Sunday, March 02, 2008

secret societies


Though Balzac saw himself as a romantic legitimist, his real passion was for secret societies. Indeed, the Comedie Humaine is a hive of secret societies, a puzzle palace given over to l'envers de l'histoire. Cousine Bette is, among other things, a sort of equivalent to The Prince in terms of conspiracy. Once the motive is given – Cousine Bette’s resentment over the theft of her Polish sculptor by her relatives, the Hulots – she turns all her resources to overthrowing that family. She has an expert sense of the vices and virtues that render the Hulots so vulnerable, and she sets to work with her trump card – Valerie Marneffe, whose ass will bring down a little private kingdom - all the while sewing and sewing and sewing.

Naturally, Balzac was attracted to the mythography of conspiracy. Among this company, one of the greatest was Joseph Freiherr von Hammer-Purgstall.

Hammer-Purgstall is no longer a name to conjure with – I admit! He was an Austrian diplomat during the Napoleonic era, dispatched to Istanbul by the Habsburg court. He traveled in Egypt as well, learned Persian and Arabic, came back and began to publish the manuscripts he’d collected and translated writers like Hafiz – his Divan inspired Goethe’s West-östliche Divan, for instance. He knew Schlegel, he corresponded with the great French orientalists.

And he published a colorful History of the Assassins. It came out in 1818, was translated into English soon afterwards, and insinuated itself – along with the rich, fantastic literature of the illuminati –into the European imaginary. Hammer-Purgstall’s shadow is on Sherlock Holmes stories, on Chesterton’s the Man who was Thursday. It is on Dostoevsky’s the Possessed. He was, of course, just the kind of comrade Balzac had to meet, and Balzac did meet him. He gave Balzac a seal ring from the East.

This is the story Hammer-Purgstall tells about the Assassins in his history.

In the hills of Syria and Persia, the Assassins will build their castles. The castles are attached to pleasure gardens full of flowers and fountains. When the grand master spots some likely lad, he will invite him up to the castle, and ply him with delicious food and drinks. Unbeknownst to the guest, their flavors conceal haschich. The guest will, invariably, fall asleep. The grand master will then have the servants take the guest into the garden. When the guest wakes up, he will be surrounded by the most delicious looking women. There will be music, delicious food, drink, amorous fondling. The youth will be assured that he has, indeed, been transplanted to paradise. Of course, haschich is again hidden in the food and drink. Again, he will fall asleep. He will then be taken into the castle. When he awakens, the grand master will assure him that he has, indeed, received a vision of paradise. All that is left to do is to swear allegiance to the order.

But the order was no simple set of bandits. No, it rested on a philosophy that included elements from Sufiism, Shiism, and folk beliefs. In the assassin view, there are seven speaking prophets with their seven seats were: Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Mohammed and Ismail, the son of Jafer. But there were also seven Mute prophets. They began with Sus, and each had twelve apostles. These Mute prophets created a secret tradition that flowed into the knowledge held by the most illuminated assassins. The illumination of the Ismailis – the Assassins – had nine degrees. The first five took in the prophets. The sixth degree took in pagan knowledge – Plato and Aristotle’s teaching. This was the degree of rationality, but it was ‘very tedious” – according to Hammer-Purgstall. “… Only after the acolyte was wholly penetrated with the wisdom of philosophy was he ready to climb to the seventh degree, where he move from Philosophy to Mysticism. This was the actual All-Oneness doctrine, which the Sufis in their works had constructed. In the eighth degree the positive doctrine of religion would be taken up again, which after all the preceding stages would crumble into dust. Now the student had be enlightened as to the ephemerality of all God’s messengers and prophets, the nothingness of heaven and hell, the indifference of all actions, for which there is neither punishment nor reward, neither in this nor in the other world, and so he was then ready for the nineth and last degree, ripe to become a blind instrument of all the passions of power. To believe nothing and to do all things was in two words the sum of this wisdom, which fundamentally negated all religion and morality, and had no other goal, than enacting ambitious plans through pliant ministers. To honor nothing and to dare all, because one held all to be a deceit, and nothing is not to be permitted, these are the best elements of a devilish politics, which without other goal than the satisfaction of the unquenchable longing for power instead of climbing up towards the highest goals – to throw oneself in the abyss, where they are buried, eating themselves, under the ruins of thrones and alters, under the roar of anarchy, under the ruins of the happiness of the people and under the curse of mankind itself.” (36)

One can interestingly compare this with the murderers celebrated by De Quincy, who were less concerned with universal anarchy than art. However, De Quincy did read Hammer-Purgstall, and he does mention the assassins with some admiration.

