by Glass! Love!! Perpetual Motion!!!-A Paul Scheerbart Reader Josiah McElheny
renunciation of what Benjamin here simply refers to as “human-like-
ness.” As a term, this human-like-ness resonates with Benjamin’s overall
program, in which it means the liberation of language and its subtext
276
“. . . VERSIONS OF THE SEEMINGLY I M P E R F E C T . . .”
from magic or enchantment. Scheerbart gives his characters names like
Lesabéndio, Biba, Sofanti, Knéppara, Rasibéff, Zikáll, and Mafikâsu,
which onomatopoetically hint at other worlds: “ ‘dehumanized’ names,”
like those given after the October Revolution, with the goal of “changing
reality instead of describing it.”7
No one, it seems to me, has more explicitly freed Paul Scheerbart from
the easy label of humorist than Walter Benjamin. He saw in Scheerbart
instead a trailblazer whose humor — like the irony of the early romantics —
was the form through which present society could be overcome. Only a
telescopic eye could show us the shape Scheerbart would have wanted
this future to take, but undoubtedly it was made of glass: built of a glass
architecture free from secrets and darkness, where nothing is set in stone,
all tracks are erased, and the “aura” is overcome. Included in Scheerbart’s
Münchhausen collection is a short story in which he extols “humor as the
elixir of life.”8 The hundred-and-eighty-year-old Baron von Münchhausen
prescribes humor to the Emperor of Anam, who worries that he won’t
live long enough to sufficiently change and improve social conditions
among his people: “Humor destroys trouble and boredom. And since
those shorten one’s life, humor, by destroying these two life-shorteners,
has the power to lengthen life.”9 According to Benjamin, art is useless
in a utopian society, but humor outstrips art and makes of Scheerbart’s
works “a spiritual testimony”10 that already brings us closer to the ful-
fillment of utopia.
Gershom Scholem recounts an argument with Benjamin over several of
Berthold Brecht’s texts, in particular the Versuche and Threepenny Novel,
both of which Benjamin wrote about extensively. Scholem recalls a letter
of 1938 in which Benjamin wrote, regarding Scheerbart: “You couldn’t
praise him enough, and you were certainly right to. And now, when I
recommend Brecht to you, the man who did the most to complete what
Scheerbart started, namely to write a thoroughly and completely unmag-
ical language, a language purged of all magic, you reject him and fail in
yourself.”11 Benjamin’s answer to Scholem’s accusation that in compari-
son with Scheerbart, Brecht lacked a “joy in infinity,”12 which again we
have only in Scholem’s later report, is astonishing: “It is not an issue of
infinity, but rather of the elimination of magic.”13 And in a note to his
essays on similarity (“The Doctrine of the Similar,” “On the Mimetic
Faculty”) Benjamin remarks: “The sacred lies nearer to the profane than
to the magical. The way to a language purified of all magical elements:
Scheerbart, Brecht.”14 Scholem understood Benjamin’s dilemma: on the
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HUBERTUS VON A M E L U N X E N
one hand to cleave to a theological philosophy of language and on the
other hand to eliminate magic and aura.15 In Scheerbart’s exclusion of
any linguistic similarity to humankind’s culture Benjamin saw this very
elimination of magic. Supporting Benjamin’s argument is the fact that
Scheerbart wrote in Glass Architecture that humanlike or animal-like
ornamentation is to be avoided.16 Nor did Scheerbart understand infinity
as something transcendental but rather as a moment that occurs within
and around the insurmountable finitude and imperfection of Earth. Paul
Scheerbart’s understanding of what it is to be human is contained in
his prologue to the “Arabian stories” in Machtspässe: “Of course we
won’t be able to grasp the essence of time completely. But striving to do
so leads us onward: in this way one becomes gradually convinced that
the art of comprehending the world and time is an art that cannot be
mastered during our earthly existence. And of course this is an excellent
thing — since the perspective of infinity offers more than any seemingly
conclusive comprehensive vision.”17
And then Scheerbart adds: “On the other hand, our ever-changing
milieu encourages in our consciousness the awareness that the perfect
circumstances — which always have a quality of finitude, or conclusive-
ness! — that sometimes occur on our earth are not in fact the result of
an intentionality that guides our lives more than we ourselves do. The
versions of the seemingly imperfect are in fact richer and more interesting
than the versions of the seemingly perfect.”18
Translated by Anne Posten
278
“. . . VERSIONS OF THE SEEMINGLY I M P E R F E C T . . .”
NOTES
1. As quoted in Vera Hauschild’s afterword to Paul Scheerbart, Die große Revolution: Ein
Monroman & Jenseitsgalerie (Leipzig: Gustav Kiepenheuer Verlag, 1983).
