The Torah contains 613 commandments and prohibitions, but Fackenheim developed a 614th commandment while attempting to find a theological explanation for the holocaust. According to the new commandment, “the authentic Jew of today is forbidden to hand Hitler yet another, posthumous victory.”
For Fackenheim, fulfilling the 614th commandment meant protecting the Jewish identity, i.e.promoting marriage between Jews and separation from other cultures. In her performance, Berkowitz turned this arrangement on its head. She read aloud quotations from Jewish thinkers who explained the holocaust as the fulfillment of God’s will.
“This if anything is a victory for the anti-Semitic mindset,” Berkowitz said in a Times interview in October, 1983. “Any attempt at finding a theological explanation for genocide is a dead end. God was absent then, and God is absent now. There is no God. There is only a flood of increasingly complicated explanations that don’t serve anyone.”
In recent decades, feminist artists have mostly focused on mapping out and publicizing their own internal spaces. Female desire and sexuality, gender roles, body image, and corporeality have received ample study.
“A certain ironic double exposure and postmodern theoretical machinery have pervaded most performances,” says performance art researcher NADIA KREIGHBAUM. As an example she cites ANNIE SPRINKLE’S classic performance Post Porn Modernism (1989), in which Sprinkle urinated on the stage and inserted a speculum in her vagina, among other things.
But, according to Kreighbaum, Berkowitz’s works completely lack any ironic or erotic dimension. “Despite their strong physicality, they’re very literary works, since they’re based on the Book and interpretations of the Book. They deconstruct not only the word but also flesh. This was confirmed in tragic fashion in her final performance.”
Shlomith-Shkhina’s final performance, with its shocking ending, casts her entire career in a new light. Did her art refine her disease, or was it the other way round?
Performance artist MARINA ABRAMOVIČ (b. 1946) sees Berkowitz’s final presentation exclusively as an apologia for anorexia. “You can use art to try to sanctify anything. We have to behonest. I think Berkowitz hadn’t thought this performance all the way through.”
Questions will continue, though. Did Berkowitz’s death make her a martyr? If it did, is she a martyr for the Jewish religion, western culture, or art? Whatever the case, there’s no doubt the performance that led to Berkowitz’s death, which literally incarnated an artistic idea, will become one of the macabre classics of her field. Furthermore, what influence will it have on artists who draw their inspiration from suffering and destruction?
It may be too soon to answer these questions, but not for much longer. The Sean Kelly Gallery, which specializes in concept and performance art, is organizing a symposium on September 15 entitled “Destructive Art in a Destructive Society.” The event is open to the public.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The help I received from others during the writing of Oneiron was indispensable. Teemu Manninen wrote Polina’s hypothetical ode (p. 173–174). Rami Saari translated Shlomith’s letter into Hebrew (p. 223–224), and he and Riikka Tuori spared no effort helping me with questions related to Jewish culture and the Hebrew language. Joel and Ekaterina Geronik hosted me in Moscow and served not only as tour guides for the city but also the Russian mentality. For questions about the Russian language, I’ve frequently bothered Tintti Klapuri. Shlomith’s New York took shape after two weeks I spent in the home of Monique Truog and Damijan Sacchio. In addition to Monique and Damijan, Alison Smith shared details about the Hasidic culture of Borough Park that fed my imagination. Monique checked and refined my English phrasing. Jouni Kaipia taught me everything I know about West African architecture. I spent two unforgettable months at Villa Karo in Grand-Popo, Benin, in 2009–2010. The Autio Funeral Home provided information about burials. Anna Ripatti corrected a ridiculous misconception. Lieven Ameel corrected my nonexistent Dutch. Kari-Pekka Pöykkö helped with the Wolof phrases. Satu Taskinen taught me that what happens on the mountain, stays on the mountain. At a critical moment Judith Schalansky gave this gentle but strict command: “Now forget everything else and write.” Monica Vasku Machado gave Rosa Imaculada an authentic voice in The Heart of Rosa Imaculada (2013), a performance combining language, text, and heart sounds; thank you for the dancing, Auri Ahola, Valtteri Raekallio, and the rest of the Runovaara group! I consulted Timo Suonsyrjä on a number of medical questions. Reijo Aulanko explained how fricatives work. Markku Eskelinen, Kristiina Sarasti, Sinikka Vuola, and my mother read the manuscript and all supported me in every way during this long process. Special thanks to Sinikka for her precise linguistic observations!
I owe the greatest debt of thanks to my life partner, Martti-Tapio Kuuskoski. He read and commented on the manuscript at every stage. We’ve had endless discussions about Oneiron and the laws of this otherworldly place. All of these journeys we made together.
Any possible mistakes and misunderstandings, intentional or unintentional, are my responsibility alone.
Financial support for the writing of this novel was provided by the Kone Foundation, the Uusimaa and Kainuu Regional Funds of the Finnish Cultural Foundation, Arts Promotion Centre Finland, the WSOY Literature Foundation, and the Otava Book Foundation.
REFERENCES
The epigraph for Part I of the novel comes from Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich.
The epigraph for Part II is from Christoph Schlingensief’s Heaven Could Not Be As Beautiful As Here: A Cancer Diary (So schön wie hier kanns im Himmel gar nicht sein!). Original translation based on the Finnish translation by Eeva Bergroth, Kauniimpaa kuin taivaassa, p. 90 (Kansallisteatterin kirja / Kirja kerrallaan and Finnish National Theatre, 2011).
The quotations on pages 38 and 39 are from The Tibetan Book of the Dead: The Great Liberation Through Hearing in the Bardo.
The quotations on page 78 are from David Nicholls’s novel One Day, pp. 384–385 (Hodder & Stoughton, 2009).
On page 170–171 there are excerpts from The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov. Original translations based on various
