[Cz-L] About Czernowitz, translated from German

What follows is my translation of an old description of Czernowitz
Written by Georg Heinzen and sent to me by Hardy, our treasure finder.

Czernowitz;
Sundays which started with Schubert and finished with pistol duels.
Czernowitz;
situated halfway between Kiev and Bucharest,Krakow and Odessa,
the secret capital of Europe, in which the daughters of the butchers
sang coloratura and the carters argued about Karl Kraus.
Where the sidewalks were swept with bouquets of roses
and where the bookstores outnumbered the bakeries.

Czernowitz;
This was a continuous ongoing intellectual discourse, which each morning,
discovered a new aesthetic theory, which in turn was discarded by evening.
Where the dogs were given the names of the Olympic gods and the chickens
scratched the verses of Holderlin into the dirt.
Czernowitz was a pleasure-boat, manned by Ukrainians, staffed by German
officers, filled with Jewish passengers which under the Austrian flag,
crossed from west to east.

For those who do read German, here the original:

>> “Czernowitz, das waren Sonntage, die mit Schubert begannen und mit
>> Pistolenduellen endeten. Czernowitz, auf halbem Weg gelegen zwischen Kie=
w
>> und Bukarest, Krakau und Odessa, war die heimliche Hauptstadt Europas, i=
n
>> der die Metzgertochter Koloratur sangen und die Fiaker uber Karl Kraus
>> stritten. Wo die Burgersteige mit Rosenstraussen gefegt wurden und es me=
hr
>> Buchhandlungen gab als Backereien.
>>
>> Czernowitz, das war ein immerwaehrender intellektueller Diskurs, der jed=
en
>> Morgen eine neue aesthetische Theorie erfand, die am Abend schon wieder
>> verworfen war. Wo die Hunde die Namen olympischer Goetter trugen und die
>> Huhner Holderlin-Verse in den Boden kratzten. Czernowitz war ein
>> Vergnuegungsdampfer, der mit ukrainischer Mannschaft, deutschen Offizier=
en
>> und juedischen Passagieren unter oesterreichischer Flagge zwischen West
>> und Ost kreuzte.³

Na Ja! (well of course!)

Mimi
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Received on 2008-10-08 18:18:57