Nikos Kavvadias: Embarking – Νικος Καββαδιας: Μπαρκαροντας

«Μα ο ήλιος αβασίλεψε κι ο αητός απεκοιμήθη

και το βοριά το δροσερό τον πήραν τα καράβια.

Κι έτσι του δόθηκε καιρός του Χάρου και σε πήρε.»

Αδημοσίευτοι στίχοι που βρέθηκαν στην ατζέντα του Νίκου Καββαδία, πιθανά για να μπουν στον πρόλογο της συλλογής «Τραβέρσο».

μπαρκάρω: <από το ιταλικό imbarcare> επιβιβάζομαι σε πλοίο, ή φεύγω με πλοίο ως ναυτικός

Ήταν Κυριακή, 17 Μάϊου 1974, όταν ο Νίκος Καββαδίας, ένας από τους μεγαλύτερους Έλληνες ποιητές και συγγραφείς, 64 ετών τότε, γεννημένος το 1910, συνάντησε φίλους του στο Τουρκολίμανο (έτσι το λέγαμε τότε το Μικρολίμανο) για μεσημεριανό φαγητό. Στις 4 το ίδιο απόγευμα μπαρκάριζε στο κρουαζιερόπλοιο «Υδροχόος», όπου ήταν Ασυρματιστής Α’. (Σημειώνω εδώ και τριάντα χρόνια δεν υπάρχει πια θέση ασυρματιστή στα καράβια.) Ο «Υδροχόος» έμελλε να είναι το στερνό καράβι του Καββαδία. Γύρισε από το μπάρκο στον «Υδροχόο» το Νοέμβριο του 1974 και πέθανε ξαφνικά στην Αθήνα εννιά μήνες αργότερα, τον Φεβρουάριο του 1975 από εγκεφαλικό, περιμένοντας το επόμενο μπάρκο που δεν ήρθε ποτέ (το πλοίο ήτανε φορτηγό και άργησε να έρθει).
Στην αποβάθρα του τελευταίου μπάρκου πήγε τον Καββαδία ο φίλος του Ηλίας Παπαδημητρακόπουλος. Εκεί ποζάρισαν οι δύο φίλοι για την φωτογραφία που δημοσιεύτηκε στο αφιέρωμα «Επτά Ημέρες» της «Καθημερινής» (Φεβρουάριος 1999).
Γιατί να πήρε άραγε την απόφαση να μπαρκάρει και πάλι ο Καββαδίας; Το ερώτημα αυτό γεννήθηκε καθώς κοίταζα την φωτογραφία, που αγκαλιάζει δύο διαφορετικούς κόσμους. Τον στεριανό Παπαδημητρακόπουλο, και τον ναυτικό Καββαδία, λίγο πριν τον αποχωρισμό.
Δεν υπάρχει απάντηση του ίδιου του Καββαδία στο ερώτημα αυτό. Ο «φυσιολογικός άνθρωπος» θα κοίταζε να μείνει στην Αθήνα, κοντά στους φίλους και γνωστούς, κοντά στην ανερχόμενη ποιητική του διαδρομή, με την επικείμενη έκδοση της συλλογής «Τραβέρσο». Όμως ο Καββαδίας δεν είναι ο «φυσιολογικός» άνθρωπος. Είναι ο περιθωριακός, είναι ο ναυτικός. Αυτή του η ιδιότητα θα μας βοηθήσει να κατανοήσουμε την απόφαση του, αναλύοντας την σε δύο διαστάσεις: τον Θάνατο και τον Έρωτα.

Hellenic Mediterranean Lines: Aquarius

Ο Θάνατος (και η Σωτηρία)
Το 1932 ο Καββαδίας έγραψε το ποίημα «Γράμμα στον ποιητή Καίσαρα Εμμανουήλ», επιχειρώντας να δώσει απάντηση στο ερώτημα που είχε θέσει τότε ο Εμμανουήλ: «Φαίνεται πια πως τίποτα – τίποτα δεν μας σώζει…»
Γράφει ο Καββαδίας:

«Γνωρίζω κάτι που μπορούσε, βέβαια, να σας σώσει.
Εγώ που δεν σας γνώρισα ποτέ… σκεφτείτε εγώ.
Ένα καράβι… Να σας πάρει, Καίσαρ… Να μας πάρει…
Ένα καράβι, που πολύ μακριά θα τ’ οδηγώ»
(Νίκος Καββαδίας, «Γράμμα στον ποιητή Καίσαρα Εμμανουήλ», Μαραμπού, 1933)

Θα υποθέσω ότι ένας από τους λόγους του μπάρκου του Καββαδία είναι η Σωτηρία. Καθώς πλησιάζει ο Θάνατος, ο Άνθρωπος αποζητά την Σωτηρία. Κι αυτή τη Σωτηρία ο Ναυτικός Νίκος Καββαδίας τη βρίσκει στη θάλασσα. Τη θάλασσα του ναυτικού. Η σωτηρία στη θάλασσα είναι ταυτόχρονα και απόδραση στη θάλασσα, είναι ταυτόχρονα και επιστροφή στην μεγάλη Ερωμένη. Ο Καββαδίας γυρνάει στη θάλασσα για να πεθάνει εκεί, και τρέμει και μόνο με την ιδέα ότι μπορεί να τον βρει ο θάνατος στην στεριά. Το άγχος του κοινού και θλιβερού θανάτου το εκφράζει ολοκάθαρα:

«Κι εγώ που τόσο επόθησα μια μέρα να ταφώ
σε κάποια θάλασσα βαθειά στις μακρινές Ινδίες,
θα `χω ένα θάνατο κοινό και θλιβερό πολύ
και μια κηδεία σαν των πολλών ανθρώπων τις κηδείες.»
(Νίκος Καββαδίας, «Mal du départ», Μαραμπού, 1933)

Για τον Καββαδία το να είναι ναυτικός ήτανε συστατικό στοιχείο του ΥΠΑΡΧΕΙΝ, και δεν γινότανε να το αποχωριστεί. Η πραγματική ζωή του ήτανε η ζωή του ναυτικού. Η ζωή στη στεριά ήτανε το διάλειμμα, η παρένθεση. Δεν θα «λευτερωθεί» ποτέ από την θάλασσα.

«Ζαλίζομαι στη στεριά. Το πιο δύσκολο ταξίδι, το πιο επικίνδυνο, το ‘καμα στην άσφαλτο, από το Σύνταγμα στην Ομόνοια…»
(Νίκος Καββαδίας, «Βάρδια», 1954).

«Ξανάπιασα πάλι βάρδια. Θα λευτερωθώ κάποτε από την Μεσόγειο;»
(Genova 21.4.1954, επιστολή του Καββαδία από το «Ιωνία» προς τον φίλο του λογοτέχνη Μ. Καραγάτση).

Ο Έρωτας
Το 1973, σε ηλικία 63 ετών, ο Καββαδίας συνάντησε σε μια παρουσίαση του έργου του από τον Καθηγητή Μ. Μητσάκη στο Λογοτεχνικό Εργαστήρι του Σπουδαστηρίου Νεώτερης Ελληνικής Φιλολογίας του ΑΠΘ την φιλόλογο Θεανώ Σουνά, την οποία ερωτεύτηκε. Από την αρχή όμως αυτός ο έρωτας ήτανε προβληματικός, αφού νεαρή φιλόλογος ήτανε μόλις 25 χρονών, και από ότι φαίνεται από το παρακάτω απόσπασμα, ο έρωτας του Καββαδία παρέμεινε ανεκπλήρωτος.

«Η λύπη μου ότι δεν κυβέρνησα ούτε στιγμή
το καταπληκτικό Θαλασσινό σκαρί, το κορμί σου.»
(Γράμμα του Νίκου Καββαδία προς την Θεανώ Σουνά, χωρίς ημερομηνία)

Μια φωτογραφία βεβαιώνει ότι η Θεανώ Σουνά ήτανε παρούσα στο μεσημεριανό γεύμα που προηγήθηκε του τελευταίου μπάρκου. Και σίγουρα ήτανε και ένας από τους λόγους που μπάρκαρε ο Καββαδίας. Πως αλλιώς θα μπορούσε ο ναυτικός Καββαδίας να διαχειριστεί το τεράστιο αδιέξοδο του έρωτα του; Μόνο φεύγοντας μακριά, μόνο δραπετεύοντας στη θάλασσα.

Ένα καράβι… Να σας πάρει, Καίσαρ… Να μας πάρει…Θεανώ

Μόνο που το καράβι πήρε μόνο του τον Καββαδία, που κατάφερε να πείσει την Θεανώ ότι οι δύο τους δεν έχουν μέλλον.

«Της έλεγα, της επέμενα να φύγει, εγώ εξήντα πέντε, εσύ είκοσι πέντε, δεν ταιριάζει, φύγε. Και έφυγε. Και τώρα την παρακαλώ να γυρίσει και δεν γυρίζει. Ἑσύ᾽, μου λέει, ῾δεν επέμενες να σ᾽ αφήσω; Ε, σ᾽ άκουσα, τώρα τι θέλεις;᾽ Προχθές έπιασα ένα τσιγάρο και τώρα σκέφτομαι να το ξαναρχίσω. Να τ᾽ αρχίσω;»
(Μήτσος Κασόλας «Νίκος Καββαδίας: Γυναίκα – Θάλασσα – Ζωή: Αφηγήσεις στο μικρόφωνο» (Αθήνα 2004)

«Ὁ έρωτάς σου μία πληγή και τρείς κραυγές.»
(Νίκος Καββαδίας, «Αντινομία», Τραβέρσο, 1974)

Αναπόφευκτη κατάληξη η απελπισία. Ο κόσμος ερήμωσε, η αγάπη χάθηκε, ο άντρας γέρασε, μοναδική του προσμονή πια ο θάνατος.

«Γέρο, σου πρέπει μοναχά το σίδερο στα πόδια,
δύο μέτρα καραβόπανο, και αριστερό τιμόνι.
Mια μέδουσα σε αντίκρισε γαλάζια και σιμώνει
κι ένας βυθός που βόσκουνε σαλάχια και χταπόδια.»
(Νίκος Καββαδίας, «Πικρία», Τραβέρσο, 1975)

Δεν είναι τυχαίο ότι η «Πικρία» είναι το τελευταίο ποίημα του Καββαδία. Το έγραψε στις 7 Φεβρουαρίου 1975, λίγες μέρες πριν πεθάνει ξέμπαρκος, μόνος, χωρίς τη Θεανώ, στη στεριά.

Golo Mann: The History of Germany since 1789 – Part II: from 1890 to 1933

 

Introduction

It has been some time since I published the first part of Golo Mann’s “History of Germany since 1789”, covering the period from Napoleon to the end of Bismarck’s rule.  In today’s post I will continue sharing with you some quotes from the book, which I consider one of the best history books on Europe. The original’s title is “Deutsche Geschichte des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts”, first published in German in 1958. I use the English translation by Marian Jackson, reprinted by Penguin Books in 1990. For ease of reference, in each quote I will use  the page number of the 1990 reprint.

This is the second part, covering the period from 1890 to the rise of Hitler and Nazism to power (January 1933).

The third part will cover the period from January 1933 to the early 1960s. I am not aiming at reproducing the great intensity of the book, or summarize it. All I want is to present some elements of the work that are representative of its author and his views, which I find stimulating and challenging.

Timeline

A timeline from 1890 to 1933, when Hitler was appointed Chancellor.

1890 – Growing workers’ movement culminates in founding of Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).

1914-1918 – World War I

1918 – Germany defeated, signs armistice. Emperor William II abdicates and goes into exile.

1919 – Treaty of Versailles: Germany loses colonies and land to neighbors, pays large-scale reparations. Beginning of the Weimar Republic, based on a new constitution. Its early years are marked by high unemployment and rampant inflation.

1923 – Adolf Hitler, head of the National Socialist German Workers’ (Nazi) Party, leads an abortive coup in a Munich beer hall. France, Belgium occupy the Ruhr over failed reparation payments. Hyperinflation leads to economic collapse.

1924 – Hitler writes Mein Kampf – “My Struggle” – in prison.

1929 – Global depression, mass unemployment.

 

January 1933 – Hitler becomes chancellor. Weimar Republic gives way to a one-party state.

 

To facilitate the historical context, I added in some parts a [timeline tag].

Part Eight: The Age of William II (1888 – 1914)

After 1890 German affairs took a turn for the worse and therefore many historians came to the conclusion that Bismarck’s fall was a disaster and the beginning of all Germany’s misfortune. But it needs little acumen to show the erroneousness of this view. (p. 415)

Our character is determined partly by the reality in which we live, by the tasks that confront us. (p. 422)

The semi-dictatorship which Bismarck had exercised in order to preserve the peace, to deprive German development of its momentum, had collapsed in 1890. The verdict was final; it could not be reversed five years later. The energies of the German Reich could no longer be neutralized as in Metternich’s day. Something had to be done with them. (p.426)

Great states, that is states which under given conditions regard themselves as great, want to be influential beyond their own frontiers. History confirms this a hundred times. (p. 426)

“Only complete political dishonesty and naive optimism can fail to recognize that, after a period of peaceful competition, the inevitable urge of all nations with burgeois societies to expand their trade must now once more lead to a situation in which power alone will have a decisive influence on the extent to which individual nations will share in the economic control of the world, and thus determine the economic prospects of their peoples and of their workers in particular” Max Weber (p.434)

“Bernhard Bullow (German Chancellor from 1900 to 1909) is clean-shaven and flabby, with a shifty look, and usually has a smile on his face. Although he has no ideas in stone for emergencies he adopts the ideas of others and reproduces them skilfully… If Bullow wants to set one man against another he says with a charming smile ot the one that the other does not like him. The method is simple and almost infallible.” Geheimrat Holstein (p.437)

Once people had made the mistake of regarding the nation-state as the ultimate human goal and its “greatness” as an absolute purpose, there was no escape from the wearying game of threats and reconciliations, attempts to expand and withdrawals, of ever-changing speculative combinations; while always on the horizon there was the thing which everyone and no one believed in, war. (p.438) …alliances, however peacefully meant, always provoke others, and thus increase the danger they try to avert. (p.439)

On the contrary, in the nineteenth century Germany had been definitely popular among the Anglo-Saxons. The unpopular countries were France and Russia, France because it was revolutionary, imperialistic and restless, and Russia because it was exotic, barbarian and despotic. .. Only in the last ten or twelve years before 1914 did Germany become unpopular in Britain. The Germans lost the sympathies of the world because they did not believe that they had them and boastfully announced that they could do without them. (p.443)

There are two sides in every conflict and it would be wrong to hold German diplomacy alone responsible for the intrigues and fears that poisoned the European atmosphere in the decade before 1914. Foreign policy is largely irrational and comes up against elements that are also irrational. .. Economic competition can be controlled by sensible aim of making money; the same does not apply to political competition. (p.445)

Franz Ferdinand en Hertogin Sophie in Sarajevo 1914
Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie in Sarajevo 1914

The trouble with all youth movements is that they fail to keep their promises, however hard they try. German youth did have ideals when it came to nation and state, but given modern society as it was these ideals could only be cultivated by a small, young circle. This led to disappointments and later also to political aberrations. (p.466) The concept of the nation had no logical place in the Habsburg Empire. (p.467)

The Habsburg monarchy was a survival of the past, the only great non-national state in the age of nationalism. (p. 468) Economic interests bring people together, politics divide them. Political activity is competitive and threatening. The question of whether you can kill me or I can kill you arises between all living beings who do not share the same laws and do not trust each other. (p. 476)

The living know they will die but they do not believe it because they have become used to life and only know life. Such, more or less, must have been the mood before 1914. (p.478)

It was an old Austrian axiom that the “monarchy” would not last much longer than Turkey. Both states were supra-national and violated the principle of the nation-state. If Balkan nationalism triumphed over Turkey it would also triumph over Austria and in Austria. The Austrians therefore regarded the end of the First Balkan War as a defeat. (p.478)

Part Nine: War

Nothing is inevitable until it has happened. (p.481)

3g11266u-1112

Text: Subscribe to the war loan! The Army and Navy expect it from you!. Date Created/Published: Berlin : Hollerbaum & Schmidt, 1917.

