Translate the gateway, but don't overtranslate

He was finally on the verge of success.

My world is built of touch-sensations, devoid of physical color and sound […] . Every object is associated in my mind with tactual qualities which, combined in countless ways, give me a sense of power, of beauty, or of incongruity: for with my hands I can feel the comic as well as the beautiful in the outward appearance of things.

And because I was so quiet and mopy my stepdaddy Winn would get great kicks out of tickling me till I almost had a spasm.