"sign and symptoms and symbols"

[Terrance F. Flaherty]

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> http://www.alkar.net/moshkow/html-KOI/NABOKOW/s_s.txt
>
>

Everything is a cipher and of everything he  is
the  theme.  Some  of the spies are detached observers, such as
glass surfaces and still pools; others, such as coats in  store
windows,  are  prejudiced  witnesses, lynchers at heart; others
again (running water, storms) are hysterical to  the  point  of
insanity,  have  a  distorted  opinion  of him, and grotesquely
misinterpret his actions. He must be always on  his  guard  and
devote  every  minute and module of life to the decoding of the
undulation of things. The very air he exhales  is  indexed  and
filed  away.  If  only the interest he provokes were limited to
his immediate surroundings-- but alas it is not! With  distance
the torrents of wild scandal increase in volume and volubility.
The  silhouettes  of  his blood corpuscles, magnified a million
times,  flit  over  vast  plains;  and  still  farther,   great
mountains  of unbearable solidity and height sum up in terms of
granite and groaning firs the ultimate truth of his being.