From the oppression of such freedom who would not welcome the liberation of confinement? - J. M. Coetzee

he knows too much about himself to subject her to a morning after, when he will be cold, surly, impatient to be alone.

Though this is a large country, so large that you would think there would be space for everyone, what I have learned from life tells me that it is hard to keep out of the camps. Yet I am convinced there are areas that lie between the camps and belong to no camp, not even to the catchment areas of the camps — certain mountaintops, for example, certain islands in the middle of swamps, certain arid strips where human beings may not find it worth their while to live. I am looking for such a place in order to settle there, perhaps only till things improve, perhaps forever. I am not so foolish, however, as to imagine that I can rely on maps and roads to guide me. Therefore I have chosen you to show me the way.

It reminds me too much of Mao’s China. Recantation, self-criticism, public apology.