July 1914

His (Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria) views on Serbia were more or less those of Bismarck, namely that its plum trees and pigs were not worth the bones of an Austrian soldier. (p.482)

The War Guilt Question

Nobody knew what anybody else would do. This was the basis of the risk, of the bluff, the sportsmanship of the affair; this has always been the game of politics. (p. 492)

Moods

By nature man oscillates between egoism and the desire to destroy himself for a great cause. (p.496)

louvain

Frustrated plans

All countries believed they were the victim of attack, but all attacked. All general staffs had long prepared and nurtured grand offensive plans which they now put into action. … After six weeks nothing was left of any of these plans and elaborate stratagems. (p. 501)

War have almost never gone according to plan; sooner or later they have developed in a way not foreseen by the strategists on either side. (p.502)

War Aims and Domestic Friction

In wartime it is not political sense that rules, but war – the generals or civilians who know how to wage it.  (p.508)

The aims had not led to the war, but the war, once there, led to the aims… Only German Social Democrats believed from the first day of the war to the last in the idea of peace without conquests, thus proving once again how superior their political education was to that of the middle classes. (p. 511-512)

It is difficult to have sensible aims in the midst of an orgy of senselessness… What would the peoples, the masses, do if they suddenly saw the whole enormous war effort as a cruel piece of foolery? (p. 512)

Changes

War is known to strengthen the strong and to weaken the weak, those who are already on their way down. The strong were those who were capable and could be made use of, but they were also vulgar, ruthless and shameless. (p. 520)

Armisticetrain_(slight_crop)

By Unknown – Press photo published all over the world. F.ex. Jan Dąbrowski “Wielka wojna 1914-1918” ( The Great War 1914-1918) Warsaw 1937, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9423922

Chronology

In other countries the crisis brought to the top the most ruthless, most imaginative politicians, Lloyd George in England and a year later Clemenceau in France. … It is logical that when war penetrates and dominates everything, when it is “total” war, the general must rule. .. Ludendorff was a tremendous worker, an expert on the new weapons, a man whose head was full of figures and names but who was irritable and brutal and in the subtleties of life as inexperienced as a child. (p. 524)

The Last Year

Just as the army leaders had  never paid any attention to the psychology of the enemy, they now gave no thought to the effect which their armistice offer must have on the German masses. (p.543)

Mass_demonstration_in_front_of_the_Reichstag_against_the_Treaty_of_Versailles
Massive demonstrations in front of the Reichstag, during the armistice negotiations of 1919

Part Ten: Weimar

Two basic documents

We know today that the wars of this century are bad for everybody and that the victor cannot undo the damage done to him by doubling or increasing to hundredfold that done to the defeated enemy. If he tries to do this he multiplies the damage done to himself. Victory is an illusion. (p. 568)

But the world cannot reverse gear; it cannot. It can fall or decline, like Greece or Rome, but it can never reverse gear. (p. 569)

It is an old truth that one should place least trust in one’s own right, in one’s own power and its duration when one is on top; then is the moment for humility , the moment to doubt of one’s own merit. There is always something in victory to be ashamed of. (p. 570)

The German Government signed the treaty… The Germans signed under protest because they had no choice. They called the treaty a “dictation” which indeed it was; because genuine negotiations had taken place only between the victors, not between victors and vanquished. Such a treaty does not last linger than the political situation on which it was based. (p. 570)

The Weimar Constitution presupposed that the Germans were agreed on the basic concepts of their communal existence. That they respected each other and were prepared to live together. It was possible to have differences of interest and opinion, they existed everywhere and could be dealt with, But the nation needed to be reasonably at peace with itself and with the rest of the world. If it was not no constitution could help it…(p.574)

weimar_billions_note_medium

Unrest, Followed by Apparent Consolidation

Munich thus became the center both of Bavarian opposition and of an all-German conspiracy against Berlin democracy… Berlin was supposed to hold together the divided, threatened and deeply dissatisfied nation. (p. 576)

The economic chaos of the post-war years, the growing inflation brought with it a profound change. (p. 577)

Consequently the supporters of the old order possessed at least two attractive arguments in favor of a counter-blow from the right; the new democratic authority had feet of clay; and it allegedly offered no guarantees against the Communist or anarchist threat. (p.  582)

spengler
Oswald Spengler

The Intellectuals

Spengler, like Hegel, was aware of living at the end of an historical epoch, and he was stimulated by the war as Hegel had been by Napoleon’s appearance…What was dangerous for Hegel, the glorification of war, the worship of power and success, Spengler took over. (p.618)

What made Oswald Spengler into a central intellectual figure was his description of the present and the immediate future. (p. 619)

“Blood for gold”, was what Spengler taught, and “work for moneybags, blood for gold” was what the National Socialists sang later.  (p. 620)

By praising old Prussia but criticizing the monarchy, by ridiculing the ideal of progress, by glorifying war but claiming to be a socialist, by completely overthrowing conventional ways of thinking in politics Spengler became the co-founder of an intellectual movement which the present writer cannot ignore, however confused it was and however little came of it in the end. It was called the “Conservative Revolution” . (p. 620)

Karlsbad, Gustav Stresemann mit Gattin und Sohn
Stresemann with his wife and son

From Stresemann to Brüning

[Timeline: With the end of the First World War and the start of the November Revolution, Chancellor Max of Baden announced the abdication of the German Emperor Wilhelm II on 9 November 1918. He also appointed Friedrich Ebert as his own successor as Chancellor. The Council of the People’s Deputies, a provisional government consisting of three delegates from the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and three from the Independent Social Democratic Party (USPD), took over the executive power on the following day and called for a National Congress of Councils on 16 to 21 December to convene in Berlin. This Reichsrätekongress set elections for a national assembly to take place on 19 January 1919.]

1919 was the great hour of democracy but it was not a happy hour.  (p. 623)

The people was a chaos of conflicting hopes and fears. Chaos does not resolve itself on its own; what is needed are ideas and determination and not just a well-prepared constitution. The leaders of the Social Democratic Party replaced determination to govern by determination to keep order and by considerable, affecting integrity.(p. 624)

At the 1919 elections to the National Asembly more Germans voted for the Social Democrats than voted for the National Socialists even at the time of their greatest popular triumph in the summer of 1932. (p.683)

In fact the party which decided the fate of the Weimar Republic was the Center. (p.626)

Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-15436-0010,_Weimar,_Nationaltheater,_Denkmal_Goethe-Schiller
Deutsches Nationaltheater and Staatskapelle Weimar

(Stresemann) He received no thanks for any of his achievements and he was blamed for everything that he had failed to achieve. .. The good period of the Weimar Republic was thus, on closer inspection, not so good after all. Nor was it felt as such.  (p. 627)

The relationship between between Germany and the new Polish state could not be good. Poland had been created at the expense of Germany, as Prussia had been at the expense of Poland… The Germans felt superior to the small Slav nations in a very different sense from that in which they felt superior to the French. It seemed natural to them that Poles lived under Prussian rule because the strong expands at the expense of the weak … But the same mutual, arrogant dislike separated Germans and Czechs, the latter regarding themselves as morally superior and the former as basically stronger, as having the justification of history behind them. (p. 628)

33060-3x2-article620
Friedrich Ebert (center) with Konrad Adenauer (right) in the 1920s

The Weimar Constitution provided for the election of the President by the people, by all men and women entitled to vote. The first President, Ebert, had not been elected under this procedure, but had been appointed by the National Assembly. After his death in the spring of 1925 it became necessary to hold an election. The united right chose Hindenburg as its candidate and Admiral von Tirpitz persuaded him to accept the honour – two veterans of 1870. Hindenburg was elected, although by a narrow majority. Had the Communists not put up a third candidate, the “popular bloc”, represented by a mild Center republican, would have triumphed over Hindenburg’s “Reich bloc”. (p.631)

The idea of the Weimar Republic , to the extent that it had one, was compromise, peace between classes, not class struggle to the bitter end. (p. 635)

A few months later, at the beginning of October (1929), Gustav Stresemann died after a stroke. This was a loss of the kind which the Republic could least afford at this moment. Like no one else Stresemann had kept Parliament together, had personally made possible the compromise between labor and capital, and by his diplomacy had given meaning to Germany’s existence as a state among states. (p. 636)

hitler_1929
NUREMBERG, 1929. HITLER AT THE 3RD PARTY CONGRESS

Crisis and Disintegration of the Weimar Republic

In the Reichstag of 1928 the Nazis has mustered only 12 members and the Nazis were considered as part of the “lunatic fringe”. Hitler made no progress as long as things were going tolerably well in Germany.  But starting in 1929 the economy collapsed.

The Nazi Party had the advantage that it was in no way involved with what had happened in Germany since 1919.

In Germany the storm now turned against the Republic itself, against the whole “System” and all who had been part of it. (p.643).

[Timeline: Brüning was appointed chancellor by Hindenburg on 29 March 1930 when the grand coalition under the Social Democrat Hermann Müller collapsed.]

When the votes were counted in September 1930, it appeared that the supporters of the National Socialists had increased tenfold (my note: from 12 to 107). The New Reichstag was scarcely capable of doing the things which a Parliament is supposed to do, of positive investigation and decision.

The system by which Germany was governed depended on the pleasure of the President.

Reichskabinett Brüning I
Brüning’s first cabinet, March 1930.

After 1930 only the Army and the President – two not very republican institutions – stood between the Nazis and the Republic (p.685).

In 1932 Germany produced scarcely half of what it had produced in 1929.

[Since 1929, Germany had been suffering from the Great Depression as unemployment rose from 8.5% to nearly 30% between 1929 and 1932, while industrial production inside Germany dropped roughly 42%.]

It was the misery and the fear of misery which drove people into the Nazis arms. (p.654)

[Timeline: In March 1932, presidential elections pitted the incumbent Hindenburg, supported by pro-democratic parties, against Hitler and communist Ernst Thälmann. Hitler gained roughly a third of the vote and was thus defeated in the second round in April by Hindenburg, who gained a narrow majority.]

In Germany civil was had threatened since 1930; this was not a climate in which the economy could flourish.

sa_zeitschrift.jpg

All the major parties by this time had their own “strong arm” squads. By far the most limitant group, however, were the Sturmabteilungen – SA for short – of the Nazi Party, an army organized to fight a civil war.

[Timeline: In April 1932 Brüning had both the communist “Rotfrontkämpferbund” and the Nazi Sturmabteilung banned. The unfavourable reaction in right-wing circles further undermined Hindenburg’s support for Brüning.]

It is impossible to single out all the elements, poisonous or healthy, that fed the Nazi movement. (p. 656)

[Timeline: Hindenburg at the end of May 1932 was persuaded to dismiss Brüning as chancellor, replacing him with Franz von Papen, a renegade of the Centre Party, and a non-partisan “Cabinet of Barons”. Papen owed his appointment to the Chancellorship to General Kurt von Schleicher, an old friend from the pre-war General Staff and influential advisor of President Hindenburg. Schleicher selected Papen because his conservative, aristocratic background and military career was satisfactory to Hindenburg and would create the groundwork for a possible Centre-Nazi coalition. Papen’s cabinet had almost no support in parliament and only three days after his appointment, when faced with the opposition, had Hindenburg dissolve the Reichstag and called for new elections, for 31 July, so that the Reichstag could not dismiss him immediately.]

February-1932-Reich-President-Hindenburg-with-his-grandchildren-at-a-lunchtime-walk-in
February 1932, Reich President Hindenburg with his grandchildren at a lunchtime walk in the gardens of the Reich president’s palace, the present day location of the memorial. Image Source: Das Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-13171.

[Timeline: The July 1932 elections resulted in great gains by the Nazi Party; with 230 seats, it was the largest party in parliament but without an overall majority. Neither the Nazi Party nor Hindenburg had a governing majority, and the other parties refused co-operation. Neither side had a majority on its own, and no coalition could be formed to create a governing majority. Thus, Papen’s minority government continued, leading to another election in November.]

[Timeline: The results of the November 1932 election were a great disappointment for the Nazis. Although they emerged once more as the largest party by far, they had fewer seats than before, and failed to form a government coalition in the Reichstag parliament.]

The Weimar state was thus more an appendage of the Empire of William II or the Bismarck than it was a distinct historic epoch; it was an interregnum between two eras, the second of which was, as we know, infinitely worse. (p.685)

In an interregnum the strongest takes over and it was Hitler who happened to be the strongest. (p.686)

Machtergreifung-Hitler-u-Papen
January 30, 1933, shortly before 5 p.m .: After the first photo shoot of the new government of Hitler, the Chancellor looks deep into his vice Chancellor’s eyes

[Timeline: In the November 1932 election the Nazis lost seats, but Papen was still unable to secure a Reichstag that could be counted on not to pass another vote of no-confidence in his government. Papen’s attempt to negotiate with Hitler failed. Under pressure from Schleicher, Papen resigned on 17 November and formed a caretaker government. Papen told his cabinet that he planned to have martial law declared, which would allow him to rule as a dictator. However, at a cabinet meeting on 2 December, Papen was informed by Schleicher’s associate General Eugen Ott that Ministry of the Reichswehr war games showed there was no way to maintain order against the Nazis and Communists. Realizing that Schleicher was moving to replace him, Papen asked Hindenburg to fire Schleicher as defence minister. Instead, Hindenburg appointed Schleicher as chancellor.]

How small the people sometimes are who are in a position to make history, how base their motives, their thoughts, their character… This enmity, this paralysis of German politics caused by the conflict of the mass parties, gave them (the Nazis) their chance… An industrial society in a state of great political excitement could be ruled either democratically or demagogically and tyranically. (p.677)

In the end there was nothing sinister about the way in which Hitler came to power, because he was politically the strongest and had the most vehement popular movement behind him.(p.678)

[Timeline: On 9 January 1933, Papen and Hindenburg agreed to form a new government that would bring in Hitler. On the evening of 22 January, in a meeting at the villa of Joachim von Ribbentrop in Berlin, Papen made the concession of abandoning his claim to the Chancellorship and committed to support Hitler as Chancellor in a proposed “Government of National Concentration”, in which Papen would serve as Vice-Chancellor and Minister-President of Prussia. On 23 January, Papen presented to Hindenburg his idea for Hitler to be made Chancellor, while keeping him “boxed” in. On the same day Schleicher, to avoid a vote of no-confidence in the Reichstag when it reconvened on 31 January, asked the president to declare a state of emergency. Hindenburg declined and Schleicher resigned at midday on 28 January. Hindenburg formally gave Papen the task of forming a new government.]

