{"id":28201,"date":"2020-12-07T07:47:24","date_gmt":"2020-12-07T15:47:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=28201"},"modified":"2020-12-07T08:45:25","modified_gmt":"2020-12-07T16:45:25","slug":"re-emergence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=28201","title":{"rendered":"Re-emergence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Riddle me that: Switzerland is supposed to have the largest number of satirical publications per capita. There’s a stereotype-defying fact that will evaporate from my brain as fast as you can say yodel (<\/em>defined as practicing a form of singing or calling marked by rapid alternation between the normal voice and falsetto.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One of these publications, the oldest in fact, is Der Nebelspalter<\/a><\/em> (The Fogsplitter) which in 1920, exactly 100 years ago and still under shock of the carnage produced by the Spanish Flu, published a poem that could be written for all of us, today. Looks like what goes around comes around – true both for pandemics and also the way people react to them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I have translated the bitingly sharp verses, but of course had to do without rhyming since I am not a good enough translator for that. It was hard enough as is, since the German was quite old-fashioned. I thought, however, the gist would suffice to have us all feel like someone just put a century-old mirror up to our faces, with nary an occluding patina softening our recognition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Flu and the People<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A slayer traveled through the land\nwith drums and with a scythe\nwith gruesome drumrolls from the band\nshrouded in black, the flu arrived. \n\nShe entered each and every house\nand reaped the sheafs in full - \nmany pink cheeked maidens died\nand strapping young men were culled.\n\nThe people in their anguish called\nloudly for the public authorities:\nWhat are you waiting for? Protect us from death - \nWhatever shall become of us?\n\nYou have the power, the duty too,\nshow us what you can do - \nWe'll warn you, don't dodge it now,\nwhat else are you good for?\n\nIt's a scandal, the way it's handled,\nwhere are the prohibitions - \nthere's singing, dancing, partying and bars,\nhaven't enough people died already? \n\nThe governors had puzzled thoughts \ntraversing through their brains,\nhow to combat this adversity\ntheir brows were deeply furrowed. \n\nHark, their efforts found reward,\ntheir thoughts were indeed blessed;\nSoon prohibitions, harsh and unfamiliar,\nrained down onto the land.\n\nThe flu ducked deep and timidly\nand was about to disappear,\nwhen the people newly clamored\nin a chorus of a hundred thousand voices:\n\n\"Government, hey!  What are you, nuts?\nWhat's this supposed to mean?\nWhat is all this stuff that oppresses us,\nyou wisest of the wise?\n\nAre we only here to pay taxes?\nWhy do you deprive us of all joy?\nParticularly now with MardiGras upon us - ha!\nThe masses bellowed and blustered.\n\nYou can prohibit church and all,\nthe singing and the praying.\nBut regarding the rest, \nwe refuse to be shackled!\n\nThat was not really what we wanted, \nallow us dancing and boozing,\notherwise the people  - listen to their grumbling - \nwill march on the city in hostile mobs.\n\nThe flu, already on its last leg,\nsquinted quietly,\nand said, \" Finally -  after all!\"\nAnd laughed maliciously.\n\n\"Well, well, it never learns\nthat old humanity!\"\nShe unfurls, grows, is pale\nand sharpens the scythe anew.\n\n\n<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Sounds familiar?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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I have a lot of positive associations with Switzerland. I learned how to ski there, something I loved if only because I scared everyone around me with my speed, inappropriate for a wobbly beginner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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I improved my French there, when farmed out to a family in Neuchatel for months on end, being left to my own devices which included hours on end spent in movie houses watching Brigitte Bardot in her prime. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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I met an old lady in Lausanne who had spent her youth at the Russian Tsar’s Court before the revolution and had sketchbooks, shown to me at length, that documented every outfit she ever wore to any occasion at the palace, in watercolor no less. Since I was exactly in-between being starstruck with royalty (age 13 –  15 ) and devoting my life to being a revolutionary (age 16 to 16. 5) I drifted on a cloud of deliciously ambivalent reaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Add to that now the admiration for a satirical poem that describes ageless human behavior, when confronted with a pandemic, to perfection. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The viral form anticipated???<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Re-emergence is, of course, not just reserved for viruses and human behavior, but exists in art as well. Case in point is captured in today’s photographs, chosen for their fit with the topic (and also, truth be told, because I have no photographs of Switzerland.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n