Out of the Wings

El lector por horas (1996), José Sanchis Sinisterra

Reader by the Hour : SCENE ONE , SCENE SEVEN , SCENE TEN excerpt 1 , SCENE TEN excerpt 2 , SCENE SIXTEEN

Reader by the Hour (2006), translated by Paul Rankin

SCENE ONE

Edition

Sanchis Sinisterra, José. 2006. Reader by the Hour, trans. Paul Rankin. E-book. Madrid, Caos Editorial, http://www.caoseditorial.com/libros/ficha.asp?lg=en&id=43 [accessed January 2010] (Online Publication)

pp. 5-6

Context:

Ishmael and Kenneth meet for the first time. After reading aloud for Kenneth, Ishmael is given the job as Silvia’s reader. This excerpt gives an insight into the nature of the initial relationship that is to exist between Ishmael and his employers, in which Ishmael is to keep his private life wholly distant from his reading.

Sample text

KENNETH:: You’re not given much to talking, I like that. And so will Silvia. She didn’t ask for a conversationalist.
ISHMAEL:: That’s certainly not me.
KENNETH:: The last time you read it was possibly a little too transparent. It’s not a question of erasing the meaning either … But I do prefer it that way. (Pause.) Transparent, that’s the word. No one getting in the way. Just an organ, you understand me?
ISHMAEL:: Perfectly.
KENNETH:: You do? You understand I’m not employing you, the person you are … just your reading ability?
ISHMAEL:: That’s what I thought.
KENNETH:: I’m not interested in the person you are. Nor is Silvia, naturally. She was very clear about it: ‘Someone to read’, she said. ‘That’s all, someone who knows how to read.’ … And I think you are that someone.
ISHMAEL:: Thank you.
KENNETH:: Someone who knows how to read. Nothing more. Nothing less. There have been other applicants, did you know?
ISHMAEL:: I supposed there would be.
KENNETH:: Very able people, very worthy. … But, regrettably, much too personal. They invaded the texts intolerably, some of them even with their emotions, grimacing. … And, what is worse, right from the very first interview they started showing me their CVs, their personal lives, their likes and dislikes. …. By the way, I have no interest in your likes and dislikes either.
ISHMAEL:: I understand.
KENNETH:: I expect you have them, everyone does. Am I wrong?
ISHMAEL:: To some extent. But …
KENNETH:: But I’m not interested in them. Nor is Silvia. She’ll tell you herself the books she wants to read. She has a vast literary education. And here, as you can see, we have more than enough books to fill an entire lifetime. Wouldn’t you agree?

Copyright

The above sample taken from the translation Reader by the Hour (2006) by Paul Rankin is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

SCENE SEVEN

Edition

p. 15

Context:

This excerpt comes after Ishmael has been reading Conrad’s 'Heart of Darkness' to Silvia. Kenneth and Ishmael discuss the fact that it was a poor choice for her. Silvia’s blindness has not yet been made obvious to the audience, but her reaction to the book choice suggests that she cannot see.

Sample text

KENNETH:: No, no, you are not to blame at all. The fault was mine for …
ISHMAEL:: Yes, but I should have …
KENNETH:: No, really. I hold myself entirely responsible. You needn’t …
ISHMAEL:: I noticed something the first couple of days. I ought to have said …
KENNETH:: Entirely responsible. I didn’t even realise the title was …
ISHMAEL:: It did cross my mind, but …
KENNETH:: One can’t think of everything.
ISHMAEL:: At the end of the day, I still should have …
KENNETH:: It’s just not possible.
ISHMAEL:: No. (Pause.) But, is she better now?; (Silence.)
KENNETH:: ‘What do you know about darkness?’, she said to me. ‘What does anyone know about being trapped in the shadows?’.

Copyright

The above sample taken from the translation Reader by the Hour (2006) by Paul Rankin is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

SCENE TEN excerpt 1

Edition

pp. 24-5

Context:

In this excerpt the three characters discuss their perspectives on literature and the value or dangers of reading.

Sample text

KENNETH:

It is a form of destruction, don’t you think?

ISHMAEL:

I think it depends how you …

KENNETH:

The mind and reality collide with one another, and then …

SILVIA:

Not always, Father, not always …

ISHMAEL:

There are many ways of reading.

[…]

SILVIA:

Let it go, Ishmael. He thinks it’s just some morbid addiction. … Isn’t that right, Father?

KENNETH:

Something like that. … Another drink?

SILVIA:

You twist everything. … You have to stop, Father.

KENNETH:

And well Flaubert knew it.

ISHMAEL:

So, in your view, Emma Bovary and Don Quixote would be …

KENNETH:

Precisely. And Don Quixote too, exactly. Two victims of the same illness. Emma and Don Quixote, it’s a good parallel.

ISHMAEL:

It’s not mine.

KENNETH:

It’s more than a parallel, it’s the same illness, the same virus …

SILVIA:

Is it still light?

KENNETH:

In literature, in novels. It’s the vice of reading.

SILVIA:

What time is it?

ISHMAEL:

I’d say they were extreme cases …

KENNETH:

What?

ISHMAEL:

Madame Bovary and Don Quixote …

KENNETH:

Extreme cases?

ISHMAEL:

Yes, … extreme cases that Cervantes and Flaubert make a point of criticising …

KENNETH:

Where are you going, Silvia?

