The Code Book (61 page)

Stage 5

Stage 6

Stage 7

Stage 8

Stage 9

Stage 10

Shorter message

Longer message

Appendices

Appendix A

The Opening Paragraph of
A Void
by Georges Perec, translated by Gilbert Adair

Today, by radio, and also on giant hoardings, a rabbi, an admiral notorious for his links to masonry, a trio of cardinals, a trio, too, of insignificant politicians (bought and paid for by a rich and corrupt Anglo-Canadian banking corporation), inform us all of how our country now risks dying of starvation. A rumor, that’s my initial thought as I switch off my radio, a rumor or possibly a hoax. Propaganda, I murmur anxiously-as though, just by saying so, I might allay my doubts-typical politicians’ propaganda. But public opinion gradually absorbs it as a fact. Individuals start strutting around with stout clubs. “Food, glorious food!” is a common cry (occasionally sung to Bart’s music), with ordinary hardworking folk harassing officials, both local and national, and cursing capitalists and captains of industry. Cops shrink from going out on night shift. In Mâcon a mob storms a municipal building. In Rocadamour ruffians rob a hangar full of foodstuffs, pillaging tons of tuna fish, milk and cocoa, as also a vast quantity of corn-all of it, alas, totally unfit for human consumption. Without fuss or ado, and naturally without any sort of trial, an indignant crowd hangs 26 solicitors on a hastily built scaffold in front of Nancy’s law courts (this Nancy is a town, not a woman) and ransacks a local journal, a disgusting right-wing rag that is siding against it. Up and down this land of ours looting has brought docks, shops and farms to a virtual standstill.