Friday, February 7, 2014

Detective Story

A new member of the Corps (secret police) in an unnamed banana republic: "I actually thought we were serving the law here." His boss: "Those in power, sonny boy." The officer: "Up till now I thought the two were the same." Boss: "Fair enough, only you shouldn't lose sight of the order." Officer: "What order is that?" Boss: "Those in power first, then the law."

This novel by Hungarian Imre Kertesz from the 1970s should never have found parallels in the United States. But the naive were taught the hard way that exceptionalism is a myth and evil knows no borders.

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