Reichskabinett Adolf Hitler
The Hitler Cabinet on 30 January 1933

[Timeline: In the morning of 29 January, Papen met with Hitler and Hermann Göring at his apartment, where it was agreed that Papen would serve as Vice-Chancellor and Commissioner for Prussia. It was in the same meeting that Papen first learned that Hitler wanted to dissolve the Reichstag when he became Chancellor and, once the Nazis had won a majority of the seats in the ensuing elections, to activate the Enabling Act. In the end, the President, who had previously vowed never to let Hitler become Chancellor, appointed Hitler to the post at 11.30 am on 30 January 1933, with Papen as Vice-Chancellor. While Papen’s intrigues appeared to have brought Hitler into power, the crucial dynamic was in fact provided by the Nazi Party’s electoral support, which made military dictatorship the only alternative to Nazi rule for Hindenburg and his circle.]

It was because of Papen’s activities that Hitler became Chancellor in a particular way and this fact alone should have been enough to make Papen remain forever silent in shame and remorse. (p.679)

Once in power (1933) Hitler therefore found it terrifyingly easy to assume absolute control, and the political parties in particular were reduced to dust at his touch. (p.687)

What seemed to begin as a new chapter in German history became the adventure of a villain who forced his will on Germany and through Germany on a large part of the world. (p.688)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What did Kierkegaard learn from his study of Socrates and how is it relevant in today’s world?

kierkegaard650
Soren Kierkegaard, Danish Philosopher

Kierkegaard, the eccentric Danish Philosopher of early 19th century, wrote his Master’s Thesis on Socrates’ “Concept of Irony.” This was not an accidental encounter. Kierkegaard remained throughout his life loyal to his “association” with Socrates and declared “Socrates has become a Christian”.

Back in 2011 I wrote about Kierkegaard as the precursor of existentialism. Today’s post is about his intellectual relationship with Socrates and its relevance, if any, to today’s world.

Kierkegaard chose to learn from Socrates the elements which would be compatible with his overall intellectual and philosophical disposition, and the way he wanted to live his life. In doing so, Kierkegaard answered some basic questions that relate to the individual in society. These answers are still valid, in the sense that one may choose to live accordingly in today’s world. It is in this sense that the connection between Kierkegaard and Socrates is still relevant. This formulates the secondary part of my thesis.

I have organized the material in this paper based on the key propositions which Kierkegaard put forward using Socrates as a model. For each proposition (or pair of related propositions), I develop the Socrates – Kierkegaard link and then discuss the relevance to today’s world. Each of the propositions could be the topic of a treatise, so I had to be a concise as possible, at the expense of full development. Nevertheless, I hope that the key issues will emerge and will contribute to the relevant discussions.

P1: The basic questions address the individual, cannot be inherited from the collective

P2: Knowledge and faith are subjective

It is commonplace to say that Socrates turned philosophy away from Nature and oriented it towards Man. For Socrates, the individual must answer for himself the basic questions of life, and not blindly inherit them from the community. Socrates established the individual above existing custom. This is where Socrates differentiates himself from the Athenian citizens who condemn him for creating his own Gods. Socrates did not create any Gods, but only talked about his personal “daimonion”, an inner voice which would tell him what not to do. By even talking about his personal “daimonion”, Socrates went against the collective belief in Gods.

This centricity of the individual in the Socratic model has led young Kierkegaard to “Seek a truth for which to live and die”. Truth cannot be trivialized and cannot be made insignificant. It is a person’s duty to find the truth for himself. This quest may give meaning to one’s life.

It is not enough to place the individual in the center of the knowledge acquisition process. Knowledge for Socrates does not exist until it becomes appropriated by a person, until it becomes internal.

For a person to be able to appropriate knowledge they must create an “enclosed reserve”, isolate themselves from other people.

Socrates’ principle is that man must find from himself both the end of his actions and the end of the world, and must attain the truth through himself – truth is now posited as a product mediated through thought. Per Socrates, the subject is a constituent element of the truth.

The individual in western societies today is facing the danger of losing his identity. Mass markets require mass consumers. We are all the same, even when we appear to be different. Technology gives us “personalized” tools which simply enables each one of us to do the same thing in different formats and ways. In such an environment, the individual must struggle to answer the key questions for himself, and avoid to become one more unit in a faceless society.

kierkegaard-290

P3: Irony is a tool in knowledge acquisition

P4: Pure Irony is a tool in questioning the whole actuality of a certain time and age

The personal journey to knowledge begins with irony. Irony is the best approach to negate, to question what you know, to reach the stage of accepting that you know nothing, or even very little.  Irony leads to subjective freedom.

Kierkegaard appropriated irony as a tool from Socrates while writing his Master’s Thesis on Socratic Irony. This was also the period during which Kierkegaard established Socrates as his model for answering the question “what do I want to do with my life”.

Kierkegaard’s irony in the eminent sense (pure irony) questions the whole actuality of a certain time and age. In this sense, irony is no longer a knowledge acquisition tool, but a tool that questions a “World View” in its totality.

Irony in both of its manifestations, is a negative tool. It does not put forward a positive thesis, a proposition. It only questions a view, a proposition, a “whole actuality”.

Irony is also opening the “negativity” domain to Kierkegaard and his work. Whilst most philosophers try to solve problems and give answers, Socrates appears to be content with arriving at a dead-end, as is the case in Euthyphro, when the dialog ends abruptly without Socrates answering the question of what is piety. Kierkegaard is also content with negativity, and in a sense, criticizes Hegel for calling Socrates a “negative” philosopher. Unlike Hegel, Kierkegaard does not consider the aim of the philosopher to construct a system and give answers.

P5: Aporia is also a knowledge acquisition tool

P6: Knowledge co-exists with paradoxes, contradictions, absurdities

Kierkegaard liberates himself from the burden of giving solutions, making positive propositions. Sometimes it is enough to know that you do not know, even though you do not know what you were supposed to know. Knowledge is not mandatory, is not inevitable. We must come to terms with the fact that many times we are stuck with “not-knowing”.

Aporia is the state where the person faces a paradox, a dead end trying to explain, a failure of the rational faculty. Reaching the state of aporia is a prerequisite for appropriating knowledge. In the Socratic dialogue approach, on many occasions Socrates brought the other party to a state of aporia. Therefore, we may assume that Socrates indirectly accepts that there are paradoxes.

However, Socrates believed that knowledge can be obtained, and for this reason he never stopped aiming at acquiring knowledge.

Kierkegaard, on the other hand, believed that everything cannot be explained.   Knowledge co-exists with paradoxes, contradictions, absurdities. Kierkegaard goes even beyond that.

“The supreme paradox of all thought is the attempt to discover something that thought cannot think. This passion is at bottom present in all thinking, even in the thinking of the individual, in so far as in thinking he participates in something transcending himself. But habit dulls our sensibilities, and prevents us from perceiving it”. (Kierkegaard, Johannes Climacus, Philosophical Fragments (46))

In this respect, Kierkegaard establishes the limits of the rational faculty, and therefore the limits of knowledge.

Kierkegaard “uses” Socrates to counter Hegel’s “mediation”.

Kierkegaard’s faith paradox.

P7: The path to knowledge is hard – The path to Christianity is hard

Socrates has shown how hard is the path to knowledge, especially when one begins with the illusion that he has knowledge. Appropriating knowledge is a path without certainty, a journey without assured success. It is for this reason that Socrates claimed that there is only one thing that he knows, that he know not.

Kierkegaard inspired by Socrates, wrote:

“The only analogy I have before me is Socrates; my task is a Socratic task, to audit the definition of what it is to be a Christian-I do not call myself a Christian (keeping the ideal free), but I can make it manifest that the others are that even less.” (Kierkegaard, The Moment and Late Writings, p. 341)

Kierkegaard takes what Socrates wrote about knowledge and transcribes it to Christian faith. He does not claim to be a Christian, but he can manifest that the others are even less.

Marta Abba: Luigi Pirandello’s muse and unfulfilled love

Marta Abba

In February 1925, the 58-year-old world-famous playwright Luigi Pirandello met Marta Abba, an unknown actress half his age, and fell in love with her.

She was to become, until his death in December 1936, not only his confidante but also his inspiring muse and artistic collaborator.

Pirandello’s love for the young actress was neither a literary infatuation nor a form of fatherly affection, but rather an unfulfilled, desperate passion that secretly consumed him during the last decade of his life.

Benito Ortolani, Editor and translator of the letters, Princeton University Press 1994.

Luigi Pirandello in 1932

Pirandello more than any other playwright has been responsible for a revolution in men’s attitude to the world that is comparable to the revolution caused by Einstein’s discovery of the concept of relativity in physics: Pirandello has transformed our attitude to human personality and the whole concept of reality in human relations by showing that the personality- the character in stage terms – is not a fixed entity but an infinitely fluid, blurred and relative concept.

Martin Esslin, Reflections

Abba (second from left) and Pirandello (third from left) at the Grand Hotel de Bains, in Lido di Venezia in 1928

Introduction

Luigi Pirandello is one of my favorite playwrights.

Some time ago I wrote an article on Mattia Pascal, an absolutely brilliant novel written by Pirandello.

Today I want to share another dimension of the man’s personality, not necessarily and directly reflected in his plays. His love for Marta Abba. This love should, of course, be taken into context. Pirandello was a complicated man, and his life reflected this more than enough. Many dimensions of this complexity have been reflected in his relationship with Marta Abba, and even shaped it.

Marta Abba

Pirandello met Abba in Rome, in February 1925. She was 24, he was 58. He was a Sicilian gentleman, married with children, who at the time were older than Marta. His wife was seriously ill, and about to be confined to an asylum for the mentally ill.She was a young actress, embarking n her career. During the eleven years of their “relationship”, they spent relatively little time together. They both had busy lives, Abba with her acting and Pirandello with his travels around Europe and the American Continent.

The letters Pirandello wrote to Marta are the material I will use to present their relationship. As the editor and translator, Benito Ortolani, notes they had agreed to live in a “nonintimate intimacy”.

Abba (right) and her sister Cele on the terrace of the Grand Hotel de Bains in Lido di Venezia in 1928

The Letters

All the quotes that follow come from the Princeton University Press 1994 edition of the letters.

The period covered by the published letters is from 1925, when Pirandello met Abba in Rome, to 1936, when he died. Only Pirandello;s letters to Marta have been published. Abba did not approve of the publication of the letters she wrote to the “Maestro”.

Dear Marta,

….But what shall I do with the money? For that matter, what should I do with my life, if I don’t have anybody to whom I can give it? To me, life is of no use. I don’t ask for any more beyond the time I need to finish the works that are left for me to write; because I feel it as an imperative obligation of my conscience, that I must write them. Without this, who knows where I would be by now –  since that horrible night spent in Como….

Luigi Pirandello

The letter was written on the 20th August 1926.The reference to the ‘horrible night in Como’ is very important. Although there is no proof of the exact date, it was a night back in October 1925. We do not have any explicit description of what happened. Only in one of Pirandello’s plays, a young woman (presumably Marta) addresses an old poet (presumably Pirandello) and throws in his face the memory of a traumatic event between them. She had offered herself to him, but he declined, offering a rational explanation.

Pirandello's typewritter in his studioi in via Antonio Bosio, 15 – Rome.
Pirandello’s typewriter in his studio in via Antonio Bosio, 15 – Rome.

My Marta,

…. You say that I “do not believe in anybody”. That really is a reproach. What do you mean I don’t believe? If I did not believe, what would I be living for, so far away and living alone? I can still hold out in this life only because I believe. And your advice to stay in Rome “among people who still love me” sounded to me like a mockery! Should I concentrate on the complications of your advice, perhaps then would I recognize the terrible folly of feeling as I do and of living the way I do … or not living!….

Your disappointed Maestro

This letter was written on the 8th January 1931. Pirandello was in Paris, France, and Abba in Turin, Italy. Marta had written to Pirandello, suggesting that he moves to Rome to be with his family. His children loved him, but could not quite comprehend his infatuation with Abba, while their mother was confined in a asylum for the mentally ill. Two years later, Pirandello followed Marta’s “advice” and moved to live in Rome, where he died.

Pirandelloreads
Pirandelloreads “Trovarsi” to Marta Abba, Lido di Camaiore, August 1932 (2)

My Marta,

I am writing in bed, where I have been lying since I arrived. Right on the morning of my arrival, when we were already docked in the harbor of Naples… – suddenly I felt sick: a burning pain in the chest, which took away my breath and made my legs feel weak. … You did the right thing, my Marta, in not coming to Naples…. But now I have an immense desire to see you again.If I were not in this condition, I would fly to Salsomaggiore, but I cannot…. I must stop writing, because I am too weak. I will write as soon as I can to tell you the many things that I have to communicate to you…..

Your Maestro

The letter was written on the 14th October 1935, one day after Pirandello suffered a heart attack on the day of his arrival in Naples.

Portraits of Marta Abba in Pirandello's studio, via Bosio 15, Roma
Portraits of Marta Abba in Pirandello’s studio, via Bosio 15, Roma (2)

My Marta, 

…. I know that you are still in Italy. I know that in a few days, on the evening of Tuesday of next week, I will see you again in Milan; that still keeps me going. But what will happen to me on the evening of May 23rd when you leave for London? And what will happen to me in August, when you leave even Europe and depart for America?I fell as if I am slowly sinking, as if the ground is becoming soft under my feet; I do not know what to hold on to; I have no more support….

Your Maestro

This letter was written on the 16th May 1936. Pirandello was in Rome, and Abba in Milan. In May 1936 Abba signed a contract to perform in New York’s Broadway.In preparation for her New York appearances, she went to London, England.

Pirandello directs Marta Abba and Lamberto Picasso in
Pirandello directs Marta Abba and Lamberto Picasso in “La nuova colonia”, 1928. (2)

My Marta

…This letter is already long, and it is time that I send it to the post office. But when will it reach you? If I think about the distance, I at once feel that I am sliding into a horrible loneliness, like into an abyss of despair. But you should not think about that! I embrace you tightly, tightly, with all, all my heart.

Your Maestro

This letter was written on the 4th December 1936, six days before Pirandello died of pneumonia. He was in Rome, and Abba was in New York City. She announced Pirandello’s death on stage at Plymouth Theater.

Cele, Marta and Pirandello on the balcony of the Grand Hotel de Bains in Lido di Venezia in 1928

Marta Abba, a leading Italian stage performer of the 1920’s and 30’s and the lifetime companion of the playwright Luigi Pirandello, died after suffering a stroke on her 88th birthday Friday in a Milan nursing home, her family announced today.

