The end, or so she thought
A friend once tried to provoke with the following wonderful quote about what ends are:
The temporal structure of the end is determined by a twofold negation: The end is standing in the apex of not yet and not anymore. This marks a twofold verge which again is the function of an intentionality articulating itself as a negation. Only this intentionality brings out the otherwise indifferent moment. — Karlheinz Stierle: The return of the end; On the anthropology of perception. (1996, humbly translated by yours truly)
What a gem! Here is the original German quote:
Die Zeitstruktur des Endes bestimmt sich durch eine zweifache Negation: Das Ende steht im Scheitelpunkt von noch nicht und nicht mehr. Die so markierte zweifache Schwelle ist selbst Funktion einer als Negation sich artikulierenden Intentionalität, die erst den für sich indifferenten Moment zum herausgehobenen macht. — Karlheinz Stierle: Die Wiederkehr des Endes. Zur Anthropologie der Anschauungsformen. (1996)
An articulating intentionality qua negation distinguishes the differences of moments … uhm, this is me, isn’t it? Stierle was writing about ratTus rattUs, the twofold negation, the recurring end.
Anyway, let’s put an end to this.
Or maybe not ;-)
February 1st, 2010 at 12:25
I am fond of postings about closure, finish, death, termination and other ends when they are the last entries on, for instance, a blog. It’s like false endings. Or even better, since the rest of the story hasn’t been written yet :)