In the Country of Last Things

"All this belongs to the language of ghosts.  There are many other possible kinds of talks in this language.  Most of them begin when one person says to another: I wish.  What they wish for might be anything at all, as long as it is something that cannot happen.  I wish the sun would never set.  I wish money would grow in my pockets.  I wish the city would be like it was in the old days.  You get the idea.  Absurd and infantile things, with no meaning and no reality.  In general people hold to the belief that however bad things were yesterday, they were better than things are today.  What they were like two days ago was even better than yesterday.  The farther you go back, the more beautiful and desirable the world becomes.  You drag yourself from sleep each morning to face something that is always worse than what you faced the day before,….."

This is an excerpt taken from Paul Auster’s "In the Country of Last Things".

In the light of this short extract, can you try to figure out the meaning of the title?

Write at least one of you wishes, in line with the ones written by the narrator above.  Ideally, I would appreciate if you tried to write more than one.

Write at least a paragraph that completes the excerpt above. 

Go on working folks.  It seems that you are all asleep!!! Haven’t seen any posts yet.

50 Replies to “In the Country of Last Things”


  1. I totally agree with you Jana, I think werare used to a life of comfort and it it is almost impossible to renounce it. Unlike you I think we should learn to reach a balance between what we really need, how we use it and when we use it. Just to give an example: I think people could use more their bicycles when they can (very few do, because it seems uncool to ride a bike, because you can’t wear stiletto shoes or tigth skirts, etc.), I think people could turn off the tap when they brush their teeth or take a shower, etc. We think we rule the world and I think consumerism has blinded us and has made of human beings walking paradoxes. You believe that scientific advance will solve the problems of global warming, climate change, extinction of lots of species of animals and plants, nuclear plants, etc. I think it could if all human beings were balanced, not sold to economic gain and personal advancement. It’s a long story, I want to cut it short: I am happy to read that you, as a young representative our ouf small society (here in Pordenone), have such a positive outlook on life. I teach also because I believe in the positive and empowering dynamism of young people. 😉

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