208
PARTISAN REVIEW
have looked as if I had seen a ghost , because he said to me, 'Papa,
what's the matter?' I don't know why, but I said to him , 'Please, go
down and buy me a copy of
The Moment.'
'But you are reading
The
Moment
right now ,' my boy said. I told him that I must see another
copy. The boy looked at me as if to say , 'The old man is meshugga
altogether,' but he went down and bought another copy.
"Sure enough, my line was there on the same page in the same
item: 'He came home from the tavern and saw his daughter in bed
and
the transcendental uniry of the apperception
. . . . '
I was so barned
and distressed that I began to laugh . To be completely on the safe
side, I asked my boy to read the whole item out loud . Again he gave
me that look which meant 'My father is not all there ,' but he read it
slowly. When he came to the transposed line, he smiled and asked,
'Is this why you wanted me to buy another copy?' I didn't answer. I
knew that no hallucination has ever been shared by two people."
"There are cases of collective hallucinations," I said.
"Anyhow, that Friday and Saturday I couldn't sleep and could
barely eat. I decided to go on Sunday morning to speak to the
manager of our printing department, myoId friend, Mr. Gavza.
If
there is a man who cannot be fooled by abracadabra and hocus–
pocus, it is he. I wanted to see the expression on his face when he
saw what I saw. On the way to
The Haint
I decided it would be a
good thing to find the manuscript of my feuilleton , assuming it
wasn't thrown out. I asked if the copy of my article was still
around,and
10
and behold , they found it, and the words were there
as I remembered them. I was eager to find the solution to this riddle,
but I didn't want the solution to be based on some silly blunder,
ludicrous misunderstanding, or lapse of memory. With my manu–
script in one hand and
The Moment
in the other, I went to see Mr.
Gavza. I showed him my manuscript and said, 'Please, read this
paragraph.' Before I even finished my sentence he said, 'I know, I
.,
know, a line was missing in your feuilleton about Kant. I guess you
want to publish a correction. Believe me, no one ever reads them.'
'No, I don't want to publish any corrections,' I said. 'What else
brings you here on Sunday morning?' Gavza asked.
"I showed him the Friday
Moment
with the news item and said,
'Now read this.' Gavza shrugged, began to read, and never before
have I seen an expression like that on Gavza's quiet face . He gaped
at the news item, at my manuscript, at me, at the paper, again at
me, and said, 'Am I seeing things? This is your missing line!'
'''Yes, my friend,' I said. 'My missing line has jumped from
The
