HOME READING TEXTS 21 – 25 Page 11 of 11

TEXT 21 LEVIATHAN

by Paul Auster

Paul Auster (b. 1947) – an American author known for works blending crime fiction and the search for identity.

(This 1992 novel may be called a physiological narrative with action. In it the writer Peter Aaron tells the story of a Ben Sachs who, in his quest for identity, ‘has traveled from one end of himself to another’.)

One evening, while we were sitting in the living room with David, Delia asked me to fetch her glasses from a shelf in her upstairs study, and when I entered the room I saw her journal lying open on the desk. Delia had been keeping a journal since the age of thirteen or fourteen, and by now it ran to dozen of volumes, notebook after notebook filled with the ongoing saga of her inner life. She had often read passages from it to me, but until that evening I had never so much as dared to look at it without her permission. Standing there at that moment, however, I found myself gripped by a tremendous urge to read those pages. In (10) retrospect, I understand that this meant our life together was already finished, that my willingness to break this trust proved that I had given up any hope for our marriage, but I wasn’t aware of it then.

At the time, the only thing I felt was curiosity. The pages were open on the desk, and Delia had just asked me to go into the room for her. She must have understood that I would notice them. Assuming that was true, it was almost as if she were inviting me to read what she had written. In all events, that was the excuse I gave myself that night, and even now I’m not sure I was wrong. It would have been just like her to act indirectly, to provoke a crisis she would never have to claim

(20) responsibility for. That was her special talent: taking matters into her own hands, even as she convinced herself that her hands were clean.

So I looked down at the open journal, and once I crossed that threshold, I wasn’t able to turn back. I saw that I was the subject of that day’s entry, and what I found there was an exhaustive catalogue of

complaints and grievances, a grim little document set forth in the language of a laboratory report. Delia had covered everything, from the way I dressed to the foods I ate, to my incorrigible lack of human understanding. I was morbid and self-centered, frivolous and

(30) domineering, vengeful and lazy and distracted. Even if every one of those things had been true, her portrait of me was so ungenerous, so mean-spirited in its tone, that I couldn’t even bring myself to feel angry. I felt sad, hollowed out, dazed. By the time I reached the last paragraph, her conclusion was already self-evident, a thing that no longer needed to be expressed. “I have never loved Peter,” she wrote. “It was a mistake to think I ever could. Our life together is a fraud, and the longer we go on like this, the closer we come to destroying each other. We never should have gotten married. I let Peter talk me into it, and I’ve been paying for it ever since. I didn’t love him then, and I don’t (40) love him now. No matter how long I stay with Peter, I will never love him.”

It was all so abrupt, so final, that I almost felt relieved. To understand that you are despised in this way eliminates any excuse for self-pity. I couldn’t doubt where thing stood any more, and however shaken I might have been in those moments, I knew that I had brought this disaster down on myself. I had thrown away eleven years of my life in search of a figment. My whole youth had been sacrificed to a delusion, and yet rather than crumple up and mourn what I had just lost, I felt strangely invigorated, set free by the bluntness and brutality of Delia’s (50) words. All this strikes me as inexplicable now. But the fact was that I didn’t hesitate. I went downstairs with Delia’s glasses, told her that I had read her journal, and the next morning I moved out.

NOTES

LEVIATHAN – the title is borrowed from the Biblical sea monster

a figment – something invented or imagined

EXERCISES

I Choose the correct answer. Circle the right letter.

1 The narrator is … .

a) Peter Aaron c) David

b) Paul Auster d) Delia

2 The passage is about a man who discovers his wife … .

a) has a secret life

b) doesn’t love him

c) has just left him

d) has decided to keep a journal

3 And who decides … .

a) to split up

b) to talk to her

c) to forgive her

d) to pretend nothing has happened

II Re-read Paragraph One.

Say whether these statements are True or False and justify your answer by quoting the text.

1 The narrator considered it normal that a man should read his wife’s diary.

T

F

2 His desire to read Delia’s journal was evidence that something had gone wrong between them.

T

F

3 As soon as he saw Delia’s journal, he realized his marriage was over.

T

F

4 He suspected Delia had sent him upstairs so that he would read her latest entry.

T

F

5 He knew his wife could manipulate people.

T

F

III Re-read Paragraph Two.

