“Jesse eats a heavy meal, avoiding wine to keep the edge from creeping near. He’s privy to histrionic inner turmoil after several drinks. He gets excited, aggrieved, sad, stupid. Jesse needs clarity. He hasn’t thought about where he’ll go after Rome. If he drinks beyond a fixed threshold, in the wrong place, he knows he’ll start to perceive himself an interesting person, and want to involve a stranger in his subjectivity. This would not be dangerous in Rome, as it might be in South America, but it would be obnoxious. Jesse has become economical about giving himself ugly memories.”
— Gary Indiana, Do Everything in the Dark (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2003), 112.
Gary Indiana.
