The Marcel in the Moriarty is Duchamp, not Proust—still: too good.

1, 3: Anne Carson—The Albertine Workout

2: Laura Moriarty, Nude Memoir

24. The state of Albertine that most pleases Marcel is Albertine asleep.

25. By falling asleep she becomes a plant, he says.

26. Plants do not actually sleep. Nor do they lie or even bluff. They do, however, expose their genitalia.

27. a) Sometimes in her sleep Albertine throws off her kimono and lies naked.
27. b) Sometimes then Marcel possesses her.
27. c) Albertine appears not to wake up.

anne carson

from “the albertine workout”