-oemeenagmanmnnon certo ining EDMOND JABES A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of His Arm a Tiny Book ‘ranted fam the Prench by ROSMARIE WALDROP WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY PRESS ubliohd by Uneersy Fre of New Englend Hanover end LondonWem abet Fe ‘ed by Une ro New Baga nn, may Hosa Wg. Ohl ibd rns rng es ‘grin te pom pt te Ca Secon thio heen te eg Bei nd no CONTENTS 1 Page from the Echamed Book, 1 1 Pages rom the Een Book, I 1 Pages from the Echuned Book, It v Page from the Eshumed Book, IV v Page from the Eshumed Book, V wt vu Eclipse‘Toe fre lows you be yours by sing & forget ou sul only eigen 1 rer tba hol the Jew oved it iat compote “The retro rrr" T once wot, “Wats compo the al Daly wh thy ack I he il, Ral soa ty mols” “The md the Ble as. Conig me. ‘oa ale theo pom.” Wi be you raf you to your mags wba etd to our et ee *Stoghy ber” (rh Journey)‘The name empowes the I but doe aot justi. My reltion to aber is tagaood all he way to ‘he tft; rom the Hotom up, never horizontally, the ditange fm bere there "As with the dete te, others are put of myscl, fom rot to fend ‘What you cll "dune" i but the tie of beat {ng in, of breathing ot. ‘Al the oxen man aceds I in sags Empty, the space oe tery tras lighting Sto a rast aa, ust i tora the daring lau int useless hamier "very gesture is wrapped in empties.” he sl “The image ofthe wuld is ur inner imag of Cod, eye soho “tn each pul, ther i the dream of est daw, Sprang ost of night, the universe is perhaps CO dream come tr,” he had writen. “ory glance,” si sg, “sone morning ealy sd ene moral ater ay aPast and ftwre qual over one and the sme sage of rence.” Can we consider other by abstracting the other? Others re the unseredsutror wher the other Joo at himsele. Captive absence ofan abionc captivated Death is our hosts, mistress ofthe house A gave and Sank respect mar our mutual reli tin, which the mom roxblr. ie, 0 fk eet ‘To every le ts vowel, ts voyage: to desth, ts coesive consonants "We close one eye onde to take sim a death— back bullseye of the target—but ala, we never “Teed of aot being It ath will one day close our other ey,” sd age ‘And added: "Deuth is wthin wate within Go, But God has eternity on His de we, the moment searing thin” dreamed,” be si, “tat 1 by some mince, ‘ud access to the camespondence kept up over com tucies by the sun of the diferent conten yellow, red, grey, white “Yel saad rterred othe su; “Red snd to blot, “Grey se, odes "Unite snd othe name whited ot “0 pages ofthe St book. The desert ones only fn the desert.” 1 seo a word apprach the sea Ie atthe word sy,” nor the word “enth." Nether the word “al 0 sced,” bt the werd “Nothing,” the word "Vol" ‘And ell ysl ae salt gan, earth and sky are contained ln this vote ‘To build with sand and ine, ‘To bul fr tie. do nat ask: "Who are you?" buts "What do you ing ene?™ "bring you nothing but what Ia” was the an- Do not ask the frgner his place of bith, ut the lice he ong visible Auschwis, made visible nt boron [Nothing to see but what hs lead een seen. Serenity of evi "ow miserable Gol must be to hive commited se many eon "Hs tens ae nw my tar," wrote 398 “Man,” he was tl, "weops for God Who ba 20 tenes Lf ving made the lint tt Pains a stay shy. ll of nigh within Page ofthe book wth its martin, coveted home. Words pile up ont wit thet baring trees, thei led rebrand. ‘Who wil ever bea, his heap of t,t tell ‘the words fom thelr underpinnings of paper?Bids Smoke “AL ny certainty i beating owt, which will soon bat ota,” he ai Al my coriny, © poroat ston ncertaty f beng” wrote a age. the ey Prod, the mystery. Tomorow i sing boat veld by the sun ‘The male potency of the word in mat. Indierent to ts end, the solar upbot of te bel extence des not worry the wight 1 lave known temporary defeat, before is dec vitry over the ight. We can communicate oaly through words, bot since they express ws oly partly, our relations to (Ga ass oters are imperfect God allows swith Heys is aid. No doubt becouse He as ves up listening ‘Go died of solitude, reserving for Hi crntre 1 Ste pall Hi ow,” he ld ‘And add: "Has Go fled in His smbton to be ‘he Word, or has the word, fling to become Go, resigned Self treat withthe Void?” ‘Aook Already the winter of book, ‘The warp of Ie, You we sft fod? oye a ae Aad ou? rea ever pre oo ay wt them cient hee wi she ge 'o you low ld he Maser to i ipl, “why the Srmt of ear boas ewido sf ur prae Baks stay “Beane tiny ae bok wih secret and eres mas sabe dled "Medes fhe “Lovet epee’ vin, The bok af our Mase smd fou bad, pen eee Co have he nace depend all rs Teal or ad Et “fn ici min, ware my pla? “Lat ave; Thve te esomewber lags, be wa our we phe tence al pet “rhe pli, pei of emacs ‘od th sage "Tbe nt, For ny ace aves ee |Wate saad a, even oe ee ad sue hes ape eet eed Sis wth eo, eget op ‘Wading wt a wtin mas e tlre te ut h pada mee ade ie Aad yeh st “he thy wll hee be tl fr my wed 0 ‘aretha vee ‘Opsenes af pa, bt celle or try Pra, the koko tne diaper withthe met ‘Asuspendd rediag the fu ia one ‘he word wl pes, arg Si ote pt of ‘ae iver "Eee vie Ene Ad God sal "1 at he odo t= ‘Ad in a "You wer he rf el” ‘andthe eho “Te bd pe wale” ‘nd they su "Seton my dt bons ot fhe of dads” ‘aod Gad sl “Haste bd ran dy ?™ ‘Ae mam a "Where ve ou sued me?” ‘hed ge led tsk “This man coming toward us a rlgner. “How do you now?” “By is eyes bis i, his wa” “Tee nothing diferent Fou the sto us.” "Watch You! undernd” won't tke my ees of hin.” "He oes his nearsighted ees tothe int, his hart sme— se ofa very old wound —to the prt bred nie memory, bis Slow wall no doubt oer, ost. He knows fight nny. ook He stops, considers, hesttes. “Yes, he doer nt sem very eo. Chm, to, eps bump ng ito peoplewho compa Ivy. At thir te of day, the Boslevard Sant-Germain le choked with people. The atiastve window of La Hune sem not to intrest hi overruch, Tovgh Almost all the newest Itey prodesions ae prominently die plyed. And luis art books kes." “Don't be deceived, He evon leaf trough some of ther, In sure. He nnot gp by a hoaksore wthoot entering, He tld me to more than once” “Now hei ooking around a fhe had suddenly realized he ix lost. What is he looking for s nsistety?™ “Perhaps none ofthe things tht bist themelvos on hi aten ion, Peps all of them.” “Somebody interropted his daydreaming. He seems gute put out. Thoy are exchanging ew words, tony In pang "ave you known hie Jog?”"Yes, Fora ong tine. As fr relly knowing him, who cul cla 1? However “However?” “Tam convinced i more his fut than me.I ave tried ‘Without sce. Under the ove of exzesveniceness, of drm: Ing ality sed bales he ei sds "So muck” “Yes tod no, ast admit, Ungaspablebecase so easy tm race fem thew.” “What do you mes?” ‘Only apperence is eat embraced. Whats underneath is a Aifeent mater. To ome tack the t,he Bees without Heng ‘eis thor and not there. Preset and abtent. Nea and dott Saetines so data it would bo abu o expect t ahi.” “Can yu blame hin?” don't think 0. Even though he has boen epprecte, et teemed and, on occasion, celebrate, he has aye lived on the ‘margin On the margins ofan Inshaaete book” “Wha ook this” “Ours. mean the one of which we ae both stor and rade; which we shall never Eich read or writing “ln short, fal books tgeher, whic one dey wl for single “The Book” Hat he publhed books?” “about wey” “Jost ie you™ ee “Colnldence. "You shoul take more interest in his wring.” “Tam not sure wold appre i.” “Read fet this what he variably says when asked his opinion of work ‘hat has ntereted hi, “Our relation to bonks & perio. A gest book revels el only. tore who ae it on “He said, we are arselves an enigmatic text that we ty in ala 'e decipher, age after page, Whor we rand a book, he aed, we rad oly what ile contains of our on soul and Me, Yt what ‘tances sen enough o seep uta the ground or destroy ws “Author and reader are equal neve in bok’ futur, which 1s o longer that ofthe book, but ths. What renin always to le woiten and read points the way. Bat what f here were 0 {nocence whatever intl pontng? Would it mewn that all destiny ‘wren and can therefore be read vance? “Heals liked to repeat hat, being the pas and future ofa page Wil ow unclaimed by any writer, wah saving om Bing anonymity by signing Ht with his ame “We never write a whle book, ont begining nd en, thet ‘al yas” "your end dead? It others me that you speak of hi in the past tense when he is thee, «few yds of, on the sidewalk op- Poste, alive and obviously wel.” “He sa ome: "You see, ave nc ie. The ne am showing te ahce ofthe moment, The writer i frignrpretly because, to revel himself, he must borrow aie fom language "Perhaps there is no book, but ely the obsession of» page beleaguered by wetng, whic isin tan obsested by another page A rellection atthe mercy of ts elects “What the writer has to show inet himsl, bt the word hat deste and narrate him, Shaw and lit of one same or, one amelie “Stl thls ambiguous he sid" an shocked. Are you doing t on purpose “More thas once, when I lked tom or read is, semed to phmnge into an immemorial past where my own past struggled. "have always now that his words aro mine, but so deeply snchored in memory that tok contemporary oie fo give them ack me, "very bodk i outside tine," sa “The wl ies to brag etn his century. Ihe suceoeds, is ook i good: fhe fas, be ‘flrs his reader nothing but indent pgs.” “Hearing you, one weal think he wat & hor.” “A man of fh and blood: yes, of my flesh and my Blood. A foreigner who has vealed my own fzeignaess by opening ee © ysl“We sai: ‘The writer isthe foreigner par exellence, Deno domi everyhore, he taker eigen the book, fom which the word wil evc him, Every new bok i his temporary satan. “eternal pari” “she owt "Yes. Why do you st” “1s not peel. When ove sys foreign, ene tink Jew “A primlive rection. Uaealhy. With tape cntequences. "Nobody isbom foreigner. You become oe by desing youre “Wha would want to become one?” “The Jow fst of al for e sth hope sad wesrng sy of « ‘book be can never tahoe. You and me net, aving made othe Inflate space ofthis boo, the infite book a ur questions. “All thre of us have these ben back.” “Hs behavior was vometines so bizare tha upset his closest ends He woul, fr instance, burst out Iughing inthe mile os serous dscusion,dumbouaing his nteloatr, who would eke ‘is sudden mirth a ip and blush. But there was no aabesive- ‘es o jst «momentarily unbeded ned to share hit muse ‘meat, Iewat the moment he would pik tell fanny sary eng his steno o enter ite he ge, “He sade distrted people who cold not lug his wat a toudhtone fr hi, “You have sald the sme thing “Racism distressed him. No doubt esse he had ben one of ‘seins himself. He ele asm the vor frat, the end of ‘mankind. He had, however, his personal explanation, He ad ac Its were people who refused their difernces, but acd on this postin only with regard to others. They were people mobied in their ewor by a same pa, a sae religion, an Rent image of ‘hemsehves, toi country and the wel, a if he would ist the soul vibrated to only one single sound, a if the ind ould get cited only coc “For the base cai is tho man who refutes himself a he i Hog oneself means being tle. Geng ated to this wide Growing, working wits o's tral contaditions, ‘Ts notte het He aL To explore dis our a. The siete can never bei the Jom fr being capable of selection nbs teeth, fr aposuophizing the unvere withthe authority of people driven and impasoned by an undhlabe conviction ce oat of ‘hel resistance against all afreedmuownes” “A carious man, your fend. An og.” “Ate »Pages from the Exhumed Book, I ‘Teale plc: to atom og nae hel“ ot Hak of ab, bat fi plat fewer: Ho cold th fine ep ones by Hs om aro the nae? ‘Noting Nothing Strength af vxblr: ind ‘oct ws fomyman, Mand the bask the ee Detemiethe undeeninble. F the abe "vine sc, stil sod ore Ek erly the ne compete Wb evermore uly Salary of woud