The best city for the blind and other reports
The best city for the blind is a book by Jürg Federspiel . It was first published in 1980 by Suhrkamp Verlag .
content
The Best City for the Blind is a collection of eleven short stories .
Man as a puzzle, not a riddle
The narrator receives an invitation to the Museum of Forensic Medicine at a party . There are bizarre murder tools on display, including everyday objects that have been misappropriated, and you also learn that suicides are far more unimaginative in choosing the way they die. After several visits to this museum, the narrator realizes that the staff are numbed by death.
Confederates watching a mishap
In Zurich the loaded car of a southerner overturns. All passers-by watch and nobody helps. But when the car owner succeeds in getting the fully loaded car moving again, the audience applauds
The best city for the blind
The radicalization of the blind and deaf and dumb, who in New York wanted to enforce their rights partly with violence, is an occasion for the narrator to report on the situation of the blind in the American metropolis. In the process he gets to know the blind artist Zoltan K. that being blind is easier to bear for those born blind.
Joseph Beuys or the way to oneself
Using the example of the works of Joseph Beuys , the narrator recognizes that art can also have an ethical character. When it comes to dealing with art, he notes that it is hard work to understand art. In addition, Federspiel describes the negative reactions to Beuys in a lack of understanding of art, which is not open to experiences outside of the usual aesthetic categories.
The class differences between dogs and humans
The narrator notes that the relationship between humans and dogs is culturally dependent. While street dogs are seen as a health hazard in Mexico, dogs are pampered in the US. Federspiel also explains his love for dogs with the fact that dogs do not want to dispute people's place and, like people, can only survive in a castrated form. Personal experiences include visiting a dog hotel in the USA in 1976 and running over a street dog in Spain in 1965.
The 100 days of the McAlpin Hotel
When a former hotel with 1200 beds is blown up, the narrator remembers the past glory and philosophizes about the lifestyle in hotels.
The prospect of the dead
The Hartmannswillerkopf mountain was fought over by the Germans and the French during the First World War. At that time the beginning of the war was celebrated as a folk festival on both sides. After 1918 the mountain was abandoned. The narrator visits the mountain in 1974 and recognizes historical parallels.
Walks in Vietnam
The narrator travels to South Vietnam in 1972 . He takes the everyday life of the population apart from politics. He recognizes a shabby country full of cripples and also notices that pill consumption has exploded. He blames neighboring Thailand for the war.
Chamberlain's Auto-Biographies
At an exhibition by the artist John Chamberlain , who makes works of art out of old car wrecks, he recalls a particularly bizarre car accident in the USA and how an old car was demolished by children in a playground in Switzerland.
Three fighters without resistance
In Switzerland, Fritz Hürlimann set fire to the PTT switchboard for no apparent reason, which sparked a major fire. Later, the first sprayers in Switzerland came into conflict with the authorities.
A recommendation for Potter's Field
Federspiel remembers the death of his father, when he last smashed flower vases in the hospital and switched off the oxygen device himself.
criticism
“Federspiel doesn't cry, he's angry. And he is not angry about the wickedness of the world, about injustice and gray backgrounds. He is only angry about the inconveniences of this world that stand in his way, the ego. He looks at the world with childish defiance and takes everything personally: A potentially anti-social is frightened by social issues and he refuses to appease this world with literary sadness "
literature
expenditure
- Jürg Federspiel: The best city for the blind and other reports . Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1980 (first edition)
Web links
- Peter Bichsel : About hasty anger. Peter Bichsel on Jürg Federspiel: “The best city for the blind” . In: Der Spiegel . No. 46 , 1980, pp. 235-237 ( Online - Nov. 10, 1980 ).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Peter Bichsel : About hasty anger. Peter Bichsel on Jürg Federspiel: “The best city for the blind” . In: Der Spiegel . No. 46 , 1980, pp. 235-237 ( Online - Nov. 10, 1980 ).