At a mere 120 pages long, the book, under normal circumstances, could be read in a single sitting, however I found the digital pages a bit straining for my waning eyes. Despite the pleasure I had reading the story, it took me thrice as long to finish.
Described to me as “hauntingly beautiful” before I read it, the work certainly lived up to expectations. Reminiscent of Eumeswil (1977), The Glass Bees (1957) and Jünger’s other fictional vignettes, images of the fanciful Campagna with its sundry fauna, flora, topography and people leapt off the pages and came to life in my imagination.
Below are a handful of passages that I found compelling and made a note of while reading; not necessarily for their literary beauty, but rather for their deeper meanings.
You all know the wild grief that besets us when we remember times of happiness. (P. 7)
They say that if one falls headlong into an abyss one sees things in the minutest detail as though through a crystal-clear lens. (P. 27)
Men who had deemed themselves strong-minded enough to cut the links with the faith of their fathers fell under the yoke and spell of barbarian idols. The sight they offered in their blindness was more loathsome than drunkenness at noon. Thinking to fly and boasting of their powers, they grovelled in the dust. (P. 38)
In base hearts there lies deep-seated a burning hatred of beauty. (P. 44)
But since the right arm is more obedient than the heart, our spirit was with the people who defended their hereditary freedom so gallantly against great odds. (P. 49)
In this respect man-made order is like the universe-from time to time it must plunge into the flames to be born anew. (P. 49-50)
In the word we recognised the gleaming magic blade before which tyrants pale. (P. 59)
Thus the decline of order brings good fortune to none. (P. 67)
Like all who hunger after power and mastery, he was led astray by his wild dreams into the realm of Utopias. (P. 79)
Then a shudder ran through my inmost heart, for I realised that he had been worthy of his forefathers, the tamers of monsters; he had slain the dragon fear in his own breast. Then I was certain of something which I had often doubted-there were still noble beings amongst us in whose hearts lived unshakable knowledge of a lofty ordered life. And since a high example leads us in its train, I took an oath before this head that from that day forth I would rather fall with the free men than go in triumph among the slaves. (P. 105)