The New York Times, 26 June 1988

Sources:

  1. Pirandello’s Love Letters to Marta Abba, Edited and translated by Benito Ortolani. Princeton University Press, Princeton New Jersey, 1994.
  2. A Marta Abba per non morire”: il ricordo di lei

Witold Gombrowicz: Pornografia

Witold Gombrowicz
Witold Gombrowicz

Existentialism tries to re-establish value, while for me the “under-value,” the “insufficiency,” the “under-development,” are closer to man than any value. I believe the formula “Man wants to be God” expresses very well the nostalgia of existentialism, while I set up another immeasurable formula against it: “Man wants to be young.” Witold Gombrowicz

About the author

In his “Testament—Conversations with Dominique de Roux”, Witold Gombrowicz said about himself: “I am a humorist, a clown, a tightrope walker, a provocateur, my works stand on their head to please, I am a circus, lyricism, poetry, terror, struggle, fun and games—what more do you want?”

Gombrowicz was born in a small town in Congress Poland, Russian Empire to a wealthy gentry family. “He was the youngest of four children of Jan and Antonina (née Kotkowska.) In 1911 his family moved to Warsaw. After completing his education at Saint Stanislaus Kostka’s Gymnasium in 1922, he studied law at Warsaw University (in 1927 he obtained a master’s degree in law.) Gombrowicz spent a year in Paris where he studied at the Institut des Hautes Etudes Internationales; although he was less than diligent in his studies his time in France brought him in constant contact with other young intellectuals.” (4)

‘Witold Gombrowicz (1904-1969) is part of a celebrated generation of mid-20th-century Polish writers, one that includes the doomed magic-realist short story writer Bruno Schulz, the Nobel Prize-winning poet Czeslaw Milosz and Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz, author of the great and sexily titled novel “Insatiability.” All these writers knew, admired and supported one another. ‘ (5)

Polish American Liner S.S. Chrobry
Polish American Liner S.S. Chrobry

In 1939, shortly before the Second World War errupted, Gombrowicz went to Argentine, more by chance than by design. He stayed there until 1963.

First Class Passenger List
First Class Passenger List

“In July 1939, fellow writer Czeslaw Straszewicz met Gombrowicz at Zodiak, a bohemian café in Warsaw. Straszewicz told Gombrowicz that he had been invited to participate in the Chrobry’s maiden voyage to Argentina. In exchange, he would write on the Chrobry for the Polish press. Gombrowicz asked Straszewicz if he could get the same deal and Straszewicz promised to pass Gombrowicz’s name to the Gdynia America Line. It obviously worked out, and Gombrowicz was added to the exclusive list of guests.” (3)

Gombrowicz was to stay in Argentina longer than he initially planned. The Nazis invaded Poland on the 1st September 1939 and Gombrowicz decided to stay in Argentina rather than return to occupied Poland. In 1953, still living as an expatriate in Argentina, Gombrowicz began his Diary with one of literature’s most memorable openings:

“Monday Me.

Tuesday Me.

Wednesday Me.

Thursday Me.”

Gombrowicz was not a mainstream writer. Indicative is his distaste for Borges.

Jennifer Marquart writes in her review of Pornografia: ‘One of my favorite (apocryphal) anecdotes about Gombrowicz is about how one day in Buenos Aires he was ranting about Borges to his friends (the two authors didn’t really get along), and one of them interrupted to ask if he had ever even read Borges. “Pfft. Why would I waste my time reading that crap?” (1)

Gombrowicz to Gomez
Gombrowicz to Gomez

Gombrowicz stayed in Argentina until 1963, when he crossed the Atlantic and went to Berlin, with a Ford Foundation grant for a year’s stay. After Berlin he went to France. His friendship ties, however, remained strong.

In a letter to his friend Gomez, Gombrowicz writes (9):

Poor Goma, you are unaware of one thing: I had been hiding before you, in part in order to spare you, and in part so as to avoid questioning, etc., that since the moment that I left Argentina, I haven’t had a single good day. (…) You, and also Ada think that I am lazily streched out on a bed of roses, and what’s more, together with Rita. And meanwhile, I am exhausting myself here bit by bit in each direction. In the last resort, maybe it is not all that dramatic. There are moments of good humour. But – my friend – I have never resembled an egoistic and demonic monster more than I do now. Bye, W.G. Now I weigh 68 kg I w e i g h e d 83 kg

Witold and Rita Gombrowicz with their dog Psina in Vence, France, 1967.
Witold and Rita Gombrowicz with their dog Psina in Vence, France, 1967.

During the crossing of the Atlantic from Buenos Aires to Europe Gombrowicz notes, upon reading Sein und Zeit in Spanish, “It’s rocking hard. […] Reading Heidegger is calming”. (10)

Pornografia

Pornografia was published in 1960. I read it in 1985 in a Greek translation, and since then it is one of my favourite novels. The story is as follows. Two middle aged friends visit the country side during the nazi occupation of Poland.

Luca Ronconi's staging of Pornografia
Luca Ronconi’s staging of Pornografia

“The narrator, Witold (Gombrowicz), and his companion, Fryderyk, leave the city and stay with Hipolit, his wife Maria and their daughter Henia and the farmhand Karol. It doesn’t take long for the men to grow bored of the quiet country life, causing them to devise intricate plans to get Karol and Henia to sleep together. They set up meetings and prod the teenagers with questions of sexual attraction to one another. These simple games escalate to a masterfully choreographed play, aimed at breaking-up Henia and her fiancé. Part joke and part perverse desire, Gombrowicz and Fryderyk’s plans take a bizarre turn following the murder of Henia’s future mother-in-law. Hidden notes, hostages, murder-conspiracies and the ultimate manipulation of youth, love and a detached thirst for power are now in play.” (1) ‘Henia is engaged to an upright young lawyer; Karol is a handsome 16-year-old farmhand. The narrator, who is named Witold, and his extremist friend Fryderyk soon decide that these two “children” belong together, even though they reveal absolutely no particular interest in each other. But what does that matter? … Karol admits that he would like to sleep with Henia’s mother; Henia confesses that marriage will keep her from giving in to certain of her sexual inclinations. Following such revelations, Witold proclaims that he is virtually “bathing in their eroticism.” ‘ (5)

Gombrowicz in 1965
Gombrowicz in 1965

“In cryptic conversations and memorably febrile internal monologues, the two men share their fantasies about the young people and scheme to make them a couple. But nothing comes of this folie à quatre until Vaclav’s mother is suddenly stabbed to death, and a resistance fighter who’s come to the end of his courage announces his intention of abandoning the cause and going back home. Goaded by a series of unsigned notes that play on their already considerable paranoia, Witold and Fryderyk hatch a monstrous new plan to bring Henia and Karol together.” (6)

In an interview (2) Pornografia’s translator into English, Danuta Borchardt, says: “Pornografia focuses, perhaps more than his other three novels, on the outer limits of the imagination—on the “forbidden”on the erotic fantasies of middle age and on living them through the young, and on manipulations that influence the young to the point of crime and murder.

Also, in Pornografia Gombrowicz tests the notion of belief in God versus non-belief. According to Jerzy Jarzębski, one of Gombrowicz’s foremost scholars: “Pornografia is blasphemous in the sense that it presents traditional culture and national customs in a state of exhaustion and atrophy.”

Jarzębski, suggests that Gombrowicz’s ideas may originate from the existentialists’ “death of God,” from old age generally, from World War II and the demands it placed on Polish society, and from the collapse of moral values.” Jennifer Marquart says it all in one sentence:

“It isn’t the actual act of sex that is pornographic, but its entanglement with power, domination, desire and obsession.” (1)

A page from Gombrowicz's diary
A page from Gombrowicz’s diary

‘Gombrowicz himself once dryly described “Pornografia” as “a noble, a classical novel. . . . The novel of two middle-aged men and a couple of adolescents; a sensually metaphysical novel.” ‘ (5)

When Gombrowicz finished the noval on 4 February 1958, he wrote in his diary:

“…One of my most persistent needs, during the writing of this…. was: to pass the world through youth; to translate it into the language of youth, that is, into the language of attraction… To soften it with youth…. To spice it up with youth – so it allows itself to be violated.” (quoted by Hanjo Beressem in source 7).

In the 2013 Summer Festival  “Spoleto 56 Festival dei 2 Mondi“, Italian Theater Director Luca Ronconi staged “Pornography”, based on Witold Gombrowicz’s novel.

The play is staged in Rome during April 2014.

Epilogue

As an epilogue, I quote from Gombrowicz’ Diary a paassage on the clarity of art.

“Clarity? Its clarity is the clarity of night, not day. Its brightness is exactly like that of a flashlight that extracts just one object out of the darkness, immersing the rest in an even more bottomless night. It should be, beyond the boundaries of its light, dark like the pronouncements of the Pythia, veiled, not spelled out, shimmering with a multiplicity of meanings and broader than precision. A classical clarity? The clarity of the Greeks? If this seems clear to you then it is because you are blind. Go at high noon to take a good look at the most classical Venus, and you will see the darkest night.”    

Sources

(1) Three Percent, a review of Gombrowicz’s Pornografia

(2) Translating Gombrowicz’s Pornografia – an interview with Danuta Borchardt, Raintaxi Online

(3) Gombrowicz on the Chrobry  (1939)

(4) Goodreads, Pornografia

(5) Book World: Michael Dirda reviews ‘Pornografia’ by Witold Gombrowicz. The Washington Post.

(6) Pornografia, Kirkus Review

(7) Hanjo Berressem. Lines of Desire: Reading Gombrowicz’ Fiction with Lacan.

(8) Friday: Me, The Paris Review

(9) Gombrowicz to Gomez, Culture.PL

(10) What you didn’t know about Gombrowicz, Culture.PL

1001 Ways to Die (12) – Alvaro Mutis Jaramillo, Colombian, Writer and Poet

Alvaro Mutis, Colombian Writer and Poet
Alvaro Mutis, Colombian Writer and Poet

Alvaro Mutis Jaramillo, one of my absolute favorite writers of all times, died on Sunday 22 September 2013 in Mexico City, aged 90.

His wife, Carmen Miracle,  was quoted as saying that Alvaro Mutis died in hospital from a cardio-respiratory problem.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos sent his condolences after Mutis’ death was confirmed by the cultural commission Sunday night.

“The millions of friends and admirers of Alvaro Mutis profoundly lament his death,” Santos wrote. “All of Colombia honors him.”

Colombian writer Gustavo Alvarez Gardeazabal called him “a remarkable narrator, remarkable poet and remarkable friend.”

I wrote about him back in 2010: An introduction first, Alvaro Mutis, and then Fragments.

Today in his memory I would like to share some exerpts (presented below in italics) from his interview by Francisco Goldman published in BOMB 74/Winter 2001.

Mutis was born in Colombia, the son of a diplomat, but he became a citizen of the world.

Tramp Steamer
Tramp Steamer

I am just passing through.

“I traveled with my family from the age of two. We went to Brussels. My father was in the Colombian diplomatic service and we were there for nine years. We traveled to Colombia by sea for vacations. Those trips were wonderful for me. They were like an extended holiday, because on a ship you are not responsible for anything. All you have to do is coexist with the sea and its life and watch it all go by. And again, when I worked for Standard Oil as Colombian head of public relations for five years, I traveled on oil tankers and had interesting experiences and met extremely curious people, many of whom appear in my novellas. So I loved traveling and moving around. And interestingly, without actively trying, I have always had jobs that forced me to move around. For over 23 years, I worked for Twentieth Century Fox and then Columbia Pictures as sales manager for the television division in Latin America, selling sitcoms and specials and made-for-TV movies. And I went from capital to capital to capital: Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, to Chile and back through Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and then back to Los Angeles. So my life became a long trip and I met thousands of people, in all different kinds of situations. And this was like a continuation of what I had experienced as a child. In this way I lost the sense of belonging to a particular country. I know that I am Colombian and will be until I die, and there are landscapes in Colombia that I love and am fascinated by, and they appear in my poetry, but I don’t feel a commitment to any one country because, after all, I’m just passing through.”

A hopeless view of the world

 “I’ve never been involved in politics. I’ve never voted. I have never believed and have no faith in the intentions of a man who wants to make life better for all men. I think this just leads to concentration camps and Stalinist purges, the Inquisition and all of that horror. I believe that man is a species one should be very suspicious of. Now, I have no bitterness, but I am not going to change things, and I don’t want to change them. I accept them as they are, and that is how I live. So, it is natural that Maqroll (note: Maqroll is the key character in his novels), without being my exact reflection—which he is not at all—should have my hopeless view of the world.”

Mutis with writer Garcia Marquez and sculptor Botero
Mutis with writer Garcia Marquez and sculptor Botero

I say no to things

“But he (note: he refers to Maqroll), unlike Saint Francis, does not want to make this renunciation into a regimen for others or for a community. He says no to things precisely because of his philosophy of not trying to change anyone—each person is the way he is and that’s it. Now, if I were to load up on—as Maqroll would say—luxury items and objects, and these objects were to define me, I would be forced to stay still, not move. This doesn’t suit me; I don’t need anything.”

On women

“He (Maqroll) has a great admiration for women and he realizes that they see much more deeply than we men do, and know much more than we do, and that the best thing is to listen to them and do as they say. He always creates a sense of complicity with the person he loves. He thinks, We are together, but with no obligations—we won’t get married or enter into a bourgeois lifestyle. I love you deeply, and whenever we meet we will be together, because it is wonderful to have a relationship with someone who is my accomplice, and someone who feels no sense of obligation towards me. So that is his attitude, and if women sustain him and love him, why is that? Because he is not obliging them to do anything—he’s leaving the next day, or will be arriving the day after. He is their friend, their accomplice. There is a basic friendship in love that I do believe exists.”

AlvaroMutis

On Monarchy and Democracy

Monarchy is a thing of the past, and a government with divine right and absolute power like that of Louis XIV or Charlemagne is the last thing I would want. In this day and age, something like that is impossible. The kind of monarchy that I am dreaming of does not exist. I agree with Borges when he said that democracy is “a deception of statistics,” I think that it is something that does not work, and we see it failing all the time. Something that we must keep in mind is that one of the most sinister characters, the most sick and diabolical murderers, Adolf Hitler, was voted chancellor of the German Reich by a majority. So, I say, like Ortega y Gassett, that when a lot of people agree about something, it’s either a stupid idea or a beautiful woman. Dictatorships, which I detest, especially these military dictatorships in Latin America, have had enormous popular support. I saw the Plaza de Mayo full of people yelling “Perón! Perón!” and it filled me with disgust, but that’s how it was. So, one must be careful with the application of the formula. But I don’t mean to frighten anyone. As I don’t follow politics, I have never voted, and the most recent political event that really preoccupies me and which I am still struggling to accept is the fall of Byzantium at the hand of the Turks in 1453.”

The absolute density of human relations

“I worked like everyone else. In those days, the jail was managed by the prisoners, who were divided into wards. I was the head of a ward, which was a huge responsibility—but not a privilege. There is one thing that I learned in prison, that I passed on to Maqroll, and that is that you don’t judge others, you don’t say, “That guy committed a terrible crime against his family, so I can’t be his friend.” In a place like that one coexists because the judging is done on the outside. This is vital, because in there, the density of human relations is absolute.”

