Paul Auster's Oracle Night
A Portuguese publisher has made an offer on your last two novels.
Portugal?
Self-Portrait was published in Spain while you were in the hospital. You know that, I told you. The reviews were very good. Now the Portuguese are interested.
That's nice. I suppose they're offering something like three hundred dollars.
Four hundred for each book. But I can easily get them up to five.
Go for it, Mary. After you deduct the agents' fees and foreign taxes, I'll wind up with about forty cents.
True. But at least you'll be published in Portugal. What's wrong with that?
Nothing. Pessoa is one of my favourite writers. They've kicked out Salazar and have a decent government now. The Lisbon earthquake inspired Voltaire to write Candide. And Portugal helped get thousands of Jews out of Europe during the war. It's a terrific country. I've never been there, of course, but that's where I live now, whether I like it or not. Portugal is perfect. The way things have been going these past few days, it had to be Portugal.
What are you talking about?
It's a long story. I'll tell you about it some other time.