Sulla rivista digitale inglese Berfrois appare oggi una traduzione – con qualche modifica – di un frammento del saggio su depressione e linguaggio a cui sto lavorando.
Comincia così:
Jean Améry titled his renowned book on voluntary death, Hand an Sich Legen – To lay Hands on Oneself. Beyond the argument of Amery (who killed himself in 1978), I’ve always found this image very appropriate. It describes with precision and grace a terrible gesture; it highlights the movement, inscribes it in time. It emphasizes, in particular, its slowness: the hand must be raised – it is consciously raised – and then it falls and hits. There is no suicide, even the most rapid – a bullet instead of a cut wrist – which does not involve a long elaboration of this shape. The suicide victim cultivates death, and he becomes a victim only with time. Sure, he can end his own life out of the blue: a flash of terror, instant execution. But most often the idea of suicide is an idea that matures; though always equal to itself, as if it gains strength and reason over time, or throws an ever wider light of relief. To raise your hand against yourself requires an invisible apprenticeship.
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(18/04/14)