Dr. Nikolaos G. Mavris – Δρ. Νικόλαος Γ. Μαυρής

Ο Νικολαος Μαυρης ηταν ο νονος μου.

Τον εχω στην καρδια μου και ενθυμουμαι πολυ καλα τις συναντησεις μας. Επισης εχω αρκετα απο τα βιβλια του.

Σε αυτο το κειμενο συνυπαρχουν προσωπικες αναμνησεις, στοιχεια βιογραφικα και αποσπασματα απο τα γραπτα του Δρος Νικ. Γ. Μαυρη (οπως πολυ συχνα υπεγραφε τα κειμενα του).

Αυτονοητα, αυτη ειναι μια προσωπικη ματια.

Θελω να εκφρασω αυτην την αυρα που απεπνεε ο Νικολαος Μαυρης, και ειχα την τυχη να απολαυσω.

N G Mavris in front of the “Roses” Hotel in Rhodes, 1950 – Ο Ν Γ Μαυρης στο ξενοδοχειο των Ροδων, στη Ροδο το 1950

Αιγυπτος και Κασος

Ο Νικολαος Γεωργιου Μαυρης (ΝΓΜ) ηταν ενας Ελληνας της διασπορας.

Γεννηθηκε στην πολη Zagazig της Αιγυπτου το 1899, γιος του γιατρου Γεωργιου Μαυρη απο την Κασο, ενα μικρο νησι στη Νοτιοανατολικη γωνια του Αγαιου, χωμενο αναμεσα στην Κρητη και την Καρπαθο.

Tο Zagazig ειναι μια πολη στο Δελτα του Νειλου, περιπου 50 μιλια βορια του Καϊρου και θεωρειται το κεντρο της εμποριας βαμβακιου και σιτηρων της Αιγυπτου.

Μερικες φορες ο ΝΓΜ αναφεροταν στην περιοδο της ζωης του που εζησε στην Αιγυπτο. Παντοτε με πολλη αγαπη και νοσταλγια.

Την θεωρουσε την πιο “αθωα” περιοδο της ζωης του. Εκεινες τις στιγμες ανεφερε και μερικες αραβικες λεξεις χωρις παντα να τις μεταφραζει.

Ητανε τοσο ωραιος ο ηχος των Αραβικων λεξεων, αντηχουσαν σαν μουσικη!

Zagazig, Egypt
Zagazig, Egypt

Σε αρθρο της, η Φωτεινη Τομαη στην εφημεριδα “Το Βημα“, μας ενημερωνει σχετικα με τον Ελληνισμο της Αιγυπτου:

“Κατά το τέλος του 18ου αιώνα ο ελληνισμός της Αιγυπτου δεν ξεπερνούσε τις 2.000. Η κατασταση αλλαξε ριζικα μεσα σε ενα αιωνα. Σύμφωνα με μια πρώτη επίσημη απογραφή της Αιγύπτου το 1907, οι κατέχοντες επισήμως την ελληνική υπηκοότητα κάτοικοι της χώρας ανήρχοντο σε 132.947. Το διάστημα μεταξύ 1880 και 1920 σημειώθηκε η μεγαλύτερη οικονομική ανάπτυξη των Ελλήνων της Αιγύπτου. Δημιουργήθηκαν κοινότητες με προεξάρχουσα εκείνη της Αλεξανδρείας, αλλά και του Καΐρου, σύλλογοι και εμπορικά σωματεία, αδελφότητες, ενώ ιδρύθηκαν νοσοκομεία, πτωχοκομεία, ορφανοτροφεία ακόμη και φιλανθρωπικά σωματεία για την ενίσχυση με συσσίτια των αδυνάμων να συντηρηθούν οικονομικά. Γενικά ο ελληνισμός της Αιγύπτου ανεδείχθη σε κυρίαρχη από οικονομικής πλευράς δύναμη, με έντονη πνευματική και κοινωνική δράση, λαμπρύνοντας την ίδια του την πατρίδα, την Ελλάδα, στη φιλόξενη γη της Αιγύπτου, μιας χώρας με μακραίωνη επίσης ιστορία.”

The old hardour in Fri, on Kassos island – Το λιμανακι της Μπουκας στο Φρυ της Κασου

Στον Προλογο του πρωτου τομου της Δωδεκανησιακης Βιβλιογραφιας του εκδοθηκε το 1965 (βλεπε και παρακατω), και απεσπασε το Βραβειον της Ακαδημιας Αθηνων το 1957, ο ΝΓΜ αναφερει:

“Εχει μια μικρη ιστορια το βιβλιο αυτο. Μια ιστορια που αρχιζει πριν απο πολλα χρονια, οταν ο γραφων – νεαρος τοτε μαθητης του Γυμνασιου στο Καϊρο – ενδιαφερομενος για την ιστορια της ιδιαιτερας του πατριδας, ερευνουσε διαφορα συγγραμματα και περιοδικα, ιδιως στην εκει Εθνικη Βιβλιοθηκη, με τον σκοπο και την ελπιδα να βρη κατι σχετικο με την ιστορια της Κασου.”

Απο τα γυμνασιακα του χρονια λοιπον ξεκιναει το μεγαλο ταξιδι της βιβλιογραφικης ερευνας, που τοσα πολλα απεδωσε και στα Δωδεκανησα αλλα και στην Ελλαδα.

Ειναι χαρακτηρισιτκη η προταση με την οποια ο ΝΓΜ κλεινει τον Προλογο:

“Ετσι γραφτηκε το βιβλιο αυτο, που για μενα δεν ειναι απλως ενα βιβλιο αλλα ενα αληθινο βιωμα, αφου τοσα χρονια το εζησα και με εζησε.”

N G Mavris, Governor of the Dodecanese, 1948
N G Mavris, Governor of the Dodecanese, 1948

Απο την Αιγυπτο στην Αμερικη

Το προθεμα “Δρ.” στο ονομα του, οφειλεται στο οτι ο ΝΓΜ ηταν ιατρος. Σπουδασε ιατρικη στην Αθηνα απο το 1918 εως το 1923.

Το 1923 επιστρεφει στην Αιγυπτο, οπου παραμενει μεχρι το 1925.

Το 1925 πηγαινει στο Παρισι οπου εξειδικευεται στην οφθαλμιατρικη, και παρακολουθει μαθηματα φιλολογιας και νομικης.

Το 1935 παντρευεται την Ιουλια Νικολαου, κορη Κασιωτη εφοπλιστη, με την οποια απεκτησε τεσσερα παιδια.

Το 1936 εγκαθισταται οικογενειακως στην Αθηνα, οπου θα παραμεινει μεχρι το 1940.

Πρακτικον Ιδρυσεως της Εταιρειας Δωδεκανησιακων Μελετων
Πρακτικον Ιδρυσεως της Εταιριας Δωδεκανησιακων Μελετων

Στις 15 Απριλιου 1936 ιδρυει μαζι με επτα αλλους Δωδεκανησιους διανοουμενους την Εταιρια Δωδεκανησιακων Μελετων.

Το “Πρακτικον Ιδρυσεως Εταιριας Δωδεκανησιακων Μελετων” αναφερει:

“Εν Αθηναις σημερον την 15ην Απριλιου 1936 ημεραν Τεταρτην και ωραν 7 μ.μ. οι υπογεγραμμενοι Δωδεκανησιοι διανοουμενοι συνελθοντες εν τη οικια του Δρος Νικ. Μαυρη απεφασισαμεν την ιδρυσιν οργανωσεως υπο την επωνυμιαν ‘Εταιρια Δωδεκανησιακων Μελετων’ οι σκοποι και αι κατευθυνσεις της οποιας καθορισθησονται δια του καταστατικου της υπο την εγκρισιν απαντων των ιδρυτων.

(ακολουθουν τα ονοματα και οι υπογραφες των ιδρυτων)

Μιχ. Μιχαηλιδης Νουαρος

Δρ. Νικ. Γ. Μαυρης

Εμμανουηλ Πρωτοψαλτης

Βασσος Βαρικας

Ανδρεας Παπανδρεου

Αναστασιος Φραγκος

Γεωργιος Θ. Γεωργιαδης

Βασσος Χανιωτης”

dodekanesian_archive

Η φωτοτυπια του Πρακτικου περιλαμβανεται στον εκτο τομο του περιοδικου συγγραμματος “Δωδεκανησιακον Αρχειον“, 1976.

Ο ΝΓΜ αναφερει (σ.187): “… η ωραια εκεινη προσπαθεια δεν ειχεν αμεσον συνεχειαν. Ολη η προσοχη και η δραστηριοτης των συμπατριωτων μας τοτε, ητο εστραμμενη  κυριως και πρωτιστως προς τους απελευθερωτικους μας αγωνας. … μονο μετα την απελευθερωσιν  των νησιων μας και την ενσωματωσιν των επραγματοποιηθη η ΔΙΛΕ (Δωδεκανησιακη Ιστορικη και Λαογραφικη Εταιρια)”

(Σημειωση δικη μου: Η ΔΙΛΕ θα επανασυσταθει το 1948 και θα εκδωσει την “Δωδεκανησιακη Βιβλιογραφια” του ΝΓΜ. )

Ο ΝΓΜ δεν θα παραμεινει στην Αθηνα για πολυ. Μετα απο μια συντομη παραμονη στο Παρισι, και με την εναρξη του Β’ Παγκοσμιου Πολεμου, ο ΝΓΜ μεταβαινει στην Αμερικη.

Αμερικη

Αναπτυσσει δραστηριοτητα υπερασπισης των υπο κατοχην Δωδεκανησων, διδάσκει μαθήματα νεοελληνικής λογοτεχνίας σε Πανεπιστήμια των Η.Π.Α. (οπως το Κολουμπια της Νεας Υορκης) και εκδίδει το περιοδικό Βυζαντινά-Μεταβυζαντινά.

The Dodecanesians are not enemy aliens, 1942
The Dodecanesians are not enemy aliens, 1942

Η πρωτη μεγαλη του επιτυχια στην Αμερικη ηταν η αρση του χαρακτηρισμου των Δωδεκανησιων ως “εχθρων” απο το Αμερικανικο Υπουργειο Εξωτερικων.

Απο το 1912 τα Δωδεκανησα ησαν υπο Ιταλικη κατοχη, σαν αποτελεσμα μιας συνθηκης αναμεσα στην Τουρκια και την Ιταλια.

Με δεδομενη την εμποελεμη κατασταση αναμεσα στις ΗΠΑ και την Ιταλια, ηταν φυσικο επακολουθο να θεωρουνται ολοι οι Δωδεκανησιοι “εχθροι”, λογω της Ιταλικης κατοχης, την οποιαν ομως αρχικα παρεβλεψαν οι Αμερικανοι. Ο ΝΓΜ υπεβαλε και παρουσιασε αναγορα σχετικη με το θεμα, και επεισε τους Αμερικανους δια το ορθον του αιτηματος του να παψουν να θεωρουνται οι Δωδεκανησιοι ως “εχθροι αλλοδαποι”.

Η αναφορα που υπεβαλε ο ΝΓΜ εξεδοθη το 1942 σε μπροσουρα με τον τιτλο: «THE DODECANESIANS ARE NOT ENEMY ALIENS»

(Οι Δωδεκανησιοι δεν ειναι εχθροι αλλοδαποι!)

Η επομενη μεγαλη μαχη που εδωσε ο ΝΓΜ αφορουσε ενα κορυφαιο Ιταλο αντιφασιστα, τον κομη Σφορτσα, και τις αποψεις του σχετικα με την επανενωση των Δωδεκανησων με την Ελλαδα.  Η έκδοση του γνωστού φυλλαδίου «Sforza contra Sforza » που κυκλοφόρησε κυρίως στις Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες, ανάγκασε τον ίδιο τον Sforza να παραδεχθεί την ελληνικότητα των νήσων.

N. G. Mavris, Sforza vs. Sforza, 1943
N. G. Mavris, Sforza vs. Sforza, 1943

O Ιταλός κόμης Sforza 1922 εγινε υπουργος Εξωτερικων της Ιταλιας το 1920, και αμεσως σχεδον απερριψε το συμφωνο Βελιζελου – Τιτονι (προκατοχου του) που προεβλεπε την παραδοση των Δωδεκανησων στην Ελλαδα.

Ο Σφορτσα ηταν αντιφασιστας και το 1926 εφυγε απο την Ιταλια, εχοντας παραιτηθει απο το κυβερνητικο του αξιωμα το 1922, με την ανοδο του Μουσολινι στην εξουσια. Απο το 1940 εζησε για λιγο στην Αγγλια και μετα στην Αμερικη, οπου παρεμεινε μεχρι το 1943, οποτε επεστρεψε στην Ιταλια μετα την καταρρευση του Μουσολινι.

Την περιοδο 1947-1951 διετελεσε και παλι υπουργος Εξωτερικων. Απεβιωσε το 1952.  

Ο ΝΓΜ ητανε πολυ θορυβημενος επειδη ο Σφορτσα στην Αμερικη δεν ειχε λαβει σαφη θεση για την επανενωση των Δωδεκανησων με την Ελλαδα. Το φυλλαδιο που εξεδωσε το 1943 ειχε σκοπο να ασκησει πιεση στον Σφορτσα για να λαβει μια θεση θετικη για την επανενωση, κατι που τελικα εγινε. Ο κόμης Sforza παραδέχθηκε δημόσια την ελληνικότητα των Δωδεκανήσων και στη Νέα Υόρκη συγκαλείται Πανδωδεκανησιακό Συνέδριο (1943), σε ψήφισμα του οποίου κηρύσσεται η Ένωση των Δωδεκανήσων με την Ελλάδα.

Μετά από την αποχώρηση των Ιταλών τα Δωδεκάνησα (1943) πέρασαν στη γερμανική κατοχή και το 1945 παραδόθηκαν προσωρινά σε βρετανική στρατιωτική κατοχή έως τις 31 Μαρτίου 1947, οπότε παραδόθηκαν στην ελληνική στρατιωτική διοίκηση.

