From Sleepless: A Memoir of Insomnia, which was published this month by Semiotext(e). Translated from the French.

Sleep, sleep, how?

The passageway is shut. The door has disappeared. The wall is smooth. Sleep is known only by name, like a myth, like a phantom. How, how? What does one do in order to sleep? That’s all, sleep. Sleep—with oneself, by oneself. Find sleep within oneself.

There are sleep champions. They rest their head on the pillow and off they glide, hurtling down the slope. The wave curls. The sky opens up. Oceanic…