Hofmannsthal was well aware of the friendship of Balzac and Hammer-Purgstall. In his dialogue, Over Characters in the Novel and Drama, he stages a dialogue between the two. Hammer-Purgstall is cast as an enthusiast trying to get Balzac to write plays. This leads to some discussion about human beings and novelistic characters. The note struck by Balzac is this: “I have said it – I don’t see humans, I see fates” .

Balzac claims that theater, as he loves it, is embodied by seventeenth century English drama. But he claims he couldn’t write like Shakespeare.

“The reason? The innermost reason? Perhaps I don’t believe that there are characters. Shakespeare believed it. He was a dramatist.

H-P: You don’t believe that there are people? That’s a good one! You have created about six or seven hundred: you’ve put them on their feet! and since then, they exist.

Balzac: I don’t know, whether people can live in drama. Are you aware of what they call “allotropy” in the mineralogical science? The same matter appears twice in the realms of things, in wholly different crystallation forms, wholly unexpected impress [Gepraege]. The dramatic character is an allotropy of the corresponding real one. I have put the event of Lear in Goriot, I put in the chemical process Lear, I am as distant as the sky from the crystallization form Lear. You are, Baron, as all Austrians, a born musician. You are even a learned musicians. Let me tell you, that the characters in a drama are nothing other than contrapuntal necessity. The dramatic character is a narrowing of the real one. What really enchants me, is just his breadth.”

Well, enough for now.

9 comments:

northanger said...

AZ 67 = HAMMER-PURGSTALL = IF NOT NOW, WHEN? = WEST-ÖSTLICHE DIVAN.

AZ 91 = DER WESTOSTLICHE DIVAN (AZ-84 THE EAST-WESTERLY DIVAN) = SEVEN-PER-CENT SOLUTION (In the past I had known Holmes to go on cocaine 'binges', sometimes of a month's duration or more, during which time he would inject himself thrice daily with a seven-per-cent solution. Many readers have erroneously supposed that Holmes made use of our friendship so that I as a doctor might procure his supply of this terrible narcotic. Recently, I have even heard it postulated that my willingness to supply Holmes with his drug was the only reason he tolerated my companionship. Without pausing to comment on the patent absurdity of the suggestion, I will only note that Holmes had no such need. The Seven-Per-Cent Solution: Being a Reprint from the Reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D. As Edited by Nicholas Meyer).

AZ 195 = LANG IST DIE ZEIT, ES EREIGNET SICH ABER DAS WAHRE = OH, EAST IS EAST, AND WEST IS WEST, AND NEVER THE TWAIN SHALL MEET.

northanger said...

AZ 106 = THE ACTUAL ALL-ONENESS DOCTRINE (AZ-133 THIS WAS THE ACTUAL ALL-ONENESS DOCTRINE) = ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY HUB = APOLLINAIRE'S PROMENADES = CIR8IN82SQ.G9GCD0FDZDA = COINCIDENCE GENERATOR = GOLD-STANDARD ENVIRONMENT = IN ORDER TO SAVE CAPITALISM = IT'S WHAT I GO TO SCHOOL FOR = LETTER + NUMBER COMBINATION = METAPHYSICS OF THE SPONGE = PROTECTION FINANCIÈRE = STAR WARS: THE LEGACY REVEALED = THE DISPOSITION PROCESS = THE SEAMY SIDE OF HISTORY = THE SEVEN-PER-CENT SOLUTION = URBANATOMY SHANGHAI 2008 = YOUR FREEDOM IS GARBAGE! = ZFA2Z0KOFUF18GBQ9T5MGA.

Roger Gathmann said...