Απο το φυλλαδιο αυτο θεωρω πολυ ενδιαφερον και το παραθετω, το ακολουθο αποσπασμα (η μεταφραση απο το αγγλικο πρωτοτυπο ειναι δικη μου):

‘Για περισσοτερους απο τεσσερις αιωνες υπο Οθωμανικη ηγεμονια, αυτα τα νησια (τα Δωδεκανησα) ησαν πληρως αυτονομα. Η μονη τους συνδεση με την Υψηλη Πυλη ηταν η πληρωμη ενος ετησιου φορου που αποτελουσε και την εμμεση παραδοχη της Οθωμανικης εξουσιας. Η κατοχη των νησιων απο τους Ιταλους το 1912 στη διαρκεια του Ιταλο-Τουρκικου πολεμου, χαρακτηρισθηκε απο τον τοτε υπουργο εξωτερικων της Ιταλιας κ. Τζιολιτι σαν “προσωρινη” και “οφειλομενη σε στρατιωτικους λογους”. ‘

Βυζαντινα Μεταβυζαντινα Volume I (1946) PART I
Βυζαντινα Μεταβυζαντινα Volume I (1946) PART I

Στην Εισαγωγη του Πρωτου Μερους του Πρωτου Τομου στα “Βυζαντινα – Μεταβυζαντινα”, ο ΝΓΜ γραφει (η μεταφραση απο το αγγλικο πρωτοτυπο ειναι δικη μου):

“Αισθανομεθα οτι η δημιουργια των ‘Βυζαντινων – Μεταβυζαντινων’, μιας περιοδικης εκδοσης αφιερωμενης αποκλειστικα στις σπουδες με θεμα το Βυζαντιο και τη Συγχρονη Ελλαδα, τεκμηριωνεται πληρως απο την σοβαρη ερευνητικη δραστηριοτητα και το ενδιαφερον πολλων γενεων Αμερικανων ερευνητωνπου ασχολουνται με το Βυζαντιο και τη Συγχρονη Ελλαδα… Η δραστηριοτητα του διακεκριμενου Ρωσου ερευνητη καθηγητη Α.Α. Βασιλιεφ στο Ουϊσκονσιν απο το 1925 και Νταμπαρτον Οακς προσφατα, εδωσε μεγαλη ωθηση στις Βυζαντινες σπουδες στην Αμερικη, και τους εδωσε επισης ευρυτερο και πιο συστηματικο χαρακτηρα με την εμπνευση του. “

Ο ΝΓΜ στην Ροδο το 1948
Ο ΝΓΜ στην Ροδο το 1948

Απελευθερωση  – Πολιτικός Γενικός Διοικητής Δωδεκανήσου

Τέλος στις αρχές του 1948, σύμφωνα με νόμο, τα Δωδεκάνησα αποτέλεσαν Γενική Διοίκηση με έδρα τη Ρόδο και πρώτο «Πολιτικό Γενικό Διοικητή Δωδεκανήσου» το Ν. Μαυρή.

Ο ΝΓΜ παραιτήθηκε στις αρχές του 1950, για να πάρει μέρος στις πρώτες βουλευτικές εκλογές της 5 ης Μαρτίου του 1950 με δικό του συνδυασμό, την «Ανεξάρτητον Πολιτικήν Ένωσιν Δωδεκανήσου» χωρίς να εκλεγεί.

Στις εκλογές της 9 ης Σεπτεμβρίου του 1951 εκλέχτηκε βουλευτής Δωδεκανήσου με τον «Ελληνικόν Συναγερμόν» του Αλέξ. Παπάγου.

Διετέλεσε ξανά Γενικός Διοικητής Δωδεκανήσου την περίοδο Δεκέμβριος 1952 – Απρίλιος 1954.

Μετά τη λήξη της θητείας του το 1954 εγκαταστάθηκε στην Αθήνα.

Για την περιοδο της διοικησης των Δωδεκανησων, ο φιλος του ΝΓΜ Κωστας Αγαπητιδης αναφερει σε ομιλια (1982) αφιερωμενη στον ΝΓΜ τις ακολουθες σημειωσεις του ΝΓΜ:

“Ο ψυχικος παραγων θα ειναι απο τα δυσκολωτερα πραγματα που θα με απασχολησουν. Η πολυχρονος, δηλαδη, σκλαβια, υπο την οποιαν εζησαν οι Δωδεκανησιοι, επεφερε τραυματα ψυχικα, δια την επιλυσιν των οποιων θα εμφυσηθει νεα πνοη. Ειμαι ακομα καταπληκτος απο τον στρατιωτικον χαιρετισμον μερικων κατοικων, και παιδιων ακομα. Προδιδει αυτο μιαν συνηθειαν κτηθεισαν απο την τρομοκρατικην βιαν και την πιεσιν, την ασκηθεισαν υπο των κατακτητων επι του λαου.” 

 

dodekanesian_bibliography

Η Μουσα της Βιβλιογραφιας

Μετα τα Δωδεκανησα και την Κασο, η μεγαλη αγαπη του ΝΓΜ ηταν αναμφισβητητα η Βιβλιογραφια.

Η αγαπη αυτη συνοδευοταν απο ταλεντο και ικανοτητα.

Η «Δωδεκανησιακή Βιβλιογραφία» αποτελει το πρωτο μεγαλο βιβλιογραφικο εργο του ΝΓΜ.

“Η ιδικη μας προσπαθεια απεβλεψεν εις τον καταρτισμον μιας συστηματικης και εξαντλητικης, ει δυνατον, βιβλιογραφιας ητις θα περιελαμβανε – αυτο θα ητο το ιδεωδες – ολα τα σχετικα με την Δωδεκανησον δημοσιευματα , εις οιανδηποτε γλωσσαν, εις οιανδηποτε εποχην και επι οιουδηποτε θεματος και αν εγραφησαν…Εαν ομως η επιθυμητη πληροτης μιας βιβλιογραφιας δεν εξαρταται παντοτε απο την ιδικην μας θελησιν και προσπαθειαν, η ακριβεια των δηοσιευομενων, αποτελει αντιθετως, ιδικην μας και μονον ιδικην μας υποχρεωσιν και ευθυνην. Δια τον λογον αυτον η περιγραφη των λημματων εγενετο, κατα κανονα, εξ αυτοψιας. Τα ολιγα δε εξ αυτων των οποιων κατεστη δυνατη η εξ αυτοψιας περιγραφη, διακρινονται των αλλων εκ του ατερισκου (*) οστις προηγειται του σχετικου λημματος ”  (σελιδα κε’ του πρωτου τομου)

Ο πρωτος τομος εκδοθηκε το 1965 στην Αθηνα. Ενας δευτερος τομος εκδοθηκε αργοτερα, ενώ μέχρι σήμερα παραμένει ανέκδοτος ο τρίτος τόμος. Οπως αναφερει ο συγγραφεας στην σελιδα κε’ του πρωτου τομου:

 “Ολοκληρον το περισυλλεγεν υλικον αποτελουμενον απο δεκα, περιπου, χιλιαδας λημματα γραμμενα εις 18 γλωσσας εκτος της Ελληνικης, απεφασισθη, δια να ειναι πλεον ευχρηστον, να εκδοθει εις τρεις αυτοτελεις τομους.” 

Ο ΝΓΜ στον περιβολο της εκκλησιας της Φανερωμενης στη Ροδο
Ο ΝΓΜ στον περιβολο της εκκλησιας της Φανερωμενης στη Ροδο

Το δευτερο μεγαλο βιβλιογραφικο εργο του ΝΓΜ ειναι η ιδρυση και λειτουργια της Βιβλιογραφικής Εταιρείας της Ελλάδος. Με το παθος και την επιμονη του η Βιβλιογραφικη Εταιρια της Ελλαδος εξεδωσε Την Ελληνικη Βιβλιογραφια για μερικα χρονια.

Στον Προλογο της Ελληνικης Βιβλιογραφιας 1976, που εκδοθηκε το 1977, ο ΝΓΜ γραφει:

“Εδω, θα θελαμε να μονο να τονισωμε και παλι, την αναγκη να τηρειται, ο ατυχως μη τηρουμενος νομος για την υποχρεωτικη καταθεση στην Εθνικη Βιβλιοθηκη ολων των εκτυπουμενων εντυπων στη χωρα μας…. Μια ειναι, εν τουτοις, η σωτηρια, η μοναδικη λυση για να εχουμε πληρη Γενικη Βιβλιογραφια στον τοπο μας: να προχωρησει η Πολιτεια στη δημοσιευση του νεου νομου ‘Depot Legal’  

Αυτος ο νομος ψηφιστηκε τελικα το 2003. Σύμφωνα με αυτον (Ν.3149/2003) το υλικό που κατατίθεται στην Εθνική Βιβλιοθήκη είναι κάθε αντικείμενο που δημιουργείται για να αποθηκεύσει ή να μεταφέρει, με οποιοδήποτε μέσο, πληροφορίες σε χειρόγραφη, έντυπη, γραφική, ψηφιακή, οπτική, ακουστική ή οποιαδήποτε άλλη δυνατή μορφή.

Στο τελος του Προλογου του 1976, ο ΝΓΜ αναφερεται και στην μητερα μου:

“Στην υπευθυνη της συνταξεως, φιλολογο κυρια Παναγιωτα Μοροπουλου, ξεχωριστες εκφραζουμε ευχαριστιες. Γιατι με δικη της πρωτοβουλια, ανελαβε να διευρυνει τις ερευνες και αναζητησεις που πιο πανω αναφεραμε, παρ’ ολους τους κοπους – σωματικους και πνευματικους – που μια τετοια προσπαθεια προυποθετει. Εργασθηκε επικεφαλης του συνεργειου μας και επετυχε τελικα μια πληροτητα που υπερβαινει καθε προηγουμενηαλλα και με ακριβεια παντα, και με ιδιαιτερη επιμελεια στη συνταξη και εμφανιση του τομου τουτου.”

(Ο προλογος του ΝΓΜ εχει ημερομηνια “Οκτωβριος 1977”. Τον Απριλιο 1977 πεθανε ο πατερας μου.)

Η τελευταια χρονια που επιμεληθηκε ο ΝΓΜ ηταν το 1977. Η εκδοση καθυστερησε δυο χρονια.

Ενα τεραστιο εργο βιβλιογραφιας του ΝΓΜ δεν εχει εκδοθει ακομη, και ισως δεν εκδοθει ποτε.

Ειναι η Ελληνικη Βιβλιογραφια 1864-1897.

(Σημειωση δικη μου: Ο ΝΓΜ αφησε την τελευταια του πνοη το 1978.)   

Ο Ερανιστης, Τευχος 47, Αθηνα 1970
Ο Ερανιστης, Τευχος 47, Αθηνα 1970

Ενα αλλο δειγμα βιβλιογραφικης τεχνικης του ΝΓΜ παρουσιαζεται στο τευχος 47 του “Ερανιστη“, με τιτλο “Βιβλια ουδεποτε εκδοθεντα“, Αθηνα 1970.

Το ακολουθο αποσπασμα ειναι χαρακτηριστικο:

“Οπως εινε γνωστον, δεν ειναι σπανιαι αι περιπτωσεις των αναδρομικων, ιδιως, βιβλιογραφιωνεις τας οποιας εχουν παρεισφρυσει τιτλοι ‘βιβλιων’ τα οποια ομως εις την πραγματικοτητα ουδεποτε εξεδοθησαν.

Τα βιβλια αυτα δια τα οποια, καθ’οσον γνωριζω, δεν εχομεν ημεις ειδικον ορον, ονομαζουν οι γαλλοι Editions supposees:  , οι αγγλοσαξωνες Bibliographical ghosts και οι γερμανοι vermutete Ausgabe.  …

Ο πλεον συνηθης (λογος για την παρουσια ‘ανυπαρκτων’ βιβλιων’) οφειλεται εις την τυχον υπαρχουσαν διαφοραν χρονολογιας μεταξυ της σελιδος τιτλου (εσωφυλλου) και του εξωφυλλου. Η διαφορα αυτη μπορει να εινε ενος ετους ή και περισσοτερων ετων….

Εις την δημιουργιαν ανυπαρκτων εκδοσεων συμβαλλει επισης η υπαρξις εις ενα βιβλιον δυο τιτλων, ενος ελληνικου και ενος ξενογλώσσου….

Αναλογα προβληματα δημιουργουνται επισης οταν προκειται περι αχρονολογήτων βιβλιων.

Ούτως, επι παραδείγματι, εχομεν εις την Βιβλιογραφιαν των Γκίνη-Μέξα τα εξης δυο λημματα που αφορουν το ίδιον βιβλίον.

*5384. – Διαλογος μεταξυ Ιωαννου και Δημητριου. Μερος πρωτην (sic). Ο Σολωμος και οι υποψηφιοι του. Εις 8ον, σελ. 43. Ανευ ετους, αλλα πιθανως τω 1851. Φ.Μ. [ιχαλοπουλος]. 

*6886. – Διαλογος μεταξυ Ιωαννου και Δημητριου. Μερος πρωτην (sic). Ο Σολωμος και οι υποψηφιοι του. Εις 8ον, σελ. 43. Ανευ τοπου και ετους, αλλα πιθανωτατα εν Ζακυνθω τω 1856. ΛΟΒ.Κ. Ι/ΙΙ.  “

Ιδιοχειρος αφιερωση
Ιδιοχειρος αφιερωση

Οδος Νεοφυτου Βαμβα 3

Απο τις ζωηρωτερες αναμνησεις μου αφορουν τις επισκεψεις στο σπιτι του ΝΓΜ στο Κολωνακι, οδος Νεοφυτου Βαμβα 3, στη δεκαετια του 1960.

Φθαναμε με την μητερα μου στο σπιτι (και γραφειο) του ΝΓΜ γυρω στις 5 το απογευμα.

Ηταν ενα ευρυχωρο μεγαλο διαμερισμα στον δευτερο οροφο. Δεν υπηρχε γυμνος τοιχος, παρα μονον στην κουζινα και την τουαλετα.

Ολοι οι αλλοι τοιχοι ηταν καλυμμενοι απο βιβλιοθηκες που στεναζανε κατω απο τα βαρη των βιβλιων που κρατουσαν.

Το πρελουδιο της συναντησης ητανε μια συζητηση αναμεσα στον ΝΓΜ και την μητερα μου, συνηθως με θεμα το παθος του, τη Βιβλιογραφια, αλλα και τη Λαογραφια.

Συντομο πρελουδιο ομως , για να προλαβουμε το θεατρο: Ιψεν, Στριντμπεργκ, Ντυρενματ.

Δεν θυμαμαι καλα. Παντα απογευματινη παρασταση, που τελειωνε λιγο μετα τις 8.

Και μετα το θεατρο με τα ποδια πηγαιναμε στο Εστιατοριο ΚΟΡΦΟΥ, στην οδο Κριεζωτου , που δεν υπαρχει πια.

(Σημειωνω οτι το εστιατοριο εκλεισε περι το 1975. Το κτηριο κατεδαφιστηκε και εγινε παρκινγκ αυτοκινητων.)

Το τυπικο γευμα ειχε βραστα κολοκυθακια (στην εποχη τους), φετα σφυριδα, και κρεμ καραμελ για επιδορπιο.

Οι σερβιτοροι με τα κολλαριστα σακκακια και την μαυρη γραβατα εκινουντο ως σε χορογραφια. Παλαια σχολη, άλλα ηθη εκεινη την εποχη.

Το γευμα ηταν και το πιο ζωντανο για μενα κομματι, αφου ειχα την ευκαιρια να μιλησω με τον νονο, κι αυτος ειχε την καλη διαθεση να με ακουσει και να συζητησει μαζι μου.

Δεν τον ακουσα ποτε να μιλαει αρνητικα ή ασχημα για ανθρωπο. Ητανε εξαιρετικα ευγενης και εσωστρεφης ανθρωπος.

Μου εδινε την εντυπωσε οτι στο μυαλο του κλωθογυριζανε πολλες σκεψεις ολη την ωρα.

Μονο στο ΚΟΡΦΟΥ εδειχνε χαλαρος και γελαστος.