2. Scheerbart, Die große Revolution, 198.
3. Ibid., 136.
4. Walter Benjamin, “Sur Scheerbart,” ca. 1935–39, in Benjamin, Gesammelte Schriften,
ed. R. Tiedemann und H. Schweppenhäuser, vol. 2, pt. 2 (Frankfurt am Main:
Suhrkamp Verlag, 1977), 632.
5. Walter Benjamin, “Experience and Poverty,” in Selected Writings, vol. 2, pt. 2
(Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1999), 733.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8. Paul Scheerbart, “Der Humor als Lebenselixier” from Das Große Licht: Ein
Münchhausen-Brevier (Leipzig: Sally Rabinowitz, 1912).
9. Ibid.
10. Benjamin, “Sur Scheerbart,” 632.
11. Gershom Scholem, Walter Benjamin: Die Geschichte einer Freundschaft (Frankfurt:
Suhrkamp, 1975), 258.
12. Ibid., 258.
13. Ibid., 259.
14. Walter Benjamin, Selected Writings, vol. 2, pt. 3, 956.
15. “Magic,” “unmagical,” and “aura” are common and complex terms that appear
throughout Benjamin’s oeuvre.
16. This book, Scheerbart, Glass Architecture, 41.
17. Paul Scheerbart, Machtspässe: Arabische Novellen (Berlin: E. Eisselt, 1904), 2.
18. Ibid.
279
Jenseits-Galerie (Gallery of the beyond), a portfolio containing ten lithographs
and two short texts (“Autobiographisches” and “Jenseits-Galerie”) by Paul
Scheerbart was published by Oesterheld & Co., Berlin, in 1907.
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Paul Scheerbart
Gal ery of the Beyond
As is general y known, it is only in the twentieth century, according to
our accounting of time, that microscopic study of the photographic plates
provided by the great astronomical observatories has begun to yield some
results. Until now, these results have never been made available to the
general public, in an effort to avoid possible misinterpretation; it is undeni-
able that sometimes what the microscope revealed was only a factor of the
photographic material itself. But this is of course not the place to go into
questions tha
t lie within the purview of specialists. This much is already
certain: the plates taken in the region of the heavens near Neptune, an area
characterized by a remarkable brightness, present new views of our world
that are nothing less than exhilarating — that these are cosmic images can
no longer be doubted.
The fol owing ten drawings are reproductions of what we have discov-
ered beyond the orbit of Neptune. This Gal ery of the Beyond therefore
shows only the Beyond that lies beyond Neptune; it remains entirely within
our spatial sphere and is part of our solar system in every way. These im-
ages are in no way beyond space and time.
Of course — the ten drawings that fol ow present only a miniscule
portion of the beyond that lies past the orbit of Neptune in our solar
system; only the beings whose facial forms are similar to the human
facial form have been selected. But such a facial form is in fact abnormal
beyond Neptune; most of the cosmic beings that live there possess no
such face.
In any case, the recently discovered beings of the beyond have taught
us that our sun is orbited not only by round planets, but also by planets
on whom we can discern a plethora of massive external limbs. We must
therefore assume that the round planets too are thoroughly independent,
sentient living creatures, even if their organs are not visible to us.
Herein lies the essential significance of these new astronomical discov-
eries: the great beings beyond Neptune prove to us that our solar system
consists of “living” beings — that al planets are living creatures of a higher
283
order. And — we wil also never again be able to assume that our sun is
only a desolate conglomeration of burning material.
In answer to the question of whether the surface of the large being shown
in plate 5 is populated by smaller creatures, we can now deem it highly
likely — although at the moment such questions real y cannot be answered.
First, we must search for an explanation for the fact that these huge new
satellites of the sun are comprised of so many tiny parts that are seemingly
completely unconnected — but which together form a whole. Such a bodily
structure becomes quite comprehensible when compared with the three
rings of Saturn, which are known to consist of millions of smal stars.
On the other hand, we must not forget that an uncountable number of
meteors are also whizzing around on this side of Neptune, many of which
taken together may also form organic bodies. The fact that we have not yet
discovered meteoric beings on our side of Neptune is due on the one hand
to the imperfection of our astronomical instruments and on the other hand
to the fact that the space between the sun and the orbit of Neptune has thus
far not been thoroughly searched for such beings.
We cannot yet specify the distance of the planets beyond Neptune from
the sun, but the fact that they do not lie much farther from Neptune than
Neptune lies from the sun is already certain.
Plates 3, 4, 6, and 9 display many cometlike limbs, which look as if they
could easily be detached from the main body. This detachability suggests
that al the comets heretofore seen from earth could in fact be component
beings that have detached themselves from the creatures beyond Neptune.
This hypothesis should be taken into serious consideration, as it is well
known that our telescopes have never revealed a single comet beyond the
orbit of Jupiter. This hypothesis would also explain the formidable number
of comets, which according to Kepler are as numerous in the ocean of the
universe as the fish in the sea.
