344
PARTISAN REVIEW
Further back begin the forests and marshes and the domain of the
Chief Forester. "He was one of those figures that are looked upon as
great lords, and yet at the same time are felt to be a little ridiculous." The
friends pass many nights with him. His eyes gleam with a terrible jovial·
ity. "Like those of old drinkers, they were inflamed by a red mist, yet
there was also in them an expression of cunning and of unshakeable
strength." At that time his company was pleasant to the friends. But soon
a profound threat to their whole Apollonian way of life issues from him.
He rules the woods and the marshes, into which he begins to send his
hunters, who are
"wie aus Kot gebacken;"
literally: as though made out
of excrement, i.e. cruel, desperate and inhuman. As a kind of illegal,
self·
appointed police, they commit all sorts of outrages. After them come the
foresters, who seem to be re-surveying the land; these roam over fields
tilled for ages as though they were barren plains, having no regard to
roads and boundaries. To him "who hated the plow, the wheat, the vine
and the tame animal, and to whom the bright hearth and a frank and open
way of life were repugnant," it was not a question of ruling over this
plenty. "His heart was only gladdened when moss and ivy grew over
ruined cities and bats fluttered in the moonlight in the cracked vaults of
cathedrals.... He was cloaked in fear, and I am convinced that the secret
of his strength was to be found in that far more than in himself. He was
only effective when things began to tremble of their own accord."
And could any symbolism ])e clearer than this: "A master stroke of
the Chief Forester was precisely this: that he administered fear in small
doses, which he gradually increased, and the aim of which was to paralyze
the opposition. The role he played in these disorders was that of a force
on the side of order; while his more lowly agents sat in the councils of
the shepherds, sowing anarchy, his intiates penetrated into the courts and
official places, even into the cloisters, and were there regarded as forceful
personalities who would subdue and yolk the rabble. Thus the Chief
Forester was like an evil doctor who encourages an ailment only in order
to inflict upon his patient an operation he has in mind."
The disciplined hordes of this demon overpower the leaderless shep·
herds and the unwarlike city-dwellers. The description of the horrible
struggle reminds one of the war of the gods in the Edda with its agonized
end-of-the-world mood. Here too the old world collapses. Everything
burns. In the distance the old, beautiful cities flame up in destruction.
The friends flee and, as their ship leaves the shore, there resounds in their
ears the song of the people behind them:
"Because no help from man can come,
God is the help we call upon."
How did this savage and despairing allegory ever see the light of
day in the Germany of 1940? Why was it allowed to be sold widely?
Was the censor unable to see through the veil of fantasy? Was Junger's
name sufficient guarantee? Is the author still alive? None of these ques–
tions can we answer. We are only witnesses of the collapse of a great
illusion.
WERNER BLOCH
