A Chance Encounter

I was walking through housewares when I heard someone say, “Dan!” I turned and saw that it was C. She was shopping for a vegetable steamer. Her dilemma was whether to get the more expensive Krups model at the department store or to go over to Target and get the cheaper Salton. “Krups is a German company,” she said. “They know their design.”

We talked about books and authors. She wanted to know my recommendations for summer reading. I mentioned several including Zadie Smith’s debut called “White Teeth” and Dave Eggers’ book. She perked up at the mention of Ms. Smith but frowned on Mr. Eggers trendiness.

Somehow Kafka came up — maybe it was because I was talking about Milan Kundera. At any rate C. mentioned that Kafka was about “identity” and being a “Jew.” Kafka certainly is a writer who has been analyzed to death. I held my tongue, saying simply that Kafka, to me, is more about bureaucracy and the triviality of life in the modern state.

We parted, and I headed over to men’s wear to look for some work clothes. I start my job in academia next week. At any rate I found a couple of shirts reduced to $13.99 each. I felt comfortable with the price.

I rejoined C. and gave her a ride home since she has no car.

Anyway, I’m looking now at the stack of books I picked up in Minneapolis over the weekend: Camus, Dostoevsky, Genet, Kerouac, Chomsky. Lots of dead men in this batch. Except for Chomsky, of course, but he’s over 70. I picked up the Genet and Chomsky at this radical bookstore on Lyndale called Arise! and the others at Ruminator, which used to be called Hungry Mind. I’ve got some reading to do.

By the way, C. bought the Salton.

Powerfully Yours — (Signed) Daniel