nd wound, hand sig Id Dont op the eros ett the eget nase he it on irene, gb oe ao. asis ene of epost al he sharper com sting hn beyond ol crmiment the oro Ione, apinet he har tha ost "The bok of min a nk i ar," bd ad od what the bok oe wre uly he bar te wel ‘nem Me sel der copie su ‘tet othe wile, bt fie, thet ‘The fok are pra oly «ook nin No rem a ene pat Sone ‘Peles. The duty path thon len {fel pt hated by ys cn ating he eran opin snd boule ‘heli memory oh dnt bead ee, ‘sald "Thought covers, Man es, Were ow ‘Come eu of hg hag sheds ht on hem, 6 You le down, Down, You donot realize yu are dstppearing 1 was to be expected, Shall Lada it? 1 as tken by surprise 1 thought "Not this en.” ‘There wa aleady, ofcourse, the amp to upet me. There wes, love all this roud tk Stand up sralght,"T hep repeating to mysol. Then ave up in espe I Tew for sare that I wold oot beable to do eating boat ‘Bot am Teta now that am the ants question? At east, st tis begining ofa confesonT have alas ut off without know ‘ag why ‘As ferthe hum, tou hve Furised the tile fr these con dered pages, which Theve neverthdess deeded to submit othe ‘hance renders curly, ‘There i no room here fr imagination, Only fr cated atton- tion, dligentobseraton, fr biter sdknowladenent ofthe dark ‘nd of day of if. A blanco shee wonder o disappointment Every moming, I say to myself 2 waking: "Do at give any cred your thinking, Observe and ake note ‘And I tae everything that comer—or hides—back to things seen Rigor. (ut of lines o loss of interest, donot always take note 1 snus lear to wit words gorped with lene Ts not every book the dl or tg sry of bok let? ”A game, sorely. Have T ut at tes forgotten who Fam and where? ‘Teome fom anther county. This abou why. remember, though, that even when Ive ia the country of ty chico T used to have ela that came from elsewhere, nother cy, another eoatinest, without being able o tll which ‘Not knowing where you eame fom islet tstamoxot to ad iting that you come fan nowhere, But that aly The my tongue acted a Tam tasturn Now tat T have akon a certain distance form my le, T wonder if my predecton fr silence did not grow out of alys lg alt fel [wa frm someplace Even before Tknew the desert, Thnew twas my wniverse, Only snd can acompany a mute word ll the way tothe boron “To wat on san, fo listen to vce rom beyood tel mts shelshed, Vote af alent wind or lal, this voce holds is own. ‘What thers wll ack or eu ou. Word Som the bottomless Aeep, of which you are but the uaintligle nie, the lod or ‘aaule preseoce Ewe newded an image fr Nothingness, stad woul supply ast af our es. Deer of or deny Foran uprooted man, tee ar sleents of landicope that has ‘bold on in Anonytaus stones, bulngs sng to the glory of anonymity. tis where I walk nsec of tne before my ps. reading tin every wound reveled by the hick, raced walls. Your tne, ‘ged by coment and courte, recognise mei spite you. For ike me, they are act fom here ead remember oly the dente, humid night fom which they wore erated have vd on displacement ike «opti o interes, having Inherited hostile el for my fears. Shall ad tha, forall is host, was peeps my only aa? Boing a stranger, only «sange world could be my own ‘The phrase setting dun bat mo meaning fr me When T hear i my immediate reaction io avid taking itn, +f 1¢ wore a phse of some barbers langage of which I sew only the defects. But then I pull mye togethr and hide my tou be. Osce more, I pay the sume ‘When I fun intb a fend inthe toe o in caf, I tend to state this event wot chance, kt othe ly Intervention of ‘Soperateral power that mtkes me eacomfortble ad specclees. “And how coud # be there? Tn an asbleary pices pice no place—to come art & erin who knows prety well nd reminds you) tht he has at Jet his ty, and whose falar presence make you ele tht ll, the odds were fo thi open, with both of you vag inthe sume pat of town and fequentng the tame pact atthe stne ‘har, i enough to para you wh tr, So eres he gap a time sod space or, she, the radial change of etaaion, and 0 intolerable to the mind, the saddenbevelderment ‘Perhap we are never solely wher we are? In the desert, there are no avemvs, no boulevards, dead ead, street, There ae here and there, prt foepints, quel ep ‘ut and bed (Coad have imagined that | ight pass without transit from the reat of Nothing to the sion of Al fom the nothing of a Area tothe alot al of everyday moder rom al a hort to almot nothing, without doing mytlf arn? That I onl get of seottee? compared it to che pssge fom dy tonight, vo flr to ws that tarouses no wonder. And yet, who could dave pretend nat 0 have seen how, like a plasble ds, tho ett makes ur dio vith the world stats the Boron with ovr mingled blood? The Seting mn bar ot “The universe grows light and dark right under ou eye, Evil erdes emptiness, nthinges, the vol. Shall we eoncade hat they have bled inva? ‘Between what was and what wile, there ithe vibrant wp of ‘Scream of man of Co, 29 matter Scream of betrayed shy aad a raised world,Gould tbe that there sony oe desert, the one where God ‘ntrosted man to man, where the Book opened tothe book? Go's absence ithe ini void hat old up the werd Unexeeptomabe Nathingnese. ‘The name is written in sand. Sand readin the name fe and death clin one and the te breath ‘The sul spare ke the it wel {ts tothe transparency ofa pulverized universe tha the desert comes the variety feelers So adventurous, the dreams of the itr. Suchalikenes, the ominously neat image of wit, ofr, only the scret obec dese, A ook enough to score the fave, 4 iamood pot, « stnoth hs suf,” sd 2 age “a the book fife and death, the vague space of happines and ‘misery lies between the words, which late to tae reading "Words expos only ther sold,” thi sage ao sid, ‘we can think the nvistble ely a vistas, but we can grap ‘tin ts complex relation to the vibe ‘Tose against sight “in your eye,” «sage sid to his dsp, “I see on age of ysl that retures both fur to aothingnee And the disciples: “Could dem confine our ingest that oi?” ‘And the sage replied: "Tht point wat abo once the tage hich God veognized Himtl, “Hebrew turned itn «vowel “0 sna” (One dy, the pint ctne to a fll sop jut before the lat word ofthe boak, puto an end realing ‘And Go fined within Co, A age si: "The wor sini, alls wo st tender tthe ee, fills ous o mak readable (he unreadable Book of God "Tt was High Plae athe beat of nothingness, shee the san o longer shone, where the stars had drowned “Tt now the same of @ mythic pice, unpro- sounoerle because ts ters all med. “We lai lege to th cade of Abence, caught fn the Eames devouring, and have, since, writen our books with ts dast migld wid our brothers! thos,” sald the disciples of this se sage ‘A the Mase, have tend, understod that here was pa inthe ery word In every word of slide there isthe sole of ‘word uneprend Day alter Day, Night alter Nigh 1 not the writen word tht eres u,b the word ered within the word “The bookallw us tore both hese eres Your absence needed a fae; and thi fice, mast holy at. Lover your lis. Now you se oly yoursl, and what you see tea sandy desert with «milan gral of het,Walk on youself within yourself From tine to time, lft your ‘yet to make sae the shy ha nt abandoned you Your city ia minge. Inthe eyes ofthe averse, the eth « Jost itd with wings oo fail to df theusknown ll by le Walk om tis planet 50 malleable that « mere nothing makes t tua ‘Where are you? Caught inthe tap ofthe ea nd the waliely Searching fr the way ot Already night ‘ills of your ty pusctare, a hit hour, by light om nse. Inhabited by mystery Inthe moring, sal walls, bose ‘The balding eld or recent, deeept or sumptuous, charming ‘or aropnt as people ae with ooe another You valk. The city opens to let you pas and closes up behind oo. What chimera ae yoo parsing? What extravagant dees? ‘What you expect ha alvays in in wal for you. Dil you know ‘hs? Wil you tr Teor right? Are you sure? Hence, probably the vague sad anacus lok you re std to dave ‘And your sil that is but a lingering grimace, a wince, an el cxqentexpreson of he encety yon ty to mak ‘Behind the walls you gaze there are people who sso hope or perhaps, fir having tbo son blleved in their Iscky sts, have st hope. we at lost new what expat fom «fur which, before beng our, is everybody's indscrimitly, swe rine soner or Iter A future we defend atabboray, each ins ova way, Man hs eon pal nthe coin of worl be wil never muster, Justa he is master of body that wil says enspe hin. And of ‘0 ungrapable sol ‘Thinking cuts he of rom hielo thet he coud thnks the edge. For what thinking other hen cting hal, dotng them at one undoes a bond too many, jot atthe split second ‘een tur its ck on eternity. Kaowledge comes a the price such planer. ther our vital fres? All retin is vin conquest of pes ‘The highest mounts are within us Displacement, or st chance? No daub, fr tote who know that Keowlege, our prestipions prop, mars pride and gory, sas Indlrou asta in storm. Thinking i tured toward the fe, But whet i this future, ie the pas, bly ancpte ws Yes, what fe were defintely (he creates af this ture hat hep panting ad aly ple os tovard and whose al or merit ts tat we sal never know tows art you are madly in love wih. “No thoughts without deste, “Let the river have room enough to water our land, and the ‘vllow, sun enough tots ou wo” tle gil sang in the ‘Where ou paths cross, our wings gow intinate, "What sepantes us” wrote sgn walls, thors howptable Inside, outside people wed Inside peol, they bud our bab of ‘ot knowing one another. "The foreigner remain out incr tasty Fraised el, ‘here irom for ourselves only.” ‘This evening, 1am watching with intrest, sympathy, muse- mentor competion the couple or singe ofall age who pas nde ‘my window: Some ae nipatint to get back othe warmth of thei ‘home, othe well eng the happiness lost inthe ftigve, boredom, ‘wore aad disppintnent oftheir y, «day onthe whole ike the day before Others thow an indefiable ar of esi cing ‘has slide beng, without tanton, on thelr on. ‘Their names, engraved on shiny exper plates mailed tothe does of their uldings, prove tht they ext ke gas andthe sun, the ‘moon and «gan of ie, oie an exthworm or wriggling ah, 2Les er eh wal, not re tht pote, bot hae dat die Toa» de ert appease, morn fom tide, we Sire op ut hls. Wop os aed eng To ne hr Decal “od tw esi te othe? Te lg ot om, de ot atom or amen ily xe Fic ofr ree fe wives, wy a, pando cay, hobs pe nen the won be wae oper ton sd meas plc ht, ln eos, male re owen ae foes fsa env do ne whee She pep so pogo nad lag ear pen coopton? Ti nfo pe win swt plc my pa, ot ay tous, bit an exentihome pr nate pce chance re Tae every rit enter orderto te ck iy i nd ne is ogous ety. The alae the new ord bre thc ‘Aagel woken bans, with wns provident int ar tse retro fay and tr igh oa ot fer sng of mand Jah, othe int nd he Seen ‘moment, of eternity and breath, I came to your aid when you fll, sd you av ot Wt we ace ‘No parton betwen Nothing and Nobing oie ely ays ad eige ofNahing regs Yong there ch redtube te npn weve What compel enpn hls way nthe Ba power ‘sn This poe rave ‘ied gow sro oops hiv spe hoping wah expat night vy wh my hdd nes, etm ean wee om tender! eon ep (festa none “hy st yy. Tambo the rend faye, the alt aed oder os ofbelog, where my dream lt me dwn, atthe Border af a ‘evbod exitence with always, the vouble a redatr "Whatever cubes reveals ts, whatver delves and costes ‘nt topped deceiving the book ‘Arar ieaplitering tempt on the wholenes fag te, 1 fn serach on the weakened page ‘And yet night consecrate ts countess stars, andthe page, the word is hump was nota el hump, sy the legend It was the lad hat broke ir back ‘Wandering Jow, whose shaw, stick hand ills om every page of the bale ‘And they punished hin fo being sil alive“Ther ht win he word ‘Wor that her an tang, cont omer aft stangone 7We new that tho swat aight, the spoked