Dr. Havel After Twenty Years

by Milan Kundera

When Dr. Havel put various precise and detailed questions to him, so as to analyze all of the matter's nuances, the young man willy-nilly came closer and closer to the truth, finally acknowledging that although he had been perfectly satisfied with everything, the woman doctor's conversation while making love had put him out somewhat.

  Dr. Havel found this very interesting, and, having persuaded the editor to repeat the dialogue to him in detail, he interrupted the account with enthusiastic exclamations: "That's excellent! Perfect!" "Oh, that eternal mother's heart!" And: "My friend, I really envy you!"

  At that moment the woman who resembled a riding horse stopped in front of the two men. Dr. Havel bowed, and the woman offered him her hand: "Don't be angry,'' she apologized, "I'm a tiny bit late.''

  "Never mind,'' said Havel. "I've been enjoying myself enormously with my friend here. You must forgive me if I finish my conversation with him."

  And, not letting go of the tall woman's hand, he turned to the editor: "My dear friend, what you've told me surpasses all my expectations. You must understand that the pleasures of the body left only to its silence are tiresomely similar. In this silence one woman becomes like another and all of them are forgotten in all the others. And surely we throw ourselves into erotic pleasures above all in order to remember them. So that their luminous points will connect our youth with our old age by means of a shining ribbon! So that they will preserve our memory in an eternal flame! And take it from me, my friend, only a word uttered at this most ordinary of moments is capable of illuminating it in such a way that it remains unforgettable. They say of me that I'm a collector of women. In reality I'm far more a collector of words. Believe me, you'll never forget yesterday evening, and you'll be happy about that all your life!"

  Then he nodded to the young man, and still holding the tall woman who resembled a horse by the hand, he moved away slowly with her along the colonnade.