JOSEPH BR ODSKY
187
How could yo u compare? Befo re o nl y sound w as recorded . N owadays
the picture's in colo r.
Sometimes mu g sho ts.
Initialed "CN N ."
They care.
More exactly, ke ep an eye o n.
You 've got a persec uti o n mani a, Petrovich , after all.
He always did .
In
a word , Intern al Ministe r.
Either persecuted o r persec utin g.
That happens.
A kind of compl ex.
A clinical case .
Oh, get off my bac k . N o t us being mo n ito red , it's hi sto ry.
What's the point of mo nito ring it?
Especially when it 's ove r.
Moreover if it's no t.
Yeah, since its reperto ry is limited .
Uh-huh. Democ racy o r tyranny .
Modestovich?
th at 's all the re is to it. Tru e, Basil
Partly yes, Cecili a, but o n the w ho le no .. . th e main course is kind of
late... .
You mean
[She opells her eyes
I"ide. j
the re is mo re?
Depends on geography. Th e Euro pea n o ne , fo r ins tance, leaves history
very few optio ns. Th e bi gge r th e country , the fewe r, Cecilia, are th e op–
tions. A bi g country, o n the wh o le , has o nly two . E ith er to be big and
powerful and w rin g eve ryone's neck like a di shrag. Or th e o the r way
around. Ta ke fo r instance th e D eutschland , o r else th e Ru ssland. N o w
they are grea t; now th ey arc splinte red . H alf a centu ry thi s way, half a
century that way. I am ro unding o ff, o f course, fo r didacti c purposes.
Kind of like Petrovich? N ow he pe rsecutes, now he's persecuted .
