Vorige week was het een week in Brussel werken, deze week – of toch tenminste vandaag en morgen – is het weer in Zaventem werken.

Dat wil zeggen, voor het boekenlezen, um… niet zo enorm veel verschil: even op het perron lezen, een kwartier op de trein lezen en dan in slaap vallen ‘s morgens, even op het perron lezen, een kwartier op de trein lezen en dan in slaap vallen ‘s avonds.

Jack Vance is een fantastische mens om in stukjes en beetjes te lezen: allemaal kleine vignettetjes propvol nutteloze details en fijne woorden. Zo van

He often visits the fair where he buys ribbands and teazles and other such kickshaws.

Linten en kaardebollen en andere brol. Kickshaw, afgeleid van quelque chose.

Ik kan daar zo van genieten, als ik nieuwe woorden leer.

Of nutteloze details, zoals in het begin van hoofdstuk 18, als hij het heeft over Tripsy Shee :

WITHIN AND ABOUT THE Forest of Tantrevalles existed a hundred or more fairy shees, each the castle of a fairy tribe. Thripsey Shee on Madling Meadow, little more than a mile within the precincts of the forest, was ruled by King Throbius and his spouse Queen Bossum. His realm included Madling Meadow and as much of the forest surrounding as was consistent with his dignity. The fairies at Thripsey numbered eighty-six. Among them were:

BOAB: who used the semblance of a pale green youth with grasshopper wings and antennae. He carried a black quill pen plucked from the tail of a raven and recorded all the events and transactions of the tribe on sheets pressed from lily petals.

TUTTERWIT: an imp who liked to visit human houses and tease the cats. He also liked to peer through windows, moaning and grimacing until someone’s attention was engaged, then jerk quickly from sight.

GUNDELINE: a slender maiden of enchanting charm, with flowing lavender hair and green fingernails. She mimed, preened, cut capers, but never spoke, and no one knew her well. She licked saffron from poppy pistils with quick darts of her pointed green tongue.

WONE: she liked to rise early, before dawn, and flavor dew drops with assorted flower nectars.

MURDOCK: a fat brown goblin who tanned mouseskins and wove the down of baby owls into soft gray blankets for fairy children.

FLINK: who forged fairy swords, using techniques of antique force. He was a great braggart and often sang the ballad celebrating the famous duel he had fought with the goblin Dangott.

SHIMMIR: audaciously she had mocked Queen Bossum and capered silently behind her, mimicking the queen’s flouncing gait, while all the fairies sat hunched, hands pressed to mouths, to stop their laughter. In punishment Queen Bossum turned her feet backward and put a carbuncle on her nose.

FALAEL: who manifested himself as a pale brown imp, with the body of a boy and the face of a girl. Falael was incessantly mischievous, and when villagers came to the forest to gather berries and nuts, it was usually Falael who caused their nuts to explode and transformed their strawberries to toads and beetles.

Het punt? Van deze hele lijst komen enkel Falael terug, en dan nog maar eventjes in twee zeer korte episodes.

Bij Vance is het nooit gewoon “er was stier aan het spit”, het is dan bijvoorbeeld

Bullocks had been turning over coals since the preceding day, with good bastings of oil, onion juice, garlic and syrup of tamarind; now they were done to a turn and exuded a tantalizing waft across all the meadow.

Ja, ik vind dat dus fantastisch.