(urth) Soldier: Hegesistratus the Lame Lycanthrope
Matthew King
automatthew at gmail.com
Tue Apr 4 10:08:34 PDT 2006
On Apr 4, 2006, at 4:18 AM, Iorwerth Thomas wrote:
>> From: "Chris" <rasputin_ at hotmail.com>
>> Now that you mention it though, the bit about whistling when he
>> loses just
>> like he whistles when he wins stirs up some memory I can't quite
>> recall.
>> Isn't there some statement or other that the (Christian) man of faith
>> always
>> hopes for the best, but nonetheless is never disappointed if he
>> doesn't
>> happen to get it, treating each with a sort of happy equanimity?
>
> It _sounds_ like some elements of Kierkeguaard, but it may not have
> been
> original to him.
>
> -Iorwerth
>
The whistling bit reminds me particularly of the Knight of Faith in
Kierkegaard's _Fear and Trembling_. I don't recall any exact
analogues, but a specific passage does come to mind, which I'll paste
below. Terminology note: By "knights of infinity" in the second
paragraph, SK is referring to what he more usually calls the Knight
of Infinite Resignation. An example of the KoIR is Agamemnon,
sacrificing his daughter for the good of the cause. His counterpart
Knight of Faith is Abraham, offering up his son for no good reason
other than a personal request, BUT with the full and absurd
expectation that he will receive Isaac back (Paul says by
resurrection, though that turned out to be unnecessary in this case).
---
http://home.ddc.net/ygg/etext/fear.htm#Problemata
Toward evening he walks home, his gait is as indefatigable as that of
the postman. On his way he reflects that his wife has surely a
special little warm dish prepared for him, e.g. a calf's head
roasted, garnished with vegetables. If he were to meet a man like-
minded, he could continue as far as East Gate to discourse with him
about that dish, with a passion befitting a hotel chef. As it
happens, he hasn't four pence to his name, and yet he fully and
firmly believes that his wife has that dainty dish for him. If she
had it, it would then be an invidious sight for superior people and
an inspiring one for the plain man, to see him eat; for his appetite
is greater than Esau's. His wife hasn't it–strangely enough, it is
quite the same to him.
. . . Most people live dejectedly in worldly sorrow and joy; they are
the ones who sit along the wall and do not join in the dance. The
knights of infinity are dancers and possess elevation. They make the
movements upward, and fall down again; and this too is no mean
pastime, nor ungraceful to behold. But whenever they fall down they
are not able at once to assume the posture, they vacillate an
instant, and this vacillation shows that after all they are strangers
in the world. This is more or less strikingly evident in proportion
to the art they possess, but even the most artistic knights cannot
altogether conceal this vacillation. One need not look at them when
they are up in the air, but only the instant they touch or have
touched the ground–then one recognizes them. But to be able to fall
down in such a way that the same second it looks as if one were
standing and walking, to transform the leap of life into a walk,
absolutely to express the sublime in the pedestrian–that only the
knight of faith can do–and this is the one and only prodigy.
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