* I’m sorry to bother you. You couldn’t lend me a little money, could you?
† There was a time when I would laugh at love.
‡ The Flower Basket.
§ I never knew my parents, that is, if they ever existed at all. You wouldn’t think it to look at me, but I was found in a bin, at 24 Rue Caulaincourt. I’m a real Parisian, I am.
¶ …until the day I croak, because I’m consumptive.
|| It looks like an orgy.
** I haven’t had much luck in life.
†† Do you understand me? Tell me that you understand me.
‡‡ Sir, the show is over.
§§ My apologies… Thank you for waking me up, mademoiselle.
¶¶ Sir, d’you know where her wealth came from?
|||| Because, you see, you’re a man.
*** Perhaps because I’m the wrong sex.
††† My whole life I’ve been dragged through the mud.
‡‡‡ Well I never!
§§§ Child of Misfortune.
¶¶¶ Courage!
|||||| Mercy!
**** It is in so doing that he has paid his debt to society.
†††† And these same furies you describe to me, / These arms you have seen bathed in blood…
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Copyright
Pushkin Press
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Despite all efforts, the publisher has been unable to ascertain the owner of the rights to the original Russian text. We welcome any further information on the matter.
English translation © Bryan Karetnyk 2014
The Buddha’s Return was originally published in 1949–50
as Vozvrashchenie Buddy in the Russian-language journal
Novyi Zhurnal (The New Review), New York
This translation first published by Pushkin Press in 2014
ISBN 978 1 782271 10 9
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