steinberg-gatto-24-08-1994

«The cat is trying to open the door on the hinges side. I laugh, then I see I make the same mistake, with people, ideas, and doors too.» Saul Steinberg, 24 august 1994. From Lettere a Aldo Buzzi, Adelphi, 2002.

You’ve been trying to explain this feeling for a lifetime. Then you find out that Steinberg already knew about it, and told it like this. Thanks.

(I always wished I could share this wonderful book, Lettere a Aldo Buzzi, with my friends who don’t speak Italian. It’s impossible to keep the quality of Steinberg’s Italian, partly invented, and mixed up with English, French and Romanian. But I’m quite sure that this fragment can survive in translation.)