214-
PARTISAN REVIEW
of our people; sagas tell about it, and songs have even been pre–
served, which, to tell the truth, no one can sing any more. So we
have some notion of what singing is like, and Josephine's art does
not actually agree with that notion. Is it really singing then?
Maybe it is just squeaking? And at any rate we all know what
squeaking is; it is the artistic skill peculiar to our people, or
rather no skill at all, but a characteristic manifestation of our life.
We all squeak, but no one actually thinks of passing it off as art;
we squeak without paying any attention to it, without even noticing
it, and in fact many of us are not at all aware that squeaking is
one of our characteristic traits.
If
it is true, therefore, that Joseph–
ine does not sing, but just squeaks, and-as it seems to me at least
-hardly exceeds the ordinary limits of squeaking, then there still
remains to be explained the enigma of her great success, and it is
all the more an enigma.
For what she produces is not just simply squeaking.
If
one
stood some distance from her and listened-or better yet, if one
were to try it like this-have Josephine sing with other voices, and
let the listener set himself the problem of distinguishing hers;
without a doubt'he would make out nothing more than an ordinary
squeaking, a bit striking at the most for its delicacy or weakness.
And yet if you stood right in front of her, it would prove to be
something more than just squeaking. It is necessary to see as well
as hear her in order to understand her art. Even if it is only our
every-day squeaking, the fact that a person should stand up so
solemnly to do nothing out of the ordinary, is something unusual
in itself. There is no art, certainly, to cracking a nut, and no one
would think of collecting an audience together just to entertain it
by cracking nuts. All the same, if somebody did do this and suc–
ceeded in his intention, it would no longer be just a question of
nut-cracking. Or if it were only a question of cracking nuts, it
would become evident then that we had neglected this art because
we possessed such easy mastery of it, and that this nut-cracker was
showing us its true nature for the first time, and it would even
enhance the effect if he were somewhat less proficient in nut–
cracking than the rest of us.
Maybe it is the same way with Josephine's singing; we admire
in her that which we do not admire at all in ourselves, and in this
last she agrees with us fully. I was once present when-as of
