Manfred Paul, Verena - Geburt, 1977 |
I
keep to my promise. I will start this year 2013 with a positive
review. I did not have to look hard to find the right material. A
catalogue on my book shelf presented itself in all its beauty. Even
the design of its cover is alluring. First of all: the title is
German language at its best - “Die Leidenschaften”. It is written
in the color of pink on a black and white picture of a woman being
carried away – in pleasure? or is it pain? Die Leidenschaften
is a catalogue of an exhibition that I, unfortunately, have not seen.
The exhibition took place at the Deutsche Hygiene-Museum in Dresden
and just finished on December 30, 2012. Yet its accompanying
catalogue is much more than the usual outlay of pretty pictures. More
than a book even, it resembles an encyclopedia in which you can delve into again and again, one item stirring up your curiosity for the other.
Also in life one passion brings you to another – like, for
instance, love turning into hate.
Eleven
passions are talked about in Die Leidenschaften - love,
desire, happiness, amazement, hate, rage, fear, shame, grief, envy
and disgust - and five acts make up the drama: exposition, conflict,
climax, turning point, resolution. The book is set up as a reader: thematic texts followed up by excerpts of novels, poetry, philosophy,
and it doesn't even shun the genre of children books. The images
range from high art to popular culture and artifacts. Of course, I
immediately looked up “happiness”. The chapter made me smile not
because it is hilarious or tries to make you, appropriately, happy
but it, and actually the whole catalogue, has a subtle humor to it.
“Laughing is the most visible expression of happiness”, so I read
later. Right on. Sometimes catalogues make you happy, but how
often do they make you visibly happy? It was a combination of visuals
and text that did the trick: a photograph of pink shades from the
second half of the 20th century juxtaposed with a short
story of Winnie the Pooh.
Maybe
I could so very much relate to this juxtaposition because Catherine
Nichols, who co-edited Die Leidenschaften together with Gisela Staupe, is a
friend of mine. And as it is with friends, rather the same things
make us happy. Yet this is not just an arbitrary constellation of
pink shades and Winnie the Pooh in the section on happiness. La
Vie en Rose is not just a pun. And the bear Winnie the Pooh
spreads wisdom about many (positively oriented) passions – like:
“Piglet: How do you spell love? Pooh: “You don't spell it ... you
feel it.” The best explanation of passion is given by Catherine
Nichols herself in the chapter “Davongetragen” (again, what a
beautiful word!), drawing upon the study of affects by the
philosopher Chrysipp. Passions are emotions that carry us away.
Chrysipp compared the energy that goes with passions to that of a
running person: on the contrary to a walking person, who can halt
every moment, a running person is difficult to stop at a given
moment – the impulse is stronger than the will: “Don't get
carried away!”
It
is not the first time that Catherine Nichols introduces me into the
topic of passions. A few years ago she lend me a book on disgust. Do
you know that disgust is one of the strongest bodily feelings? The body
says no and it is impossible not to obey it. Back then Catherine
Nichols was feeding my interest for (un)lucky places. One my favorite
(un)lucky places is Kottbusser Tor where ugliness and beauty meet. It
is a place both pleasing and cruel where passions always seem to roar
high. The owner of the shoe repair shop Abgelaufen at Kotti
once told me that it is like standing on hot coals and he had been
doing so for 24 years. People pass by, vent their frustration, one
laughs, and then the next one arrives. How is it to deal on daily
basis with people getting carried away? He considered himself to be
one of these “minimal” people, so the owner told me. And during
our conversation he shared with me a few of these minimalist ideas:
“When God closes a door, then he opens another one. When your
destiny at a place, your job, is finished, then it is finished. You
just look for another job. Over and out.”
Philosophy
in the face of passion is not an anomaly. Actually, I learnt that
recently upon reading about a new book that came out: LoveKnowledge
by Roy Brandt. The title is a reference to Philosophia as the
translation of the Love of Knowledge. Coincidentally the Belgian
chocolate I ate today had a quote by André Gide written on the
inside of its wrap, saying: “I have no use for knowledge that has
not been preceded by a sensation.” Cote d'Or was clearly trying not
to make me feel bad about the guilty pleasure of eating its
Mignonnette “Saveur Noisette”. If you check Die Leidenschaften
on “desire” then you will find on page 103 an excerpt of Roald
Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. My next Mignonnette
“Saveur Moka” said: “There is no sincerer love than the love of
chocolate.”
About Die Leidenschaften: http://dhmd.de/index.php?id=1966
and the shoe store Abgelaufen at Kottbusser Tor: www.abgelaufen.com
About Die Leidenschaften: http://dhmd.de/index.php?id=1966
and the shoe store Abgelaufen at Kottbusser Tor: www.abgelaufen.com