But that´s where art comes from, he said: life stories. Art history comes along only much later.
That´s what art is, he said, the story of a life in all its particularity. It´s the only thing that really is
particular and personal. It´s the expression of and, at the same time, the fabric of the particular.
And what do you mean by the fabric of the particular? I asked, supposing he would answer: Art. I was
also thinking, indulgently, that we were pretty drunk already and that it was time to go home. But my friend said: What I mean is the secret story.
He stared at me for a moment, a gleam in his eye. The death of the Indian woman from gum cancer had obviously affected him more than I had realised at first.
So now you´re wondering what I mean by the secret story? asked my friend. Well, the secret story is the
one we´ll never know, although we´re living it from day to day, thinking we´re alive, thinking we´ve got it
all under control and the stuff we overlook doesn´t matter. But every damn thing matters! It´s just that we
don´t realise. We tell ourselves that art runs on one track and life, our lives, on another, we don´t even
realise it´s a lie.
Taken from the story Dentist in Last Evenings on Earth by Roberto Bolano
