Re: Die Schere/THE SHEARS

[Gary Kern <gkern@ucr.campus.mci.net>]

Brown wrote:
> 
> Gary Kern wrote:
> >
> > Dear Jüngerites:
> >
> > It occurs to me that we have not yet translated the title of DIE SCHERE.
> > Perhaps it cannot be done until we have read the book entire, but those
> > who already have read it can advise.  In English "The Scissors"
> > suggests, well, scissors, but also a careful cutting, especially a
> > cutting in half.  The translation "The Shears," however, carries quite
> > different connotations.  Here the instrument and the action are bigger,
> > grosser and more likely brutal.  "Scissors"--careful, meticulous
> > cutting, artistic and possibly cruel.  "Shears"--heavy chopping, razing,
> > indiscriminate and never kindly.
> >
> > GK
> 
> What is the Item used by the fates? They use a scissors too, don't they? As this seems to be the source of Jünger's reference, so scissors seems the likely canidate.
> Abdalbarr
*******************
J.E. Zimmerman, DICTIONARY OF CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY, contains the
following entry for ATROPOS:

"One of the three Fates; the other two are Clotho and Lachesis;
daughters of Erebus and Nyx.  Atropos carries the shears and cuts the
thread of life; Clotho carries the spindle and spins the thread of life;
Lachesis carries the globe or scroll and determines the length of the
thread of life." (Bantam Books, p.37)

Thomas Bullfinch, in his famous collection of Greek and Roman mythology,
writes, after describing the Graces:  "The Fates were also
three--Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos.  Their office was to spin the
thread of human destiny, and they were armed with shears, with which
they cut it off when they pleased."  (Penguin Books, p. 34)

Another reference book on my shelf mentions only "cutting instruments"
and states that Atropos sometimes was portrayed as carrying a scale. I
could find no pictures of the Fates in the books at hand.

Although shears seem rather large for cutting a thread, perhaps the
momentous act and the pictoral quality of the instrument account for
their preference over scissors.

If Jünger's title does indeed refer to the Fates, then THE SHEARS
appears to be the English translation.

GK