..think of that opening scene from Kubrick's 2001 with its brief shots of nature at different times of day and of the year until at some point an already human-like horde appears. And then, as you know, there's that one grandiose step: at the end of a bloody fight, one of the primitives grabs his weapon, a bone that he has just used as a club, and throws it into the air—it flies up and up, turns/and the next thing we see is a bone-shaped spaceship. This marks the beginning of civilisation, the beginning of humanity, so to speak, in whose inner being violence and manslaughter have been contained from the very beginning, and thus signifies the beginning of homo faber.
—Reinhard Jirgl in a letter to me
The Last Supper: By Madhvi Parikh. Has this catalogue entry by Cioran: Nobody in this world has yet died from another's suffering. And the one who said that he died for us did not die; he was killed.
And this, by Gabriela Misteral, also from the same catalogue: On the night of the Garden of Olives, Judas slept for a few moments and dreamed, dreamed of Jesus, because one dreams only of those one loves or of those one kills. And Jesus said to him: 'Why did you kiss me? You could have scored me with your sword, to mark me. My blood was ready, like a goblet, for your lips; my heart did not resist death. I was waiting for your face to appear among the branches.
'Why did you kiss me? No mother will want to kiss her son because of what you've done, and now anything that kisses for love on the earth, the leaves or the sunshine, will resist the shadowy caress. How will I be able to erase that kiss from the light so that it doesn't overpower the lilies of this springtime? Behold, you have sinned against the world's trust!
'Why did you kiss me? The murderers are already wiping off their gaffs and knives; they're already clean. There were bonfires before, but no kiss.
This story is from the January 11, 2025 edition of Outlook.
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This story is from the January 11, 2025 edition of Outlook.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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