Objects that tell a story: (2) A poetry book in English

“During the First World War Hoelderlin’s hymns were packed in the soldier’s knapsack together with cleaning gear”.

Martin Heidegger, “The Origin of the Work of Art”.

Demonstration in Athens, March 1942
Demonstration in Athens, March 1942

Today’s object is not available to me.

As a matter of fact, I have never seen it.

Today’s object has no photograph that I can show you.

Military Academy of Athens
Military Academy of Athens

Today’s object has been destroyed.

Today’s object is a poetry book in English.

Today’s object is a book without a title.

At some unknown point in time, it became a possession of my uncle George.

Allied forces in Gazi, Athens, 1944
Allied forces in Gazi, Athens, 1944

This might have been the result of a gift or a loan or a purchase.

But it is not important to dwell on that.

It was sometime before or during the second world war that George got hold of it.

Greek Civil War 1944-1949
Greek Civil War 1944-1949

Shortly after the Germans withdrew from Greece in October 1944, another War started, the Greek Civil War that lasted until 1949.

At that time George was an officer of the Greek Army, and served at the front line.

Map of Grammos
Map of Grammos

It was during a long engagement of the Greek Army with the communist – supported “Democratic Army of Greece” in the Northwestern area near Konitsa, called “Mastorohoria”, that the story with the poetry book unfolded.

George had taken the book with him.

During one of the skirmishes with the enemy, George’s unit had to cross in a haste the river Sarantaporos; in the process he lost the book.

Pyrsogianni - Πυρσογιαννη
Pyrsogianni – Πυρσογιαννη

When George’s unit took the offensive again, they crossed the river going north, and succeeded to push their opponents further to the north.

During this successful offensive, at the end of an operation they went by a machine gun bunker.

There was smoke coming out of it.

As a standard procedure, they had to go in and ensure that it was safe.

Sarantaporos River, Northern Greece
Sarantaporos River, Northern Greece

They went in and found that all inside were dead.

In the middle of the burning debris and the dead bodies, the officer in charge found a and picked up bloodstained book.

Much to his surprise, inside the book he saw an inscription with George’s name.

After the officer finished his inspection of the burned bunker he came out carrying the poetry book in his hands and went straight to George.

Plagia (Zerma)
Plagia (Zerma)

“George, is this your book?” he asked.

George took the book in his hands: “Yes, it is mine”

“Do you want to take it?” the officer asked.

George did not take the book.

He left it there.

Winnicott’s “Good Enough Mother”

Seventy years ago, a middle-aged man walked into a BBC radio studio in London to record the first of a series of talks that would radically change the way mothers thought about parenting. The 50 or so broadcasts made by paediatrician and psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott between 1943 and 1962 on a wide range of subjects – from feeding and weaning to jealousy and stealing – popularised his psychoanalytic thinking on the relationship between babies and their mothers to such an extent that some of his catchphrases, such as the good enough mother and the transitional object, have entered everyday speech. (Anne Kampf, The Guardian, 19 April 2013)

Donald Winnicott
Donald Winnicott

David Winnicott (1896 was a-1971) was a British paediatrician and psychoanalyst. Today I pay tribute to the “Good enough Mother”, a concept he introduced in 1953, on the occasion of Mother’s Day 2013. Paul Wadey writes:

“His theories are primarily concerned with abandoning psychopathology in favour of the quality of emotional development of self, and the therapeutic process itself.  In these senses, Winnicott’s theoretical landscape can be simply understood in the form of two overlapping modalities: the first concerning the sense of reality, personal meaning, and selfhood as a distinct and creative centre of ones own experience; the second concerning the ‘use of the transitional object’ in the transitional process from the ‘subjective omnipotence’ of the infant toward a more mature appreciation of objective reality.”

Know your Child
Know your Child

I was introduced to the “Good enough Mother” by my friend Christina in the early 1980s.

The idea of imperfection as something positive was stunning to me.

Winnicott wrote: “There is no such thing as a baby; there is a baby and someone”.

In his introduction to “Human Nature”, Winnicott writes:

“The reader is entitled to know how it is that I come to be able to write about psychology. My professional life has been spent in paediatrics. Whereas my paediatric colleagues mostly specialized  on the physical side I myself gradually veered round towards specialization on the psychological side. I have never left general paediatrics, for it seems to me that child psychiatry is essentially part of paediatrics.”