I can tell, you are a Hafiz fan, North. Hmmm, I went and looked for a volume of his poetry yesterday at the Austin library and was rudely shocked by the lack of Arabic lit period. But I'm determined to read him now.

northanger said...

hmm, just got this one: AZ 106 = RUNNING OUT OF LIBRARY.

northanger said...

AZ 106 = YOU ARE A HAFIZ FAN, NORTH.

gee, who knew?

northanger said...

AZ 106 = INTUITIVE PERCEPTION (AZ-28 HAFEZ, AZ-70 HAFEZ-E SIRAZI).

northanger said...

AZ 208 = PUZZLE PALACE FIVEN OVER TO L'ENVERS DE L'HISTOIRE = TIME GRABS YOU BY THE WRIST, DIRECTS YOU WHERE TO GO = VEILS OF WOVEN LIGHT, WHERE SUN AND MOON AND STARS UNITE.

AZ 209 = A PUZZLE PALACE FIVEN OVER TO L'ENVERS DE L'HISTOIRE = AEGIS LIGHTWEIGHT EXO-TMOSPHERIC PROJECTILE = BASED ON THE UNDERSTANDING OF SOME REFERENCE POINTS = CONTINUALLY STRESSING THE RELIGIOUS IMPERATIVE = JAPANESE EXPERIMENT MODULE REMOTE MANIPULATOR SYSTEM = MAKES THE ASSUMPTION THAT THE ZONE OF CONCERN IS *IN PLAY* = OTHER AREAS IN WHICH SECURITIZATION WAS POPULAR = PERCEPTIBLE EVIDENCE OF AN INEGALITARIAN LOGIC = PICK YOUR STRATEGY AND THE WAY YOU'RE GOING TO WIN = PUZZLE PALACE GIVEN OVER TO L'ENVERS DE L'HISTOIRE = SO, TAKE THE PHOTOGRAPHS AND STILL-FRAMES IN YOUR MIND = SPLICED INTO WIRING DOWNSTREAM OF THE ORBITER = UTILIZE THE DREDGE MECHANIC TO ITS FULLEST POTENTIAL = VENDÉMIAIRE (THE REVOLUTIONARY MONTH OF VINTAGE).

AZ 87 = THE DREDGE MECHANIC (AZ-34 DREDGE, AZ-40 DREDGE X, AZ-45 DREDGE-OUT, AZ-45 WEST-EAST DIVAN, AZ-50 DREDGE-A-TOG, AZ-50 DREDGING, AZ-61 AUSTIN LIBRARY, AZ-61 BAZAAR OF BAGHDAD, AZ-61 INTERNUNCIO, AZ-61 THE CHIEF SCOUT) = THE ZONE OF CONCERN.

AZ 153 = THE MOST POWERFUL FACET OF A DREDGE CARD = CLIMBING UP TOWARDS THE HIGHEST GOALS.

AZ 86 = DREDGE METHOD OF ATTACK = ODYSSEY BLOCK MECHANICS = SUCCESS IS YOUR PROOF = THE MAN WHO WAS THURSDAY.

AZ 79 = A POWERFUL NEW TWIST = ARABIC LIT PERIOD = CURSE OF THE COLONEL = DREDGE-INTENSIVE = I READ THE NEWS TODAY = NAME TO CONJURE WITH = SEVEN MUTE PROPHETS.

AZ 210 = A PUZZLE PALACE GIVEN OVER TO L'ENVERS DE L'HISTOIRE = AEGIS LIGHTWEIGHT EXO-ATMOSPHERIC PROJECTILE = FIDES, SPES, CARITAS, GUIDES IN THE MEANDERS OF EXISTENCE = WORDS AS FLOWERS, AS CONVICTS, AS CONVERGING PARTITIONS.

