Re: Desinvolture et al.

[Richard Brem <llr@magnet.at>]

-- [ From: Richard Brem * EMC.Ver #2.5.02 ] --

Bertil Haggman wrote: 

>Meyer points out that from the second version of the >_Abenteuerliche Herz_
EJ is creating a new vision of man - as >anarch, as partisan, as distant
observer, as a private person who >seeks to survive the storms of world
history. Already Stendahl had >used desinvoltura, a sort of quiet resolve 
(Gelassenheit) in the face >of reality and power. One could possibly
describe the whole >adventure of the two brothers in _On the Marble Cliffs_
in the >dangerous landscape of the Oberfoerster as some kind of
>desinvolture.

>Personally I prefer Gelassenheit to Unbefangenheit but who can say >but EJ
himself.

Good point. I guess we face the "usual" problem when reading 
Juenger - his terms and concepts are highly ambivalent or even polyvalent.
The "innate nonchalance regarding power" - as I have
called it - comprises people in power as well as people approaching
them or dealing with them (enter Anarch). 

"'Aladdin's Problem' is more of a sketch than a story, though it 
 shows an unusual grasp of the thought processes of people in 
 power."   - 
                  The Los Angeles Times, 11th October 1992 (from a          
               review of "Aladdin's Problem")

This might be the reason why Kohl, Mitterrand, Gonzales and (allegedly)
Gorbachev were so keen on meeting the Master. ;-)