Arnon Grunberg

Tool

Talk

On Wednesday evening I had a talk with an Iraqi civil servant.
The first time I met him was in the early summer of 2008.
Then we had a lovely lunch at the Al-Rasheed Hotel.
There is eroticism hidden in talking to strangers, in hearing them out. But the curiosity that’s necessary to do this, to engage with the other person, is also the basis of friendship.
The person you are listening to is not a tool.
Both the listener and the speaker are tools.