Ο ΝΓΜ χαιρετα την Παναγιωτα Μαυρογενους το 1953
Ο ΝΓΜ χαιρετα την Παναγιωτα Μαυρογενους το 1953

Παρνηθα

Ο ΝΓΜ για το μεγαλυτερο διαστημα της ζωης του ητανε ενας ανθρωπος της μεγαλης πολης, του αστικου κεντρου.

Ο Κωστας Αγαπητιδης, στην Ομιλια που αφιερωσε στο ΝΓΜ το 1982 αναφερει χαρακτηριστικα:

“Οταν ηταν βουλευτης (1951-1952), μου ελεγε πως το ξενοδοχειο της ‘Μεγαλης Βρεταννιας’, οπου εμενε τοτε, ηταν ο,τι καλυτερο μπορουσε να υπαρχει γι’ αυτον ως διαμονη. Οποιαδηποτε στιγμη, βγαινοντας εξω, του ηταν πολυ ευκολο να παει στη Βουλη ή στην Πλατεια Συνταγματος, στη Βιβλιοθηκη της Βουληςγια τα παλια ή το Βιβλιοπωλειο Ελευθερουδακη για συγχρονα βιβλια. Μεσα σ’ αυτη την περιορισμενη εκταση μπορουσε να ζησει, να εντρυφησει, να δρασει, να συγγραψει, να ψυχαγωγηθει.”  

Και δεν ειναι βεβαια τυχαιο οτι οταν εγκατασταθηκε στην Αθηνα για τα καλα επελεξε το Κολωνακι για τοπο διαμονης του.

Προς το τελος της ζωης του ομως ο ανθρωπος του αστικου κεντρου παρουσιαζει μια “στροφη”.

Δεν γνωριζω τα αιτια, και δεν εχουν ισως καμια σημασια.

Ισως η επιδεινωση της υγειας του του επεβαλε τον αγερα της εξοχης.

Το γεγονος ειναι οτι ο ΝΓΜ αρχισε να επισκεπτεται συχνα την Παρνηθα, οπου λειτουργουσαν τα ξενοδοχεια “Ξενια” και “Μον Παρνες”.

Εμενε εκει αρκετες εβδομαδες τους θερινους μηνες.

Εκει ητανε και η τελευταια φορα που τον ειδα, το καλοκαιρι του 1978.

Τον επισκεφθηκα με την μητερα μου στην Παρνηθα, λιγο πριν αναχωρησω για την Αμερικη οπου θα σπουδαζα.

Ητανε εμφανως καταβεβλημενος και αδυνατος. Μιλησαμε ελαχιστα.

Με φιλησε και μου ευχηθηκε επιτυχια.

Ο ΝΓΜ απεβιωσε στις 3 Νοεμβριου του 1978.

Ο ΝΓΜ το 1959
Ο ΝΓΜ το 1959

Επιλογος

Η Δωδεκανησιακη Βιβλιογραφια ειναι αφιερωμενη απο τον ΝΓΜ ως εξης:

” Στα Παιδια μου. Για να γνωρισουν καλυτερα την πατριδα τους και να την αγαπησουν ακομη περισσοτερο.”

Casa sul Mare – una poesia di / House by the Sea – a poem by (Eugenio Montale)

House by the Sea, Paros, Greece, painting by NM
House by the Sea, Paros, Greece, painting by NM

This is a wonderful poem, from Montale’s collection ” Ossi di seppia (“Cuttlefish Bones”), which appeared in 1925. I start with the original and continue with an english translation. 

 

Casa sul Mare 
 Il viaggio finisce qui:
nelle cure meschine che dividono 
l’anima che non sa più dare un grido.
Ora i minuti sono uguali e fissi
Come i giri di ruota della pompa.
Un giro: un salir d’acqua che rimbomba.
Un altro, altr’acqua, a tratti un cigolio.
 

casa sul mare2

 Il viaggio finisce a questa spiaggia
Che tentano gli assidui e lenti flussi.
Nulla disvela se non pigri fumi
La marina che tramano di conche
I soffi leni: ed è raro che appaia
Nella bonaccia muta
Tra l’isole dell’aria migrabonde
La Corsica
 dorsuta o la Capraia. 
House by the Sea, Paros, Greece, detail - painting by NM
House by the Sea, Paros, Greece, detail – painting by NM
 
Tu chiedi se così tutto svanisce
In questa poca nebbia di memorie;
se nell’ora che torpe o nel sospiro
del frangente si compie ogni destino.
Vorrei dirti che no, che ti s’appressa
l’ora che passerai di là dal tempo;
forse solo chi vuole s’infinita,
e questo tu potrai, chissà, non io.
Penso che per i più non sia salvezza,
ma taluno sovverta ogni disegno,
passi il varco, qual volle si ritrovi.
Vorrei prima di cedere segnarti
codesta via di fuga
labile come nei sommossi campi
del mare spuma o ruga.
Ti dono anche l’avara mia speranza.
A’ nuovi giorni, stanco, non so crescerla:
l’offro in pegno al tuo fato, che ti scampi.
casa sul mare1
 
Il cammino finisce a queste prode
che rode la marea col moto alterno.
Il tuo cuore vicino che non m’ode
salpa già forse per l’eterno.
 
House by the Sea, Naoussa, Paros, Greece
House by the Sea, Naoussa, Paros, Greece
House by the Sea (translated by William Arrowsmith)
 
Here the journey ends: 
in these petty cares dividing
a soul no longer able to protest. 
Now minutes are implacable, regular
as the flywheel on a pump. 
One turn: a rumble of water rushing. 
Second turn: more water, occasional creakings.
 
casa2
 
Here the journey ends, on this shore
probed by slow, assiduous tides.
Only a sluggish haze reveals 
the sea woven with troughs
by the mils breezes: hardly ever
in that dead calm
does spiny Corsica or Capraia loom
through islands of migratory air.
 casa3
You ask: Is this how everything vanishes,
in this thin haze of memories?
Is every destiny fulfilled
in the torpid hour or the breaker’s sigh?
I would like to tell you: No. For you
the moment for your passage out of time is near:
transcendence may perhaps be theirs who want it,
and you, who knows, could be one of those. Not I.
There is no salvation, I think, for most,
but every system is subverted by someone, someone
breaks through, becomes what he wanted to be.  
Before I yield, let me help you find
such a passage out, a path
fragile a ridge or foam
in the furrowed sea.
And I leave you my hope, too meager
for my failing strength to foster
in days to come. I offer it
to you, my pledge to your fate, that you
break free.  
casa4
My journey ends on these shores
eroded by the to-and-fro of the tides.
Your heedless heart, so near, may even now
be lifting sail for the eternities.
casa5

Notes:

1. The poem “Casa sul Mare” is in the collection “Ossi di Seppia – Cuttlefish Bones”. It was published with the original poems and the english translation by Norton in 1992.

2. The critic and Montale’s friend Sergio Solmi observes about the “House by the Sea” that the poem adumbrates a theme dear to Montale, “the sense of a failed and enclosed life, despairing now of being equal to its original idea… escape from the ‘limbo of maimed existences’, succeed in living fully and saving itself”.

3. “For you the moment for your passage out of time is near”: is the “passage out of time” the poetic interpretation of “death”?

Robert Walser, German – Swiss Writer

Robert Walser’s death ground

“On Christmas Day, 1956, the police of the town of Herisau in eastern Switzerland were called out: children had stumbled upon the body of a man, frozen to death, in a snowy field. Arriving at the scene, the police took photographs and had the body removed. The dead man was easily identified: Robert Walser, aged seventy-eight, missing from a local mental hospital. In his earlier years Walser had won something of a reputation, in Switzerland and even in Germany, as a writer. Some of his books were still in print; there had even been a biography of him published. During a quarter of a century in mental institutions, however, his own writing had dried up. Long country walks—like the one on which he had died—had been his main recreation.” (1)

Robert Walser

One of the most remarkable and truly singular artists of the twentieth century, Robert Walser (1878-1956) has had a huge influence on a long list of literary, artistic and philosophical figures from Franz Kafka to Walter Benjamin and Herman Hesse, from W.G. Sebald to J.M. Coetzee; inspiring musicians such as Heinz Holliger, contemporary visual artists like Fischli & Weiss, Tacita Dean and Billy Childish, and filmmakers, like Percy Adlon and the Brothers Quay. (6)

Rober Walser, Der Spaziergang

Walser’s “walk” is many things at once: the walk of life as in Dante’s cammin di nostra vita; the fusion of a Romantic’s celebration of nature as the source of all knowledge and inspiration with a Modernist’s playful intertextuality and layering of language; the artistic process in conflict with the conditions of material existence. Palpable throughout the story are echoes of wanderers and outsiders that have always been suspect to settled society: the vagabonds, artisans, circus performers, journeymen, and nomads who were exempt from the duties and moral codes that order, tame, and impose limitations on human coexistence. I cannot help but suspect that Walser remained in the asylum to preserve his state of inner exile; in any case, there is ample evidence that he was anything but psychotic and that his nervous breakdown was in all likelihood caused more by the hopelessness of his professional, financial, and social situation than by inner demons. Walser must have sensed that he’d lost the audience receptive to his work and would not recover it, at least not in his lifetime. If his writing retained its mischief, whimsy and wonder, it also masked a defiant plea for the legitimacy of his vision and literary achievement. In an effort to have his taxes reduced, Walser’s walker/writer feels called upon to defend his profession and—by implication—justify his very existence: “There accompanies the walker always something remarkable, something fantastic […] by thinking, pondering, drilling, digging, speculating, writing, investigating, researching, and walking, I earn my daily bread with as much sweat on my brow as anybody. And although I may cut a most carefree figure, I am highly serious and conscientious, and though I seem to be no more than dreamy and delicate, I am a solid technician! Might I hope, through the meticulous explanations I have brought forth, to have convinced you completely of the obviously honorable nature of these endeavors?” (2)

Robert Walser

“Esteemed Gentlemen,
I am a poor, young, unemployed person in the business field, my name is Wenzel, I am seeking a suitable position, and I take the liberty of asking you, nicely and politely, if perhaps in your airy, bright, amiable rooms such a position might be free. . . . Large and difficult tasks I cannot perform, and obligations of a far-reaching sort are too strenuous for my mind. I am not particularly clever, and first and foremost I do not like to strain my intelligence overmuch. . . . Assuredly there exists in your extensive institution, which I imagine to be overflowing with main and subsidiary functions and offices, work of the kind that one can do as in a dream?—I am, to put it frankly, a Chinese; that is to say, a person who deems everything small and modest to be beautiful and pleasing, and to whom all that is big and exacting is fearsome and horrid. ” (3)

Robert Walser in 1937

“If I were rich, I wouldn’t travel around the world. To be sure, that would not be so bad. But I can see nothing wildly exciting about getting a fugitive acquaintance with foreign places. In general I would decline to educate myself, as they say, any further. I would be attracted by deep things and by the soul, rather than by distances and things far off. . . . And I wouldn’t buy anything either. I would make no acquisitions. . . . I would walk about on foot, just as usual, with the consciously secret intention of not letting people notice very much how regally rich I am. . . . It would never occur to me to take a cab. Only people who are in a hurry or want to put on noble airs do that. But I wouldn’t want to put on noble airs, and I would be in no hurry whatever. ” (4)

Thomas Schutte: Walser’s wife

This article was “ignited” by Thomas Schutte’s sculpture, “Walser’s Wife”, which I saw recently in Serpentine Gallery in London. I did not know of Walser until the time I saw his imaginary wife’s sculpted head. I figured that if an artist like Schutte was so moved by Walser that he went all the way to invent the wife and sculpt her head, it might be worth having a look at what this guy was all about. In the video clip below, Thomas Schutte, talks about Robert Walser in Chicago, back in February 2012.

Walter Benjamin, in an essay from 1929, made the ingenious suggestion that Walser’s cheerful people must all be convalescents; only recovered health could explain the intense pleasure they take in absolutely everything. More recently, the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben offered a gloss on the flatness, the thus-ness, of Walser’s frequently very matter-of-fact prose: this, he says, is how the world of left-behind objects and people will look after the Messiah has come and gone, abandoned in what Agamben calls the Irreparable. That works, too, for much of Walser’s writing, though it doesn’t cover the ironic moments. In these, it truly seems as if Walser has been laid under a curse: permitted only to speak well of the world, he is forced to express any sorrow or rage he feels in terms of the most unequivocal praise. The resulting sense of torment, endlessness, and absurdity puts one in mind of Kafka again. (5)

Robert Walser’s microscript

“Approximately ten years ago I began to first shyly and reverentially sketch out in pencil everything I produced, which naturally imparted a sluggishness and slowness to the writing process that assumed practically colossal proportions. This pencil system, which is inseparable from a logically consistent, office-like copying system, has caused me real torments, but this torment taught me patience, such that I now have mastered the art of being patient. . . .

This pencil method has a great meaning for me. The writer of these lines experienced a time when he hideously, frightfully hated his pen, I can’t begin to tell you how sick of it he was; he became an outright idiot the moment he made the least use of it; and to free himself from this pen malaise he began to pencil-sketch, to scribble, fiddle about. With the aid of my pencil I was better able to play, to write; it seemed this revived my writerly enthusiasm.” (7)

Susan Bernofsky, the translator of many  of Robert Walser’s from German to English, talks about his Microscripts.

Her Not All Her is a play about, from, and to the great Swiss writer Robert Walser, by the great Austrian writer and Nobel Prize winner Elfriede Jelinek. It highlights what Jelinek calls ‘the fundamental fragmentation’ of Walser’s voice, revealing Walser as ‘one of those people who, when they said “I”, did not mean themselves’.

Elfriede Jelinek’s play about Rober Walser

Elfriede Jelinek was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2004.

Sources

1. The New York Review of Books, The Genius of Robert Walser

2. The Rumpus: The Walk (Der Spaziergang) by Robert Walser

3. Robert Walser, “Job Application”, quoted in (5)

4. Robert Walser, “Jakob von Gunten”, quoted in (5)

5. The New Yorker, Still Small Voice, The Fiction of Robert Walser

6. About Robert Walser 

7. From a letter written by Walser in 1927 to editor Max Rycnher, quoted in the Quarterly Conversation

Greece: voices from the past

Mermaid – Γοργονα

As Greece continues to suffer from the worst financial, social and political crisis since the civil war of 1945-1949, I retreated back in time, and heard some voices from the past.

Καθως η Ελλας συνεχιζει να ευρισκεται εις την δινη της μεγαλυτερης οικονομικης, κοινωνικης και πολιτικης κρισης μετα τον εμφυλιο (1945-1949), αποσυρθηκα εις τον παρελθοντα χρονο για να ακουσω καποιες φωνες.

Kokinia between the wars (1918-1939) – Η Κοκινια στον μεσοπολεμο

“Οι μικροαστοι επιθυμουν τη δικτατορια μοναχα σα φτασουνε στο τελευταιο σταδιο του φοβου ή της απογνωσης ή της αβουλιας. Μα οσο υπαρχουν ελπιδες μιας εθνικης και ατομικης ανορθωσης, θελουνε να βλεπουνε τους λογαριασμους του Κρατους, να τους συζητουνε ελευθερα και να νοιωθουνε πως μπορουνε να αλλαξουνε το προσωπικο κατα το κεφι τους, σα νοικοκυραιοι.

