schwermutwelt: 2008

Donnerstag, 4. Dezember 2008

Over the chimney-piece plainly visible in the photograph hangs an entrenching tool, with which , in 1915, Uncle Matthew had whacked to death eight germans one by one as they crawled out of a dug-out. It is still covered in blood and hairs, an object of fascination to us children.

from "The Pursuit Of Love" by Nancy Mitford

..austerlitz..

...Am unheimlichsten aber erschienen mir die Türen und Tore von Terezin, die sämtlich, wie ich zu spüren meinte, den Zugang zu einem nie noch durchdrungenen Dunkel, in welchem, so dachte ich, sagte Austerlitz, nichts mehr sich regte als der von den Wänden abblätternde Kalk und die Spinnen, die ihre Fäden ziehen, mit ihren hastig trippelnden Beinen über die Dielen laufen oder erwartungsvoll in ihren Geweben hängen. Erst unlängst habe ich, an der Schwelle des Erwachens, in das Innere eines solchen Tereziner Kasernenbaus hineingesehen. Er war von den Netzen dieser kunstreichen Tiere Schicht um Schicht ausgefüllt, von den Fußböden bis hinauf an die Decken.

W.G. Sebald "Austerlitz"

Samstag, 1. November 2008

..no game..

"Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules."
"Yes, sir. I know it is. I know it."
Game, my ass. Some game. If you get on the side where all the hot-shots are, then it´s a game, all right- I´ll admit that. But if you get on the other side, where there aren´t any hot-shots, then what´s a game about it? Nothing. No game.

..into the wild..

"When Alex left for Alaska," Franz remembers, "I prayed. I asked God to keep his finger on the shoulder of that one; I told him that boy was special. But he let Alex die. So on December 26, when I learned what happened, I renounced the Lord. I withdrew my church membership and became an atheist. I decided I couldn´t believe in a God who let something that terrible happen to a boy like Alex.
"After I dropped of the hitchhikers," Franz continues, "I turned my van around, drove back to the store, and bought a bottle of whiskey. And then I went out into the desert and drank it. I wasn´t used to drinking, so it made me sick. Hoped it´d kill me, but it didn´t. Just made me real, real sick.

from Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer

..the schmierlapps..

... ... ...

..mein bruder!..

..welcome..

..sleep tight..

When I was all set to go, when I had my bags and all, I stood for a while next to the stairs and took a last look down the goddamn corridor. I was sort of crying. I don´t know why. I put my red hunting hat on, and turned the peak around to the back, the way I liked it, and then yelled at the top of my goddam voice, "Sleep tight, ya morons!" I´ll bet I woke up every bastard on the whole floor. Then I got the hell out. Some stupid guy had thrown peanut shells all over the stairs, and I damn near broke my crazy neck.

from The Catcher In The Rye, by J.D. Salinger

..totoro, eh?..

Mittwoch, 22. Oktober 2008

..curious..

And when the universe has finished exploding, all the stars will slow down, like a ball that has been thrown into the air, and they will come to a halt and they will all begin to fall toward the center of the universe again. And then there will be nothing to stop us from seeing all the stars in the world because they will all be moving toward us, gradually faster and faster, and we will know that the world is going to end soon because when we look up into the sky at night there will be no darkness, just the blazing light of billions and billions of stars, all falling.

from: the curious incident of the dog in the night-time, by mark haddon

..der atem..

... .Das Fenster war mit dickem Dunst beschlagen, und der Geruch von den vielen Körpern und von den Mauern und den Medikamenten machte in der Frühe das Ein-und Ausatmen zur Qual. Jeder Patient hatte seinen eigenen Geruch, und alle zusammen entwickelten einen solchen aus Schweiß- und Medikamentendunst zusammengesetzten, zu Husten- und Erstickungsanfällen reizenden.
So war, wenn die Tagesschwestern auftauchten, das Sterbezimmer auf einmal eine einzige abstoßende Gestank-und Jammerstätte, in welcher die während der Nacht zugedeckten und niedergehaltenen Leiden plötzlich wieder in ihrer ganzen erschreckenden und bösartigen Häßlichkeit und Rücksichtslosigkeit aufgedeckt und ans Licht gebracht waren.

aus: Thomas Bernhard, Der Atem