#sa4qe

It's SA4QE time again, which means Russell Hoban's 91st birthday would've been today. This quote is one of my favourite lines from Kleinzeit. Check last year's post for more info.

The Slickman A4 Quotation Event ("SA4QE") began in 2002 as a unique way of spreading the words of Russell Hoban. Every 4th February (Russell's birthday), fans around the world write their favourite quotations from his books on sheets of yellow A4 paper (the sort he used) and leave them in public places, and/or share them online. —Russellhoban.org

Today is Russell Hoban's birthday, and for the last 11 years, his fans have marked the day by sharing their favorite Hobanisms—either around town on scraps of notebook paper, or on the Internet. Read more about the tradition here and here. Tweets and the like are tagged #sa4qe.

Herewith our pick (among many favorites, including several from the forthcoming reprint of Turtle Diary). It comes from Hoban's Sorely Trying Day. The set-up is that there is strife in the family, and the poor mouse has volunteered to take the fall as the start of the whole thing. We like to think of this as Hoban's contribution to this blog avant la lettre.

"Who do you think you are," inquired Puss, "to put on such airs of nobility and unselfish heroism? You are nothing but a mouse, an insignificant rodent. You are the least of the least."

"I may be small and insignificant," said the mouse, "but all this suffering must end somewhere."

"There's no need to be so puffed up about it," said Puss.

The mouse said nothing, but waited.

He opened one eye.