Berfrois

Intellectual Jousting in the Republic of Letters
The window faces east. When I sit at my desk in front of a wall of books, writing, the window is to my left. When I bought this apartment, which is a fifteen minute walk from my home, in the late 1990s, the building standing in front of my window was already there, as was the bridge. But the building behind the bridge was not, so there was a vast view across the city. But the whole city of Beijing was a giant construction site in the 1990s and 2000s, and the view couldn’t last. Once I got used to the buildings in the window, I seldom looked out of it. No trees can reach the fifteenth floor, so no birds perch at my window. When I look out, I see cars running on the bridge. Nothing else. “Beijing”, Xi Chuan, Paris Review Daily

The window faces east. When I sit at my desk in front of a wall of books, writing, the window is to my left. When I bought this apartment, which is a fifteen minute walk from my home, in the late 1990s, the building standing in front of my window was already there, as was the bridge. But the building behind the bridge was not, so there was a vast view across the city. But the whole city of Beijing was a giant construction site in the 1990s and 2000s, and the view couldn’t last. Once I got used to the buildings in the window, I seldom looked out of it. No trees can reach the fifteenth floor, so no birds perch at my window. When I look out, I see cars running on the bridge. Nothing else.

“Beijing”, Xi Chuan, Paris Review Daily

  1. gallerynextnow reblogged this from berfrois
  2. octothorp reblogged this from berfrois
  3. berfrois posted this