Petite bourgeoisie are in favour of a dictatorship only when they arrive at the last stage of fear, desperation, or lack of direction. But as long as there are hopes of a national and personal recovery, they want to see the finances of the State, discuss them freely and feel that they can change the political personnel as they desire, like good housekeepers. (1)

Greece between the wars – Η Ελλας στον μεσοπολεμο

Η κοινοβουλευτικη συντεχνια βρηκε μια λυση της πολιτικης κρισης, που εσωζε τους θεσμους διχως να προσβαλλει τις σταδιοδρομιες και τα φιλοτιμα των κομματων και των προσωπων: Κυβερνηση συνασπισμου. Τα κομματα της συμπολιτευσης και της αντιπολιτευσης μοιραστηκαν τα υπουργεια με ενα κοινο “προγραμμα περισυλλογης”, αφηνοντας εξω μερικες μικρες ομαδες των ακρων. Βρεθηκε ευκολα και ενας επιβλητικος γερος κοινοβουλευτικος, που ειχε καλες προσωπικες σχεσεις με ολους τους πολιτικους αρχηγους, και του δοθηκε η πρωθυπουργια. ..

The parliamentarians found a way out of the political crisis, that retained the institutions without assaulting the carriers and the pride of the parties and the political personnel: a coalition government. The parties of the majority and the opposition shared the ministerial posts on the basis of a common “recovery programme”, leaving out the small groups of the extremes. It was easy to find a respectable aged parliamentarian, who had good personal relationships with all the party leaders, and make him the prime minister… (1)

Open air market in Thission, Athens – Λαϊκη Αγορα στο Θησειο

Ενιωθε και κατι αλλο, που σε λιγο αρχισε να το νιωθει κι ενα μερος του κοινου: οτι η Κυβερνηση του συνασπισμου απο τη φυση της, ειναι ανικανη να παρει γενναιες πρωτοβουλιες και να επιβαλει ριζικες λυσεις στα οικονομικα και κρατικα ζητηματα, που παραλυανε τη ζωη του τοπου. Ουτε την ξεκουρδισμενη μηχανη της διοικησης μπορουσε να φρεσκαρει και να ξανακουρδισει, ουτε το στρατο να καθαρισει απο τα ταραχοποια στοιχεια του, ουτε αληθινες οικονομιες να πραγματοποιησει και να ισοσκλεισει τον προϋπολογισμο, ουτε την εθνικη οικονομια να διευθυνει και να τη συγκρατησει σ’ ενα ανεκτο επιπεδο μες στη συγχυση των διεθνων οικονομικων συνθηκων.

He also felt something else, which was also felt by the public: that the coalition Government was by nature unable to take bold initiatives and implement all-encompassing solutions to the financial and adminsitrative issues that were paralyzing the life of the country. The government could not refresh the broken down machinery of the state, nor clean up the army of its radical elements, cut public spending, balance the budget, and adequately manage the national economy in the midst of the international confusion.” (1)

Festival in Delphi – Δελφικες εορτες

“Γιατι λοιπον να μη μ’ ανησυχει και να μη με εξοργιζει οταν διακρινω ξεδιαντροπα να καλλιεργειται μια κουλτουρα δηθεν εθνικη απο ατομα ή οργανισμους ή κομματα και με εναν σκοπο, την υποδουλωση σας, τον πνευματικο και αισθησιακο ευνουχισμο σας, την υποπτη αντικατασταση της ανησυχιας απο την ακινδυνη παραδοσιακη γραφικοτητα; Κι υστερα δεν ειναι επισης καπως υποπτη η αυθαιρεσια ορισμενων κομματικων οργανισμων να οικειοποιουνται την προοδευτικοτητα σα να’ ναι γεννημα τους; Και ποία η διαφορα σ’ αυθαιρεσια μ’ εκεινους τους αλλους, τα τρωκτικα του τοπου μας, που ετσιθελικα οικειοποιουνται την εννοια του εθνους, ώστε όταν εναντιωνεσαι στις παρανομες επιδιωξεις τους να γινεσαι αυτοματα αντεθνικος; (2)

Maroussi

So why should I not be worried and outraged when I see people, organizations and parties promoting without shame a supposedly national culture with only one objective, your enslavement, your mental and sensual castration, and the suspicious substitution of concern by the harmless traditional stereotypes? Following that, isn’t it somehow suspicious to see some political organizations pretending that they are the owners of progressive ideas and beliefs? And in what do they differ from the others, the rats of our country, who declare themselves the owners of the concept of the nation, so that when you rise against their illegal designs you automatically become an enemy of the nation?” (2)

Technical Lyceum – Σιβιτανιδειος Σχολη

“Ο φασισμός στις μέρες μας φανερώνεται με δυο μορφές. Ή προκλητικός, με το πρόσχημα αντιδράσεως σε πολιτικά ή κοινωνικά γεγονότα που δεν ευνοούν την περίπτωσή τους ή παθητικός μες στον οποίο κυριαρχεί ο φόβος για ό,τι συμβαίνει γύρω μας. Ανοχή και παθητικότητα λοιπόν. Κι έτσι εδραιώνεται η πρόκληση. Με την ανοχή των πολλών. Προτιμότερο αργός και σιωπηλός θάνατος από την αντίδραση του ζωντανού και ευαίσθητου οργανισμού που περιέχουμε.

Fascism in our days appears with two faces. Either provocative, on the pretext of reacting to political or social events that do not favour them, or passive, where fear about everything going on around us is prominent. Tolerance and passivity give room to the challenge of fascism. We seem to prefer the slow and silent death to the reaction of the live and sensitive self inside us. (3)

George Theotokas (left). Athens 1941

Και μη βρίσκοντας αντίσταση από μια στέρεη παιδεία όλα αυτά δημιουργούν ένα κατάλληλο έδαφος για να ανθίσει ο εγωκεντρισμός η εγωπάθεια, η κενότητα και φυσικά κάθε κτηνώδες ένστιχτο στο εσωτερικό τους. Προσέξτε το χορό τους με τις ομοιόμορφες στρατιωτικές κινήσεις, μακρά από κάθε διάθεση επαφής και επικοινωνίας. Το τραγούδι τους με τις συνθηματικές επαναλαμβανόμενες λέξεις, η απουσία του βιβλίου και της σκέψης από τη συμπεριφορά τους και ο στόχος για μια άνετη σταδιοδρομία κέρδους και εύκολης επιτυχίας.

Not finding any resistance from a solid education, all these create a suitable ground for egocentricity to bloom, emptiness, and of course every animal instnct. Notice how they dance (the fascists) making these militarymovements, away from any desire to contaqct and communicate. Their song, with the coded repeating words, the anbsence of the book (reading) and thinking from their behaviour, and the goal of a comfortable career and easy success. (3)

M. Karagatsis in his youth

Βιώνουμε μέρα με τη μέρα περισσότερο το τμήμα του εαυτού μας – που ή φοβάται ή δεν σκέφτεται, επιδιώκοντας όσο γίνεται περισσότερα οφέλη. Ώσπου να βρεθεί ο κατάλληλος «αρχηγός» που θα ηγηθεί αυτό το κατάπτυστο περιεχόμενό μας. Και τότε θα ‘ναι αργά για ν’ αντιδράσουμε. Ο νεοναζισμός είμαστε εσείς κι εμείς – όπως στη γνωστή παράσταση του Πιραντέλο. Είμαστε εσείς, εμείς και τα παιδιά μας. Δεχόμαστε να ‘μαστε απάνθρωποι μπρος στους φορείς του AIDS, από άγνοια αλλά και τόσο «ανθρώπινοι» και συγκαταβατικοί μπροστά στα ανθρωποειδή ερπετά του φασισμού, πάλι από άγνοια, αλλά κι από φόβο κι από συνήθεια.

We experience day after day the part of ourself that is either scared or does not think, seeking to maximize personal benefits. Until we find the right “leader” to command this despicable side of our existence. But then it will be too late to react. Neonazism is you and us – as in the known play of Pirandello. It is us, us and our children. We accept to be inhuman when we face AIDS carriers, due to lack of knowledge, but so “human” and understanding in front of the humanoids of fascism, not only because of lack of knowledge, but also because of fear and habit.    (3)

Greek Civil War 1945-1949

Και το Κακό ελλοχεύει χωρίς προφύλαξη, χωρίς ντροπή. Ο νεοναζισμός δεν είναι θεωρία, σκέψη και αναρχία. Είναι μια παράσταση. Εσείς κι εμείς. Και πρωταγωνιστεί ο Θάνατος.

And Evil is lurking without precaution, without shame. Neonazism is not theory, thought, or anarchy. It is a show. You and us. And Death is the protagonist. ” (3)

Young women on a boat outside the port of Alexandroupolis – Κοπελλες σε βαρκα εξω απο την Αλεξανδρουπολη

“Στο αναμεταξυ (1921) οι νεοπλουτοι, μπουχτισμενοι απο ευκολοκερδισμενο παρά και λιμασμενοι απο μακροχρονια νηστεια, το’ χαν ριξει εξω. Γινοταν ενα γλεντι αλλιωτικο, ουτε πρωτογονο ουτε συμβατικο, μα κατι το ατοπο, το χυδαιο. Προβαλαν μεσα στην ξαφνιασμενη κοινωνια της Αθηνας ανθρωποι αγνωστοι, μυστηριοι, που κανεις δεν ηξερε πούθε βαστουσε η σκουφια τους, με τις τσεπες φίσκα στο χρημα και διχως συναισθηση τι παει να πει χρημα. Σπαταλουσαν ποσα αφανταστα σ’ ενα γλεντι κακογουστο κι άνοστο, μη λογαριαζοντας τιποτα, μην ξεροντας πως να διαθεσουν τα εκατομμυρια τους. Βασικη προϋποθεση του γλεντιου ηταν ν’ αποχτησουν αμερικάνικο αυτοκινητο και να τριγυρναν στους ανυπαρκτους τοτε δρομους της Αττικης, αραζοντας σε ξωτικα λιμανια – Ραφηνα και Σκαραμαγκα – που ο μη εκατομμυριούχος μοναχα στ’ ονειρο του μπορουσε να τα ιδει. Ησαν εκει κατι βρωμοταβερνες, που παρισταναν τα κεντρα πολυτελειας, που πουλουσαν τα τηγανητα μπαρμπουνια και τον μποτιλιαρισμενο σταφιδιτη σε τιμες αστρονομικες. (4)

Rafina 1930

In the meantime (1921), the newly rich, fed up by easily won money and starved by long abstinence, were going overboard. They were partying in a different way, neither primitive nor conventional, but somehow out of place and vulgar. Unknown, mysterious people, who nobody knew where they were coming from, were emerging in the midst of the puzzled Athenian society, with their pockets stuffed with money and no conception whatsoever of what money means. They were wasting unimaginable amounts of money in pasties of bad taste, disregarding everything, not knowing what to do with their money. A basiv requirement for them to have a good time was to buy an american car and roam the non-existent roads of Attica, arriving at exotix ports – Rafina and Skaramanga – which an ordinary person could see only in their dreams. There were some horrible tavernas there, pretending to be luxurious restaurants, selling fried barbounia and bottled wine at astronomical prices  ” (4)

Miss Europe, 1926

“Η Ελλαδα πεθανε και τη σκοτωσαμε εμεις – δεν ειναι ρητορικο σχημα. Δεν υπαρχει προηγουμενο λαου που με αποφαση της Βουλης (ομοφωνη) να καταργει τον τροπο της γραφης που συντηρησε τη γλωσσα του ζωντανη δυο χιλιαδες χρονια. .. Ο ευρωπαιος, οταν υιοθετησει το μηδενισμο, ελεγε ο Ντοστογιεφκσυ, εχει τα ιδια ερεισματα ζωης που συντηρουσε και θρησκευομενος: την προτεραιοτητα της λογικης, τον ωφελιμισμο, τη θεσμοποιηση των ατομικων εξασφαλισεων, γι’ αυτο και δυσκολα φτανει στην κοινωνικη αποσυνθεση και στο χαος. Ενω λαοι που επεζησαν μεσα στους αιωνες χαρη σε διαφορετικα ερεισματα ζωης – οπως οι Ρωσοι ή οι Ελληνες – οταν γινουν μηδενιστες, “βουτανε κατακεφαλα στον παραλογισμο” – δεν ξερουν μετρο. ” (5)

Musicians – Στης μαστουρας το σκοπο

Greece is dead and we killed her – this is not a rhetorical statement. There is no precedent of a people who with a unanimous parliamentary vote abandons the way of writing that has preserved his language alive for two thousand years…. The european, when becomes a nihillist, wrote Dostoevski, has the same pillars in life that he had when he was a believer: the priority of rational thinking, utilitarianism, the institutionalization of the personal, and so it is difficult for him to arrive at social disintegration and chaos. While peoples who have survived through the centuries thanks to other pillars in life, like the Russians or the Greeks, when they become nihillists, “they go all the way to insanity”, they know no restraint.  (5)

Korina in the Allatini Factory (6)

Θα σου παρουν τον ισκιο των δεντρων, θα τον παρουν

Θα σου παρουν τον ισκιο της θαλασσας, θα τον παρουν

Θα σου παρουν τον ισκιο της καρδιας, θα τον παρουν

Θα παρουν τον ισκιο σου… (7)

They will take away from you the shadow of the trees, they will take it

They will take away from you the shadow of the sea, they will take it

They will take away from you the shadow of the heart, they will take it

They will take away your shadow… (7)

Plakes, Volos

Sources – Πηγες

(1) Γιωργος  Θεοτοκας, ΑΡΓΩ 1936, Εστια. George Theotokas, ARGO 1936, Hestia Publishing.

(2) Μανος Χατζιδακις, Η πολιτκη στην τεχνη και η κακη τεχνη της πολτικης,   Ο Καθρεφτης και το Μαχαιρι, 1988, Ικαρος. Manos Hadjidakis, Politics in art and the bad art of politics, The mirror and the knife 1988, Ikaros Publishing.

(3) Μανος Χατζηδακις, Φεβρουαριος 1993, ΑΒΕΡΩΦ. Manos Hadjidakis, February 1993.

(4) Μ. Καραγατσης, Γιουγκερμαν, 1938, ΕΣΤΙΑ. M. Karagatsis, Yungermann, 1938, Hestia Publishing.

(5) Χρηστος Γιανναρας, Finis Greciae, 1986, Το Κενο στην τρεχουσα Πολιτικη, Εκδοσεις Καστανιωτη. Christos Giannaras, Finis Greciae, 1986, The vacuum in present day politics, Kastaniotis Publishing.

(6) Korina – Ceramics Allatini

(7) Γιωργος Σεφερης, Μερες Ε’, 15 Μαρτη 1947, Ικαρος Εκδοτικη. George Seferis, Days E’, 15 March 1947, Ikaros Publishing.