tisdag, april 26, 2005

Ask the Dust av John Fante


Ask the Dust är den andra bok John Fante skrev. Den första var Wait until Spring, Bandini som jag älskade. I Ask the Dust har Arturo Bandini vuxit upp något, flyttat till Los Angeles och försöker vara författare.

I was twenty then. What the hell, I used to say, take your time, Bandini.

Först i min upplaga finns ett ömt Fante-är-nog-gud-förord från Charles Bukowski 1979 som slutar "That's enough. Now this book is yours." Sen börjar boken. Såhär:

One night I was sitting on the bed in my hotel room on Bunker Hill, down in the very middle of Los Angeles. It was an important night in my life, because I had to make a decision about the hotel. Either I paid up or I got out: that was what the note said, the note the landlady had put under my door. A great problem, deserving acute attention. I solved it by turning out the lights and going to bed.


__________________
John Fante
Ask the Dust. 1939. Ecco, 2002: ISBN 0-87685-443-9
Wait until Spring, Bandini. 1938. Ecco 2002. 265 s. ISBN 0-87685-555-9