Interesting quote...

...and because I really can't decide what to cut, it's rather long...

'It is truly not beyond her capacities to - to take an overdose and leave a letter accusing you - or me - of horrors, of insensitivity, of persecution -'

'Vengefulness can be seen for what it is. Spite and malice can be seen for what they are.'

'You have a robust confidence in human nature. And you simplify. The despair is as real as the spite. They are part of each other.'

'They are failures of imagination.'

'Of course,' says Gerda Himmelblau. 'Of course they are. Anyone who could imagine the terror - the pain - of those who survive a suicide - against whom a suicide is committed - could not carry it through.'

Her voice has changed. She knows it has. Perry Diss does not speak but looks at her, frowning slightly. Gerda Himmelblau, driven by some pact she made long ago with accuracy, with truthfulness, says,

'Of course, when one is at that point, imagining others becomes unimaginable. Everything seems clear, and simple, and single; there is only one possible thing to be done -'

Perry Diss says,

'That is true. You look around you and everything is bleached, and clear, as you say. You are in a white box, a white room, with no doors or windows. You are looking through clear water with no movement - perhaps it is more like being inside ice, inside the white room. There is only one thing possible. It is all perfectly clear and simple and plain. As you say.'

--A.S. Byatt, The Matisse Stories, "The Chinese Lobster"