AZ 316 = DREDGE WITH IMPUNITY WITHOUT WORRYING ABOUT RUNNING OUT OF LIBRARY = ENNOIA - LOGOS - APHTHARSIA - ETERNAL LIFE - THELEMA - NOUS - PROGNOSIS - MALE-FEMALE FATHER = FRIEDRICH WILHELM CHRISTIAN KARL FERDINAND FREIHERR VON HUMBOLDT (AZ-51 ALLODIAL TITLE = DREDGE CARD = MEGA-DREDGE; AZ-60 FREIHERR = NINE DEGREES = ONE ZERO SIX; AZ-84 WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT = A VISION OF PARADISE = THE EAST-WESTERLY DIVAN = WHERE IT IS ALWAYS 1895; AZ-107 FREIHERR VON HUMBOLDT = AND NEVER THE TWAIN SHALL MEET = BECAUSE ONE HELD ALL TO BE A DECEIT = FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH) = THE DISCOVERY OF ELEMENT 115 PAVES THE WAY TO UNDERSTANDING GRAVITIC CONTROL = TO INSTIL WITHIN OURSELVES THESE QUALITIES ESSENTIAL TO PROFESSIONAL EXCELLENCE.

AZ 170 = JOSEPH FREIHERR VON HAMMER-PURGSTALL (AZ-142 FREIHERR VON HAMMER-PURGSTALL = THE STORY WE'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR) = A POET MUST LEAVE TRACES OF HIS PASSAGE, NOT PROOF = BOUNDARIES TO THE FRIENDSHIP THEOREM (AZ-44 ALLOTROPY; AZ-102 FRIENDSHIP THEOREM = SEPARATION OF ALLOTROPY = THE FIGURATIVE GESTURE; AZ-145 BERZELIUS' SEPARATION OF ALLOTROPE = FIRST CLASS PURVEYORS OF TEXAS PSYCHE).

AZ 104 = DREDGE WITH IMPUNITY = HIVE OF SECRET SOCIETIES = ONCE THE MOTIVE IS GIVEN.

AZ 70 = MOTIVE IS GIVEN = ONE HUNDRED SIX = THE BRONZE WOLF (AZ-73 CONSTRUCT VALIDITY = MOHAMED ALI HAFEZ = THE BALLAD OF EAST AND WEST).

AZ 180 = .79 TO .91 ACROSS THE PRIMARY AND SECONDARY MEASURES = TIME IS MY FAIR SEED-FIELD, TO TIME I'M HEIR.

Roger Gathmann said...

North, since you are insisting so much on the West oestliche divan, here's a poem from it:

Woher ich kam?
Woher ich kam? Es ist noch eine Frage;/
Mein Weg hierher, der ist mir kaum bewußt,/
Heut nun und hier am himmelfrohen Tage/
Begegnen sich, wie Freunde, Schmerz und Lust./
O süßes Glück, wenn beide sich vereinen!/
Einsam, wer möchte lachen, möchte weinen?

O süßes Glück indeed. It is to the powers of pain and pleasure (Balzac, in Hofmannsthal's dialogue, insists on the idea that a character is a history of powers revealed - powers that take over the character, rather than the character taking over the powers. Such is the life of the superstitious novelist) that I commit this blog, god help me.

northanger said...

AZ 28 = O SÜßES GLÜCK (AZ-60 WOHER ICH KAM?, AZ-74 MRS. WINDERMERE = DUNDAS SEPARATION CASE = EAST IS EAST, AND WEST IS WEST = UNIVERSAL ANARCHY = WHAT REALLY ENCHANTS; AZ-87 MRS. WINDERMERE'S FAN; AZ-131 CONSIDERATION OF THE QUESTION = TIRAMOS, ES DIFÍCIL, PERO TIRAMOS = TWENTY-EIGHTH STATE OF THE UNION; AZ-141 DREDGE MECHANIC TURNING-POINT = SHE SETS TO WORK WITH HER TRUMP CARD; AZ-147 WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS = WE ALL STRADDLE THE ABYSS, MRS. WINDERMERE).

AZ 176 = A CHARACTER IS A HISTORY OF POWERS REVEALED = LONG IS THE TIME, BUT THE TRUE COMES INTO ITS OWN.

AZ 292 = IT IS TO THE POWERS OF PAIN AND PLEASURE THAT I COMMIT THIS BLOG, GOD HELP ME = DICEDUL DICHENDAIB .I. DUL DO A CEND ADANA FOCOIR IN CENDA I ACT AM ADB ASNEDAT GUMRADUD.

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