A few weeks ago I wrote a blog on choosing books in an
eclectic way or rather on “reading broadly”, as I called my blog. I argued that
reading broadly lays a better foundation for understanding the specific and
maybe narrow topics you are interested in. I had to think of it, when I
happened to read a novel by the German author Walter Flex on his friendship
with Ernst Wuche during the First World War. I see you thinking already: This
is again a case of eclectic reading, for what has a novel on the First World
War to do with the themes discussed in these blogs? “Maybe nothing and yet
maybe a lot”, is my reply. However, here I don’t want to talk about the direct
relevance of these novels for “my” philosophy and philosophy in general but
about eclecticism.
Flex’s novel is on friendship and especially on his
relation with Ernest Wuche. In a certain sense the book can be compared with
Montaigne’s essay “On friendship” dedicated to his friend Étienne de La Boétie,
who had died a few years before Montaigne wrote it. Also Flex wrote his novel
after his friend’s death. Flex meets Wuche for the first time when they received
officer training somewhere in Germany. They clicked immediately with each other,
just like Montaigne and La Boétie. And also the friendship between Flex and
Wuche was short lasting but intensive. A difference is that Flex wasn’t there
when Wuche died, although he was present at his burial. Also Flex, like
Montaigne, couldn’t forget his friend and thinking of him made him depressive. This
made Montaigne write his Essays and Flex
write his novel Der Wanderer zwischen
beiden Welten (The Wanderer between Two Worlds).
On the train to the Eastern
Front, Flex and Wuche got into conversation. They talked about books. Wuche is
an avid reader, and also in the trenches and behind the frontline he read a lot
(as many other soldiers did, on both sides of the front). Flex tells how Wuche
gets a few books from his knapsack: An anthology of Goethe, Nietzsche’s Zarathustra
and the New Testament in a special edition for soldiers. “Is this compatible
with each other?”, Flex asked. Wuche smiled and said: “In the trenches all
sorts of people who do not know each other are forced to comradeship. It’s the
same with books as it is with people. They may be very different – they need to
be only strong and honest and be able to hold out, this gives the best
comradeship.”
Must I add anything to
it? Good books do not need to fit objectively, as long as they fit in the mind
of the reader.
2 comments:
Wuche's words are an accurate and beautiful description of friendship. And a perfect closure for your post.
Have a good week!
Gracias, Diana.
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