Hight of Nothingnest, “Can sentiment be sen? The feng soul makes it visible to others threagh the medium ofthe body that waves and warts ie stengh or elightness— ‘moan or aml. But the sontiment i elles, stration, ree reeiono repret—i ovis “Can a glance be Sen? Yes, naira iin torn seen and reveled to Self by all ses, Buti o> ‘thos nial, perevng in al blag and all things only ther uncertain appearance which refecs thelr ‘coe nf vid tacked wih conteted ages ted fice. The oye dies, not of wha ses, but of wha ‘wil never siz, “Can speech be soe? Ite made vile fs the forms andcapes, cols parades belive ou es, but these, beng esptured only inthe mind image ‘ned, dreamed, thougt only the tise space ‘hey crap, etal ep wt om seeing “Something invisible unwraps ples of ches forus Speaking, writing merely enueraes them in the dak of ight where they are bred, “Can a vice be seca? I not only hear mie, 1 Resounding images of my abience. “Can a face be seen? Perhaps its dhrough ts oi laa sevisblity—dat of God fce—that we ty, ‘ln, to examine ts tat “A tue fice es own alkenes fie of «pee ten shaped absence,” wrote sage. "The necesary word is «word that i arady in: solved—invalvng us thicugh it ove nvelvoment Word of cbjective comply aad convivial,” he sid. Jem. All shader of hope are fund ia Jo- his, bu alo sts hard olitde and undaabe de trem of apace stone, inch dd not sugges the other, a frignraleedy to hinself nd eters “Hence tld me: The question I ask myself eery day ie: What ‘a foreigner? How can we be foreig tan fr ourselves, and not tocthers? How can we haves mume, a fice for ober, and not or curses? Who i Jeceiing whom? And wth what undeclared oa "or the foreigner isnot the person who semeditelystrhes 1s a foreigner, bet the one who revolts rent nt being taken forthe footer bei in his own ever. "EU have avays kept my dace fem communities, cole » Lives, esoitons, groupings, groups aad grouple itis beease now deep dowa that I mst honor th foreigner within me, that. ly hans to him could I hope tobe myself ad recognized as nh “"confontation of two poses, the T challenges above all er ‘And ho eed “Oa, wea somene Ihave barely met tals to me ovt of poltenese or crt, Iam supelsod by his inexp- ‘able fury to tall to me arf he were aking to himself vere addenly he the word of rth being unique, # dsl, hence nd vival. sal tru dialog but the movla monologue of two being, tebutres of one another?” Poor, th minaret. The maj aways ends up forming the cont of he well to-do, ‘Steagh versus wealnet. Aint sands alone, Arges todas i sobtode “How did your fitendship come abet Thats lng or” “Did you wre thin” He bat told me be bas some ete fom me “ser Well, stcame ot of my rowgikeret in his work, out of my rowing dstence fom myself the mor Iread hi, an inevitable fonsequence of getting cow thin. Repeating his gestures, bit ‘ron akng up hi fantasies, overoning his diapointments. Tneaded to hes hi, flow hs glanings and wanderings, bis every step and, to this purpore, ancl my hfe with single stroke, Listening requled tht 1 abandon myself fr hin.” "Renouneeyouse™ hat fining of boda eal, A reaching for Nothingness.” “Inorder to dsove ito him and Sapper forever?” n“To bet on Nothingness. To be Sally nobody. To regain the boginng which sche void. To strove rom tro "Nothing isthe key I opens the unknow, ‘0 nothing older than the #8 “Bich of asked. Was his lnfuence on you 3 rich i rewon, 40 promising of ‘sul, so pregnant that you bad to undergo al the way belo you ould gt fe of t? "Eimpy It the deep inorder to feed emptine "Its mo so much ameter of ieace aso complicy Apt. "What is writing but trading, in death, a word Saved fom the flames for ah, iceadary word? ‘fre made, fra fre making of with the fame. “A fre low on hegre, forthe bounding feo the hy. “A hve fre, fora Bre that enslave” “The history of re?” “Ow itor. Within the thing you imitate the oimitable keep snatch indigo tihng He sald "sa union but the communion of wo wits nd of her vases? The voi is the reaty of Nothing, whereas I ‘ever more tana blrred fue ofthe unthekabl Nebody cold tl them apart And he added: “Desperate the ever of the sage who sees only Nothing in Al, ana Allin Noting "And the sage wept.” “He bad a knack for dsoncetng his intezacntor. One ater oon whea we were walking together, he told me: “IF make an ‘ppaintment with someone, I usally let him cone the place be se Im avs al tole hin ito ero. What aid the song ty, or eotey? "Gling my adres i nother problem, a “Rn the phone book Ta “With ny nme aad number: Butar they rely mine? We all teow on sth cly by ume. Am ral the pro 0 whom ty her me bas pasted oxstee? rca dot te utenti of be rumen at roves tho ig ely fy eg may i a wll ak mel Who {spon hiding oder» le ane? Uae the mre He Codie copy ide nt barigtneans ony mang omit thers et rere “She quenion, owever,remoe How cone be one a sone of cet name? me foreigner is perhaps a man wthout known identity whose sane we beep oki "Could Ibe ta Nothing? The peso Noting ter vat exits s more whats Boog than wha ready edad. "We accept the worlds thas boon soca. Thi Acceptance ba ber fed om Se not Be etd wor icwed tat eepcesthgand malaga tou “A relatives 3 te pang is ory The om ‘ete of hing, bg sod wivone ried tour death he rome ts ot pat fr iia doraton “SSuviaOweliringe Alli adit erect.” ‘Nohody wt for the fregner. The foreigner is ‘the only coe who Keep wating “What we mort remember of his npproah > foreigners is tht propery speaking there ae pachap 0 foreaes. "Being a forelgers foreigner mes, a the sae ine, beng steange othe othe’ srangenes. “espe for hit pei imple that he return show the same rcogaltion of ours, "Atte ay bea ranger to anther te, but joint to nee the foe. "A person knows he ie foreigner fe i fscnated bythe One, athe unigue, the din: he accepts and culkates hi diference and thus prepares hinsel—aad utr the advent of the I. “The T's ot the Mf. The is th gaa: the Me, seed earth “This ibe sé ‘bow Tse the Tand the Me. "What comes ney into the word perhaps the I. What fs feos tho oct ofthis event, the Me “Bat the earth san ey and the wala ether” “The ake is man forging his destiny, ely, wih is ova hand, ‘when hs very eedom s periiallybegradend Can we make the foreigner deny hse, can we yoke hi to «discipline which, stressing ie resemblance to oer, would ead ‘o pathetic selfdenil? We cold not elp, at best, condemning him inthe name of his very freignens, in consequence of thi Imprecie, impudent, uawolable ame he dims, the name in he rane of which he praeted “The foreigner bars wines tothe precrovmes of king rt, rooted a he ss th ungrateful wl of his arity fre all lands haunt che dear of is nd all bier ace win is sy, ‘Chosen fo feof placement, Josh bat unable—or un- wiling—to admit, he aceps himself in is dificult existence, Frmising that his deus make him who he i His uncond tinal sree ives se oa autonomous eoudton afexe, which ‘be wl nt and remain thal Tt gies us a glinpee of «I's proect to build vp belt in Inf ned, hs solidarity with oes and the word "En ian exellent schol of brotherhood. The faeigner, ie a stadt. “OFall the bonds broken, tbe the one tht breaks and perpet- utes the bond. What tho frsgner were the provident bond 2 quartered horizon wesves and compost “fw cease tobe reeogiable to al, doe the not ply that we have nour stud aken the precaution of hang a recy ‘ble face that nobedy down here Elst ecognize at dangeroily teeta Pages from the Exhumed Book, I abe to sng wal at erdaded in, the Jew lead red mene bh rt gain ak equa dam sage ale ae “STi ihe quai of he Ser wok hci oo For besay, 2 erat tines: Oguton.Nady sous so much distrust a freigaer The musfost luck af understanding shown by the honorable etizens of his host ‘ountry, their egos with is someties tags consequences, qtr {Grim oe a motasman of buman salary, he ad. ‘Aud ede “The san whose hen8 you bostat to shake pays the rie ofthis delay. "The man whose hand you do aot shake pays the price ofthis “The pie i, mort ofthe ime, enestat “The pie of en anpurdoable sin of od.” ‘Ae the sage recalled that when God vate to put aside His Book, ove of singers et aught tween two pages. Freed to reopen i to fee His baad, He ru the sentence oo which His ‘dex ager rested and carved tin oxt memory ‘Aud all the dips remembered: "Yu wl forever write on ‘ho pan of him who as wt, and you wil read your pain in that ofthe bok.” “The tre sn Bloom, For the peble, no flowering. we could think raarparency we oul think God ‘We ve on writing and ie of erie,‘Notch. Cold orpeter’ nick be enough to save the breed ‘wading fom beng botced? ‘le in Gods memory, and the world tmbles into the vid. Oblivion. "The bepaning was perhaps God's ardent deve Sirs besaning “Pog of selFindulence,” he sid ‘Object are to thought what wer arto the be, sa ied and its honey. "A, who could conte of ought fn the process of thinking rather than where st allows Hel to be thought?” he sid “And sed: “What we sll Though i only the sll prt tht i surzenders to, and with which ‘we bull our whol ie and, sometimes, car work ‘What thinks when we this i fd fr thought ‘Thinking is eperiene, experience of thought, bat sho thought of experience ut your thought nto action, Pledge it oli 1 think, am ceed by hiking. Yet it my creation as much at Ta desnton. 1 thoaght bens responsiblity, "Love motte gf” sida sage, “terest tr ithe.” “And he aed “Any love besa by being pine syaptor ofthe interest that rn hugh a toward other * "Yet das cting fram intrest not mean ctng sins over “Thea what Is lve! Ho, ah ow, can we love only” “Our love goes out ovard others,” be was tld Toes ther va backto ourtlen “The two rsd ate pehaps one” ‘And the sage id "hmbialence of love, source of Duman omen.” ‘he question Ks In what seve am another's keeper? And, fst, am 7? 1 reed Cai's words “Am I my brothers keer?” o mean: “Am 1, propeotor af thi land Ihave cuthstedin the ses fy brow, respaible for Ab, the nomad wh sas chosen «feof wandering tnd renounced ently goods” ‘What Cain's “Ar I my brother hepa” wa only msn to Aeay God's altenton 10 the tern cone pitg setement ‘gost roman? ‘Cen Ibo beld respons for anther man's cholo? Lean at best cept it without judging, ut ea in 0 ease renounce my own Cais’ pt to God is porches, that of Abel, & por man's clierng “Toler You, with this portion ofthe ft of my aber. ll am," Cain might have si to God, And Abn "Lord, seep nto Yours ‘he Nothing am. ‘Between All nd Nothing, there ithe rata et of a murder God mnathenatzed Cala fr having dazed, a Hl ame, deal @ rota bow to his brother ‘And Cain understood that Al an Nothing ae but the two poles human indigene and divine ijt. Ina pani, Cain sought thereter i fae Cain, “Here another question that in Can Ibe the keeper of beings oF things Ua ented before me, sovereign in themaeves, wih »ted at site ost hel ese putin od dso ming web Ta orp, tyr nh Ds ho of sng i eae ea on beth rfc tr me ent sun em ean ny ay sae iio pu! st lw eo mele eee oe ‘ovo bd mpi fe pg i ‘keness of the face I attribute to him? o Tl oul se is ee at et an mi le ‘he oe ht hace fhm boon feds fen beset yep Tr dred ol ee compound sign cnt ede te Ss Novet a, “Its tne to bring up God's responsi toward is Creaton.” x sage sa to his disciples. "Why Should Hebe the only oe to exape His tie. "He isthe only one note know they replied “Has He no, since He withdrew fom the univer, ee infinite Obivion?