234
PARTISAN REVIEW
arrive.... But we're here, too, and they can't help but know it, we who
represent the only possible continuity with what there was before....
They need us. They have to turn to us, entrust
to
us the practical
management of what remains.... The world will begin again the way
we want it. ... "
No, I think, the world that I would like to begin existing again
around me and Franziska can't be yours; I would like to concentrate
and think of a place, in every detail , a setting where I would like to be
with Franziska at this moment, for example a cafe lined with mirrors,
which reflect crystal chandeliers, and there is an orchestra playing
waltzes and the strains of the violins flutter over the little marble tables
and the steaming cups and the pastries with whipped cream. While
outside, beyond the frosted windows, the world full of people and of
things would make its presence felt: the presence of the world, friendly
and hostile, things to rejoice in or
to
combat. ... I think this with all
my strength but by now I know my strength isn't enough to make it
exist: nothingness is stronger and has occupied the whole earth .
"To work out a relationship with them won't be easy," the Section
D men continue, "and we'll have
to
be on our toes, not make mistakes,
not allow them to cut us out. We had you in mind, to win the new ones'
confidence. You've proved your ability in the liquidation phase, and of
all of us you're the least compromised with the old administration.
You'll have to introduce yourself, explain what the Section is, how
they can use it, for urgent, indispensable jobs ... Well, you'll figure
out the way to make things look best. ... "
"I should be going then. I'll go look for them ... " I hasten to say,
because I realize that if I don't make my escape now, if I don't reach
Franziska immediately and save her, in a minute it will be too late; the
trap is about to be sprung. I run off before the Section D men can hold
me, ask me questions, give me instructions. I advance over the frozen
crust towards her. The world is reduced to a sheet of paper on which
nothing can be written except abstract words, as if all concrete nouns
were finished; if one could only succeed in writing the word "chair,"
then it would be possible to write also "spoon," "gravy," "stove,"
but the stylistic formula of the text prohibits it.
On the ground that separates me from Franziska I see some fissures
open, some furrows, crevasses; at each moment one of my feet is about
to be caught in a pitfall: these interstices widen, soon a chasm will
yawn between me and Franziska, an abyss! I leap from one side to the
other, and below I see no bottom, only nothingness which continues
down to infinity; I run across pieces of world scattered in the void; the
