‘At moments Hitler’s head brushed against Gideon’s cheek like a clump of wet leaves.’
Note: In its entirety, George Steiner’s The Portage to San Cristobal of A. H. is about one third longer than the text we present here. The novella has seventeen chapters of varying lengths; we do not print six of those chapters (in the original, numbers 2, 4, 5, 8, 11 and 12), and take only part f…
Sign in to Granta.com.
‘I think there should be a National Service of Hospitality. The best way to see the true face of humanity is to serve it a plate of chips.’
Camilla Grudova on bad-mannered customers.
‘Anyone who has ever worked night shifts will understand the vertiginous feeling that comes with staring down the day from the wrong end.’
A.K. Blakemore on working nights.
‘I was constantly reading job ads, trying to find my holy grail – a job I could stand to do, and someone foolish enough to hire me.’
Sandra Newman on learning how to play professional blackjack.
‘I loved being a receptionist. What I loved about it was playing the part of being a receptionist.’
Emily Berry on being a temporary office worker.
‘Every part of you would swell, including your eyeballs, and no matter how much water you drank, you were always dehydrated.’
Junot Díaz on working for a steel mill.
‘Papa embodied, as did every corner of our Paris home, the tenor, the prodigality and glow of Jewish-European and Central-European emancipation.’
‘Come Christmas, sounds mix and multiply. And are shot through with smells.’
‘His requests did stretch the resources, almost all-encompassing, of the sound-archive. But that is part of the game.’
‘No. Listen to me. God's confidence in Abraham was not total. Let me hammer out my meaning.’
‘There was no horizon, no life and nothing to see.’