Mary Cassatt: Under the chestnut tree
Mary Cassatt: Under the chestnut tree

BBC Radio 4’s “Woman’s Hour” introduces the concept like this (in 2005):

“Fifty years ago the analyst and parenting expert Donald Winnicott first documented his idea of the ‘good-enough mother’; the mother who wasn’t perfect and was free, to some extent, to fail. His writings were revolutionary because he argued that failing was in fact a necessary part of parenting, and through the failure of the parent the child realises the limits of its own power and the reality of an imperfect world. “

Parent and Baby's Hands and Feet

Winnicott wrote in a way that made him easy to understand. Here is a sample (My thanks to “The Present Participle“):

“The good-enough ‘mother’ (not necessarily the infant’s own mother) is one who makes active adaptation to the infant’s needs, an active adaptation that gradually lessens, according to the infant’s growing ability to account for failure of adaptation and to tolerate the results of frustration. Naturally, the infant’s own mother is more likely to be good enough than some other person, since this active adaptation demands an easy and unresented preoccupation with the one infant; in fact, success in infant care depends on the fact of devotion, not on cleverness or intellectual enlightenment.  The good-enough mother, as I have stated, starts off with an almost complete adaptation to her infant’s needs, and as time proceeds she adapts less and less completely, gradually, according to the infant’s growing ability to deal with her failure.  The infant’s means of dealing with this maternal failure include the following:

1. The infant’s experience, often repeated, that there is a time-limit to frustration. At first, naturally, this time-limit must be short.

2. Growing sense of process.

3. The beginnings of mental activity.

4. Employment of auto-erotic satisfactions.

5. Remembering, reliving, fantasying, dreaming; the integrating of past, present, and future.

If all goes well the infant can actually come to gain from the experience of frustration, since incomplete adaptation to need makes objects real, that is to say hated as well as loved. The consequence of this is that if all goes well the infant can be disturbed by a close adaptation to need that is continued too long, not allowed its natural decrease, since exact adaptation resembles magic and the object that behaves perfectly becomes no better than a hallucination. Nevertheless, at the start adaptation needs to be almost exact, and unless this is so it is not possible for the infant to begin to develop a capacity to experience a relationship to external reality, or even to form a conception of external reality”.

Pablo Picasso: Mother and Child
Pablo Picasso: Mother and Child

Jennifer Kunst, wrote in “Psychology Today”:

“Winnicott’s good enough mother is sincerely preoccupied with being a mother. She pays attention to her baby. She provides a holding environment. She offers both physical and emotional care. She provides security. When she fails, she tries again. She weathers painful feelings. She makes sacrifices. Winnicott’s good enough mother is not so much a goddess; she is a gardener. She tends her baby with love, patience, effort, and care.

What I like about Winnicott’s picture of the good enough mother is that she is a three-dimensional human being. She is a mother under pressure and strain. She is full of ambivalence about being a mother. She is both selfless and self-interested. She turns toward her child and turns away from him. She is capable of great dedication yet she is also prone to resentment. Winnicott even dares to say that the good enough mother loves her child but also has room to hate him. She is not boundless.  She is real.”

275_24318360438_8897_n

Simcha, in Seatlle’s Psychotherapy blog gives a pretty good description of what the “Good enough Mother” does:

Winnicott spoke of the “good enough” mother who adapts to her baby, and in so doing – gives it a sense of control and comfort.  “The good-enough mother,” wrote Winnicott in 1953, “starts off with an almost complete adaptation to her infant’s needs, and as time proceeds adapts less and less completely, gradually, according to the infant’s growing ability to deal with her failure.” It is the mother’s responsiveness to her baby’s cries for food or comfort that allows the baby to know he exists, to believe he is in control; he believes in his early months that his mother is, in fact, merely an extension of himself.

Gradually, as the mother begins to present objects to the baby and the baby interacts with these objects, he comes to understand that they have an existence outside of himself – that there is in the universe such a thing as “me” and “not me” (objective reality).

In time, the mother begins to move away from her state of total and constant preoccupation with and instantaneous gratification of the baby.  She begins to offer small doses of “optimal frustration” to  her child, just enough to create a proper environment for the child to learn and build his character (“I will come bring you the cookie shortly, sweetie, as soon as I finish my phone conversation”).

Possibilities and Limitations
Possibilities and Limitations

In an article, Sarah Liebetrau notes:

It is reassuring to note that Winnicott concluded, “almost all mothers are effective and do not have to meet any one’s definition of perfection to be so.”  It is better for us as parents to accept ourselves as we are, and to do the best we can, than to attempt to be ‘perfect’ and then, necessarily, fail. Winnicott seemed to be trying to move away from the popular idea at the time that there was one set, agreed-upon way to raise children, and if you didn’t do it that way, you were a ‘bad’ parent. Winnicott wanted to do away with the notions of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ parents as they are abstract concepts that cannot apply to real people. Instead there is only ‘good enough’ or ‘not good enough’.

Donald Winnicott
Donald Winnicott

I conclude this brief review with a statement that opens the door to a key aspect of Winnicott’s work. The development of the true-self personality, and creativity.

‘Winnicott envisioned the infant as born with the potential for unique individuality of personality (termed a True Self personality organisation), which can develop in the context of a responsive holding environment provided by a good-enough mother.’ Thomas Ogden (1990) (My thanks to Paul Wadey)

Greek Easter 2013: An Enquiry into the taste of Meat – Ελληνικο Πασχα 2013: Διερευνηση της γευσεως του κρεατος

eggs
Christ has risen! Χριστος Ανεστη!

Το φετεινο Πασχα το περασα στους Ωρεους Ευβοιας, μαζι με τα αγαπημενα μου ξαδερφια και ανηψια.

