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Christine
Palliken
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| Christine
Pellikan China Series Vienna 2002 |
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Tenderness
and danger, Standstill and expansion No image of this world, thought the prisoner, conveys to me this contrast of tenderness and danger, of standstill and propagation, of waves playfully snapping at waves, collapsing lazily and yet, still in reflux, unintentionally as it were, grasping a treetop. Then he turned his face back to me, directly, with a jerk, with other words: again he spoke to the wall. "This country is like a bewitching woman who knows when to be severe mother and when seductress. The charm can only be broken by another woman." Castiglione had the strength to preserve himself, he mused into his half-closed fist, because he never trusted this country. Trust creates dependencies. First you get involved with the colours, then with the cuisine, later with language and finally with the rhythm, the rhythm is the most dangerous. It is the tuning-in to the beat of the heart. It determines the sternness of thinking, the power of doubt, the serenity of passions. By her decision she had entered the picture that the others always tried to compose only as a complicated puzzle; she lived, felt, smelled the action whereas before she had only endured to question dry texts as to their sources. Now, finally, this was the world she had been looking for and she had decided upon, unveiled and right in front of her, simple and noisy, rough and ungalvanized. Can you imagine faked feelings? And what would be wrong with them as long as they had the wanted effect? Maybe my profession taught me that. After all, what is genuine and why do we make such a big fuss about it? The convincing appearance is as satisfying as the so-called original. The object just has to be rare. Translated by Werner Rappl, 2002 |