PETER HANDKE
597
river, his theory of the signs of the Zodiac, according to which these
signs governed not only people but also regions and entire countries .
The fate of nations depended on the stars that ruled them. The history
of mankind, of the peoples' relationships with each other and individu–
ally, was determined by Leo, Scorpio, Gemini, or Taurus. Thus a United
States of Europe was inconceivable simply because every European
country had a different sign, all of them equally powerful; no country
could claim an advantage. Even in Germany all the provinces had dif–
ferent constellations, incompatible with each other, for which reason the
fear of this largest country, now acute again, was absolutely unfounded.
On the other hand, one constellation ruled all of North America, and
that was why the United States had come into being there, and, of
course, stayed together, under the sign of Aries? Virgo? Capricorn?
"Nonsense!" the pharmacist of Taxham interrupted him suddenly,
after looking back and forth between the young woman and the river
for a while, lost in thought again. "Typical pharmacist's superstition!
It
doesn't come from up there, up in space, but from down here, from
beneath the ground. And from down here we, or the countries and
nations, if you will, aren't directed and constrained at all, but prodded,
spurred on, set in motion.
"Where down here?"-the young woman asked this, while the old
man next to her went on spinning his stars-and-states theory at the top
of his voice, without listening-"In the magma?"
But the man from Taxham had gone under again, had closed his eyes
and even seemed to have stopped breathing. And he didn't move a mus–
cle when the woman abruptly grabbed him by the chin and said, "Typ–
ical pharmacist's superstition!"
The pharmacist from Liefering was just remarking, "That business in
Yugoslavia had to end badly: above every country there, a star that was
incompatible from the outset with the others and at war with its neigh–
boring star."
HE TOOK THE BUS
back to Taxham and worked there in the back room
until after sundown-which was late in July- with the doors long since
locked. Sometimes it seemed that time could be grasped in an image:
now, for instance, in the image of a curve, in which he felt comfortably
cradled as he worked silently away.
First the shop out in front was being cleaned, and then from one
minute to the next a silence fell, in which, although the sun was already
gone, colors predominated, then blossomed. Something had been