Καθε Πασχα ειναι μια ξεχωριστη γιορτη, με σταθερες που κρατανε αιωνες.

Μια απο τις σταθερες αυτες ειναι και το ψησιμο του αμνοεριφιου στην υπαιθρο.

Goat, lamb, and kokoretsi
Goat, lamb, and kokoretsi

Μαζι με το απαραιτητο κοκορετσι, φτιαγμενο με τα εντοσθια και τα εντερα των αμνοεριφιων που σφαγιαζονται.

Φετος η ψησταρια του ξαδερφου ειχε ενα αρσενικο κατσικι, ενα θηλυκο αρνι και το πατροπαραδοτο κοκορετσι.

Κι απο κει ξεκινησε μια συζητηση περι  νοστιμιας.

Locally grown lettuce salad
Locally grown lettuce salad

Ποιο ειναι πιο νοστιμο;

Παραλληλα τεθηκε και το θεμα της τρυφεροτητας του κρεατος.

Ισχυει αυτο που λενε μερικοι οτι οσο πιο νοστινο το κρεας τοσο πιο σκληρο; Και το αντιστροφο, οτι δηλαδη οσο πιο τρυφερο τοσο και πιο αγευστο;

Kokoretsi
Kokoretsi

Το αρσενικο κατσικι ή το θηλυκο αρνι;

Ειναι φανερο οτι υπεισερχονται παραγοντες που καθιστουν την συγκριση δυσκολη, καθοσον εχομε πολυπαραμετρικη αναλυση: αρνι-κατσικι και αρσενικο-θηλυκο.

Στη συνεχεια θα προσπαθησω να επεξεργαστω αυτο το θεμα, χωρις ομως να υποσχομαι οτι θα δωσω οριστικη και αμετακλητη απαντηση.

Kokoretsi - detail
Kokoretsi – detail

Κατοπιν επισταμενης ερευνης και μελετης, προσδιορισα τις ακολουθες παραμετρους νοστιμιας στο κρεας των αμνοεριφιων. Τις παραθετω μαζι με τις σχετικες υποθεσεις περι νοστιμιας.

Hard white goat cheese from the village of Kokkinomilia
Hard white goat cheese from the village of Kokkinomilia

1. Η τροφη. Το τι τρωγει το ζωο τις τελευταιες εβδομαδες πριν απο την σφαγη του εχει μεγαλη επιπτωση στη γευση του. Θυμαμαι οταν ειχα παει στη Χιο που ειχα “τσακισει” νταλα καλοκαιρι τα κοκορετσια και τα παιδακια, αφου η νοστιμια δεν λεγοτανε.  Οι ντοπιοι μου λεγανε οτι τα αρνακια βοσκανε στα βραχια πανω απο τις παραλιες, οπου ολα τα φυτα ειναι νοτισμενα με την αρμυρα της θαλασσας. Αυτην την εμπειρια ομως την αναφερω χωρις επιστημονικη τεκμηριωση.

Goat
Goat

2. Ο τροπος σφαγης. Το αγχος που μπορει να προκληθει στο ζωντανο απο την διαδικασια της σφαγης εχει μεγαλη επιπτωση στο pH, που ειναι ισως ο σημαντικωτερος παραγοντας ποιοτητας του κρεατος. Το υψηλο αγχος στο ζωντανο ανεβαζει το  pH σε υψηλα επιπεδα, και κανει το κρεας πιο σκληρο και πιο στεγνο.

Lamb
Lamb

3. Ο τροπος ωριμανσεως (σιτεμα). Η ωριμανση ειναι απαραιτητη για να μετατραπει το γλυκογόνο των μυών σε γαλακτικο οξύ. Μελετες εχουν δειξει οτι η ωριμανση του αρνισιου κρεατος ειναι σημαντικος παραγοντας για την τρυφεροτητα του. Κρεας που εχει σχεδον μηδενικη ωριμανση, συγκρινομενο με κρεας με 12ημερη ωριμανση εχει σχεδον διπλασια σκληροτητα. Οι ιδιες μελετες δειχνουν οτι περαν των 12 ημερων, η ωριμανση του αρνισιου κρεατος δεν εχει καμια σχεδον επιπτωση στην τρυφεροτητα του. Εδω θα πρεπει να παρατηρησω οτι στην Ελλαδα – και ιδιαιτερα τις μερες του Πασχα – τα αρνια και τα κατσικια δεν τα αφηνουμε να ωριμασουνε (σιτεψουνε) σχεδον καθολου. Δεν ειναι ασυνηθες να σφαζουν το αρνι το Μεγαλο Σαββατο το πρωι και να το σουβλιζουνε την Κυριακη του Πασχα.

Goat
Goat

4. Η ηλικια και το βαρος. Δεν μπορεσα να βρω μια γραμμικη σχεση σε οτι αφορα το pH. Καποιες μελετες εδειξαν οτι τα αρνια βαρους 12 κιλων εχουν λιγωτερο pH απο προβατα βαρους 24 κιλων, κατι που ομως δεν ισχυει στα πιο βαρεια προβατα. Η νοστιμια ομως του κρεατος αυανει με την ηλικια, φτανει σε ενα ζενιθ και μετα αρχιζει να πεφτει.