™ “Ad these si: "God the olde of Hin who | the only One tobe in what ence ws And added: "What endures i powers before what erombles.” My rsponsty toward the word bios withthe word Tm responsible forthe absence of worl roms which the wold mens “The universe and my neighbor fst fll mean absence to me “They are thelr abrence, whic ts ny tak to with nd though ther, t allow them to be, Temi los my role—respatble for the etal of word, Jor cncsvble AIL Bot how cal The, wtboat fist shouering ‘ny portion of responaily fo th vile Nothing thst underpins the logibity of AIP Absence being to stat with, nly a fare of Pftnenoe i pertent ack, There, with ep to anotber 1 cai a Bat be bel respooble fr alak hati itolrable tows bot lacks an nage of poverty, esponsbty covers only what {he other lc, orbas bee aking Yam, then, response for bi preety for wit tot, and never bas bee, Bis, but i no way fer what belongs to him, for his riche. "Theugh my responaity nigh be wale, nevertheless is iin wha, wih my meas, Yam able Yo do fo others, ‘hort fn wha can pve. ‘hal never be responsible fr Gad, Who possesses everything (onthe contrary, God is sponsible for m, who poses nothing ‘We ame what alrndy hat aiden nae. We give « name to be able to ame i, ame to sare “The hidden mame she only on. If mst remain unknown to remain unique, not uapronounoebl, but never pronounce, {one could be divided, woul no longer be one. Ineficeable nate of eternal eicement “Tobe myn dette mgy meant i om be bt inom? Node he Rw, heel tikes “put wo aro we cored he ie image dette oth, en oe sna” “Reems ina wen, Fort encunges he coher so eer wow he poting, he Neshing at i whinge, i th ales er the menos te co he ger The in 1 «“These i no history ofthe apcken ward, but thor ssn nal terablehistary of sence. Th Word alls it over and over” "We know of slleace only what wads can tel us. Whether you ke ite net, we aif nly the wo” When you read txt lon, do you nt ear your vole? The history of lence i tet. Listening slleace, «book “The moment sets. Duration spoken, Duration absence, andthe moment, the marked ace fan abieace unmasked tll. “Spooth is perp bat «tuccenbn of tps echoing down the nthe bepaning was the bok tits Bank begining “Responsible for erating Create, forthe rein ve within reading, the word hushed amid dilosed words, fr the sence, ‘ral, of trace dfiguted by a tovand acs, the sece ofthe old at the heart of raat Totaly?” “For thi silence soaitzed by rds we must snswer. Responsible even before we can efbcively beso surety andsaan of what sil to be brn, as responsibilty routed that ft fel we enowe for i.” “Response for our espoesbuy tard ater and the word?” “Responsible for thelr fiture, which ts bat the ture of our responsi ont” What comes to ight salon tothe igh sel 18 comes, a ft heared glimmer atracted by intense light a an orphan is by the ‘immense lowe ofan unknown mother whom he wl, insect with bburmed wings, reo a deat. So aysterious the Blackened page ‘hat bars thot stoke, “A plunge into stpor, this nothingness. “The oregner she who comes ‘He aways te one t come. “Tereveribl st ay ofthe sun. Seen by non. “Day drowns it Night dente “lived fr one shart mament onset “Yet the sky owen is brighten,” e td A sage tod: “A bith ison fans to lence; death, Solem subison “The pol ofthe foreigner you've daubed seams, athe vary Jest, questionable “Most we be the foreigcr you deseibe to hast this high the ‘atered banner of eur respnsblty toward men andthe world? Must we carry i far sto ave to fallow every ove of ts meas der, the better wo sbulder WP “sts oa primordial codon? “seems to mei is cbvious—that a foreigner can never com anit wih the landscape bee i eyes othe people sound Nim tthe same degre a the etaen ofthe comity who ba for ‘sertns had ists there. Land ofcldbood oath, of marty ‘hele old age. Land of dea or wound, Never nd of obvi.” *° “1 indepen to bea native to ove a phe? “But this aot the question. “The dance that separter ux om the feigner is the very sae that separates us rom orl. ur responilty toward istherefore bette oe we have tomrd ounces” “Aad be?” “The sme a ous.” “One evening, when we bad practicly nothing to sy to one ther, bd perhaps only this sohing to ny, be potted at the freplace, at pieces of «torn notebook pled underesth vo big Jog) Knling-it wa ill—for the fire he woul ight sf diner. He quoted frm memory thi sentmce ofa sge: We cousin 0 ‘ur oteboks the best ce the wort af «fe. We only prolong a Soy of words’ He distrusted wads that survive words, fearing {bar ovenge “They we «litle Ie «loved one whom we have feplaced he sl. And ade ina barely audible marmur:‘Mer- ‘ese, the vengeance of word. fad he not once wen: "We lave very ite to sy, but omy ‘tye need many words?” Victorious sence, The sorced felis of Towght tote foward the Wat. “Ab what sudden cold mahos the sou shiver. "The burning ofthe ook ome before the ow, Waking echoes waking. “Daath responds death” “beloaging othe book” mil sage, mea a legac o Noting Do met mak anol of One des ot are thevoid™ “hod he add: “Every word, vast and dsolite pee the vacant et or nas sadnexpect nothing beoase what I expect is only what have alvays expected,” be alo (Ged or ba ack of book avo a memory of the book becuse alba still remembers me,"e ad ‘The Jw has chose tobe the boas unconditional Aesoder and charter witness Seed and ates Death means groth "Does he ive in Fai?” “es Se Bh arondatement. Why do you mh?" Lecco hi, He was walking toward us. About to eos the boulevard. We ‘were siting 2 able outside the Brae Lipp, eay wet. Did ‘hemo tun for the longest tine on the opposite sdevale, io bie, acting us, staring tthe sere a fe sw ifr the Best ‘ie i i i? Well well, hes waving at you. Away for in ip ava then without remorse, Respond. Hur, becuse hei alesdy walking say. Hes tring let toward Saint German-dv re, “Wht cas ane do for «maa who doesnot Know where he ‘who e's, and where he sping?” “What ea Td for you? Or you for me? “Da yo know tis legend? "Ago bad searched al if for a convincing image to rep: “He suggested this cps a pont nthe center ofa hypo ‘etal ale, And tld theme ths point avare that bol op fhe universe?” ‘0 void honeyeombed with Nothingness. « A stranger, for having been the object of hs own reading nly, and for avs, in is solitude, reading Himself in the words he ris. Persative prophesies ofthe peo "Branchag. The bod a sanctuary of oes he ld ‘The book a alien th words hat wate 8 ‘nn tothe sik of alk sting his tral. “And yet the book i within man, an the han hie hen (nthe st, ky sto where the moment wits in chal a mere as enough o wipe vt aH. "To the moment, «baal of ie o eteraty, Hs enviable grad san ‘With the voids, winner. (youth and maturity of and death Daven dower and bouquet ony: “Do you owe your stangenest to your feo your Aesth the book?” : We deo he books ent, near its ast words "We have no age un we ait up. We ean ive within ie nd without Tele the moment, Thich ves an idee etry. Like, Tam aot ‘planed down vem» entity, being ba prect for times to come, a figure of the tre.” ae When the fotare is dater thn aight, everybody understands why fm sch aoxumuation of dhadow ‘0 light wl ever surge forth.He bas jst tuned eveny-fve Pari slips under hi et. Precoiou sexton of dath Cold eden thecal By dy, be flows he shadow, by night, ls shading ay. “Yo cll tomy scl The pla of my soli your el,” a a see “wil lead you upto the border. There we wil rt.” thi sage seo ad. ‘And he ade "Where i the border, © Stranger, nls tthe nd of oursehes?” ean “Yesterdays pin the fe.” He aid “Tomorrow's hand.” ‘So many wrinkles bespater my ie. Already, 30 not regain myell Pages from the Exhumed Book, III Who scope me my wines, but wh the, sat by et1 ead what have been. You read what sal become. “We lacked a witness fr oar morning reeion, and twas the oe God counted on” wrote a sae. [With allt have pt down on paper, wht ik me is ws have not bee able to formula, Aether undlosed things were all. Thad to espres. “The age watcher hit death approsch and with, intsgued by ts ead movereat, Wave camed by both wave and ses Sometines Tse in the word eience only ele, the vld It np he approach hi oi raga he void fal existence,” he sid Sober, the g's words “To carve my ita on carves word, with he grin. very moment, felled tee Lifes doled ot in lies of moarsagand celebration; eat, in log 0 ep wer, ‘Even in the sty sence of nd, there thought s‘Two sages argoed. The fit id "i dining the univers, do we not retak God? “Divine ban the weld "Our relation to God is peeps aly an unequal elation ameog thous.” "The second ni: "What do you make of the eat?” ‘The ft served “Ahearn be bartered agin sherk” ‘The soond went ex “And the woul” [And the Bt id “Have you never knows slide?” "1 most eve you etn,” d&g tis young dpe, “What time are you referring to?” eked one of them “The tme of ewe,” replied the sage. “ls Ghere «nef separon and ine or reunion?” asked seother dil, “Whit answer do you suggest to your question?” sald the sage. “Toe asked you," ad the dsp. “Losk, T must eave you now, and don't seem evento ave stepped throw your dor.” ‘And he aed "Your question was aresed to yourself bu you could not ind the aniwer. You waited fri to come fra your tacher 0 ou euldatbate toh The absence of witness tonight has made cach of us the wit- nest of omen absent” rowing that they are often fatal, we kop eat the word that tr ‘Ths, all aval of pain she slence of word. ‘To wit, to weeds sence. ‘There are no words fo feel ‘Over the fre, Jor hae the wvenage of veo“Do not make the foreigner, tat Jow, a paving vet but a honored on, For be Bas vay been the forte guest ofthe Book said sage. “Quoting the Book, the Jew quotes ims isa Jom then nothing bat quotations from the Book?" “The Jw dee not quote the Book, Hei quoted byt “Gaels a roder, the Jo, isa wanderer, vented i his ight Lyrlove ofthe Book a which the forte has recognized hinselt Displacement i ais very sentence. Word by word, ou roads se tasted, In oor timid steps, we rad ourselves. Whit une aon isin wat and guides ws? “The Book spread throughout the world only because It was commented on In varlour ways, OF dae readin, shared or chal leaged ltr by the ver poole so pasionat about its pages tht they had to counter them with thelr orn—beok of prfination, of ‘eneration and inevitable eney—the writer a example, For the ‘oestion i hi IF Cod bal nt writen Hs Book, wold thee be ty writes? A wer writes igi when he vite the mement. And the womeat says remains to be ved nits dsconcertng brevity and rated eter” @“Bren if the wie, at you abealy clan, i freener to ‘thersthough he aim o be their athent poestsn-—thie ds ot ve u the right to egard every foreigner asa writer o Jes ‘This wom to me mise ofthe tee, dangeronsconfion. “To me, a fregner i peron whose origins are in another ‘county, another continent. No mater iis house be nett ne TW shelters someone whe i not rom here.” “The writer isa foreigner bess he Is hs word own pao. ‘The Jw is on Benue, sere this Jewishaes ike ton on, ‘the words ofthe Book are hs” “The Jw belongs to his community, which perhaps makes him ‘a foregie ous, bat in no way to the Jew. “The book answers fr the oak; the writer, or the word hat Inve writen him; and the Jew, for what remains lays tobe read {the Book of Gad and stil tobe wten nthe book of as” “Could it be that tho decisive rou of Gals ox: Isto ie His death” wrote ang, Does th elaaere ot con the Rare?” was the ry ‘Ob erated the word standing wp. On the sth ay, be st down, ntrrptng the course of time,” he said breach made nthe closed universe of Gad aid Hina ‘Avord "Dues the Site contin the ie ofthe ite? he imperect, tht of peretion? “And the ida, the ation af the divine? "Wethink with God, perficton and impettion, Aint od the lied "This thought wes us ts i,” he si Tenible because alent, the Word of Ga s ver beyond wearing, We cannot jg the unjudgesble Perhape even more than oer, the immigrant ur immediate, prompt responsi. Not cal sould we sept hin a he but ao hep im to flours ang us, to enter ino ou an se, fr, fr all agnage isthe true country of the ele. ‘And God suit Ia ter diverted Fm its bed ‘And man sid You wore the arm of exe ‘And the eth sald; The bed means orgeting the ‘An the shy sid: Fer my horizons, no sation, ‘And God aid Is the Bed ey? ‘And man seid: Whew have you forsaken me? Hama: a main ine le main qu exhume, Hu ‘nan: hand brethe exhuning bad. “mid den, sh and pik Mecho mur of young bitch seareing or ber master, Freerng, the tie belore day Like the body, the oul spe inthe sun, ‘Tomorrow, ote sean of Beaty and heath A few sgn that hae, more or Tes, sessed of facement do nt make spate nmpersoulseterty. What image does the smaigrant have of the natives? That of trots who either rept his presace or, with the most sincere fed il urge sn to become like ther, so tht he wil be flly Integrated inthe clit they represent. For the freer the Jem, the writer, he inago of hisAference Wed a postive, in weleme or dreaded separateness ‘hat gives him strength. Avd this holds equally forall merginal persons, creator, artists, dreamer doer dreaming nat mean at ing lie frignr?