SALMON RUSHDIE "Midnight 's children"

THE RE-ARRANGEMENT OF THE QURAN :
"...He had the strength to pursue his original ambition, the re-arrangement of the Quran in accurately chronological order.

He once told me : When Muhammed prophesied, people wrote down what he said on palm leaves, which were kept any old how in a box.

After he died, Abubakr and the others tried to remember the correct sequence; but the didn't have very good memories..." (p.107).







"PORTUGAL DISCOVERED A NEW WAY TO INDIA"

"...But then, the Portuguese named the place Bom Bahia for its harbour, and not fot the goddess of the pomfret folk...the Portuguese were the first invaders, using the harbour to shelter their merchant ships and their men-of-war; but then, one day in 1633, and East India Company Officer named

Wethwold saw a vision. This vision -a dream of a British Bombay,fortified, defending India's West against all comers- was a notion of such force that it set time in motion.

History churned ahead; Methwold died; and in 1660, Charles II of England was betrothed to Catherine of the Portuguese House of Braganza- that same Catherine who would, all her life, play second fiddle to Orange-selling Nell. But she has this consolation - that it was her marriage dowry which brought Bombay int British hands..." (p.121, 122).

MARK SCHAEVERS "Orgelman. Felix Nussbaum. Een schildersleven"

 

"Museum ohne Ausgang"


https://flic.kr/p/sscznS


https://flic.kr/p/sfGfLE


Daniel Libeskind is de zoon van twee Poolse Holocaust overlevenden.

In 2003 zal hij wereldberoemd worden als uitverkoren master planner voor de reconstructie van het New Yorkse Ground Zero.

Het Nussbaum-museum is het eerste gebouw dat hij realiseerde , op zijn 52ste, een jaar later raakt het Joods Museum in Berlijn voltooid - voordien maakte hij naam als theoreticus.

Libeskind verbergt in interviews zijn zwak voor zijn debuut in Osnabrück niet, noemt het 'the building most inscribed into my soul', 'maybe the most meaningful building'.

....... geen klassiek, overzichtelijk museum , maar een doolhof waarin men al snel gedesoriënteerd raakt.

Zo is Libeskind trouw aan zijn architecturale opvattingen : een te overzichtelijke architectuur noemt hij 'gevaarlijk', hij wil dat de gebruikers zijn gebouwen actief beleven.

'Ik wil niet controleren, mij gaat het om de fantasie'.

.....heeft hij zich laten inspireren door de claustrofobische sfeer in sommige van Nussbaums schilderijen.

Zijn ingewikkelde bouwsculptuur is half museum, half gedenkteken genoemd.

Op 16 juli 1998 wordt het museum ingehuldig door Gerhard Schröder, minister-president van Nedersaksen (en niet zoveel later bondskanselier).

Telkens wanneer ik het Osnabrückse museum bezoek, heb ik moeite om de uitgang te vinden. Zo heeft Libeskind het gewild. Hem stond een 'museum zonder uitgang' voor ogen.

ERICH MARIA REMARQUE, Im Westen nichts neues"

THE SENSELESSNESS OF THE WAR

 

 

THE EMPEROR IS LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE

 

"...Der Kaiser kommt zur Besichtigung. (...)

Endlich ist der Augenblich da.

Wir stehen stramm, und der Kaiser erscheint.

Wir sind neugierig, wie er aussehen mag.

Er schreitet die Front entlang, und ich bin eigentlich entwas enttäuscht : Nach den Bildern hatte ich ihn mir grösser und mächtiger vorgestellt, vor allen dingen mit einder donnernden Stimme.

Er verteilt Eiserne Kreuze und spricht diesen und jenen an.

Dann ziehen wir ab.

Nachher unterhalten wir uns.

Tjaden sagt staunend : "Dat ist nun der Alleroberste , des es gibt. Davor muss dann doch jeder stramm stehen, jeder überhaupt !"

Er überlegt : Davor muss auch Hindenburg stramm stehen, was ?"

(...) Aber Tjaden ist völlig fasziniert. Sieh mal, verkündet er, ich kann einfach nicht begreifen,dass ein Kaiser auch genau so zur Latrine muss wie ich". (...)

 Eins möchte ich aber doch wissen, sagt Albert, ob es Krieg gegeben hätte, wenn der Kaiser nein gesagt hätte".

Es ist komisch, wenn man sich das überlegt, fährt Kropp fort, wir sind doch hier um unser Vaterland zu verteidigen.

Aber die Fransosen sind doch auch da, um ihr Vaterland zu verteidigen.

 Wer hat nun recht ? "

 (...) Drüben wird aber mehr gelogen als bei uns, erwidere ich.

Denkt mal an die Flugblätter der Gefangenen, in denen stand dass wir belgische Kinder frässen.

De Kerle die sowas schreiben, sollten sie aufhängen". (p.179-183)

HARPER LEE, To kill a mockingbird .

Harper Lee had an inspiration in the Bible, Genesis 39, the story of Joseph sold by his brothers.

Bible, Genesis 39 :



"When Joseph was taken down to Egypt, he was bought by Potiphar, one of Pharaoh's eunuchs. Now Joseph was handsome and goodlooking, and a time came when his master's wife took notice of him and said : "Come and lie with me". But he refused and said to her, think of my master. How can I do anything so wicked, and sin against God. One day he came into the house as usual to do his job, when none of the men of the Household  were there. She caught him by his cloak, saying : Come and lie with me, but he left the cloak in het hands and ran out of the house. She called out to the men of the Household : Look at this ! My husband has brought in a Hebrew to make a mockery of us. When Joseph's master heard his wife's story of what his slave had done to her, he was furious. He took Joseph and put him in the Round Tower, where the king's prisoners were kept..."

Harper Lee "To kill a mockingbird p.320, 321 :



"Tom, you're sworn to tell the whole truth. Will you tell it ? Mr.Finch, I got down offa that chair and turned around an' she sorta jumped on me. Jumped on you ? Violently ? "No suh, she-she hugged me. She hugged me round the waist. Then what did she do ? "She reached up and kissed me side of the face. She says she never kissed a grown man before and she might as well kiss a nigger. She says : Kiss me back, nigger. I say Miss Mayella leeme outa here and tried to run but she got her back to the door and I had to push her. Tom, did you rape Mayella Ewell ? I did not, suh. Did you harm her in any way ? I did not, suh. Did you resist her advances ? Mr.Finch, I tried..."



On two other pages, Harper Lee is talking about Egypt :



p.103 : Mr.Avery said it was written on the Rosetta stone that when children disobeyed their parents, the seasons would change.
p.375 : "Somewhere along when the Finches were in Egypt one of them must have learned a hieroglyphic or two and he taught his boy".

D H LAWRENCE, about school & education ("Women in Love" 1920).

 

 

 

"Tomorrow was Monday. Monday, the beginning of another school-week ! Another shameful, barren school-week, mere routine and mechanical activity. Was not the adventure of death infinitely preferable ? Was not death infinitely more lovely and noble than such a life ? A life of barren routine, without inner meaning, without any real significance. One could not bear any more of this shame  of sordid routine and mechanical nullity. She had had enough. One could look out on the great dark sky of death with elation, as one had looked out of the class-room window as a child, and seen perfect freedom in the outside." (p.193)



"I beg to resign my post as class-mistress in the Willey Green Grammar School. I should be very grateful if you woud liberate me as soon as possible..." (p.317)



Yes. You cannot go back to the teaching. No, he shrugged his shoulders, that is impossible. Leave that to the canaille who can do nothing else. You are an extraordinary woman, why should you follow he ordinary course, the ordinary life ? " (p.457)