Goat
Goat

4. Το μερος του σωματος: Το μπροστινο θεωρειται πιο νοστιμο απο το πισινο. Ισως εχιε να κανει με την περιεκτικοτητα σε λιπος, οπως και το ειδος του λιπους. Εν πασιε περιπτωσει, δεν μπορεσα να βρω σχετικες μελετες και ερευνες.

Tomato and cucumber salad
Tomato and cucumber salad

5. Το φυλο: το αρσενικο θεωρειται πιο νοστιμο απο το θηλυκο. Ειναι ομως; Ας ξεκινησουμε απο το pH. Το αρσενικο εχει υψηλωτερα επιπεδα επειδη ειναι πιο νευρικα. Συνολικα ομως, η διαφορα δεν ειναι πολυ μεγαλη. Σε οτι αφορα την τρυφεροτητα, το αρσενικο εχει πιο σκληρο κρεας λογω της τεστοστερονης, που αυξανει το κολλαγονο των μυων. Σε ζωντανα μεχρι 12 μηνων ομως, δεν βρεθηκαν ουσιωδεις διαφορες στη νοστιμια.

Cabro
Goat

6. Ο ευνουχισμος: θεωρειται οτι ενα “αρτιμελες αρσενικο” ειναι πιο νοστιμο απο ενα “ευνουχισμενο”. Αυτο το αναφερω εντελως περιστασιακα, καθοσον νομιζω οτι στην Ελλαδα δεν ειναι συνηθης η πρακτικη του ευνουχισμου.  Στην περιπτωση του Πασχαλινου τραπεζιου στους Ωρεους, ομολογω οτι γευτηκα ενα ημισυ αμελετητου το οποιον ητο εξαιρετικο.

Cabro - the best part
Goat – the best part

Ευτυχως που ο βοσκος και ο χασαπης διετηρησαν την “ακεραιοτητα του ζωου!

Ελπιζω οι ανωτερω επισημανσεις να αποτελεσουν την απαρχη ενος ωριμου διαλογου επι του θεματος.

Roses
Roses

Συνοψιζοντας την γευστικη εμπειρια του φετινου Πασχα, εχω να σημειωσω τα  ακολουθα:

α. Το κοκορετσι εξαιρετικο, ισως ομως θα περεπε να βγει απο τη φωτια 15 λεπτα νωριτερα.

β. Η σαλατα μαρουλι αποτελει πιατο υψηλης γαστρονομιας ανα τους αιωνες. Η ποιοτητα των μαρουλιων ειναι τετοια που ανασταινει! Ευγε στην εξαδελφη που ξερει να αξιοποιει τα υπεροχα μαρουλια!

γ. Το σεμνο αμελετητον απεσπασε το χρυσο βραβειο γευσης και υφης.

δ. Το σκληρο κατσικισιο τυρι απο την Κοκκινομηλια, ενα χωριο περιπου 20 χιλιομετρα νοτια των Ωρεων, το γευομαι εδω και 20 χρονια τουλαχιστον, και αποτελει υμνο στην ποιοτητα του γαλακτος και της τυροκομικης τεχνης του παραγωγου. Μαθαινω ομως οτι η γυναικα του εχει βαρεθει τη ζωη της, και προσπαθει να πεισει τον παραγωγο να παρατησει τα τυρια και τα κατσικια και να απολαυσουν τη ζωη. Ελπιζω να μην την ακουσει.

ε. Το κρεας του εριφιου και του αμνου ηταν εξαιρετικο! Και το ψησιμο του εξαδελφου μου κορυφαιο!

Ευχαριστω θερμα τα ξαδερφια μου για τη φιλοξενια και ευχομαι τα καλυτερα!

In memoriam

Taiv 1961

Η ΑΡΜΟΝΙΚΑ

Ποίημα του Νίκου Εγγονοπουλου

***

τη μητερα μου θα τηνέ βλεπω μόνο- και πάντα –

νέα κι ωραία

ως ήτο

***

ψηλη ξανθια

με το γλυκο

κι απαλα θλιμμενο της

βλεμμα

***

στέκεται μπρος στον ολόσωμο καθρέφτη:

ελέγχει το άψογο της κομψοτάτης

αμφιέσεώς της

καθως σε λίγο

πρόκειται να βγει

***

(απ’τα στόρια των παραθυρων

γιομιζει το δωματιο

ενα ήρεμο πρωινό φώς)

***

πλάι μια παιδικη μουσικούλα

παιζει ενα τραγουδάκι

χαράς

και γιορτής

Taiv 1982

HARMONICA

A poem by Nikos Eggonopoulos

***

I will see my mother only – and always-

young and beautiful

as she was

***

tall and blond

with her sweet

and mildly sad

eyes

***

she stands in front of the full body mirror:

she ckecks the perfection of her stylish

attire

as she is about

to go out

***

(from the windows’ shades

the room is full of

a mild day light)

***

nearby child’s music

is playing a song

of joy

and celebration

On the Dark Side: A “Fluxus Eleatis” Discourse

Ludwig Wittgenstein: “In a conversation: one person throws a ball; the other does not know whether he is supposed to throw it back, or throw it to a third person, or leave it on the ground, or pick it up and put it in his pocket,…Any interpretation still hangs in the air along with what it interprets, and cannot give it any support. Interpretations by themselves do not determine meaning.”

