He existed a step or two to one side of the common world, largely out of sight, a shadow, all but invisible. Whatever he owned, either he could hoist it on his back and lug it along or he could walk away from it. Anonymity was the thing he loved most about the city, being a part of it and apart from it at the same time.
Interpretation
The quote reflects the desire for anonymity and detachment from societal expectations.
In this quote, James Sallis describes a person who navigates through life on the fringes of society, embracing both connection and separation. This individual finds freedom in anonymity, valuing the ability to exist without the burdens of ownership and societal visibility. The juxtaposition of being part of the city yet apart from it highlights a unique perspective on life, where one can appreciate the surroundings while remaining distanced from the pressures they might entail.
In practice
In a discussion about modern city living, this quote can highlight the contrasts of urban anonymity.
Mostly what you lose with time, in memory, is the specificity of things, their exact sequence. It all runs together, becomes a watery soup. Portmanteau days, imploded years. Like a bad actor, memory always goes for effect, abjuring motivation, consistency, good sense.
...The hagaddah came to Sarajevo for a reason. It was here to test us, to see if there were people who could see that what united us was more than what divided us. That to be a human being matters more than to be a Jew or a Muslim, Catholic or Orthodox. p. 361
The first, that their pretensions to this possession of an art properly so called in their art of speaking are entirely unfounded; and the second, that they are involved in a profound mistake in their confusion of the good with the pleasant.
It is myself I have never met whose face is pasted on the underside of my mind
The Bourne Underneath the growing grass, Underneath the living flowers, Deeper than the sound of showers: There we shall not count the hours By the shadows as they pass. Youth and health will be but vain, Beauty reckoned of no worth: There a very little girth Can hold round what once the earth Seemed too narrow to contain.
Certainly all those who have framed written constitutions contemplate them as forming the fundamental and paramount law of the nation, and consequently the theory of every such government must be, that an act of the legislature, repugnant to the constitution, is void.
I speak to the paper, as I speak to the first person I meet.
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