“It doesn’t exist. There’s no such thing as Italy,” he categorically declared as he made his rounds. He’d dramatically smack his trowel against the clay, keeping rhythm with his own argument. “The whole thing was invented by international swindlers!”
“What do you mean?” the educated folks would ask in surprise. “Italy’s right there on the map.”
“Give me a map, I’ll draw anything you want on it,” coughed Eremei.
Vladimir Lorchenkov
From Moldovan writer Vladimir Lorchenkov’s The Good Life Elsewhere, translated from the Russian by Ross Ufberg. The excerpt published in B O D Y comes from the novel just published by New Vessel Press.
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