—acrobats, slepwalkers, adventurer, sage fools, whom society, supposedly fr is wel, condemns out of Senreewee eee’ rat bbl danatieran er acca coated antes Sanaa ie pl tte wg yeni Bie Lme torte piste Ee etn us being himself when a Peed oeety gente Stee Stiegl See Seo tree be ipnoremrennce! Se ee re dtm eee een sae 2a ete Tang ee Ln eee eer eee the one as alone, as absolutely alone. saa ‘ ‘i eel wget the frigners new mame: the foreign 7 a es coer a at a “Of what, then?” ‘was ae omen ee ee _ ST The Allis nonynous Nothing foes Alot of ts anon aiy. {isthe Leper ef the mame, ame lento what has no name “Troubling pretence, the fie of afte absence tl pretence alien to the weld?” “may be presence of frethng not present in the world, aoe sien tat could be mae alien han shsnce? Yet tenes God. “To say Coa it ay His avence, To my Creation i o ty God a Centon, immeasurable a= seace within presence. "Gol ones in God what wil avs ena secret fo ma “Bue perhaps there bas never been any Secret, becuse every thing eet el lone, before or witout oo el. So fet there i Noting and then, the world, an AI come ot of the vl” ‘fo wy ‘Thave ee aeady to sty "Tere i something ven if this omething x Nothing 1 ,aher,& mutter of thinking pre-Nothing, an unthinkable ‘Noting that engenders: Theo Notting” Not Theres 2t any thing” bot nothingaess hat makes possible to say: There i {his taconetvable nothing, Fa, lke Cod, Nothing A tater of tlnkng hati not yt the eniguai ‘nt yet” broke emptiness Of perhaps simply taking te anbigvos “There i Noting! snd only keeping the There. Thar Tere aad then noting “then iy responsbity to There’ ttl. Foy There isthe ‘begining above suri, the representable representation of “There the Est anfewtaion ofan pected, lvisble,oaaeble presence, the blinding rveliton of «fre “There,” of There wil be.” “ifou relation tothe foreigner sw rein tothe wnigae, exces fom the stat norma relation! with being that we anak In ay way imine uniguo;ediferent Kad of being” “Dire within a son-iference tht highlights the deren, “The unique he intimate.” “How ean we ge otitis?” “Relations wih th foreigner cant be supe o“The une smith lit, he dba he omc We must deve te mle hme ne, sac, Tak Ct omar ng adr oe enc ie fr cul ei ch hee te ee snd objet oti Inte ths pes he ‘forever reproduces the circle. mean al weno, pet cle td hr 0th pt bene, by andy wl pied fom spe Saino wie My roman ov er gos ugh he One. ia sep he One aly th See ed nea Sa fw lar Ore aul te reen betsy wad coma ne an dal os ee tr mat be repeal wt revs doe ‘the person for whom we feel responsible, “ "dub Bet alge dt ot eau he ho ta, Wee st tnd peso pre hoes “Opener ion trl ee ‘ees gr ote mang "atti age, spy eed rte” “The man who would deceive willbe the fst to Aocavehimele| “Our relation to otbersstranaucet like water, esi There sno inant bts instance of cea, ‘Tere iso pain bat i pai ofthe worl, Univeral of the sre “Does thinking the word not mea by ad by di- solving nto the thought of the wood?” he ea. ‘And added: "Do we not expres oursve as mach fa kere a fr once” ain anaot be thought ar such. Ian be thought onthe bass cf tthe peron in pein tl, the tle confirming the existence othe. nly proof counts. Only proof hskable But we cannot tel ll oor nlc. “There ea part of sin we bave cored” he id, “that we can Impotence of hot Happiness, jy, miery, melancholy are ony thinkable when cnencingly demonstrated "To thik the manfstatin, and not he thing But how tha something we enna foe except by empathy? al never know your sulxiag. ne you mine. 11 mae myself answerable for you happines or unhappiness, wl thereby socsed in grain, in hnking our hurt ‘Ala, il ot be your happiest unbappiness I sare, bat some happinest or sabappiaess that: beleve or imagine to be ‘ours, ht coremponds to the Kd Thave formed fi “The imaginary says outs thought Lagiation ves nothing ti, but everthing to dear, ‘Ad what f thinking ur dre mctat entering int the dream of our thongs, unrting ts Weird, dial hon? sles dein of el isrbed with the ephem- cra iso man. Let wt imagine chien at a magi iho. [ets imagine = magician so entranced by the wonderin the clildre's eyes that he begins to believe the marvel of his own ‘ming tothe pint of forgetng bisa, of ln shor, taking wind ‘il for gat, so or tat, the ubelevabe for he cel, the umssnstomed for the hit “then there would no lange be dream on ove side snd realty the other, but oly the extmordry, the fbaous, a exper need by dazed children. There woul be hows of oy or momnt- {ng fer, depending on the ceul %What could this magician teach wi? Perhaps he would remiad 1 thet—jost as the blk space between to words makes them readable—the interval Ife maintains between happines ands Iappnes ithe empty space where we ci shit our ide of then ‘Aud what ifthe universe were only the stage Cod needs to put on His dally spectacle? Where, by coxtemplting thet mage, we see and know, even before we experience, god and evi, dsies and bls, hacor and delight, good lack and ba? A srt of dre rehearsal, or preview, tht woul allow ufo tactle them wth fal Inowledge of the its, spectators predisposed to melita ators? Vion of fe before i ved Destiny oo i «ply. Destiny of Gad and man, Played belo (od snd Before man, without them, fo hem, Toles at that noone ha learned, Pages from the Exhumed Book, IV © though, ving ecu sje ode to be cone the ajo of inks ogi ef dan B= eg the racks ofthe eld ea “hedeton of book wd every ota thy Gm, they rumbles male ce ren ang ath ade tl nthe mr fea, M8 we ae ig tron oe prehendg te trveaesomanaton,mgicstOr ‘bl adventure of tout whse dtu we flew. oer thnk what hanes nes In very evmaten, ached hh trp eg ity ts, te af ay ie sodas dy wee note pag een at ies eum a lng Wing See Arcot etuchaover bree ghter nda bing‘The name eicapes rll Ie memary tse ‘We write only the wate page oar fte writes on. ‘Do we aot tend to ere what is usberble even before saying 1, sd then by sing #2 Tis precy this erase tht mits at pu into words what no pas can sprit express. Words of erarure rather ban ‘ase words ‘Beciute we cn never sy more thn the Begining of the ntl erable, the begianing—O fen ingety—of a word that refstes {oe spoken, does noe pea, inode tobe captured sent hac” he ad noted, “eves ths bepaning, ales rice to wound of an snsyable sme ater than name of a ‘taheslibe wound.” No need of sgl phe whe the boat on ie. “To every sheets sounding board” e ad atthe bottom ofthe page, you do aot sgn ts immacclat wit, ‘ut the eration of myriad stars darted fom tery by the moment,” heals sd ‘Ani he eternity of Gd were liked to Hi cing signature? Having a0 name, Cod war anable to slg His work Bot since &rer eeated thing bers is om, everyone of ham qualifes a Heutory ofthe wine ‘eed: “Ifyou pint a ingle lea, you pint the whale treo” “In the begining isthe forbidden “Creation i presumptuous neption and rash denial oft noth- Inguese, te degrading soceptnce and excenve dispersion sel” he bo si ‘He sid: “To the phlonpher I pefr the thinker, aod to the hinkr, the poet.” ‘When I adked him for iets, be cep: “The phoopher 6 bom wth phlorophy, the thinker with ‘Boutt and the poet with the word” "And he added: “Th soot all. The shallow valley of lenguage dreams offallrrown forests the eck, of tot, noodles, crests the ‘ala ef san, ela des, soa al, of rsined boris. “Nearer the sy, the poets’ words.” Dist, the summits of Knowledge. ‘The foreigner seduced by ou language, the alin impaent to speak und write instinctively perceive srg ad peaks and promis themselves to clinb them ane day, inorder to be worthy oe ‘A poem "wha word lve and an do," he had writen. He had alo soted: "The erat isthe bey tothe soul snd poetry, ‘he secret made word.” “The gap between prose and poetry, between rose and rose- bush "he bd ld “is varble ace reserved fr the deepening of ne ad the au love “he book sa promis of wating. The words spoken by the book secompany the vreron his eros ofthe desert. “They re perpetual allinent. “Behind then, etry “Before them, the ditrssng and increasing weakness of the infate” i ‘ very act of poetry i nat of ube reason, Death,” heel,“ perhaps only «hi of gl pal tothe vena sight “Dit of condemned sa. Olas fr departing this “Depaation os momen. Degas of the eer. 0 ven tet to the vid. “Te po dappear.” “My langage my Shean. Hence he country of my language has beceme mine,” be si ‘Aud sled. "To oases share my soul "he fint—he one Leanefom—speaks tome of ny nitive beece, The econd—the one I went fas ven mea bat of med pages rom whi ny word wil dn.” ‘The plac of language nguae Es om hie langage the xs te. ‘We read only or wn reading ‘The book sa "Yu" that temporary makes san “L" Bat the bal ilo romething elie. Ie an Te" that enbrces the Yo, Alslogue being aay in tee votes. At emake level ‘An immobile fame consumes cly sl ‘We think aguat empties appenstance, the aspired word“We think the world a thought ofthe waives, andthe word,» Bought ofthe book” he had writen. ‘othink metamorphosis means thinking the rth, 8 He sad: "Evidence, certainty ca no Inger be approached at sach, Challenging these concepts goer and shad with challeng- ing ourseles, which would be more dal yet “Totaly i tel ea topia At wo chink top inorder ‘think All? What Al were only exces of Nothing? Then, in think ing All would we not merely tak excas, brosched as the ‘ser dimension ofthe Tea, a voll, endless vod, andes ‘Pherable space where Al can be rel? “Thus we are condenied to rea! che deta, never the whole ‘or, rier, to read the whe only Sroogh the go-betven deta, {ville part, prepa but changing, being anf an object of reading "Godin the dtl.” Let uy, fom now om, go toward eth through the pateay ofits Inumerable rappresed truth, the plier of ts thosuad faces torment of thought dazzle tothe ee ‘Cond ibe tt rth in the mstamongoss of objet and i ‘in tum, metamorphosed by, hep alive jst when it risked be- ‘ming pal? The movement ofthe roe along trth fo be ete ‘ally tre by renouncing eternity fom the very tart? ‘Thinking mean destroying. but whose profi? “Thought tae veto, br ium is also a defeat ‘becuse it sony looked in» diverting eae, ‘Destoy the ior. Then, Nothing i m0 longer concave as Nothing, butt uacondonlabrece, an abyss from which day vel sie and withthe univers. The Best word isa word of ‘mourning.Langue i the poets reeponstbty whore I signi, and ano were it sigalfes ony its own significance Intrusion of rating, which thought mus ecosder inorder to face the vcable in ts growing floss Tn the beginning wat the sbeene of Word that Gd, sbeeting ‘Mnself, bequeatod to Notignes, othe wary of Hie sence Buti God's lent word is plowed into Nothingness, could be ha al of language is? ‘The disappointment of Tt and his solders, on raising that the Temple ofthe Fows they had boseged wat empty, and their ange at being duped by thelr enemy were as great a he stor {hey were suddenly plunged nt. ‘That the Gd of royal people could be invsle that this poo- ‘le, intr, coc 0 fervently worship Nothing, made them pro- ‘bundly uneasy “low could the Jews have made Nothing thee gud, their wie vere? And their book, the Book of Nothing? ‘ow could they dare else Nothing to the height of «god snd reduc the world t nothing? For the frst ine, the Romans found