Kroniskt sublimt

Jonathan Lethems Chronic City innehåller en massa märkligheter, genomrökt av marijuana som den är, men allra märkligast är den här beskrivningen av konstverket Fjord, som huvudpersonen Chase Insteadman reser till 190:e gatan på Manhattan för att se:

Bladder swelling, hands chapping in cold, I was just ready to despair totally when Noteless's Fjord erupted into view at our feet. The chasm seemed to have been hewn out of the earth by unnatural force, the ground's lip curling suddenly downward, bringing with it shrubs and small trees now turned horizontal to sprout from the Fjord's walls. The artificial crevasse yawned at least fifty yards across, perhaps a hundred. On the vertiginous cliffs dangled dozens of pairs of sneakers tied together at the laces, lodged on all sides in the branches and scrub. Then I made out other stuff, on the ridge at our feet, junk which unlike the sneakers hade perhaps been intended to finish a journey into the earth's craw but hade fallen short: children's toys, kitchenware, electronics, knotted plastic bags of unspecified treasure. I made out a tricycle and a large nude doll, a smashed stereo turntable, a power drill.