Wy bathroom. I wasn’t sure icky to be id be al id been George Sand, I would have rwved to sit pig and a flagon of finest red wine, But that was not the sort of drama I wanted. The night before, Uhad walked into the forest at midnight, thar was what I really wanted to do. 1 Thad ‘missed the turning to the hotel, but I think I wanted to get lost to see what happened next. 1 still hadn’t answered the Chinese shopkeeper's question, “Yo re-a writer aren't you?” That spring, when life was very hard and T simply cou where there was 10 get to, it was impossible to say aPoliticel Purpose ce L was o J was thinking, Anyway, it we ong, answer; som ook you know I can speak Spanish and rich too. But my English is not so good. Can you speak Chinese? 6 7