9781803092249
Distributed for Seagull Books
The Principles of Life on Black Friday
Chronicle of Emotions, Notebook 1
A highly readable and lighthearted, yet intellectual-stimulating exploration of the modern human condition.
This volume concerns itself with the question of time, from the description of a brief fragment passing by in a matter of minutes to stories of the unexpected stock-market crash of 1929, a once-in-a-century event that Europeans call ‘Black Friday’ because Wall Street’s collapse reached the Old World one day later. Through this exploration of time, Kluge ponders some fundamental questions not altered by the passing of time: What can I trust? How can I protect myself? What should I be afraid of? Our age today has achieved a new kind of obscurity. We’ve encountered a pandemic. We’ve witnessed the Capitol riots. We see before us inflation, war, and a burning planet. We gaze at the world with suspense. What we need in our lives is orientation—just like ships that navigate the high seas. We might just find that in Kluge’s vignettes and stories.
This volume concerns itself with the question of time, from the description of a brief fragment passing by in a matter of minutes to stories of the unexpected stock-market crash of 1929, a once-in-a-century event that Europeans call ‘Black Friday’ because Wall Street’s collapse reached the Old World one day later. Through this exploration of time, Kluge ponders some fundamental questions not altered by the passing of time: What can I trust? How can I protect myself? What should I be afraid of? Our age today has achieved a new kind of obscurity. We’ve encountered a pandemic. We’ve witnessed the Capitol riots. We see before us inflation, war, and a burning planet. We gaze at the world with suspense. What we need in our lives is orientation—just like ships that navigate the high seas. We might just find that in Kluge’s vignettes and stories.
Table of Contents
1. 0.0001% of a lifetime
2. An afternoon on the Ligurian coast
3. A case of time pressure
4. Commentary on Anna Karenina
5. Blood like bubbling water
6. Emotion consists of what remains unused
7. A living relationship to work
8. Causality outstripped
9. Hitler as “moonwalker
10. A glut of informers
11. An unusual case of lobbying
12. Heiner Müller and “the figure of the worker”
13. A musical interlude for great singing machines
14. Lohengrin in Leningrad
15. Twilight of the Gods in Vienna
16. Heiner Müller’s last words on the function of theatre
17. The death of the gods – a black hole at the heart of Rome
18. In another land
19. What is power of the mind?
20. The conman and happiness
21. Is one allowed to defend oneself against a helpless man?
22. Solar eclipse
23. The consistency of the moon
24. The poets of organisation
25. Siberian time reserves
26. The glowing block in the balance; the diver Ananenko
27. A near disaster
28. A new age
29. The immortal woman
30. A memorial to unknown soldiers
31. A visit to Robert Musil in 1942
32. A story of a tyrant
33. “Shore of fate
34. Reader-friendly articles must tell their stories spatially
35. A sudden outbreak of defeatism
36. Is it possible to find something without having any hope?
37. The strong influence of a daughter
38. Out of sight, out of mind
39. Lovestruck conspirators of a more noble humanity
40. Stauffenberg’s grave
41. Principles of life on Black Friday I
42. Principles of life on Black Friday II
43. Torch of freedom
44. That was the farewell to the industrial age
45. Turkish honey
46. The proprietor
47. A dignified form of property
2. An afternoon on the Ligurian coast
3. A case of time pressure
4. Commentary on Anna Karenina
5. Blood like bubbling water
6. Emotion consists of what remains unused
7. A living relationship to work
8. Causality outstripped
9. Hitler as “moonwalker
10. A glut of informers
11. An unusual case of lobbying
12. Heiner Müller and “the figure of the worker”
13. A musical interlude for great singing machines
14. Lohengrin in Leningrad
15. Twilight of the Gods in Vienna
16. Heiner Müller’s last words on the function of theatre
17. The death of the gods – a black hole at the heart of Rome
18. In another land
19. What is power of the mind?
20. The conman and happiness
21. Is one allowed to defend oneself against a helpless man?
22. Solar eclipse
23. The consistency of the moon
24. The poets of organisation
25. Siberian time reserves
26. The glowing block in the balance; the diver Ananenko
27. A near disaster
28. A new age
29. The immortal woman
30. A memorial to unknown soldiers
31. A visit to Robert Musil in 1942
32. A story of a tyrant
33. “Shore of fate
34. Reader-friendly articles must tell their stories spatially
35. A sudden outbreak of defeatism
36. Is it possible to find something without having any hope?
37. The strong influence of a daughter
38. Out of sight, out of mind
39. Lovestruck conspirators of a more noble humanity
40. Stauffenberg’s grave
41. Principles of life on Black Friday I
42. Principles of life on Black Friday II
43. Torch of freedom
44. That was the farewell to the industrial age
45. Turkish honey
46. The proprietor
47. A dignified form of property