TE22 Potpourri

UNKOWN (novel excerpt) Manuel Baixauli Translated from Catalan by Mara Faye Lethem UNDISCOVERED GENIUS One evening in the autumn of 2003, after visiting five art exhibitions thathad failed tostirhim, afterrummaging through numerous bookstore shelves and acquiring three volumes by authors that were new to him, Mateu entered a café, exhausted and ravenous. Besides thewaiter, therewas only one old man, paging through the newspaper with a coffee in front of him. An old man with long, thinning gray hair, in a black shirt and black trousers, and a wrinkled, baggy jacket. Who in the cultural sphere didn’t know the Master? Some young people, perhaps, because the Master had been keeping a very low profile since announcing his retirement. Mateu had only had dealings with him on one occasion, long ago, and he could confirm what was said about him, his nasty disposition, his mordacity, his crude, blunt way of speaking. And his accuracy as a kingmaker. If the Master supported a 77 Mateu immediately recognized him: Jaume Font, the Master.

Manuel Baixauli