1. Building
Two young patients are
complaining:
Hermine Kleefeld: “We’ve
been cheated out of it ( summer ) just as we’re cheated out of everything else
in life”
Ganser: “ Not even a
dog, would want to go on living like this much longer…”
Settembrini warns Hans
not to believe them, they lead a free and easy life…, and ads a new lesson:
Lesson nr. 5: Beware of irony as an intellectual stance… it
becomes a source of depravity, a barrier to civilization…etc etc
“Illness and despair
are often only forms of depravity”
“Paradox is the poison
flower of quietism…the greatest depravity of all.”
Hans tentatively
objects and compares Settembrini’s opinions with those of Krokowski
But analysis too can be
good or bad, depending on it’s use to free men ( from preconceptions for
instance ) or not.
Hans changes subject
and speaks about his view of the skeleton of his hand.
I am not sure how to
understand these things about paradox – irony – analysis etc, three pedagogic
tools ( ? ) which can be used both in a positive or negative way ? Help anybody
?
2. Time
How has Hans
experienced these 7 weeks, like 7 days or 7 years ?
3. Eros
“Russians, male and
female…”Hans has the impression that Settembrini is aware of his infatuation
with Clawdia. Is he jealous ?
4. Geography
Parthians and Scythians
= the Russian = the threat of the east
5. Note
Quietism = mystical
surge for God in lifetime
X ray : analytical pit
: a way to keep hans at the Sanatorium…
