am liebsten sind uns die verbindungen. die sich zwischen texten/medien auftun. so leidenschaftlich wir dann nach dem naechsten happen schnappen. so desastroes ist leider diese leidenschaft auf dauer. sie kennen das. wir sind meisterhaft im verzetteln. als sei das internet nur fuer uns geschaffen worden. als voellig ueberbordender zettelkasten. ein netzwerk aus leidenschaftlichen hinweisen. und so leben wir im bestaendigem kampf gegen diese unsere leidenschaft. legen uns auf das websofa und versuchen. die zettel zu ordnen. um beim naechsten hinweis uns gerade wieder zu verlieren. ein ewig laecherliches geschaeft. wenns denn eins waere. 😉 etliche dieser zettel wirtschaften wir in den blog. und wissen immerhin. dass unsere leidenschaft hier ein wenig ruhe finden kann.
beim wiederaufnehmen unserer austen-leidenschaft (fragen sie uns bloss nie warum?!) – nach einer durchaus sehenswerten und interessanten neuerlichen filmadaption von „pride and prejudice“ (2005)
At the age of forty, . . . Morris Zapp could think of nothing he wanted to achieve that he hadn’t achieved already, and this depressed him.
There was always his research, of course, but some of the zest [34-35] had gone out of that since it ceased to be a means to an end. He couldn’t enhance his reputation, he could only damage it, by adding further items to his bibliography, and the realization slowed him down, made him cautious. Some years ago he had embarked with great enthusiasm on an ambitious critical project: a series of commentaries on Jane Austen which would work through the whole canon, one novel at a time, saying absolutely everything that could possibly be said about them. The idea was to be utterly exhaustive, to examine the novels from every conceivable angle, historical, biographical, rhetorical, mythical, Freudian, Jungian, existentialist, Marxist, structuralist, Christian-allegorical, ethical, exponential, linguistic, phenomenological, archetypal, you name it; so that when each commentary was written there would be simply nothing further to say about the novel in question. The object of the exercise, as he had often to explain with as much patience as he could muster, was not to enhance others‘ enjoyment and understanding of Jane Austen, still less to honour the novelist herself, but to put a definitive stop to the production of any further garbage on the subject. The commentaries would not be designed for the general reader but for the specialist, who, looking up Zapp, would find that the book, article or thesis he had been planning had already been anticipated and, more likely than not, invalidated. After Zapp, the rest would be silence.
professor morris zapp and jane austen (1969-1970)