themselves cakoating the cccult power of Nothing. They dcovered that the dine bok wat ‘writen on Nothing and ta the words of the book were tying 0 ai, to sy Nothing ‘Could eveking God mean evoking Nothing? Could tiaking, qestloning God ran thinking. questioning Nothing? inthe beginning theres Nothing, there cannot be any begn- ing ofthe world. Tho werd bogins with the begining of the world, which the Begining of bopining, hence never Begun Tse inthis never begun Gat God dwelh? I or relton to the ‘wold irst falls elation, through God, to an expectation, «hope of work pregnant with al poste begining? And it my responsibilty to others not, Sally, the responsibly fora fature of which they are not yet the creat sod tembling besinning? “Te the beginning i resemblance,” he sl n i i i Phantom wanderers, eles, erymen ofall times, who have mach road, Bot under yor loud of mirtune or posed tmnt hope, heat batng nvr wth you sep, retires of an abent wer, wth only this infiite absence to defend you teint the hte presence of others, Tam one of you in my res blot questo the unkown ‘Night otal soon a theo isa trae of tho fist word of the nese toa, death ‘Dt ofthe past thatthe sou ofthe dying mn eters in sie of hs wesknese—strength is» teap—ith one lst breath of fio- a , ‘Ah, how all Ihave boen sbi wrt, ns ysterd’ igh relief now seems leaden and slick ‘So mony books 40 many tiller materpices buried in an ‘unfised book. Perfect, the retemblanc of ting and nothingsisi ei “This eo, whch allow ot plat your om ee you ve tle Bom my tan the Maser ryote a Mater, at ie tin cen th srk” kd the cle “atm Envi othe od” roped he Mater “ay vey thee “doe the il seamed the green expe of won ein, he white pg, sabe sedan AD estes ie The ated mld at be a unter Th fore he it, efor fre “What soa way fl ov lied me? My eso ef ert ry ony ing "terse: th et sao ets bor thee i bration thee aes, thee shlby, hr en SAT Coke” bem "wast cere the vad aod He dhomered Gal ogi or eee”Do ative te ej ven mare os chins to dese you by eltaing ttre ny hind, ay and he hinge hry tbe, you mit ert or whe We never i a the ne moment To fom mre fr tbs bgp swering for what is about to bs ow sa Seer df Nal i elton to the feegmes oon? Teno hwo, rt fa, qton roped rn. 7 “Wiha gee ppd Ina, God eo the Law: said dhe “Th Lf fe wat Law o fr," epithe Mater, Groep. Cat ie bode ou ln bat warmed, "Saree bn that ee eg war Book of aing wis arcs of Thc oth tem oan a nue ie “Col no lge he Book. The Book of God i Te mind wil nvr wat fi fhe ad witen 142 ile t,he at Bas down” Be a * “Burgh ems te “Dea ints pao ie a “ta? To pet hr eee etoen Cetor sn restr be ad veiten The ile” die poral annie ne inns tobe boon” Angel” be i, “ty sow ih, oo, ely srt by hn ly pea hay ale fo Cod Whove King i in the "li than a rutreaf soe, the fir lves them, He eet as “Theta yin. Hu themiron wens sf eater wae “The fee the dal of ought that were wo the domain love” aid, What ak por bewaen writen word werethe wits poe table ce emp). neded Teeter fol? Youlaow sing of yor bt wht was aso tie (eka thbskore abe toe" leas og "maing mare” Bowe eal etc te polece aoe ef lind nt mine for another, not mine either. took rege ina word of ink wth the book or spice, ‘word for auwhere, obscure word of the desert. Tid ot cover myself at ight. 1 dot shelter fom he sus ald naked Where I ame fom no longer bil meaning. ‘Where I wat ging worried 200 Wind, tll you, wie, Ait of sand in the wind (One cannot speak ofthe deers landscape, beans, n site fits variety is abseceoflandsape ‘his absence ves i reality. ‘One cannot speak ofthe devert a «place, bemuse its alo & nope the noo-plae of pace othe place of norlace ‘Ove cannot teat the desta ditance, because 1 both ral tance and fr lacing andar, abselat no2-dstoce ison limits are the four orzo, berg what connocs ond separates ther, Iti sown epeation wher bosomes open space, pening of ple(One cannot teat the devert at emptiness, avid. Neither can ‘one treat it as an end, because ts being. shoud ik ot you more about my end “Since the aeraon we ment a ppt more dh «Weck gp, ‘ave thought mach about hi, “Talo se tol him several tines, but, alas, without won. “Til yagi “need fe hm, nt so much question him ao have he question me, indirectly, by the digestions and rorprng paren: theses thet wll penal rough cnr talk and mene cle rich are they in quests forever conning or bouncing of ne a ober, “Teed ose him to have him in some way, witht sapecting, ‘ave me back to yet “Once when asked hin iPhe was happy he rpled, with his ‘mal humor Alte happiness in the word as come tive with ‘me, but To at ive te the world “vas intrigued to know how aman who fl seanger every where, who publi elaied to belong nowhere, cold have Aly harmoniously spaced out on te Hope of yes, could without eget hol al Knobs to make» ving or sk pong hse ade ot been mitt a young min, inthe res of hose wha loved justice and Hberty and stood up agus the pervading fectaraism, wheter india or oallective? Hale nt inp iar attacked the totarianeegies azeady mumerous on our ‘lvet? Desounced the race and ant-Semitam blooming on fever island of hate eroded hy sally waves? Condemned power where twas used with arbuary seve? Reba ot of rabble, the words Fesendihip, Fraternity, Hospialty? “Pig elle for ih. “War was erasing the world, “People crawled on ter belies, sad voables ofa vulnerable ‘ook thatthe storm had Hwa o pice Ab, sce, poetingstrvtures, Walls «moment, a hae ors century, a bulig that Jats ot fe iceman “Could mourning be mere stabbor thin hope? tad his "Respnabity knows respite. I mts neither Interoption or relation, suite deliy nor pase, becase st be tins where ie pt fr Mead ends only a he tesbol of death, beyond which nothing is pemited 0 sry black of rothingnes, expe vel over our widened eye {touts donot compromise the ay "Wer of day and word of the dark Two tn hs globes have seplaed ur pupils "O ved, bird reser “When I brought up France, whore ttn he had become out floaty to ie Lngunge end extoe, st of «cole deeply con- ‘ered, he merely sl My Brn abblags were ehomage yemn to France. So wil be, no doubt ny it bablings.” And he added sof T give France tho best part of mse my Books. Alas, these ‘books ae in art allen to Bat fm at else part that ebspes 4 there all my desperate owe of "And be added, There is now, once i, the dea of France swe hav had itor to centres and, onthe ober, the France ‘of aa etve minority who enact snd this ies To them, fr ‘ine ca cl sy: Every dy you widen the itch where yu want fothrow the ida you dots, With, youl Bad, you have Baried France” “Did he nt convince me tha we cou forge ou tes only across, cour diferences? The more noticeable te later, the more slid the ‘ond “True, the freigner doc not have» onoply on being dier- ‘nt Reemblance tls perhaps only diference traced fom out {iderences, We ae alle by dist of being dierent, thts, by Accepting or reciprocal diference, wh is evoked by this accep tance Sina, asa i to sa atte ar ofthe sme, distant, eter. ‘Cm closer, sy the foreigner. “Two steps ay, you ar stil too fro. You sl ace met yom ar, nat a“He rometimes liked to shelter beind the venerable Sigure of Moses, rege par excellence, whose fie books have Boome the ‘permanent meeting place ofa new people orm afuving read and ‘ting t ead thee strange wie over he sls utbor of book he i not etd er of oak he wing A sg he ack {dt hisle ‘Mose sth word ected, rocorded and, Oflles af mercy, ‘ossoming onthe page, word thatthe descendants ofthe tree chosen Tribe wil examine til the end of tne. His taneprency is due tothe Bok. What God sid wat tated by the hand of is inspired servant, a hand that was bat vote, vine vote wth legible volume td nections. “fost i the wor caved ito the word; Abram, the word ‘eran Not pasword, but word of passage fom the inaudible to the ase “Ababa the ferymaa, and Moss, the penman. Words be- come pat of stone, and words prcsimed, wrapped in breath.” ‘Vnable to say Tn elther paso fture,Yestrday'fae, most ‘nrecogiable. Tomorow's fic, barely think “Ad the ifiiteof ur Bt eet nar supreme, lst, hour wo wl Bally know what tne has made of “One evening, pling photograph fom his youth out of a raver, be quoted a dialogue betoon sch an his randnther, ‘who wn soning him a petre of very prety wom ‘Gray, who iad? ‘Why, fs me, dating when Tas young “and who ie no? "Ande sald to me "You see, inthis Who i now? es the side of Me “What is fregner? A man who mar you think you are at ome, fe “When I reminded him ofthis estence Thad vain oe of i book, he burst out hisg—a uber forced lh, {admit—and sais That wat joke aed then aided: What docs bing at home ‘ean but pitng the ptr wal that encase us ia the color of our ile ches?” “Tote al of «wade that head changed, had aged. is ‘body wat bes, hit eyes bed lot thir pare He tld me polit blank: The centers the cath, where his teased tn death. Coting eld means, perhaps, leeing every day 1 bifarther over thi aby.” “Leannot stop taking af ay cont vist, ofthe interview he ranted me, He seemed 0 dicoraged, 2 abset. Ho sald that he ‘hd aay, thin he dbstable reogatives, out aps power tslated with corapton. That powe wounded, en morally those ‘ein sed against and dead those who bald i “Duy, at hea was at obetence to power. It was a debt to be honored, x debt to others, personal responsi Al his ‘hei, ho bad made his alo combt the erroneous ies ‘neha of foreigner, thos yngstoreatypes on which mos of ur {ocites continue tobe bared. “A cumerslenterpie, be now adsited. Aol nthe wate. “His pesmi upt me. 1d foreboding that I would not seb gaa, that he had sled decided ott ee me gan “0 madnes, Here T pea of him im the past tens, without being ashamed. “Tam angry with ysl, as Thad vont done harm fom which he would ot rove, “Since then, sence ba fillen wer wo frees who no longer ecognie each eter “This happened centuries ago. Tis happened yesterday.” “You have vay pen of inthe put tense. Did ot all {tt your attention?” “Al ord coming from another must be words ofthe pst.” “Ocal the ftores While lsterng to you Iwas hakig ofthe foreigner’ descendants. What en he expec to leave uf we cn onl bert is singular? %“You cannot rete «worl ov of marginal people.” "What have we inherited rom or teachers but the ite kaow- ‘lac and experince they handed dows, and which we made out Aly bread? “Our nove is no longer tees nor are our experiences. Some of our teachers cpened rads fr us wheat tho fame Une ‘waning that we would Bod ourselves alone. Sometimes «warning nated yt ene tt de ees wih “The singularity of he frtgner ea, inded not be shared. ‘Can share sal « mid an intelligence? “Donet cover your eux. Cutts dalogne The the freigner ‘vl stop being «man without ont. With you, trong tvs, rough ‘or smooth, and ley branches, he wl forma singe ee, solitary snd reborn, "Wha i unigue universal,” "What i the fretener were a tyret the regal! were ‘lodthirsy adnan? Woul you enomurage hin nis arownes, ‘serial Blindness?” "Encounters give pleasure, There cannot be any lasting dialogue without pleasure The mas in power cares nothing bout the pls fro of thers. Hes his own pleasure He therefore the only one enjoy The fireigner owes hie pleasure of being, his 2s fr fe 0 Alogue. I he i oot i dialgue, fhe cannot nitate dslogue, ‘oct eects hn. "Tbe no longer himself fr the ime ofan erasure, i order, at bet to survive among the who have helped hn eembl them ‘This the desperate choice ho must fae. she phmae no longer in ob mo longer ili drama,” he sid Tes the pre hat elimiats his, but ao as in or ‘longer elit In eacing himself. So that we could claim, witout much chance of eror, that inthis no longer we rea the oregne's gle te "Te case f the foreigner presccuples ma he tld me repost ‘edly, ‘not only Beste Ta on, but becase raises by ise all i {he problems invsved in the prin of Uberty, power, duty, Fete and thei dally epson; pela, fst fal, egal ity of men sad, cond, of our Fesansbity tvard them endo shen "tn his wl to ext, th foreigner aches us that there i 10 selenowledige arto por aeacksowedgmest: Only by my = tions can [prove tat I exist. By them T wil be understood, at tacked, jdged. "What thik, sy, dos my sk ad ete responstity. Te reveals who Tam or think ao, fo thitmatier who Tam thought tobe By acknowledug me, ters teach me to know myst for ‘wert donot count les formulated a Fond day, nr do gestres, ‘otal ean pani ee ther enacted "We spontaneously obey ad fallow a one vole ecase we Inow i tbe personal What would we sy ie learned hat fo dexcending Into ourselves t fad our stay voice we meet an ‘enone, the vie of wordi?