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shouldn ' t be. It is the mos t dras ti c case of the wrong thing in the wrong
p lace, o r a rel a pse back into that prima l lack of differentiation , tha t
indistincti on described by Ma uss. (This incidentall y is, I think, why
canniba lism li es behind the first Greek tragedy, the Oresteia trilogy.)
T he second p assage whi ch interes ts me in this connection con–
cerns the n arra tor 's account of Falk's appearance. H e looks like a
centaur, "a composite crea ture. Not a man-horse .. . but a man-boat. "
Here again we h a ve a fu sion o r con-fusion of usua ll y di stinct ca tego–
ries; man-boat is as much of a taxonomic freak as man-food is a
categori cal ni ghtmare, and as much a surprise as the conjoining of a
violin case a nd unpaid bills. " Sep arated from his boa t to me a t leas t h e
seemed incompl ete. The tug itself without his h ead and torso on the
bridge looked mutila ted as it were." Here we h ave introduced the
oppos ite but profoundl y connected idea; fo r, rela ted to the theme of the
fu sion of wha t should be separa ted ca tegories is the theme of the
fragmenta tio n of wha t should be a discrete unit-i. e., "mutil ation ."
Here the "mutil a tion " is onl y " as it were" because it exists onl y a t the
level of langu age, th e n arra tor's metaphor, ra ther than the level o f
experience. But it a lerts u s to the poss ibility of unna tural severa nces as
a phenomenon intima tely rela ted to the possibility o f unna tura l "com–
positions."
Here again let me reca ll that a t the sil ent center of this story is the
act of cu tting up the human body (fragmentation ) to turn it into food
(fu sion ). T his theme is very interesting ly p rep ared fo r by' the n arra to r 's
earlier descripti on of Hermann 's shop-like ship (another slight catego –
rica l anoma ly- a ship-shop !). In gen era l Hermann is associa ted with
all kinds of compul sive h ygiene; in pa rti cul ar, hi s boa t is con stantl y
associated with cl eaning and washing clo thes. T he na rra to r g ives a
detail ed description o f th e famil y washing wh en it is "exhibited " to
dry:
It
covered the poop entirely. The afternoon breeze would incite
to
a
weird and fl abby activity all that crowded mass of clothing, with its
vague suggestions of drowned, mutilated and fl attened humanity.
Trunk without heads waved at you arms without hands; legs
without feet kicked fantastica ll y with coll apsible fl ourishes and there
were long white garments, that taking the wind fairl y through their
neck openings edged with lace, became for a moment violently
distended as by the passage of obese and invisibl e bodies.
What is "suggested " here-no te the word-is the kind of disinte–
gration and mutil a tion of the human body which , no t to dwell on it in
lOO
much h ypotheti cal detail , presuma bl y takes pl ace in an act of
