INSPECTION OF THE HOUSE

INSPECTION OF THE HOUSE

Pen and ink, white gouache

11.7 x 8.3 inches.

"Our rooms, which were very nice in themselves, could normally only be reached – this had also made us uncomfortable - through this rear staircase, on the first landing of which, by the way, was the door to Aileen's chamber, which was always locked. Only once did I get a glimpse of it. A myriad of dolls, carefully dressed up and most of them with headdresses, stood and sat all around the small room and also lay in the bed where Aileen herself slept, if she slept at all and not just played with her dolls singing softly all night. On Sundays and holidays, we would occasionally see Aileen walking out of the house in a Salvation Army uniform."

(From the volume: The Emigrants. Story: Dr. Selwyn by W.G. Sebald, Fischerverlage, 1992)

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