“Een arts kan heel in het algemeen de mensheid proberen te dienen, maar het staat hem uiteraard ook vrij zich alleen in dienst te stellen van een bepaald deel van de mensheid.

Is this the scene unfolding before Richard’s eyes at the entrance to the asylum seekers’ residence? And are the two groups of people facing off here something like the two halves of a universe that actually belong together, but whose separation is nonetheless irrevocable? Is the rift dividing them in fact a bottomless chasm is that why such powerful turbulences have been released? And is it a rift between Black and White? Or Poor and Rich? Stranger and Friend? Or between those whose fathers have died and those whose fathers are still alive? Or those with curly hair and those with straight? Those who call their dinner fufu and those who call it stew? Or those who like to wear yellow, red, and green t-shirts and those who prefer neckties? Or those who like to drink water and those who prefer beer? Or between speakers of one language and another? How many borders exist within a single universe?” “Peter told him that for the Incas the center of the universe wasn’t a point but a line where the two halves of the universe meet.

Go went gone by jenny erpenbeck