“Suffering that is limitless, suffering that is stubbornly enclosed within the circle of its own mania, suffering to the point of distraction, of self-mutilation, becomes in the end unbearable for the helpless witnesses of misfortune.” – Bruno Schulz, Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass (trans. Wieniewska)
Bearing witness
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6 thoughts on “Bearing witness”
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God, we’re all wallowing in ennui today. Can you pour me a julep, roll me a joint, crush up some fairy wings and sprinkle them in my tea? I need a lift, Tetman.
Well, it’s certainly good to get a comment from a real person, so it’s a lift for me. My blog has been bombarded by spam these past three days. Over 300 of the little buggers, displaying, among other qualities, that various possibly unsuspecting persons have had their email info hijacked and used for nefarious ends. For instance, this very morning I received a chunk of spam putatively from the email account of Senator Diane Feinstein. Curiously enough, every single chunk of this spew of spam has had one misspelled word. I thought about assembling them into some sort of found poetry thingie to post on my blog, but thought better of it.
God, what a pain in the ass those spammers are. I have an Askimet filter on my blog, and it really helps.
I’d like to add another real person comment to combat the spam. What on earth did Mr. Schultz go through? It pains me to think of the place these words are coming from. I worry I spent time in a Bavarian sanitorium in a past life, coughing up TB. Makes me think of Katherine Mansfield.
Please send a julep (don’t know what it is!) as I am skittering away from my editing.
Thanks, Averil. I had received occasional spams prior to this week, but from Monday afternoon through Thursday morning, it was a steady shower. It seems to have abated. I’ll look into Akismet.
To answer your question: childhood illness, unrequited love, thwarted ambitions, and two world wars, the second of which killed him.
A julep is a cocktail made from mint, sugar, bourbon whiskey, and crushed ice. Put a teaspoon of sugar, a half-shot of bourbon, and a half-dozen mint leaves in a cup. Stir the mix around for a few seconds and let it sit a few minutes. Strain it into a collins glass filled with crushed ice, add another couple shots of bourbon, garnish with your seventh mint leaf, stick in a cocktail straw, and enjoy!