done in my stead, I chose Weimar, which was almost unknown to me.»
Why Weimar? Johanna was ambitious and yearned to be close to the epicenter of
German culture. Supremely confident of her social abilities, she knew she could make
good things happen, and, indeed, within months she had created an extraordinary new life
for herself: she established the liveliest salon of Weimar and developed a close friendship
with Goethe and many other leading writers and artists. Soon she began a career, first as a
successful writer of travel journals chronicling the Schopenhauer family`s tour and a trip
to southern France; then, with Goethe`s urging, she turned to fiction and wrote a series of
romantic novels. She was one of the first truly liberated women and was Germany`s first
woman to earn her living as a writer. For the next decade Johanna Schopenhauer became
a renowned novelist, the Danielle Steel of nineteenth–century Germany, and for decades
Arthur Schopenhauer was known only as «Johanna Schopenhauer`s son.» In the late
1820s Johanna`s complete works were published in a twenty–volume edition.
Though history (based greatly on Arthur`s scathing criticism of his mother) has
generally presented Johanna as narcissistic and uncaring, there is no doubt that she, and
only she, liberated Arthur from his servitude and started him on his way to philosophy.
The instrument of delivery was a fateful letter she wrote to Arthur in April 1807, two
years after his father`s suicide.
Dear Arthur,
The serious and calm tone of your March 28th letter, flowing from your mind into my
mind, woke me up and revealed that you might be on your way to totally missing
your vocation! That is why I have to do each and every thing to save you, however
possible; I know what it means to live a life repugnant to one`s soul; and if it is
possible, I will spare you, my dear son, this misery. Oh, dear dear Arthur, why was it
that my voice counted so little; what you want now, was in fact then my warmest
wish; how hard I strove to make it happen, despite everything one said against me....
if you do not wish to be taken into the honourable Philistine order, I, my dear Arthur,
truly don`t want to put any obstacle into your way; it is just you who have to seek
your own way and choose it. Then I will advise and help, where and how I can. First
try to come to peace with yourself…remember you must choose studies that promise
you a good salary, not only because it is the only way you can live, for you will never
be rich enough to live from your inheritance alone. If you have made your choice, tell
me so, but you have to take this decision on your own.... If you feel the strength and
heart to do this, I will willingly give you my hand. But just don`t imagine life as a
complete learned man to be too delightful. I now see it around me, dear Arthur. It is a
tiring, troublesome life full of work; only the delight in doing it gives it its charm.
One doesn`t get rich with it; as a writer, one acquires with difficulty what one needs
for survival.... To make your life as a writer you have to be able to produce
something excellent.... now, more than ever, there is a need of brilliant heads. Arthur,
think about it carefully, and choose, but then stay firm; let your perseverance never
fail, and you will safely achieve your goal. Choose what you want...but with tears in
my eyes I implore you: do not cheat on yourself. Treat yourself seriously and
honestly. The welfare of your life is at stake, as well as the happiness of my old days;
because only you and Adele can hopefully replace my lost youth. I couldn`t bear it to
know that you are unhappy, especially if I had to blame myself for having let this
great misfortune happen to you out of my too large pliability. You see, dear Arthur,
that I dearly love you, and that I want to help you in everything. Reward me by your
confidence and by, having once made up your mind, following my advice in fulfilling
your choice. And don`t hurt me by rebelliousness. You know that I am not stubborn. I
know how to give way by arguments, and I will never demand anything from you I
won`t be able to support by arguments....
Adieu, dear Arthur, the post is urgent and my fingers hurt. Bear in mind all I
send and write to you, and answer soon.
Your mother
J. Schopenhauer
In his old age Arthur wrote, «When I finished reading this letter I shed a flood of
tears.» By return mail he opted for liberation from his apprenticeship, and Johanna
responded, «That you have so quickly come to a decision, against your wont, would
disquiet me in anyone else. I should fear rashness; with you it reassures me, I regard it as
the power of your innermost desires that drives you.`
Johanna wasted no time; she notified Arthur`s merchant patron and his landlord
that Arthur was leaving Hamburg, she organized his move and arranged for him to attend
a gymnasium in Gotha, fifty kilometers from his mother`s home in Weimar.
Arthur`s chains were broken.
15
Pam in India
_________________________
Itis noteworthy and remarkable
to see how man, besides his
life in the concrete, always
lives a second life in the
abstract...(where) in the sphere
of calm deliberation, what
previously possessed him
completely and moved him
intensely appears to him cold,
colorless, and distant: he is
a mere spectator and observer.
_________________________
As the Bombay–Igatpuri train slowed for a stop at a small village, Pam heard the clangs
of ceremonial cymbals and peered through the grimy train window. A dark–eyed boy of
about ten or eleven, pointing to her window, ran alongside holding aloft a raised rag and
yellow plastic water pail. Since she had arrived in India two weeks ago, Pam had been
shaking her head no. No to sightseeing guides, shoe shines, freshly squeezed tangerine
juice, sari cloth, Nike tennis shoes, money exchange. No to beggars and no to numerous
sexual invitations, sometimes offered frankly, sometimes discreetly by winking, raising
eyebrows, licking lips, and flicking tongues. And, finally, she thought, someone has
actually offered me something I need. She vigorously nodded yes, yes to the young
window washer, who responded with a huge toothy grin. Delighted with Pam`s patronage
and audience, he washed the pane with long theatrical flourishes.
Paying him generously and shooing him away as he lingered to stare at her, Pam
settled back and watched a procession of villagers snake their way down a dusty street
following a priest clad in billowing scarlet trousers and yellow shawl. Their destination
was the center of the town square and a large papier–mГўchГ© statue of Lord Ganesha, a
short plump Buddha–like body bearing an elephant`s head. Everyone—the priest, the men
