584
PARTISAN REVIEW
of nineteenth-century German travelers in North America, the
history of Wagner's
Ring
in America, the mingled histories of Ameri–
can and German transcendentalism in its many permutations and
disguises . . . they spend a good deal of time on the menu . . . the
Germans' intention being to treat their guests to a fully German din–
ner, a representative German dinner, yet not the sort too readily
available back in the States. (Cecilia is to sample, with varying
degrees of appetite, such delicacies as Raucheraal- smoked eel;
Ganseleber-Pastete- goose liver pate; Ochsenschwanzuppe- oxtail
soup; Rheinsalm- Rhine salmon; Schweineleber and Schwein–
hirn- pork liver, pork brains; Hasen- hare; and any number of
wines and desserts.) The food Is hearty and tasty, the Germans speak
English fluently, the conversation rarely flags, Cecilia feels herself
borne along by the very current of her hosts' sociability, hearing her
own frequent laughter, glimpsing her reflection in a bay window op–
posite. (The dinner is being held in a private dining room in a
restaurant on the Bahnhofplatz, candlelit, charmingly decorated
with oaken beams, paintings of the Rhine Valley, a massive stone
fireplace piled high with white birch logs. The atmosphere is warm,
gracious, convivial, a little loud. Cecilia wonders how she and the
others appear to passers-by who happen to glance inside: very like
old friends, probably, even relatives, men and women who are ex–
tremely close. She wonders too how Philip and she appear to their
hosts. They are lovers, surely? But lovers who have traveled together
for years, lovers who know each other's secrets, who have forgiven
much, whose courtesy toward each other has become second
nature.... Called Frau Schoen by the German woman, at the
beginning of the evening, Cecilia felt obliged to correct her; and
wondered if Philip overheard. Frau Schoen, she might have added,
is back home in Peekskill, New York.)
The talk shifts to politics, the films of the late Fassbinder, an
organization in Frankfurt for refugees from the East, pacific and
ecological and vegetarian movements among the young.... Philip
and Cecilia will be flying from Frankfurt to West Berlin on the
following afternoon, they are leaving the Federal Republic of Ger–
many, consequently tonight's celebration has an additional symbolic
value . Yes they have enjoyed their brief stay in Mainz very much.
Yes they hope to return again someday soon . And next time- so
August Burger insists- they must stay longer, two weeks at least.
Cecilia and Philip glance at each other, smiling; compliant,
pretending to be flattered. Cecilia is reminded of the way Philip and
