A commentary on Walter Benjamin, GS, IV, 1, S. 404 - -
- - with needles
This is the story of crumbs porcupine. No one should raise his expectations since the hero of our story really never behaved as such – but that’s exactly what’s interesting about the story you are going to read. After all it’s not so difficult to defeat a dragon or save the princess – it might be exhausting, need courage and insight but it happened only once and – have you ever heard of heroes who would save a princess a day or fought four dragons in their life time? Maybe that day the dragon had a toothache or the princess had actually just become a Karate black belt, yes, it might just have been good luck, but crumbs porcupine, what he did – he did it daily, with the regularity and precision of a pooping bird. On the other hand: everybody longs for great achievements, great constructions, the foundation of cities or the discovery of planets – but you see what happened with the Americas. Sooner or later the “discover” finds out of being a prick who discovered – as you say – hot water or sand in the beach. Without mentioning the resentment of the discovered ones – who had never wanted – were an option given to them – to discover the discoverer. With the great city founders things are not much different. Wait a week, two weeks and you’ll see someone come to them and claim their territory. The great founder of course will expose the greatness of his realm. But the man who walked ten miles to meet him won’t show having been whatsoever impressed by so much glory and majesty. He will dig a hole under the sovereign majestic palace toilette and find the bones of a cat. “You see that? That was my cat.”
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Where is rest of the story? Click here
Our new hero bristles with breaking molds. Actually, neither hero nor anti-, is the narrator dunked in the story in the story like a cookie in a cupe of tea? Except, wait, the narrative ends where the story begins; or rather, where one would expect it - always a tease! So, our new narrator (what a cumbersome word, let's simply call him Crumbs from now on) is a new type of guy - wait another moment please: new? a type? of guy? Is s/he not rather old, simply another real subject and neither new type nor a guy? Perhaps it ramains to be seen if he's after all not more related to Sancho Panza, the friend of the impossible dream of a knight; a character and yet one straddling the narrative and life abyss.
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