Socrates: So it is that the good man too could sometimes become bad, either through age or toil or disease or some misfortune – for doing badly is nothing other than being deprived of knowledge – but the bad man could never become bad – for he is bad all the time – but if he is to become bad he must first become good.

MM: Are you a good man?

Mr. FFF: I am good and bad at the same time. And not because of lack of knowledge.

Mrs. T: Are you then disagreeing with Socrates?

Mr. FFF: Good and bad is only one of the “dialectical” dichotomies of man. Others being: reason / faith,  bright / dark, rational / irrational, sacred / profane, Apollonian / Dionysian, nature / culture. Dialectics dictate that both sides are taken together, and dealt with as a whole.

Friedrich Nietzsche: Every human embodies a compound of nature and culture, chaos and order, instinct and reason… symbolised by Dionysus and Apollo.

Mrs. T: What are the origins of bad, of the dark side? Was man in the past a unitary entity? How did this dichotomy of bright and dark come about?

Mr. FFF (Reads from Genesis): “Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made and he said to the woman, ‘Indeed, has God said you shall not eat from any tree of the garden?’  And the woman said to the serpent, ‘From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat, but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said you shall not eat from it or touch it lest you die.’  And the serpent said to the woman, ‘You surely shall not die for God knows in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’  And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate.  She gave also to her husband with her and he ate.  Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked.  And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.”

St. Augustine: We took away an enormous quantity of pears, not to eat them ourselves, but simply to throw them to the pigs. Perhaps we ate some of them, but our real pleasure consisted in doing something that was forbidden. .. the evil in me was foul, but I loved it. I loved my own perdition and my own faults, not the things for which I committed wrong, but the wrong itself. My soul was vicious and broke away from your (God’s) safe keeping to seek its own destruction, looking for no profit in disgrace but only for disgrace itself.

Mrs. T: Surely the Judeo-Christian view is not the only one.

Mr. FFF: Of course not. To take an example, daemons were benevolent spirits in the time of Hesiod. It was Plato and his pupil Xenocrates, who first characterized daemons as dangerous spirits. This was later absorbed by the Christians.

Mrs. T: Is the dark side a moral construct?

Mr. FFF: The dark side is a multifaceted construct. It has moral and religious connotations to say the least.

MM: The seductress of Juliette claimed immediately after the act that morality and religion are meaningless.

Mr. FFF: Lets put two of the prominent “dark side” attributes on the table: sin and evil.

MM: Juliette’s aim in life is to to enjoy oneself at no matter whose expense. What is the meaning of sin and evil for Juliette?

Clairwil: I expect Juliette to do evil – not to quicken her lust, as I believe is her habit at present, but solely for the pleasure of doing it…one must proceed calmly, deliberately, lucidly. Crime is the torch that should fire the passions.

Mephistopheles: Das beste, das du wissen kannst, / Darfst du den Buben doch nichts sagen.

(Mephistopheles: The best of what you know may not, after all, be told to boys.)

Georges Battaile: Sexual reproductive activity is common to sexual animals and men, but only men appear to have turned their sexual activity into erotic activity. Eroticism, unlike simple sexual activity, is a psychological quest independent of the natural goal: reproduction and the desire for children…Eroticism always entails a breaking down of established patterns, the patterns, I repeat, of the regulated social order basic to our discontinuous mode of existence.

Adolfo Bioy Casares (Reads from “The Diary of the War of the Pigs”): “Την κοιτουσε απο κοντα. Καρφωνε το βλεμμα του στα χειλη, στις λεπτομερειες της επιδερμιδας, στο λαιμο, στα χερια που του φαινοντουσαν εκφραστικα και μυστηριωδη. Ξαφνικα καταλαβε πως αν δεν τη φιλουσε, η στερηση θα ηταν ανυποφορη. Ειπε μεσα του: “Ειμαι τρελος”. Κι επανελαβε πως αν την φιλουσε, θα κατεστρεφε ολη αυτη την τρυφεροτητα, που τοσο αυθορμητα του προσφερε εκεινη. Θα εκανε ισως τη λαθος κινηση, που θα την απογοητευε και θα τον εμφανιζε σαν ενα ατομο χωρις ευαισθησια, ανικανο να ερμηνευσει σωστα μαι πραξη γενναιοδωριας, σαν ενα υποκριτη που παριστανε τον καλο, ενω μεσα του κοχλαζουν οι χυδαιες ορεξεις, σαν εναν ανοητο που τολμα να τις εκφρασει. Σκεφτηκε: “Αυτο δε μου συνεβαινε αλλοτε” (και ειπε μεσα του πως αυτο το σχολιο του ειχε γινει πια εμμονη ιδεα). “Σε μια παρομοια κατασταση εγω θα ημουν ενας αντρας μπροστα σε μια γυναικα, ενω τωρα…” Κι αν τωρα εκανε λαθος; Αν εχανε εξαιτιας μιας αγιατρευτης ντροπαλοσυνης την καλυτερη ευκαιρια; Γατι να μη δει τα πραγματα απλα, να μην αφησει τον εαυτο του να καταλαβει πως η Ν κι εκεινος…”

