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Contents (43)
  1. CONTENTS
  2. INTRODUCTION
  3. A NOTE ON THE TRANSLATION
  4. EDITORIAL NOTE
  5. AGATHE
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
  21. 16
  22. 17
  23. 18
  24. 19
  25. 20
  26. 21
  27. 22
  28. 23
  29. 24
  30. 25
  31. 26
  32. 27
  33. 28
  34. 29
  35. 30
  36. 31
  37. 32
  38. 33
  39. 34
  40. 35
  41. 36
  42. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  43. NOTES

For as long as he had served his old master, this word had not once been uttered in his presence; if the need had ever arisen, “undressed” might have been the word. But young people were different nowadays, and most likely he would no longer be able to serve to their satisfaction. With the serenity of the hour when the day’s work is done, he felt that his career was at an end. But Agathe’s last thought before leaving was: “Would Ulrich really throw everything into the fire?”

15

FROM KONIATOWSKI’S CRITIQUE OF DANIELLI’S THEOREM TO THE FALL OF MAN. FROM THE FALL OF MAN TO THE EMOTIONAL RIDDLE OF THE SISTER

The state in which Ulrich stepped into the street when he left Count Leinsdorf’s palace resembled the matter-of-fact feeling of hunger; he halted in front of a billboard and sated his hunger for bourgeois normality by sampling the various announcements and advertisements. The board was several meters wide and covered with words. “Actually,” it occurred to him, “it’s not unreasonable to suppose that these words, which are repeated at every corner of the city, could be enlightening.” They seemed akin to the stock phrases uttered by the characters of popular novels at significant junctures of their lives. He read: “Have you ever worn anything as pleasant and practical as the Tropinam silk stocking?” “His Excellence enjoying himself.” “Saint Bartholomew’s Night, revised.” “Convivial Cheer at the Black Knight.” “Erotic Panache and Dancing at the Red Knight.” Next to that notice was a political attack on “nefarious machinations”: it didn’t refer to the Parallel Campaign, though, but to the price of bread. He walked on and looked into a bookstore window. THE GREAT ­AUTHOR’S LATEST WORK, it said on a cardboard sign next to a row of fifteen copies of the same book. In the opposite corner of the display window, another sign drew attention to a second work: ­LADIES AND GENTLEMEN ALIKE ARE ENTHRALLED BY ‘LOVE’S TOWER OF BABEL’ BY . . .

“Great author?” Ulrich thought. He remembered reading one of his books and concluding that he did not need to read a second one: the man had become famous since. And in view of this showcase of the German mind and spirit, Ulrich remembered an old joke from his army days: “Mortadella.” That had been the nickname of an unpopular general, after the popular Italian cold cut, and if someone asked for the solution to the riddle, the answer was: “Half pig, half donkey.” Ulrich was inclined to spin variations from this intriguing analogy, but was prevented from doing so by a woman who addressed him with the words: “Are you waiting for the streetcar too?” at which point he realized that he was no longer standing in front of the bookshop, and that moreover he had walked on and now stood motionless by a streetcar stop.

The lady who brought this to his attention was wearing a knapsack and spectacles; she was an acquaintance of his, a member of the Astronomical Institute and one of the few women who make important contributions to this masculine discipline. His gaze settled on her nose and the bags beneath her eyes, which had come to resemble gutta-percha sweat shields from the habitual strain of intellectual labor; then he noticed beneath these foci her short loden skirt, and above them a grouse feather on a green hat that hovered above her learned features, and he smiled. “Off to the mountains?” he asked.