We must now refrain from any further attempts to meet the newly dis-
covered creatures beyond Neptune with further attempts at explanation; we
must first seek slowly to familiarize ourselves with them. The magnificent
and marvelous life in our solar system that is just now becoming visible to our
eyes is so vast that for now a long, admiring silence seems the best course.
The dimensions of the creatures presented in these ten plates are huge;
the form on plate 7 seems to surpass Jupiter considerably in size.
These ten pages natural y ought not to be judged from a purely aes-
thetic standpoint, as such aesthetic judgments can only proceed from our
habituation to the appearance of earthly beings.
284
The scientific world’s reticence to publish these new discoveries is quite
understandable; they so deeply affect the basic long-held beliefs of astron-
omy that such hesitation can real y only meet with approval.
The artist, however, luckily has no obligation to such reserve — even if
the details may later require slight correction.
Translated by Anne Posten
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Josiah McElheny
Novels and Novelettes, Rhetorical Essays,
and Prophetic Howls:
A Bibliographic Poem
Scheerbart tells stories with titles alone: absurdity as salvation, imagination
as iconoclasm. Of course each of these titles points to a real text, often
short, but also many that are quite long. Each line here, with the exception
of the category headings in bold, is the title of a text by Scheerbart: short
stories, novels, stories within stories, essays, or poems. I have taken each
title as a story in ten words or less and organized them into categories of
my own making. I encourage anyone who can to translate more of these
fables and prophesies for us in the English-speaking world. Those in the
German-speaking world can simply go read them! Be warned: many
are strange and we don’t know enough about humor — Scheerbart’s or
otherwise — to always understand the point. This is not a traditional,
chronological, or comprehensive bibliography, but an introduction to the
breadth of Scheerbart’s thinking.
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THE FANTASICAL
Ever Courageous! A Fantastical Hippopotamus
Novel with Eighty-Three Unusual Stories
Atlas, the Comfortable: A Myth of Humanity
The Delicate Skin: Sensitive Woodland Story
The Sparkling One: A Pedagogical Scherzo
Krietze and Kratze or the New Vegetables: A Fairy Tale
The Flaming Sword: A Gigantic Poem
Modern Gods: A Telepathic Capriccio
Uncle Nepomuk from Celebes: A Completely Crazy Castle Novelette
The Faun: A Final Vignette
The Clever Frog: A Meadow Fable
The Blue Flower: A Witching Tale
Behind the Mountains of the Ordinary: Scherzo
Stubbornness: A Moral Tale
301
LOVE AND EROS
“Yes . . What . . All Don’t We Want!”
I Love You! A Railway Novel with 66 Intermezzos
The Midnight Visit: An Aesthetic Story
The Soft Limbs: A Garden Dream
Narcissus, Love-Madness and Lady
The Doll and the Cured Sausage: A Social Drama
The Hermit: An Eros Novelette
The World Swing: A Salvation Burlesque
The Bite: A Rivalry Vignette
Woeful Lotte
The Old Priests and the Boys: A Temple Fantasy
Heavenly Marriage! Cosmic Novelette
The Goal of Longing: A Vision of Salvation
Once! A Sentimental Atmospheric Tableau
Poison: A Moonlight Comedy
The Safe: A Marriage Novelette
Münchhausen and Clarissa: A Berlin Novel
The Foolish Children: A Mythical Burlesque
Don’t You Love Me Any Longer? A Strange Story
302
ARCHITECTURE
Transportable Cities
The City Journeys Abroad
An Ornament Museum
The Three Monuments
The Architects’ Convention: A Parliamentary Story
The Mother-of-Pearl City: A Chinese Story
New Garden Culture: A Gloss
House Construction Plants
The New Life: Architectural Apocalypse
The Canal
The Gray Cloth and Ten Percent White: A Ladies’ Novel
Swallows: A Window Study
The Dead Palace: An Architectural Dream
303
STARS
The Astropsychological Dithyramb
Foggy Stars
Bursting Comets
The Night Was Great: A Star Story
The Stupid Hussy: A Jupiter Drama
The Hasty Cyclops: A Crater Story
The Great Revolution: A Moon Novel
The Big Trees: A Juno Novelette
The Colored Moons: A Cosmosophical Scherzo
The Factory of Fun-Loving Creatures: A Cosmic Existential Comedy
Head Air Waiter, Sacks of Coal and Astronomical
Advertising Maneuvers: A Hotel Story
The Contented Ones: A Mercury Novelette
Helmsman Malwu: A Vesta Novelette
The Wild Talon: A Rocket Scherzo
Staircase to the Sun: A Household Tale
The Dark Side of Venus
The Cosmic Postil ions: A Marionette Theater Story
Cosmic Theater: An End-of-the-World Novelette