Adolfo Bioy Casares (Reads from “The Diary of the War of the Pigs”): He was watching her from a close distance. His stare was penetrating her lips, the details of her skin, the neck, the hands, mysterious and ever so expressive. He told himself: ” I am mad”. And repeated that if he were to kiss her, he would destroy all the tenderness that she was so spontaneously offering to him. He might make the wrong move, that would disappoint her and present him in her eyes as a person without sensitivity, unable to interpret correctly an act of generosity, like an hypocrite who was pretending to be good, while inside him burn all sorts of vile desires, like a fool who dares express them. He thought: “this was not happening to me in the past” (and told himself that this was becoming now a persistent thought). “In a similar situation in the past, I would be a man in front of a woman, while now…” And if he were wrong? If  because of this incurable shyness he was to miss the best chance? Why not see things in the simple way, not let himself understand that N and himself…”

Michel Foucault: …transgression is not related to the limit as black is to white […] the outside to the inside […] their relationship takes the form of a spiral which no simple infraction can exhaust…sexuality is a fissure – not one which surrounds us as the basis of our isolation or individuality, but one which marks the limit within us and designates us as a limit…transgression and the limit has replaced the older dichotomy of the sacred and the profane.

Marlow: And perhaps in this is the whole difference; perhaps all the wisdom and all the truth, all the sincerity, are just compresses into that inappreciable moment of time in which we step over the threshold of the invisible.

Brother Medardus: One morning when I was going to the choirmaster for my music lesson, I caught his sister by surprise in a light negligee, her breast almost completely bare. She swiftly covered it up, but my prying eyes had already seen too much. Words failed me. New, unknownfeelings welled up within me and drove the red-hot blood through my veins so that my pulse beat out loud for all to hear. My heart was held in a convulsive grip and nearly bursting, until I eased my torment with a gentle sigh.
Georges Bataille:  …eroticism fell within the bounds of the profane and was at the same time condemned out of hand. The development of eroticism is parallel with that of uncleaness. Sacredness misunderstood is readily identified with evil.
Michel Foucault: If it is extremely dangerous to say that reason is the enemy that should be eliminated, it is just as dangerous to say that any critical questioning of this rationality risks sending us into irrationality… if critical thought itself has a function…it is precisely to accept this sort of spiral, this sort of revolving door of rationality that refers us to its necessity… and at the same time to its intrinsic dangers.

Mr. FFF: The spiral negates the dichotomy. A new paradigm is born. I am a descendant of Gerard de Nerval.
Friedrich Nietzsche:…morality takes good and evil for realities that contradict one another (not as complementary value concepts,which would be true), it advises taking the side of the good, it desires that the good should renounce and oppose the evil down to its ultimate roots – it therefore denies life which has in all its instincts both Yes and No.
Alexander Nehamas: The essential unity of what we commonly distinguish as good and evil is one of the most central themes in Nietzsche’s writing.
Georges Bataille:  If they want to elevate sexuality above its organic matrix and turn it into a spiritual activity, human beings cannot but conceive erotism as a gateway to death and the diabolical. The taking over of evil is an extreme and sovereign value. This process would not require the excision of morality, rather it would bring forth a higher level morality, an a-theological “hypermorality”.


Marlow: We penetrated deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness.
Mr. Kurtz: The Horror, the Horror!
Marlow: I saw the inconceivable mystery of a soul that knew no restraint, no faith, and no fear, yet struggling blindly with itself.
Friedrich Nietzsche: It is with people as it is with the trees. The more they aspire to the height and light, the more strongly do their roots strive earthward, downward, into the dark, the deep – into evil.
Marlow: The mind of man is capable of anything – because everything is in it, all the past as well as all the future… Droll thing life is – that mysterious arrangement of merciless logic for a futile purpose. The most you can hope from it is some knowledge of yourself – that comes too late – a crop of unextinguishable regrets.
Friedrich Nietzsche: Human beings need what is most evil in them for what is best in them… whatever is most evil is their best power and the hardest stone for the highest creator… human beings must become better and more evil.

Adolfo Bioy Casares (Reads from “The Diary of the War of the Pig”): “Πιστεψε πως δεν ειχε πια ουτε δυναμεις ουτε ψευδαισθησεις για ν’αντεξει τη ζωη. Η φιλια ηταν αδιαφορη, ο ερωτας ποταπος και απιστος και το μονο που περισσευε ηταν το μισος. … του περασε απο το μυαλο μια λυση που αξιζε τον κοπο να την μελετησει κανεις¨το ιδιο του το χερι, οπλισμενο μ’ ενα φανταστικο ρεβολβερ να τον σημαδευει στον κροταφο.”

Adolfo Bioy Casares (Reads from “The Diary of the War of the Pig”): Adolfo Bioy Casares (Reads from “The Diary of the War of the Pig”): “He felt that he no longer had any powers or illusions to stay alive. Friendship was indifferent and love unworthy and vile and the only thing in abundance was hatred… a solution emerged in his mind to be further explored “his own hand, armed with a imagined revolver, aiming his temple”.

Participants

Georges Battaile, French writer and philosopher

Adolfo Bioy Casares, Argentine writer

Clairwil, character in de Sade’s “Juliette”

Mr. FFF, wanderer

Michel Foucault, French philosopher

Mr. Kurtz, half-English, half-French, ivory merchant and commander of a trading post

Marlow, main character in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness

Brother Medardus, a Capuchin Friar

Mephistopheles

MM, partner

Alexander Nehamas, professor of philosophy

Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher

Socrates, Greek philosopher

Mrs. T, unknown ethinicity, gourmant

Grilled aubergines and skinless sausage Italian style

Summer has arrived!

I can tell, not because the daily high temperature is steadily at 35 degrees Celcius, but because the aubergine are ripe and ready for the eating.

They sing their little song every morning when I open the door and face the vegetables garden.

Today I could not hear the song anymore. I had to make my heart stone-cold, and face the inevitable: I was going to have the aubergines for lunch.

Respect for the ingredients in ceremonies of this sort is mandatory.

The original flavours must dominate the experience.

The sweetness of the flesh must accompany the traveller for long after the meal is over.

So they were grilled with a touch of olive oil, and served on a bed of coarse sea salt.

The company the grilled aubergine demands is noble.

Noble in its extreme simplicity.

It had to be skinless sausage, Italian style.

Extremely good quality pork belly, deboned and minced coarsely.

Then garlic, salt and pepper. Mix well, compact in a container so that there are no air bubbles left in the mix, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Then grill in fierce fire.

The result is more than satisfying. The meat is extremely juicy and tasty, with incredible texture.

It accompanies well the protagonist of the meal, the sweet, tender, delicious aubergine.

A red with character, like a Rosso di Montalcino, paying tribute to the culture that created this sausage, should accompany the meal.

Objects that tell a story (2): My maternal grandfather’s 1915 travel document to Russia

Introduction

Digging into a box with documents and photos I found in pieces a travel document belonging to my maternal grandfather, Spyridon Mavrogenes. I assembled it in one piece and present it as an object that tells a story.

Spyridon G Mavrogenes

Spyridon Mavrogenes was born in 1878. At the age of 37, in the year 1915, he travelled to Russia. I presume the trip had to do with his profession, which was to export olive oil and other agricultural products like Corinthian raisin (stafida) from the Peloponese to various countries.

Europe and the Balkans in 1915

In 1915 Europe and the Balkans were in turmoil. I have picked some morcels from the press of the period.

The New York Times, February 10 1915

In a dispatch from Petrograd, the capital of tsarist Russia, we read that “Constantinople must be taken” by the Russians. I remind the reder that Russia had declared war on the Ottoman Empire in November 1914.

The New York Times, February 10 2015

At the same time, the Austrians are attacking Turnu -Severin, a major port city on the Danube, with strategic importance for Vienna.

Two days before my grandfather got his travel document from the prefecture of Thessaloniki, on 26th April 1915 in London, Italy had signed the Treaty of London, becoming an ally of the Triple Entent and betraying the Triple Alliance where it belonged. As a result of the treaty, Italy took over control of the Dodecanese islands.

In September 1915, the Bulgarians threw in their lot with Germany and Austria-Hungary by concluding an alliance. On October 6, the great Austro-German offensive began against Serbia and Bulgaria declared war on Belgrade eight days later. Bulgarian troops spilled over Serbia’s eastern border, and an Anglo-French landing at Salonika in Greece failed to blunt the Bulgarian advance. By December 1915, the Serbian Army had collapsed and was in full flight. The Bulgarians established a defensive line to contain the Allied forces in northern Greece.

Sunday Times, Perth, Australia, Sunday 24 October 1915

In October 1915 Romania decided to join the side of England, France and Russia, on condition that the Allies send 400,000 troops to the Balkans.

My grandfather’s trip appears ot have taken place between May and July 2015. He narrowly escaped the fireworks!

The travel document

The travel document

The travel document was issued by the Prefect of Thessaloniki on the 28th April 1915. What you see above is the front side of the document.

Front Side Left - Εμπροσθια Πλευρα Αριστερη

ΕΝ ΟΝΟΜΑΤΙ

ΤΗΣ ΚΥΒΕΡΝΗΣΕΩΣ

ΤΟΥ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΟΥ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ

Προσκαλουμεν παντας τους αξιωματικους του Βασιλειου της Ελλαδος, πολιτικους τε και στρατιωτικους και παρακαλουμεν τους των φιλων Δυναμεων να αφησωσιν ελευθεραν την διοδον εις τον Κον Σπυριδωνα Γ. Μαυρογενη απερχομενον εις Ρωσσιαν δια … χωρις να εμποδισθη ή ενοχληθη παρ’ ουδενος, να χορηγηθη μαλιστα, εν αναγκη, προς αυτον πασα ευκολια και υπερασπισις.

Επι τουτω εξεδοθη το παρον υπογεγραμμενον παρ’ ημων.

Εν Θεσσαλονικη τη 28 Απριλιου 1915

Ο ΝΟΜΑΡΧΗΣ ΘΕΣΣΑΛΟΝΙΚΗΣ

Front Right Side - Εμπροσθια Δεξια Οψη

AU NOM

DU GOUVERNEMENT DE GRECE

DU ROYAUME DE GRECE

 Requerons tous les officiers,civil et militaires, du Royaume de Grece, et prions ceux de pays amis de laisser passer librement M Spyridon G Mavrogenis se rendant au Russie pour …  sans qu’ il soit empeche ni moleste par personne, et de lui preter aide et protection, en cas de besoin. 

A cet effet nous avons delivre le present, signe par nous. 

Fait a Salonique le 28 April 1915

LE PREFET DE SALONIQUE

Civil duty stamp - Χαρτοσημον Διοικησεως

The afficionados of this sort of thing will note the civil duty stamp of 5 drachmas on the top left of the document.

Its back is full of stamps and approvals, and also has the photo of the traveller.

The Trip

I will try to use the document to reconstruct part of the trip.

Approval by the Romanian Colsulate in Thessaloniki

The document by itself as issued by the Prefect of Thessaloniki was not enough. There had to be approvals by the other countries. As you see above, the Conculate of the Kingdom of Romania approved the trip on the 29th April 1915. It says also that a tax of five Lei has been applied and paid.

Approval of the trip by the Serbian Consulate in Thessaloniki

Likewise, there had to be an approval by the Serbian Consulate in Thessaloniki.

The trip begins on the 30th April 1915, as is shown on the stamp dated accordingly, by the “Passport Office of Railroad…”

The port of Prahovo, photo by Matt Lutton

From a stamp on the back side, I gather that he made his way through Serbia by railroad to the Danube port town of Prahovo. Today Prahovo is a small town of 1600 people.

The stamp on the document has a date of July 1915, apparently on the traveller’s way back to Greece.

Did the traveller follow the same route on his way to Russia, and then back? We will never know.

Drobeta Turnu-Severin in Romania

From there, 31 kilometers to the North is the town of (Drobeta) Turnu Severin, where he entered Romanian territory. There is a stamp from the police of the port in “T-Severin” to prove it.

Entry stamp in Romania - 12 May 1915

Most likely he took a river boat to get there, although there is no way of knowing.

Turnu-Severin in 1910

Turnu-Severin is a city built by the river Danube and at the beginning of the twentieth century was a significant transport hub, for moving goods to and from Central Europe to the East and the South.

“As a major port on the Danube, the freedom of trade facilitated the entry of goods by boat from Vienna and the exchange of material necessary for economic development. Severin experienced a steady economic, urban and social growth until 1972, when it received the name of Drobeta-Turnu Severin.” (Source: Wikipedia)

Old warehouses (1890s - 1900s) that once stored goods from the Danube river trade, Drobeta Turnu Severin, south western Romania.

The photo above, which I found in Valentin Mandache’s informative and specialized blog “Historic Houses of Romania“, provides testimony to the wealth an the might of the town back then.

Given its importance as a commerical traffic port, Turnu – Severin may not have been only a stop over. It is likely that my grandfather was using it as a port for shipping goods to Vienna, where he was also doing business.

From Turnu-Severin, the travelled went to Bucharest, where he got an approval to stay in Romania as the stamp dated 15 June shows.

Stamp of the bureau for the control of foreigners in Bucharest

I cannot deduce how long he stayed in Romania and when and how he travelled on to Russia and back.

Permit to enter Serbia

A little more than a month after he got the stamp from the Greek Consulate in Bucharest, he appears in the Serbian Consulate in Bucharest and receives a stamp so that he can enter Serbia. The date of the stamp is 19 July 1915.

Permit to return to Greece

The next day, 20 July 1915 my grandfather receives a stamp from the Greek Consulte in Bucharest, allowing him to travel to Greece.

Exit stamp, Turnu - Severin

Two days later, on the 22 July 1915, he exits Romania at the port of Turnu-Severin.

He arrived in Prahovo on the same day, 22 July 1915.

Four days later, and almost three months after he left Thessaloniki, on 26 July 1915, he exits Serbia, entering Greece.

There is no information regarding the date of his arrival in Thessaloniki.

As I cannot read Cyrillic, I cannot deduce anything about the traveller’s Russian itinerary and the relevant stamps.