™ “our coavcion are lows, ilveater fends But, es we know, aoe swallow docs nota summer mabe,” he si, ver ioe, something is bwng bas been indfinably camped, sidialy indent, vg, wf hi Tet were at tines estat follow in he fotrtepe ofthe strangers who bad walked before him. something panel tease, whet the yout endo fis wriaded fie trie to atonuat, ss aemethng alo Bt perhaps th ony my hunch? “Your miety, aber Ard without euse.” =n of appronching death, He quoted: "Bent bow of days “ck env of ight. ‘Buckled, the loop ofthe vod———— You have no resto to expect the worst” es, Ido. Hla eyes flo past, withost fre ‘Gan we tat eyes that mech Byer neither doelve norte. “he ind by contrat, fen taken in bythe mind, And what ts mort bain knowing, feel To the pin tht hang i pepe but an indecent fan” er olen it erin str? “Do gor idea beer) us We live wth then, Thee we rte for thers grants ther a somblance of rath” “Evens we woul have to fnow where the tah i, be ale t recngnant mong al th rath tht come king thet chin. Shy Te provocative, He ads Whea 1 e 1 frow Tam ying, t never ‘Rall Kw fam telling the rth whea I ryt, even when Jam ‘oop convinced. We ean expres ony truth wo bave ade ous ty guestonng, uaderstandiog, Hag them—in shor, we exe ‘res only ut laton tthe.” “More fan rth, our belie, oae gpd ath at take, But what tory do we hve to ence 1? “Divine trath owes i unves tats to Ga. “So God would have eeted everything, inloing Truth. “Paoed wth we wl always bef te inferior potion, de- loping a murky master alive relish. Soh trath of God. Dusky uh of mankind, “Did he not say ‘All uth calengedsuncballengeble, what “He often sid thie, I remember ital” Thon wa you who sad 1 “All dre a ete ts “How can we be tld apr’ son? Are we not one and the se uiterance nening i end?” "Tppore he waned oso hat tut ies with the abso Jat; wate remailg parti, relate "A Tage enough mance Rete feet of Truth, creatures on thelr Ince. “No gatherings around the merely tHe. ‘Only the naked haan Beng ‘6 sicetennac We Bad what tae the way we fd ove” e a ‘sd 10 Sid the tat find death” Can we separate tre sd toh” “Can we separate love end death” He sa“ darks th tet fight? Then ht te dhe truth of iy. Bot mater can be see.” -indig whats tro may mean paving the wake of th, trath persed bythe tue” "the sen abeysrtursto thes “The eu be ints. Beyond, ther i 20, "Docs th Kw its” Ruah her wo lm, it leaves othe tru to define i rom “Pnding what i tr mene moving within uth Empty sce peopled by empty words” eee el the tah, What i te exactly what you a, ut wha yo my tue?” “Strath wl never be tl, only prodsined.” “Ten ther ie a0 word of truth “There ix peas tat f the word” “Finding out what tv," he sid “sometimes cant refsing to jn authority, means demo ‘aig ule whe eolatng What doe the reignes try to male ot understand? Surely that we ur Sater, nat nies, bat acknowledgment alow “gg. sceptng aoreves through ches rWvering candle Bare, Hage bythe nah ihts vn tg here lal he repressed ve ofthe puman beings and things tat were not destined to conart, mi, Hive a moment td die together 7Is dying no, fo ome, caching the end of love? would ket ely him ‘Does he eed help” “Perhaps ket hep i i ode help me “There are not many who ea look themselves in the eye, ques tion themicver thot complacency, elevate thoi particu ties “We work teasing or dieronces instead of showing them of “How abr lye thought I vas ike you.” AS much as Tam lie you. ie he tht ch es?” “We sa tht, in is boots, he nary always aod the word Tw? to signa oh readers bow ch he was oe, even fhe dd not now precisely wt it means tobe Jewish. "ore Sr eter, then, than fr bins. “Ande sed “The Jow ones bis Jewishass to Joao, but Jai docs nt ome to the Jew wo be Judas, "At oor, ower him imperfect dation. “A sags hed wate, “Ulnowing door ot come Belore knowing ‘bt wey Tong alter" “Lcanoot lp elng ni.” “Aid of wha? “Riad simpy, Bat I emember that he accopted the invitation fa an uiversty, “ee wae very fnd of aly and the Taian.” fhe agreed to go toy, he st want to. Ths shou reassure “Not ogethr: “What i wareying you now “The eling he snntines had of solving within hse "A happy dates hess, satsd with the pardon. "A des parte happiness. "The ey of ot Beng anything. The dsp of beng fom now om only ds nothing” “DA he nt one dy write down for me "Nothingnes as cipher, a he universe as numbers. ‘But vst known tht the ier eabundane, ofthe peal of quantity i zea? “Ad eo to one and you got fon mths “Al hove tle phrases haunt my mercy “From time oe, on of them ngs, nT nos ee Yoo mat cet take your Aste om hin.” Can we tur the spring fom the spring, the reco fom the second? "My freodom rest on hi He mast be re am tobe. “Bot hw ea 1 when pend on bi wit ll my sal? “Could that my feedom i oly en etension oh? “Freedom answers to freedom. Dots the foreigner not dete msl in terms of the fregness ofthe eter?” fe sat Creating fn Hr image, Gol erst ou etre. 1k ‘sup tous to resonquer or fice. Fe al love ou neighbor i is bsoce” “Ber book I lento the book generates. This callense defines “Priori romp of language Let us sy tat, ‘as Foreignt hat the retger, the Tass 00 fn Tangage: and the frig, in cltre,” be had wren. ‘And added ths commentary fr me: “To enich this caltore and lngiage with our contbutns, share our ices with the othe. ‘So unprovied ima the hear of word wi “yal remain fw perhaps butte direst fa word In which God lent “the word: Dea?”“Language alls the posblty of langage, jst as each of our thoughts, each of our geore tle dat we ae able o be. Bu there aooter posible beyond the pose? Thats where writers snd thinkers del “Our retin othe language we blog oi our eset con ubuton to the wnfling of a word shaped and reavented by sew. ‘Language testy for the absolute, strinng to become new, sd thus to ure, “To found «community of langue means to found fatherand of ind and hear where the feiger automatically his is plc, the place of honor. Fr taking down bases means ging to meet bins “Thereter, he wil relate to others trough language, to di- cover, slong with his foreganes, the doep sense of hs commit. “Living. respecting + Inguage mean loving, respecting those who spek and wrt “Ae i tadyng the Tall, Rach veered to Greck exper sions, 49 God sometimes cocks oor books the beter to gauge tho ‘oope of His Word “Never wil he an reign ove al of ight” “Race doer ot make the forelger, for omamenble are his ‘brother i oi “Nationality doesnot make the feiner, for innumerable ovo is brothers in exe “Religion dacs aot make the foreigner, fr innumerable ae his ‘rother in peer” “Salary foreimer, wproote vecable. But lot one more word Join him, and the book ha ts choo tobe a book “He mids ‘Language i vr that makes ts banks rtf. But ‘never be excep where I almost no Ieger an” “Ho als ad Not ving the word any Inger meas ether not loving yourself or loving youre so exclusively that you instant stop ving wything ese.” "and when I pressed him for 8 defnton of Eatery, be ax ‘ered Inthe dark wood where we pass one another, faery i rs pepe the npeeepible hum of dev that permeates it ro one fd to the other and makes shiver Beat double Hke asc tee rr by ighsing, his body dex formed by thump, hem load,» sree a burden of exh tnd tone, who she wow td what dos he expat? He sai: Creat Ing and loving make you grow wigs but one day you nice that, hing Bong sace stopped beating ey Ive fled ito a hump you eanao ake of. "A aed: ei ot carious that wings belong o the bck, sf foresight edt fresal our eg thelr nexoabe decline?”Passages from the Exhumed Book, V No wl cater, bute word ance fit fice wh oe "With hs wor, ten on Word fund: Word fees “Though of spre bt slo fae. “Doe he te hv net fet Ba et tuk? ‘We re bors sd gov with his ede fo beni ‘hee ve the ean wee 8 Me ‘he les thee fevers made ey sd san the nag iage of C's deo isl, Compt of Nothing a al cer Nothing Tosgprath eos bee the set is ‘Toapprach he bak bene he po, “Tov rw ht eke or ugh a hay wre“there Gade thoaghe bad, “hr ahem int indent of Ca “tho ld Gol specie The leh te tae wth “The een cctv tcagh the enptins that vena gt And be aed Tea rash my vee Me sp saing the at Mam a soe en he soerigey fon.” What i bas been thought. Only what will be remsns to be booth. ‘Thinking may only be Though sag an ivalntry start, noticable breathroaph int the iat “Then knowiedge would be but a hol within hoe ‘Te sys vertigo fal rebirth [Abid i a symbol. A decoy. An apea. The mark a thought hemmed in by thoughts tht lets os watch ts proses through sce "Takeo. Takeo “The ook is within 1 God thinks Hinself through what s divine, man ean tisk ‘self only though what i human, modeled onthe divine, Bot ‘wim ifthe reiteration of the vie only man's eawing {esr to transcend hintl, hi ony chince of limping Perfection fed approhing #? Then God would zt be the supreme object of desire, bat supreme desir wiht dest. TH expectation at most eral. Could it be that Thovght har oa logic Then we could surye tht there i ealy one and tos peeetion. A royal rou. ‘Now if we know thet tis tthe oe, ts Becanse thought‘ns oud, Iti drawn by what ve to thik; achane thing, an object caught ia the comer af the ee. “Te unthilable nots prio neemosniabe, Language knw and pulls houaht along “Tere is loge ofthe rad which nat amas the oud flag. Every thought ret i log. Alogi of eto. Lagi undermining lope tur within the detour as, within all evidence, there Is nee-evidece that we mast tke to account Defoe we ace ‘Ligh haunted bythe nigh that wl exingush Sere bared within the secret. © sely skin of Knowledge seraped of by ign: "The sllence of thought i perhaps only the thought of lence. And this were the place where mystery has gone to ound? Emus of what lls lent, what is mute? ‘We cannot got ound lence. We can only go through “The mind unable to thik the mind. ‘Does thinking make the best af this prodoal- saace? Thea it would be complacent, would be Just {ave pssliy of hiaking the posse "in thi hypoth, # would have nothing before ‘ebota ad end, woul knw noting but the torment ta death "but fon the contray, the wathought proved the cence of thous” “Doct aot the abunon of God conten His ety? “The Bld af thought would ave no it “The echo ia vlan llr of inte to endow the ined with Sound, to lat us har, for a moment, that escapes eye and er 6 ‘What the absence af God wore aly His inst to be God, being God only at hs plo? ‘Hold, by the ame token, allow us tbe, in His mane, es wresting wih the Hea that ead Resistance of things to the ies we have f them “To thnk ater than of things, ofapprach of aces. ‘Bvory though ts story, Story of sorise ce martyred mags petals pled of one by one. What comes fom chwhere, ou so fr avay ih tobe b= sling, what ha been expected in vin fr 0g iat noone expects itany mor, what name em Ive ® except the coe Thad hoped to ber and wove wil the nae thal desigantes me by it lene, byt absence of ame? ‘ere language loses ll authority.VI th tof cur det pla at eter by eter “he ty now to push tack by pting dave more Intrenet ine ofthe tet Bus date {ot uly deve “Sere the wit toleger eas, doh wl ea teat Wer smtins bn order sec ‘hetero though he ge, which acid wth bat lei onng—the de Imache to he ed od feted prac of thee “Spe vid isometry” sl as, Duras ef ating nt evond i of mos od har no memoria rt ek of ma Mma fhe inenore © es ‘pn nd pin ta he ang Hatt ight Stn longer bes “Te the word wa plnged Sto nvr oben wre Co ok rg.Init, wo sncath tothe eye—0 vertigo lingo he id. "en fa. od ae re sed i he syle tho bind he rots doom “hee yo so afd to newer for ouralf vento yur alone? “Light fighened to fd tel, thon pepsin herd ta which used to be mer fade rection, ‘Did yu lve him toile oo mc? Did yoo even ander- stand him? Wat he so trmented that, looking st im, you saw only his “Yet I beg tobe atached to hin, At les, so bolived for a moment “Cliaging to him ia my Jnelines the way, in storm om the high sta a sllor clings for dear Me 19 the broken mast af his ship 0 night. Mornings, alg him with al my strength Did he realy exist? Does he? “Come, outwith it” "Yom have seni, ‘Do see you? Do you se me? “To se the work. To see youre, Cou the eye have tn eepngs kacledge of which Knowedge doesnot now? Asif the ‘eye, onthe modelo the brain, fnetioned for own ake and, of ll we approach, tanamited only the Ide we ae able to know? ‘Asif th eye sw more thn iets 08? And if the taboo on represeutaion that God imposed oo His cesture were addtional pon? “The eye sees Gol even fo His sbuence where our glancerdrown: bat, esepng our fteligence, God remais viganty in bet ‘Only what is hough can be perceived.” this what veng means? 