The breast approached him, and he entered it. Drinking, he was milk.
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‘As he grew up he would drink, and likewise urinate, without embarrassment. Snacks, so long as they were light and informal, were liquids: casual and seemly.’
The breast approached him, and he entered it. Drinking, he was milk.
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‘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.
Adam Mars-Jones is a writer and critic living in London. He was named one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists in 1983 and 1993. His fiction includes Box Hill and Batlava Lake, which are short, and Pilcrow and Cedilla, the expansive first parts of a semi-infinite novel. The third instalment, Caret, will be published in August 2023.
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‘Is there in fact a jostling for dominance between the art forms, some barely suppressed competitiveness?’
Adam Mars-Jones on music and ceremony.
‘When I was put on Granta’s first Best of Young British Novelists list in 1983, no novel of mine had been published.’
‘Obscure repertoire is a sensible hiding-place for mediocre technique.’
‘At the end of the year, an ambulance brought Suseela home from hospital to die’.
‘I put my trophy on a high shelf, and at some stage laid it face down.’
‘“Have you heard?“ said Ferenc, “Ceaușescu has been assassinated.”’
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