1 Complete the following table by ticking the correct cell and if your answer is “Yes”, justify your choice by using words from the text.

#	Delia thought her husband was:	Yes	No
1	irresponsible
2	egoistic
3	sympathetic
4	bossy
5	vindictive
6	boisterous
7	industrious
8	absent-minded
9	resentful

2 Tick the four correct statements.

When he read Delia’s journal, the narrator … .

͏ 1 felt furious;

͏ 2 was shocked;

͏ 3 understood he hadn’t been generous enough;

͏ 4 thought Delia had been unfair;

͏ 5 doubted Delia’s magnanimity;

͏ 6 learnt Delia had never loved him;

͏ 7 understood he had never loved her

IV Re-read Paragraph Three and pick out elements that illustrate the following:

1 The narrator knew there was nothing to be done. ……….………. (1)*

2 He had a feeling of deliverance. ……….………. (1)*

3 He knew Delia felt contempt for him. ……….………. (1)*

4 He knew his happiness had been sheer imagination. ………., ………. (2)*

5 He made a decision at once. ………. ………. ………. (3)*

* The number of words to write in.

THE END

TEXT 22 THE FIRM

By John Grisham

John Grisham (b.1955) – an American author, best known for his legal thrillers.

(The young lawyer, Mitch Y. McDeere, joins a prestigious law firm only to discover it has a sinister dark side. Five lawyers have already died under suspicious circumstances. Mitch has to act quickly to save his life and those of his wife and brother.)

The senior partner studied the résumé for the hundredth time and again found nothing he disliked about Mitchell Y. McDeere, at least not on paper. He had the brains, the ambition, the good looks. And he was hungry; with his background, he had to be. He was married and that was mandatory. The firm had never hired an unmarried lawyer, and it frowned heavily on divorce, as well as womanizing and drinking.

Drug testing was in the contract. He had a degree in accounting, passed the CPA exam the first time he took it and wanted to be a tax lawyer, which of course was a requirement with a tax firm. He was white and (10) the firm never hired a black. They managed this by being secretive and clubbish and never soliciting job applications. Other firms solicited and hired blacks. This firm recruited, and remained lily white. Plus, the firm was in Memphis, of all places, and the top blacks wanted New York or Washington or Chicago. McDeere was a male, and there were no women in the firm. That mistake had been made in the mid-seventies when they recruited the number one grad from Harvard, who happened to be a she and a wizard at taxation. She lasted four turbulent years and was killed in a car wreck.

He looked good, on paper, he was their top choice. In fact, for this year (20) there were no other prospects. The list was very short. It was McDeere or no one.

The managing partner, Royce McKnight, studied a dossier labeled “Mitchell Y. McDeere – Harvard .” An inch thick with small print and a

few photographs, it had been prepared by some ex-CIA agents in a private intelligence outfit in Bethesda. They were clients of the firm and each year did the investigating for no fee. It was easy work, they said, checking out unsuspecting law students. They learned, for instance, that he preferred to leave the Northeast, that he was holding three job offers, two in New York and one in Chicago, and that the

(30) highest offer was $76,000 and the lowest was $68,000. He was in demand. He had been given the opportunity to cheat on a securities exam during his second year. He declined, and made the highest grade in the class. Two months ago he had been offered cocaine at a law school party. He said no and left when everyone began snorting. He drank an occasional beer, but drinking was expensive and he had no money. He owed close to $23,000 in student loans. He was hungry.

Royce McKnight flipped through the dossier and smiled. McDeere was their man.

NOTES

hungry – here: having a strong desire for smth

background – the sum of a person's experience, education, and origins, esp. as they relate to their present situation

it frowned on – it strongly disapproved of

CPA exam – an exam that allows one to become a Certified Public Accountant (сертифицированный аудитор) in the USA

soliciting job applications – trying to obtain job applicants by persuasion or formal request

Memphis – a city in Tennessee, a state in the south of the USA

a grad – short for “a graduate”

CIA – Central Intelligence Agency (ЦРУ)

Bethesda [be'θezdə] – a town northwest of Washington, one of the most affluent communities in the USA

EXERCISES