(Silence.)

ISHMAEL:

It’s almost eight o’clock.

KENNETH:

It’s quite the opposite, actually – they are the prototype of the average reader. Rather more vulnerable, perhaps, given how empty their lives are. … But their story is entirely run-of-the-mill, the same as anyone who devotes themselves to reading … and they end up being destroyed. Such is the way of the world, everyone is ill, mad. … Novels open up … comedies and dramas do too … even poetry. … All of them open up an … a crack between the mind and reality. […] But literature, any work of fiction, novels, poems, dramas … has only one purpose, to create dissatisfaction, and make reality unbearable.

Copyright

The above sample taken from the translation Reader by the Hour (2006) by Paul Rankin is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

SCENE TEN excerpt 2

Edition

pp. 30-2

Context:

In this excerpt Silvia reveals that Ishmael has betrayed his private life through his reading. She alludes to his past as a shamed schoolteacher.

Sample text

SILVIA:: Did we employ you to lie?
ISHMAEL:: No, to read. Just to …
SILVIA:: So lying wasn’t part of the contract?
ISHMAEL:: Lying?
SILVIA:: That’s an extra service, then, is it?
ISHMAEL:: I don’t understand what you mea—
SILVIA:: Yes, you do, it’s a kind of … selfless contribution you make.
ISHMAEL:: What would I lie to you about?
SILVIA:: We employed you to read, and you, very generously, regale us with lies.
ISHMAEL:: You will have to excuse me, Silvia, but I had an appointment and …
SILVIA:: You may ring them if you wish, teacher.
ISHMAEL:: No, it’s too late now. I’ll have to go. (Pause.) Teacher?
SILVIA:: Were you not wanting to ring? A call is always more …
ISHMAEL:: You said ‘teacher’?; (Silence.)
SILVIA:: […] Seven years sharpening my hearing. (Pause.) I know everything about you. Every reading session is a confession, with every page you uncover a fold of your soul, some fear or other, some bitterness, the trace of a memory or a desire. Those thousands and thousands of words you read … No, don’t interrupt me. […] You lie when you speak, but you are naked when you read. (Laughs.) Through that transparency my father sees only the work, the ‘text’ as he puts it. I, on the other hand … (Pause.) Was she underage? I mean the last one, of course, the one who killed herself.

Copyright

The above sample taken from the translation Reader by the Hour (2006) by Paul Rankin is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

SCENE SIXTEEN

Edition

pp. 57-61

Context:

This excerpt comes near the end of the play. The dynamic between Ishmael and his employers has shifted considerably. Now he appears in control and they (especially Silvia) are wary of his presence.

Sample text

SILVIA:

That’s him now. (Pause.) Do you hear me? That’s him now.

KENNETH:

Is it?

SILVIA:

What time is it?

KENNETH:

Are you sure it’s him?

SILVIA:

Did you not hear him? What time is it?

KENNETH:

Relax, Silvia, please. Will you calm down? It’s twenty past four.

SILVIA:

Do you think I’m nervous? Why? (Pause.) And why should I calm down? He is here, isn’t he? What time did you say it was? Oh come on, he’s taking ages, don’t you realise? From the door to here it’s not fifteen … it’s not even ten metres. But he takes forever. He walks up slowly, silently, sniffing everything out, calculating what each piece of furniture is worth, each painting …

[…]

SILVIA:

Does he not frighten you? Tell me, does he not …?

KENNETH:

Hello Ishmael … Come on in.

ISHMAEL:

Good afternoon.

SILVIA:

It’s half past four.

ISHMAEL:

I’m sorry. Something … unexpected has happened to me.

KENNETH:

It doesn’t matter. There’ll be no reading today anyway. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever. We never said this was a job for life, did we? Silvia is … heartbroken. I am too, believe me. But everything comes to an end. We won’t deny we’ve become very fond of you. You’ve been here all these months, savouring good literature … it’s difficult for us, it is. But everything comes to an end. Isn’t that true, Sil—?

SILVIA:

Give us some time, Father.

(Silence.)

SILVIA:

Do you know something? Here, in the darkness, everything moves. People think blindness is a kind of stillness, that the world stops, that everything. … (Pause.) Actually, it’s just the opposite … it’s constant movement. You’re even aware of how time flows by, how it creaks and squeaks. … Nothing stays still, you, for example. … Anyone would say you’re just standing there, motionless, as rigid as a statue, wouldn’t they? (Pause.) But I notice the way you’re trembling, I can hear your breathing falter, your heart …

ISHMAEL:

I’m not trembling, Silvia. I feel like laughing, actually, that’s what you’re noticing.

[…]

SILVIA: (After a pause.)

I don’t know what you want from me. Did you not hear my father?

ISMAEL:

Yes. … What was that he said? ‘There’ll be no reading today. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever.’ … That was it, wasn’t it? It made me laugh. … It was like landing in a novel. You know, like when you slip into a novel and you know that it’s all written down already, you understand me?

SILVIA:

No.

ISHMAEL:

Everything that has to happen, as unexpected as it might be, is already written down, you know, in those pages you haven’t read yet. … Those things that have to happen are already there, and you know … even though you don’t know them yet. So that when they arrive … when they appear on the page and you read them … it’s almost as though you remember them. That feeling of …

SILVIA: