Irmgard Hunt: Collage

dieses Benamsen der andern
-- this labeling of others

Verschnitt /Collage
By Irmgard Hunt

. . . wenn man nie aus dem Schweigen, nie aus dem Stammeln und Stottern zum Nennen gekommen wäre, nie zu den großen Triumphen im Anlaut, im Selbstlaut, der Asche also dem Elend dem Ich der Ohnmacht dem Urteil, nicht in die Helle des eigenen Namens, nicht über des Anrufs Schwelle - sie ist ja geblieben, die Schwelle die Steige die Neige die man erfliegen muß plötzlich und sich die Knochen zersplittert dabei, weshalb du auch heute noch ich weiß es nicht sagst wenn sie fragen wer bist du? Richard Exner

(Und was ist mit dem Auslaut? fragt eine leise Stimme.)

. . . if you had never emerged from silence, from stuttering and stammering to the naming of things, never to the great triumphs of initial sound and vowel, to ashes, want, ego, impotence, verdict, never to the brightness of your own name, not beyond the threshold of being called - oh but it has remained, the threshold the rise the incline to be surmounted suddenly splintering one's bones, wherefore you still say today I don't know when they ask you who are you?
trans: Irmgard Hunt

(And the final sound? asks a quiet voice. And it asks about the word Elend - alien: in aliu lant. Im Elend sein. To be in misery. So they told us. So they say.)

Ich verurteile dich jetzt zum Tode des Ertrinkens. Da du, zum Leben verurteilt, es bisher nicht gemeistert hast. Because you, condemned to life, have not mastered it so far, I now condemn you to death by drowning. Es ist gut, sagt die Stimme, die sich gerade erst zum Sein herausschält, daß es im Wasser sein darf, es ist die weichste Todesart. It is good, says the voice which is just beginning to come into being, that it will be in the water - the gentlest way of dying.

The headline says:

"Mugging robbed man of memory, identity, future" - The Denver Post, October 21, 2001

The story of the nameless man who chose the name Philip when they pressured him to give the first name that came to his mind. Mr. Nobody became Philip Staufen. He exists in Canada. He knows what doctors and linguists have told him: that he is suffering from global amnesia, that he speaks with a British accent, and that he once was somebody.

Irgendein Kaspar Hauser/some other Kaspar Hauser, like that foundling who died from stab wounds received when called to a rendezvous with the promise of information regarding his identity. Or simply Punch from the Punch-and-Judy-show/Kasperltheater.

Jetzt weiß er, daß auch er in der Falle ist./In the trap. Die ungeheuerliche Kränkung, die das Leben ist. The monstrous insult that is life. Zum Schweigen gebrachtes Ich aus Schweigen./A person made of silence because of having been silenced. Powerless, although fully conscious. Bei vollem Bewußtsein ohnmächtig.

Das will Kasperle auch sagen oder lieber schreien. Punch wants to say that, too, or rather: scream. Add to that: So that the world will finally change its course. Damit die Welt endlich die Richtung ändert. Kasperle hat auch schon gemerkt, daß man jetzt die Zeitung nicht mehr mit einer von vor fünf Jahren tauschen könnte. Punch also notices that you can no longer just substitute a newspaper with one from five years ago. Punch's Hunch reads to Punch:

Die Liebe war auch unerträglich geworden.

And also love had become unbearable.

To fall into a condition of being beside oneself.

In einen Zustand des Außersichseins geraten.

She would have had to have neither attacks nor seizures, Cassandra, if only she could have deleted the name Achilles from her own and everybody's memory. Root it out. And suppose nobody had ever known the word "victory." Too many words. Too many names.

Im Zug erzählt eine mitreisende Person, daß sie in einer Irrenanstalt arbeite. Sie sagt, daß sich ein hoher Prozentsatz der Irren für Osama bin Laden halten. Im Greyhound Bus im amerikanischen Westen irgendwo, es war in Utah, fühlt sich einer verfolgt, er ist sehr wirr, denn indem er sich vom Terror verfolgt glaubt, spielt er selber Terrorist, bedroht den Fahrer und will den Bus übernehmen. Die anderen Fahrgäste überwältigen ihn aber. Sie retten sich und den wirren Mann und jubeln bei der Ankunft, daß alle überlebt haben, das Bild zeigt es deutlich. Der Zeitungsbericht über den Vorfall tönt laut und ist ohne jede Empathie. Man erfährt nicht, wo der Mann sich jetzt befindet, wie es ihm geht, und ob er weiß, wer er ist.

Lieben, hassen, dulden, nicht dulden, verraten, verschwinden . . . denn es paßte nicht, dieses Benamsen der andern - Schwarze, Amis, Polacken. This labeling of others - Blacks, Yankees, Polacks - it was unsuitable . . . Punch had told Hunch this many times, before Yevgeny said so.

On the train, a co-traveler talks about working in a mental institution, saying that a high percentage of the inmates think they are Osama bin Laden. On the Greyhound Bus somewhre in the American West, in Utah, a traveler feels pursued, he is very confused; in imagining himself being pursued by terror, he himself turns into a terrorist, threatens the driver and wants to take over the bus. But the other travelers overpower him. They save themselves and the deranged man, and they cheer upon arrival; it is clearly visible in the picture. The newspaper report is loud in tone and devoid of empathy. One does not learn where the man is now, how he is doing, and whether he knows who he is.

Love, hate, tolerance, intolerance, betrayal, disappearance. Angenommen, es wüßte niemand, was Sieg ist. Zu viele Wörter. Zu viele Namen.

Playing with a tape recorder, Punch listens to the voice of a speaker on a tape Hunch took away from a room full of tapes, thinking one less won't matter. A voice sounding nasal like a cheap bassoon, in an urgent, self-important tone:

The objectives and thematic scope of the research program are: intercultural encounters as well as cultural dissociation are neither a specific achievement nor an exclusive problem of the late 20th century. What appears to be a novel feature is the scale, dynamics and explosiveness of such processes, and thus also the strong public interest which they attract. There seems to be a broad concensus now that these processes are extremely multifaceted and, particularly in conjunction with political, social and economic developments, far more complex than is suggested by the descriptive term, encounter. The conviction has intensified that the key concepts applied in this field of research require no less reflection than the phenomena which researchers are trying to investigate with their assistance. This is the case with such key concepts as "culture," "identity," "interculturalism," "foreign," and "native" which are by no means fixed parameters. As recent studies have shown, they themselves are construed and seem to be the variable outcome of just such processes of continuous encounter, dissociation, conciliation, intermixture and superimposition of different cultures. Investigating these processes and their momentum of change, analyzing their premises, conditions, framework, structures, and effects theoretically as well as empirically and with the necessary historical reflection, and thus illuminating them in a problem-oriented perspective is the thematic scope of this area. Projects should pursue these objectives and address these central points of interest . . . The following topics may serve as examples: transformations of cultural identity-shaping and their dynamics; cultural (self)perception processes within new transnational structures; changes in addressing cultural features in everyday social life . . . between cultural integration and transcultural opening; national identity and ethnic difference, (dual) citizenship and cultural self-perception; new media and the presentation of cultural identity; knowledge and knowledge transfer in the intercultural perspective; historical and systematic analyses of key concepts (including culture) and key categories.

Punch is more and more fascinated by that which is unintelligible, not only for one who is just learning to speak in the first person, but Punch does not know that. Punch would like to be able to say these words that the speaker is saying. Punch listens to the tape over and over again. One time, another fellow is along (it could be Punch's omnipresent Hunch) who seems to understand something and who says, as if in reply to the spoken text on the tape: And post-identity?

Das Balancieren und Jonglieren lernen. Stehen auf einer schiefen Ebene hält niemand lang aus. Kasperle merkt, daß man verlernt, was man nicht ständig übt. Es muß immer wieder fleißig üben. Beim Jonglieren verliert es allerdings die Bälle, und das geht ins Geld. Kasperle kann sich nicht viele Bälle leisten.

Kasperles ewiges Haspele verursacht einen Unfall. Beim Stehen üben prallen sie gegen eine Mauer, aber danach ist es nur eins, das glaubt, die Knochen gebrochen zu haben. Kasperles Kopf hat schwer gelitten. Alle, die es im Krankenhaus besuchen, lachen und sagen, steh auf! Es ist dir kein Knochen gebrochen. So will es also jetzt in ein Irrenhaus gehen und es dort versuchen.

Die Schwelle, die Steige und die Neige sind da, aber es wird behauptet und immer wieder berichtet, auch in Zeitungen, daß man sich die Knochen nicht zersplittert, wenn man jene Schwelle, Steige und Neige zu überwinden aufgerufen ist. Wir sollen einen Namen sagen. Wie heißt du, fragen sie immer wieder. Suppose you tell me who you are and where you want to go. Solche kinderleichten Fragen stellen sie immer wieder. Heute erlauben sie es nicht mehr, daß

man einfach ich weiß es nicht sagt. "Identität verschweigen verboten." Solche Schilder stellen sie jetzt auf, hemmungslos, wie "Rasen betreten verboten." Identität wollen sie, Individuation aber nicht.

Learning to balance and to juggle. But nobody can make it for very long, standing on an inclined plane, or on one foot. Punch notices that you unlearn and forget what you donät keep practicing all the time. Constant and diligent practicing is called for. In juggling, however, Punch loses many balls, and that runs into money. Punch cannot afford many balls.

Punch's ever-present Hunch causes an accident. Practicing standing, they slam into a wall, but after that, it is only one who believes all bones to be broken. Punch's head has suffered severely. All who visit Punch in the hospital laugh out loud and declare: Get up! Your bones are not broken. So now Punch wants to go to a mental institution and give that a try.

The threshold, the rise, the incline exist, but they claim and report again and again, in newspapers, too, that you don't break your bones when you are called to surmount either threshold or rise. We are supposed to say our name. What's your name, they ask again and again. Suppose you tell me who you are and where you want to go. As if the answers were child's play, they keep asking these questions. And now, answers like simply saying, I don't know, are no longer allowed. "It is forbidden to hide your identity." Unabashed, they erect signs to that effect now; they look just like those that say, "Keep off the grass." Identity they want, not individuation.

Du könntest mir endlich sagen, ob Du Georg Bendemann bist oder sein entfernt Verwandter, der Gregor Mandelben heißt, sagt Kasperle. Macht es etwas aus, sagt Haspele. Und es sagt, meine Großmutter nahm ihr Geheimnis mit ins Grab. Wer der Vater ihres Sohnes war, verriet sie niemandem zeit ihres Lebens. Sie wird es dann dem Dreck über ihrem Sargdeckel mitgeteil haben, daß es vielleicht ein Pole war, oder auch nicht. Was macht das aus. Und wer sagt jetzt die Worte über das, was etwas ausmacht. Sie oder das Haspele oder das Kasperle? Wer ist der verläßliche Erzähler? Sicher ist, daß Kasperle sagt: das bewundere ich. Daß es ich sagen kann, erstaunt nicht nur es selbst. Es sprach von Individuation, nicht Identifikation.

You might finally tell me whether you are Georg Bendemann or his distant relative whose name is Gregor Mandelben, says Punch. Does that matter, says Hunch, and continues, my grandmother took her secret to her grave. As long as she lived, she told no one who the father of her son was. She probably imparted to the dirt above the lid of her coffin that he might have been Polish, or maybe not. What does it matter. - And who says these words about what matters now, she or Hunch or Punch? Who is a reliable narrator? It is for sure that it is Punch who says: I admire that. And not only the speaker is astonished to hear this first ever first person statement. It spoke of individuation, not identification.

Etwas Kluges (wie immer) schreibt einer über oder gegen die Identifizierung. Nachdem es das gelesen hat, sagt Kasperle zu Edward: Eine gewisse Susan wurde mir ihrem Essay "Against Interpretation" berühmt. Ich will mit "Against Identification" berühmt werden. Ich will sagen können: My country is the whole world. Edward sagt: Schon sagst du ich. Aber das Nennen der Namen der Länder der Länderbewohner! Warum das Beschildern. Das Sich-Behängen mit einem Schild. Wie Häuschen, auf denen steht: "Frauen", "Männer". Unedifying labels. They mislead and confuse the mind, which is trying to make sense of a disorderly reality . . . How finally inadequate are the labels, generalizations and cultural assertions . . . to say nothing of the very concepts of identity and nationality about which there is unending debate. Endlose Debatte, lacht das Kasperle, das gefällt mir! Und immer öfter hört man es jetzt ich sagen. Kasperle denkt sogar daran, beim Ausgehn die Pritsche mitzunehmen. Sie ist viel nützlicher als zum Beispiel ein umgehängtes Etikett.

Somebody (as always) is writing something wise about or against identification. After reading that, Punch says to Edward: A certain Susan became famous with her essay "Against Interpretation" - I want to become famous with "Against Identification." I want to be able to say: My country is the whole world. Edward says: There you are, already speaking in first person! Oh but to name the names of the countries and their inhabitants! Why the labeling. To wear a sign that they hang around you. Like a little house on which a sign says: "Women" or "Men". Unedifying labels. They mislead and confuse the mind, which is trying to make sense of a disorderly reality . . . to say nothing of the very concepts of identity and nationality about which there is undending debate. Unending debate, repeats Punch, laughing, I like that. More and more often Punch is heard to speak in the first person now. Punch even considers carrying the harlequin's bat when going out. It's much more useful that any sign worn like a pendant.

One day, this sentence is heard: I like my floating identity. It lives on both sides of the border. Floating, swimming, thinking the image of a fish. Flying, fluttering, perhaps in the shape of a butterfly. Hovering, in mid-air. Die Schwebe. Das Dazwischen als einziger schmerzfreier Zustand. Wasser und Schleier und was sich nicht festlegen läßt. Oh they are suspect, water, and wafts, and veils, and everything that cannot be pinned down, and fixed, and defined. The point at which suspicion turns to hate is the danger zone. Warning signs are not erected. Fließende Grenzen: fluid borders, if any, and that means, none. To take handfulls of cottonballs, marshmallows or woollen juggling balls, throw them high in the air, or blow soap bubbles into the wind, and adore for a little while everything that is in abeyance.

Als man Atomwaffen aufstellte, brüllte das Kasperle mit den andern: My country is the whole world! Als sie ohne Atomwaffen die Wolkenkratzer zerstörten, sagte das Kasperle mit normallauter bis leiser Stimme: My country is the whole world. Natürlich hörte es niemand. Man hörte noch, daß Menschen aus achtzig Ländern und mindestens zehn verschiedenen Religionen, inklusive Atheismus, in den Türmen gewesen waren, dann begann der gigantische Trümmerhaufen zu stinken und niemand wollte mehr in seine Nähe gehen. Dort lagen sie alle, mit ihren vielen Identitäten, und konnten nicht identifiziert werden, lebendig begraben viele, der Tod ist ein Gleichmacher.

When they erected atomic weapons, Punch screamed and shouted with others: My country is the whole world! When they destroyed skyscrapers without atomic weapons, Punch said in a voice between normal and very quiet: My country is the whole world. Of course, nobody heard it. What was still heard was that people from eighty different countries and at least ten different religions, atheism included, had been in the towers, then the gigantic rubble heap began to give off a stench, and nobody wanted to go near it any more. There they all lay, with their many identities, and could not be identified, many buried alive, death is an equalizer.

Eine Mauer. Zu beiden Seiten Wächter, die sie bewachen. Es ist nicht erlaubt, einfach hineinzuknallen. Kasperle muß hellauf lachen. Danach liest es Zeitung: "The freedom he saught was the creation of an identity, complete with a birth certificate and a name, one that would allow him to leave Canada in search of himself." Wenn der wüßte.

A wall. Guards on both sides, guarding it. It is not allowed simply to crash into it. Punch can't help but laugh out loud. Afterwards, Punch reads in the newspaper: "The freedom he saught was the creation of an identity, complete with a birth certificate and a name, one that would allow him to leave Canada in search of himself." If only he knew what awaits him, thinks Punch.

Once, when Punch and Hunch were still two and Punch did not yet speak in first person, Hunch said to Punch: We know too many words. Then Punch said to Hunch: And too many names. Then they said in one voice: We know too much.

Postscriptum: Geschrieben, gelesen, gesagt, behauptet, verschwiegen oder hinausgeschrieen, begrinst, verspottet, beschildert und benannt mit Anlauten und Selbstlauten und daher mit Fingerzeigen belästigt als fremd, also seltsam, in aliu lant, kurz vor und gleich nach dem elften September zweitausendeins. Es ist ein verdächtiger, vielleicht schuldiger Text. Gelesen könnte der Verdacht geringer werden. Text hat weniger Text als zusammen mit einem Leser.

Postscript: Written, read, said, stated, kept silent or screamed out loud, grinned at, derided, labeled and named by way of initial sound and vowel, and therefore pointed at with fingers as strange, alien, in aliu lant, shortly before and directly after the eleventh of September two thousand and one. The text is cold, suspect, perhaps guilty. A reader, by reading it, could reduce the suspicion. Text is less text than together with a reader.