1s this “Then i's bttorto close my ees Tan lear more from the dark than from the appearance of thing ssid sage. You cannot see Go,” this ange aio sid, "bet (ed ses you wth your ees" And be aed “Divne, the human gnc.” “I tapi a voluntary closed space, like the inside of 2 fst leashed ver the wold, where oaly now and then a ey of rn flips rough the Uy chink made by the satay elation of ‘camped finger. Aad Lay to mye hat our night pepe only the obscure lire ou band tht bar never opened 0 unsuspected closure of othinges “Human Inboman,”he hid noted. Can ou singlarty be appraise by ts deat shores, rocked and raked by the tides? Toyo color py over the waves seriou game whose vanity sah wl diplyin due tine. “In every crested thing, there ia pice Ie empty by the thing sted bie," he ed, “Cod canst sy ‘am except to what tnt eto the shicce inthe world for God to be," age had weten Mani absence of Go, and Gol, absence of man God shyly gunrantos the Fata oF these fro abienoes in the san of His ave Presence, ‘many frown very feel ‘So uch ah to cover it of wh, He tld me of sag absence, is recon stay abroad. He shrugged whea I eoafessed I had been word aboot hi had fond ft unberable not row what had came of i, “How aay menths bad gone bi? "He replied he bd ot nocd, hd a some way, aways been bret, With abience ths doer aot ean detachment fom peo le or the word, but ndierence ine ‘AL our fot, in tho room where we were cating, there was x pil of books wating tobe ved ‘Neting my look, he sid ‘Cin we rend closed book? My hands don’ have he courage to open, aft, no doubt, evan ‘he pln that wets me, Ta ebsesed with tanspareney. There ler ny hope. The svete rtm fll of anes that we could ican wth ope, told hm tht he woud ot beable to stp wring, le tured ished towed me anid wil xt my wri, aT have cat my ‘sto others’ Why, Laled, lp? He did not badge. Hd he ven heard me? Slence sted between vs. not dare Break 1 having suddenly understood ti it sved ws, Tahal come back to abe jou, fou pez He aid not ener, “Outside ita nag Tested ogo straight home. Isat, to wander around Paris, tothe idle ofthe night, ound myself ‘n my apartment Ie seemed I had stl tall dy “Can we read uloned book? When he pronounced this entence {alt ths ws ll had done; Td never pened one fis books” “What if his books were ia your" “Hee I writen bola?” said gttig vp,“am in your words, Tow, a you set al of mine. “ashe, mantel, i bth of ers "the work Ut has rally transformed you exits, then he "Wht i ame?” Tate to kw.” ‘Rememberiog his name wil help ws. "Whit? You ae the only person who can tll mo “Perhaps a ame of oblivion within the eternal olson of the world "On the sal bve paper he says kept t hand tonto pelle ie Thoughts fr hewn, he bad writen hs seaznce which pressed ine partly. "Why do our pr pt heavier with ge? Bectove the tte ved lighter thn the te tat rere (nthe verge of evening. moby asks the dark where iene fom or whofe “One moming when Ihad gone ct early onan empty stoach— ‘hada apointsient at the meal labortory on Boulevard Sua Geral, ear Pace Mavbert—I ran ito lim by ute chase, In font ofthe Cllege de France i Ge Rus des Boles. He seemed poy, seemed in excell supe, plyscly, When Tol him 2, he tply replies You see, Cfel perf Bee in my frlaners sh, and, Knowing Twa in ory, went on is “I rememberod—bot why di t scm pertinent ght thn? — ove ofthe dalgues between sages that expand his atement: "God's indifereace toward uti perhape only egac of His respons towrd the world” te God so coward? No, Bat having ot His way, He al iat the abs He Joke “Once, when asked hin: "What ae you dreaming of? because he ssemed s0npenetab and dita, he replied: Tam dreaming tf thought hat wold not tel ts atenton but continue to think fs joune."™ 104 "A dreamer?” “A oad” “The memory ofthe woeld and the sight to exist of tho lest fovored finest, Was that be? “The wisdom of vers and madness cf the va. Wa hat he?” “The itligence of what frre aspires to elng. I that be?” “Once, when presied ihe thaght there were definite eteia for inteligeace and fo, which, he si: We Bod tifa to indge the inteligence of ethers case we do nays now sf 1 unflds above or if falters blow the pee pint of re rene where our own eves. “To rae or lower tis point. To be onthe same lve of li ening "The rungs of knowiedge are paced ut, a fir at memory can reach on bacasound of ene, “To think the universe whe inking emtines. "To think man while ehinkng Nothing. “rom dust mote to sa, beri in revere the inooeat pe bes ene ourey. “An he ded “There ian intgece of intelgence, to which (he later owes fnstons.O sperior Knowledge whose arcane ‘only the sage possesses.” ‘To understand in order tobe undersocd, To have the ntdlgence of Nothing andthe cx cy fr A Pasty, Party Fidel of ers (On what level de oar dsnarse tke pla? On hat ofourhope. Bat sometines gets dz and fl “The philosopher dreads the mage who, with 2 ‘word, gesture, may cheery grind his Inowled ge to dust a5May yor thought be aot a Hae chats, bet siple nourehing Blade of wheat. “Te jut al—even the mort clementry—afir- mation by the ireitble prof of having been e evened Primacy ofthe i Ako, do we ot ow thet age tks to counter dy reston withthe rewon ofthe best, and the thousand resources of the ‘nin wid he infteresnuros ofthe soul? "Go kaos widortroigh our sage. He ingpred hy those He inspies. "Man ddl. Our complex relation to others may also be feted by ar fasciation wi ths nde “Emptiness, ls, alles, sbrene atest, each in way, the perevermoe ofthe mystery Cd ha sez." ‘To.a stranger quation if be considered himself a sage, be reolied: fs sage ould diferente between himself and others ‘he would no longer bea spe. 1 call my Master Encgneur, Teacher,” he si “thie fs oth the Seigneur tht be i andthe ‘Teacher who allows me near is.” van thik hat or tr ot neces the iit psp how at word Rojcn af lmguage-O deere. Rel speak, fo se flea ton Te tr up te whe page 0a oto be oy to He tere ‘ctl the Rang net caught I borat ee “owt page te pene of the nie and vr cio ated af alice ach eta wach," be mid. “Te ides a ead Standen dete ind hd by huge and hs, at ca te ty So bt ep edn ave Ee hr meng bt pe cane tbe steed? Wa tthe ore of ia duh, ezying bis wot by elo owe th wer oly ews {edgl iprvenceto dev? “Tue spesh piney" a see, salty with oh man nd wad tm aed yet pal tafe dt“alte od, rab tere ih ‘ery deh premtre Bec, he ep ft ia Se he ine “God without memory, hing etek of Hi re “and mim tot rept stave tows ol” be or ‘The ok canes lle "ifs book,” he ald, “een tuna ancrymoas wn reader {nto end, comforting pref rth sto hat the book, to which he has scrced 4 mh, was not wees "Tleave theso pages to the gnersty of my readers, whose ‘eesce and, some cate, fer I now now. For the Ue of ving i bays atin of talg be, “The ead remass unguesed. Another I accompanies me; It lone knows where we are gong “This elanchee wil always have Behind i one same Book a ‘thousand timer redone and, bf tthe bok wo came, which ‘must atthe dese moment, cso. “Every writer’ ster wrton wher icons it writ. nothing bot the wool wring os colon” ‘Trapped, the fame reduces th trp 10 ashes, And yet, had he sot anawered the question “For ‘whom do you wrt?” with pontangooe "For 0 ‘one. For slenoe perape, whish away wating for “Cotton shy. The rod wrapped nf “The year ends, before the look, with geting al that the swocent has deed ws 199“What use hating ourees? Everything s simple. Exiting a wolas dying "So many clouds threatea tbe word, but the wind pushes them ff Wil the otreEnlly promise wan our oflyal happiness to Te? “Look head. What do you sea?” Le ond snd a man walkng xy “Hi alone: “What sh ok Ml?" “Tam tying tonvent sie fr him because Tse oly his back.” Who ithe” “A foreigner, no doubt oaag inthe cook hit arm a tiny book Eclipse ‘With ead ou ered oie Nig eater a Sy “album bck whine eke "boa deth xa sarangi in ae fd Oshiro On osetia pry of the pouenive sskat al wig "Hernty i dad ont 1 oma elects, lack qari of ona ight of he bi: vores ben. Bao the qu minal tr oe tok alo‘An the sgo si 0 dusk. So this ws dy? “This abortive attempt ofthe Iiht eo shine forever or then eae? “Deaths here And, already the wo” And everybody eared that one morning a man bd tod ot ofthe seco athe bola, mt beog stopped on is wy by any ‘word any letter, hd without fst reached the last page, where hn resigne, dlsappeared “in unexplored spce, thre a bookof thousand rads tered with lan, which, dr bythe oid, wll anaes bt tthe dof time," the sage ao sd “And Ga found His Book ope othe page where He had reed Hilt Absent, you gustion fn the bok, with 2 sap of surprise, the bok of your absence ‘All presence in the word Who lt me?” the Mater aiked his dspes, “The book. no doubt. Aad keep lent” ‘Go isthe nite absence which stn tl,” be a 19How could en unjst master judge the Just?” asked the ge "Ab, who among ue could declare am jt? ‘And be sed in an undertone: “Di not God fn s moment of doubt ak Himself the same question? “ver snc, i has ben os.” ‘And the Marton to ie sos: “May you Bad your pace" Whereis my pace” a the contr af your sul “How can I get there? It seman entre Iftine would not be enough to rachit, ‘And the Master sid "fou hve reached i Tctn tll by your divine pallor. stand before you, spt in two ‘On ae side, me; onthe oer side, me. In the ile, noting” ‘And the Mater id “Tht i your pce.” “Two Docks were left on my tbl," sald the sge, "God's ook dy owe Gaal caved of ming, and, the oer “Cad i forever fee of my house. So why shold the feigner, ny swindled brother, not be” a sage “And added: "Share with your guest a ut that is uy, melting, apant, nt wor.” "Do not serve bone fo 00" howl,” sidan od teacher A an inpadent thought a Nothing one that s more dest ‘The quationing of word the origin ofthe word, af ques soning of beg avays preceded els ‘Origin means, perhaps, question. “tater,” asked the dsl, “that no mater what we d and where we go, we wil ays nd ourselves Back at our pint of departure? "The inprtnt thing is to set out” sa the teacher, the pont of aval being but «displacement ofthat sume pent.” ‘Ai he aed "That pont i peaps one other than the place se bere, so destitute at Gol one night, in search of Himself, patsed God without selng Hi.” ‘hen God fel lent. And the universe rales ole Forth rt ie tar beard tar, aod the sun, the ent, Springs ard the ters dames, the ie, ‘Man het an; sd bi, heat. Pebbles heard the dust and oot, he elt For the fst ine the mod awed the aby ‘And threw he bose ‘And God, in tr, fr the St tne ced Himself in tho words fen ‘Aoregne to Hinsel The one i Mbt of the Ove and shadow of His double. as