Arno Schmidt lived almost monomaniacal dedicated to unlimited voracious reading and writing. In more than one sense the latter is a reflection of the first: his reading and printing presses Schmidt and left to ferment in wooden file (its famous Zettelkästen ) constructed by him. His writing is instantly recognizable by patchy just that the text is arranged on the page, respecting the format of each little tab. From nouvelles (his favorite genre) that make Leviathan ( Leviathan), published in 1949, his name came up (maybe a little lightly) related to that of James Joyce, who by these vicissitudes of fate had not yet read Schmidt do (Schmidt confessed his chagrin indirectly by such a loophole in the self-taught), then not only read but actually undertake the preparation of a series of radio conferences to meet n years later under the title Der Sonnenschirm Triton mit dem ( The newt with umbrella). Schmidt actually discovered the importance of Joyce when he commissioned the translation of My Brother's Keeper, Stanislaus Joyce.
The ties that bind Joyce are multiple and varied species (much has been written about it). Schmidt (in the hallways is called "the German Joyce"), aware of the common affinity for neologisms and hidden events to which the Irish are so inclined, it was suggested near the end of his life account for a book that can, to some extent, not compete, but to project their own shadow on Finnegans .) Then conceived Zettels Traum ( Dream tab), an anti-book consists of typed sheets published by photomechanical methods and unadulterated for editing. The book caused a stir when it appeared in 1970, nine years before the death of its author. In fact gave birth to a quarterly publication, esoterically limited and haphazard, which still exists, the boat Bargfelder ( Bargfelder The Messenger), conceived as a medium of exchange between readers decipher allusions and hidden quotations present in the Zettels Traum and then an attempt extenderíaa general elucidation of his work. (Incidentally, no other single publication of the same features, the Wake Newslitter , for exegetes of Joyce).
The title of the work involved in a double sense be translated into English. "Zettel" actually means "tab", but also the German name, in the classic translation of Schlegel, the character of Bottom the Weaver Dream A Midsummer Night . The allusion is Shakespeare's play (and in particular the Bottoms Dream, in German "Zettels Traum") is very important. So the title means both "The Dream of the tab as" Bottom's Dream. "
radio plays in his Joycean Schmidt minimizes the universal aspect of Finnegans Wake , being for him an invective largely private key. He also praises what he calls the "smooth writing, ie the clever verbal games, even those who do not appear to be more than sublime nonsense. But Schmidt also suggests that Joyce trying to restore the "old Indo-European linguistic equation" creating a universal language that would serve the original European vehicle of understanding (obviously to no avail). Joycean influence is also reflected in the systematic use of realism in the local language instead of High German literary formalism, a choice that involves phonetic writing, ie the recurrence scores nya typographical resources, a bit confusing to the uninitiated, but in any case allow "make visible" something. Schmidt feels predilection for the challenge of "translating" the written language the dialectal speech, which is why his novels work in its way as a sample of the complex universe idiomatic German. Brackets, parentheses, dashes, colons and semicolons (not commas precedent invented by Guillermo Cabrera Infante) serve to communicate what would otherwise be irretrievably lost, the unspeakable, the non-verbal gestures , uncertainties, doubts of perception and thought. Schmidt disrupts German grammar, while plans to develop and refine through external forms specific provisions meet or correspond more closely to certain mental processes. (Günter Grass expressed his gratitude to Arno Schmidt: "When us-even those who have not read it, we open our mouths, we are respecting your score: Arno Schmidt is contagious. ) The written word is not enough. The verbal morphological elements require a structure and typographical layout, but also need other symbols and some willingness on the page to help readers to interpret the topography of the mind that any topography is extremely complex and inevitably eroded. Worth a few examples. In Die Gelehrtenrepublik ( The republic of scholars , 1957), the narrator, after encountering a girl in the desert and have looked at taking a few bites at a bunch of herbs, when you see it reach standing view that it is a centaur. Then he writes: "... a resource :-¡:", today reminiscent of the combination of characters used by hackers, introduced in a command line of an operating system produced a chain reaction that saturates the computer memory. Schmidt, for example, replaces the vicissitudes of thought hesitant with this sequence of signs: "...:?...". And so the strange sensations experienced by the narrator to get one last kiss delicately centaur known wild herbs: ":!:!!:!!!". The writer as a surveyor.
The reason for the Zettels Traum is essentially the concern of Schmidt and co-translator of the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Traum Zettels
is, essentially, a very extensive test (a monster shape and size, a colossus) on Edgar Allan Poe. Schmidt believed that the reader should devote to the book about 700 hours, reasonable estimate coming from someone who spent six years between 1963 and 1969, writing up to 16 hours per day. Schmidt then drafted 130,000 chips in 1130 became Zettel typed in a format of 33 x 44 cm. Many are calling it the book of the century. Others see it as a life-size replica of the Eiffel Tower made of matches by a convicted maniac. A majestic Niagara undrinkable. But it is none of both. Or maybe it's something more than that. Compared with
Zettels Traum all the stories of Arno Schmidt, including more experimental, are mere statements of fact, stories in the traditional sense of the word. Its structure follows what Schmidt called the ideal form of biography, a discussion between several friends, transcribed in the style of radio essays. An extreme drama, ie a dramaturgy that disclaims any involvement in the scheme has been and remains the engine explosion much of the contemporary theater, to engage in dialogue a wise and stupid. The subject line of Zettels Traum, considering that there is any, is maso least this: a couple about to embark on the translation of the works of Edgar Allan Poe visits the elderly and lonely polygraph also , s of an expert on the life and work of Poe, Dan Pagenstecher, in all works of Schmidt displayed his alter ego, and this is to ask Dan advice. For 24 hours (more Joycean echoes) are attending walks, talks, Dany amorous suspected the couple's daughter, sixteen years old, visiting a country fair, a hike in the realm of myth and discussions all the time, quotes and comments on Poe. Schmidt uses up to three columns or paragraphs of text next to each other, almost always intertwined. In the center of the page is external and internal action, the story along with dialogue and interior monologue of Dan. To the left is the discussion of Poe, full of appointments, and the right margin contains additional comments, notes footnotes and asides of the author himself.
Page 914 contains a passage which explains quite clearly the structure of the work:
"A work of art - say," a book "! - Would have to be basically a "quartet ";... "Duodoble" would be even more exact, on each page two couples: the murmur of lust gurgling Id & Superego arrogant poisonous? -: Against a weak but artistic ego forced to watch the world (& reacting to it); of the fifties onwards relieved = ally with a 4 th Category supremely sharp mocking "
This passage is particularly important for understanding the structural principle underlying Zettels Traum, a clear example of what has occurred in called "writing space", a play in which the typographical resources serve to give expression to the four voices simultaneously participants. Schmidt himself, in an interview, emphasized this, referring to the interdependence of the columns of text, calling the whole "reading cylinder" which requires the reader's perception coordinated, rather than consecutive, all the components present in the moment.
While the passage from page 914 serves as an apology for the controversial typical Schmidt against the establishment, ie, against the State and the Church (as superego forces) and Censorship, especially in relation to the passages "pornographic" ( Seelandschaft mit Pocahontas, Pocahontas Landscape with lake, 1959, was banned under the charge). In this sense we can consider Zettels Traum as a summa of life and work Arno Schmidt.
One last thing. Untranslatable character is not unique to Zettels Traum. All Arno Schmidt enjoys the privilege (privilege "?). His French translator, Claude Riehl, recently presented the victorious result of years of work. Of the 1,130 pages of Zettels Traum translate got four. More than worthy of his party.
