‘Well,’ says Gerstheimer, ‘what do you think?’
‘It looks different,’ says Muñoz.
‘How?’ says Gerstheimer.
Muñoz begins to hum ‘Volare’.
‘What’s that tune you’re humming?’ says Gerstheimer.
‘Was I humming?’ says Muñoz. ‘I wasn’t aware of it. Maybe the colours seem deeper and more vibrant.’
‘I wonder if we should send it to New York to be examined by the Kress Foundation conservation labs at NYU,’ says Gerstheimer.
‘No need,’ says Muñoz with his nose very close to the painting. ‘I can smell if a painting’s been tampered with and I haven’t been wrong yet. Nothing’s been done to this one but to me the colour does seem different. Maybe it’s my eyes.’
‘We’re all tired from this Chicano show,’ says Gerstheimer. ‘Maybe tomorrow it’ll look the same as always.’
The two men depart while Michelle Villa continues to contemplate the painting.
‘That still looks like a smile to me,’ she says.
Acknowledgements
‘Why San Francisco?’ you may ask. Well, when it turned out that Marco Renzetti was going there, Volatore had perforce to go along. I have never been to that city, so I had to rely on the goodwill of friends, the kindness of strangers, and Google. Along the way, people in two places allowed me, with gallantry well beyond the call of duty, to put fictionnal words in their real mouths. At the El Paso Museum of Art, curator Christian Gerstheimer, registrar Michelle Villa and preparator Nick Muñoz graced my last chapter with their presence. Michelle also gave me visual notes on El Paso, as did my son, Brom Hoban. At KDFC in San Francisco Bill Leuth asked Hoyt Smith on my behalf to allow similar fictionalisation, which he graciously agreed to.
I turned up suddenly in various San Francisco telephones and was unfailingly received with courtesy and co-operation. Becky Swanson, Wine Director at Delfina, told me not only about food and drink but also what music was being played in the restaurant. Annie Glyer at Noe Valley Pet Co. told me what Angelica would need for Irene Cat. Bill Hughes at Schoonmaker Marina told me about wind and tide in San Francisco Bay. Robert Tachetto at the Giant Camera gave me details of that obscura establishment.
Eli Bishop in San Francisco put in a lot of time and mileage to provide me with on-the-spot observation wherever needed. Endlessly patient and reliably accurate, he was my private eyes.
My wife Gundula helped me with fashion notes and all kinds of information I couldn’t get for myself.
Liz Calder read my first draft and her advice helped me to get the manuscript into better shape.
Bill Swainson patiently put up with my various inserts and revisions after the manuscript was delivered as final.
Phoebe Hoban gave me useful suggestions for amplifying the text in several places.
Dominic Power read successive drafts and cheered me on at our monthly lunches at Il Fornello.
I work without an outline or overall plan, flying by the seat of my pants. Sometimes the pants wear thin and my inertial guidance system loses its way. Jake Wilson, reading my pages as I worked, kept me more than once from walking over a cliff.
RH
12 May 2010
A Note on the Author
Russell Hoban is the author of many extraordinary novels including Turtle Diary, Riddley Walker, Amaryllis Night and Day, The Bat Tattoo, Her Name Was Lola, Come Dance with Me and, most recently, My Tango with Barbara Strozzi. He has also written some classic books for children including The Mouse and His Child and the Frances books. He lives in London.
By the Same Author
NOVELS
The Lion of Boaz-Jachin and Jachin-Boaz
Kleinzeit
Turtle Diary
Riddley Walker
Pilgermann
The Medusa Frequency
Fremder
Mr Rinyo-Clacton’s Offer
Angelica’s Grotto
Amaryllis Night and Day
The Bat Tattoo
Her Name Was Lola
Come Dance With Me
Linger Awhile
POETRY
The Pedalling Man
The Last of the Wallendas and Other Poems
COLLECTIONS
The Moment Under the Moment
FOR CHILDREN
The Mouse and His Child
The Frances Books
The Trokeville Way
First published in Great Britain 2010
Copyright © 2010 by Russell Hoban
This electronic edition published 2010 by
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
The right of Russell Hoban to be identified as the author
of this work has been asserted by him in accordance
with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
All rights reserved. You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or
otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form,
or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical,
mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without
any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to
criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
Extract from ‘The Man with the Blue Guitar’ by Wallace Stevens taken
from Selected Poems, reproduced by kind permission of
Faber and Faber Ltd
Orlando Furioso (The Frenzy of Orlando), A Romantic Epic: Part One
by Ludovico Ariosto, translated with an introduction by Barbara Reynolds
(Penguin Classics, 1975). Introduction, translation and notes copyright
© Barbara Reynolds, 1975. Reproduced by permission of Penguin Books Ltd
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 36 Soho Square, London W1D 3QY
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 4088 1756 8
www.bloomsbury.com
Visit www.bloomsbury.com to find out more about our authors and their books.
You will find extracts, authors interviews, author events and you can sign up for newsletters
to be the first to hear about our latest releases and special offers.