My Brother Quotes

“This way of behaving, this way of feeling, so hysterical, so sad, when someone has died, I don't like at all and would like to avoid. It's not as if the whole thing has not happened before, it's not as if people have not been dying all along and each person left behind is the first person ever left behind in the world. What to make of it? Why can’t everybody just get used to it? People are born and they just can’t go on and on, but it is so hard, so hard for the people left behind; it’s so hard to see them go, as if it had never happened before, and so hard it could not happen to anyone else, no one but you could survive this kind of loss, seeing someone go, seeing them leave you behind; you don't want to go with them, you only don't want them to go.”
― Jamaica Kincaid, My Brother

“I only now understand why it is that people lie about their past, why they say they are one thing other than the thing they really are, why they invent a self that bears no resemblance to who they really are, why anyone would want to feel as if he or she belongs to nothing, comes from no one, just fell out of the sky, whole.”
― Jamaica Kincaid, My Brother

“Quan vaig passar un dia a l'hospital amb ell, gairebé tota l'estona asseguda al seu costat, observant com li reaccionava el cos amb l'AZT, el medicament que li havia portat jo perquè m'havien dit que a Antigua no se'n trobava, li vaig dir que no en podia sortir res de bo d'estar tan malalt, tot i que li volia agrair que m'hagués fet adonar que l'estimava i ell em va preguntar si ho deia de debò («È vritat?»), li vaig respondre que sí, que ho deia de debò. I quan ja me n'anava, després d'haver-li dit bona nit i d'haver tancat la porta de l'habitació, la meva silueta va passar davant de les persianes de llibret de la finestra, i ell, del llit estant, estirat de panxa enlaire, em va veure i va cridar: «T'estimo». És una cosa que només em diuen el meu marit i els meus fills, i jo sempre els responc com li vaig respondre a ell: «Jo també t'estimo».”
― Jamaica Kincaid, My Brother

“Quan vaig passar un dia a l'hospital amb ell, gairebé tota l'estona asseguda al seu costat, observant com li reaccionava el cos amb l'AZT, el medicament que li havia portat jo perquè m'havien dit que a Antigua no se'n trobava, li vaig dir que no en podia sortir res de bo d'estar tan malalt, tot i que li volia agrair que m'hagués fet adonar que l'estimava i ell em va preguntar si ho deia de debò («È vritat?»), li vaig respondre que sí, que ho deia de debò. I quan ja me n'anava, després d'haver-li dit bona nit i d'haver tancat la porta de l'habitació, la meva silueta va passar davant de les persianes de llibret de la finestra, i ell, del llit estant, estirat de panxa enalire, em va veure i va cridar: «T'estimo». És una cosa que només em diuen el meu marit i els meus fills, i jo sempre els responc com li vaig respondre a ell: «Jo també t'estimo».”
― Jamaica Kincaid, My Brother

“This was an incident no one ever told my brother, an incident that everyone else in my family has forgotten, except me. One day during his illness, when my mother and I were standing over him, looking at him—he was asleep and so didn’t know we were doing so—I reminded my mother of the ants almost devouring him and she looked at me, her eyes narrowing in suspicion, and she said, “What a memory you have!”—perhaps the thing she most dislikes about me.”
― Jamaica Kincaid, My Brother

“Da bambina facevo esattamente la stessa cosa: mi sdraiavo sul letto con i piedi al sole sul davanzale della finestra perché a quel tempo avevo sempre i piedi freddi. Poi mi mettevo a leggere un libro, e questa scena con me sdraiata che leggo un libro mandava mia madre su tutte le furie, certa com'era che fossi destinata a una vita di indolenza, quando invece ero solo destinata a scrivere libri che altri avrebbero letto (34).”
― Jamaica Kincaid, My Brother

“[...] è necessario vivere più a lungo di chi potrebbe dire qualcosa sul nostro conto, per non lasciargli l'ultima parola (76).”
― Jamaica Kincaid, My Brother

“Oh, l'indignité qu'il y a dans la mort ; heureusement que les morts semblent incapables de s'en apercevoir.”
― Jamaica Kincaid, My Brother

“Je suis si vulnérable aux besoins et à l'influence des membres de ma famille que de temps en temps je m'en tiens à l'écart. Je ne leur écris pas. Je ne leur rends pas visite. Je ne mens pas, je ne nie pas, je me tiens seulement à l'écart.”
― Jamaica Kincaid, My Brother

“Je comprends seulement maintenant pourquoi les gens mentent sur leur passé, pourquoi ils disent qu'ils sont une chose autre que la chose qu'ils sont réellement, pourquoi ils s'inventent un être qui ne présente aucune ressemblance avec qui ils sont réellement, pourquoi quiconque voudrait avoir le sentiment de n'être de nulle part, de ne venir de personne, d'être tombé du ciel, voilà tout, complet.”
― Jamaica Kincaid, My Brother

“His death was imminent and we were all anticipating it, including him, but we never gave any thought to the fact that this was true for all of us, too: our death was imminent, only we were not anticipating it ... yet.”
― Jamaica Kincaid, My Brother

“... this whole scene of me lying in bed and reading books would drive my mother to fits of anger, for she was sure it meant I was doomed to a life of slothfulness, but as it turned out, I was only doomed to write books other people might read.”
― Jamaica Kincaid, My Brother

“Nunca se le ha ocurrido pensar que quizá su forma de querernos no sea lo mejor para nosotros.Nunca se le ha ocurrido pensar que quizá su forma de querernos la haya beneficiado más a ella que a nosotros. ¿Y por qué iba a ser así? Quizá toda forma de amor revierta en beneficio propio. No lo sé, no lo sé.”
― Jamaica Kincaid, My Brother