On Suicide: A Discourse on Voluntary Death

86 Pages·1999·10.592 MB·English

by  Jean Améry

On Suicide
A DISCOUROSNE
VOLUNTARDYE ATH
JeanAm ery
I NIS L ATEBDY J OHND .B ARLOW
Indiana
University
Press
Ill MlNGTON AND INDIANAPOLIS
Thibso oikas p ublicoaft ion
tlV Indiana University Press
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Thew orlodft hhea pppye rsiosna d ifferoennet
Thpeu bliofct ahtbiiosoow nka msa dpeo ssible frotmh aotft huen happpye rson.
throaug grhaf nrtoI mn tNeart ioBnoensn, Jusatsw itdhe atthh weo rlddo enso tc hange,
buts tops.
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-Wittgenstein,
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Contents
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE ix
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION Xi
xxiii
PREFACE
IB.e fotrhLeee ap 1
IIH.o wN atuIrsDa ela th3?1
IITIoL. a Hya ndosnO neself
62
IVB.e lontgoOi nnegs el9f3
V.T heR oatdot hOep en 123
155
NOTES
IB.e fotrhLeee ap
asi ft,og acilna yroiautr ype,u shoipneagn ev
It'
wooddeonot rhi acstr eaoknii tnhsgi nagnerdse si
prsseu.rY eoaup pallyylo usrt resntgaetcphr ,to ss
oladn,da ,f tsetra nidnait nwgi lgirgaehyxt,p ect
tnr eyaodau r seu rroubnyadt ehdo roiurng hly
rkens.Ds istraanufdge hatry fofuuel ye,ol uw r
I
11ogb jehcetrasen tdh ewriet hboeuitan bglt
I·t.m E ventyuoaulerly yev,se rsyl ogwrloyw
,t,h e Udnacrekr.ct oanitnao pupresea vnr y ;o u
•rd sb ecommoera es suNroewyd o.ku n otwht
spatcheat thG ee rmtarna nsolfat th·i on
i. l
ThSea vGaogbdeyA .A lvacrael"zlt shI , • d \\,
10k
ImIu-rd"(e Srelbs1S etmo-lmrfuddre)r.I?dn 'ltit k·hl ·
1dw islalwy h ya tt hper opteirmI ep .rf t·opr
1ttmaryd eaktnho,w wienlgt lh attha e itt ,1ls' II
-frequentliyn-tbboer iobnuygg ht
1 •
•· ncto mpulAssaiw oanoy.fd eaht h,
l I'1,1 1111 111
thi sst firlelce hloyse evnew nh enn i·s t1,1ppt I an
2 OIn S uicide 3 BIe fotrhee Leap
vioscfe o mpunslt;sh ieiornseo c arcitnhodametav omuer,s tecno ntroandaein cottg hievrti,hns egu icidooplpoogri­sts
noin farnct thifaoetml eln,so u remcircit shitasates k a way tunfiotsryc h oalragrul.myB e unItht avaelh seoa orsfdo me
myb eratIha .mt hwahti lcahhy ansd su pnom ew,h od ies coenpctSsu.ca hs" shorts-uciicrWicedulpeilu.tO t" r." nar­
afertt akbianrgb iest" ufrrhaoatmnt dom outh." cisscirsitAsilicsns oo.b t"a dO.r" aocfrtev enge.""J meet ue
Thqeu esotfti eornm inneoeldtosobg eyc laedra ittfih e parqcuveeo nuesm' apvaeaszi m..iJ. e I aisssuveror uuansie
beginneivnnegi fo, nliynp rincIintp hlceeo .u rofst eh e tacihned el(eaIbm ki ilelm,ly"is negl f yboehuca avnueos te
discuwsews iinloolnd oulbettth c ea snuaatluo rfevee ry­ l�oedm e. ..w iIll ela avnie n dee sltiabuilpnoy no ua)s
dalya ngguuaigudesae n odc casieovnesanpl eolaf"yk s elf­ D_ne1u� R och3 eflolremuiltaaw,t r eeirdwt hoe ventually
murdaendrq "u icetret aionfsl uyi cSiucdiae e.d teokr iel:l kilhliemeldsfn ,ob te caouafsr ee canltwc oimtarhnaew or-
ones-eRlefm.a rkhaobwtl hleea tifnoirzamelsdw sauycsk hipbeudft r ofeamr o ft haev enogfte hrRese sisBtuatn ce.
teh reaoluiottfs y o metThhiencyga b.ne handys,oI w ill hows impalltelh aitsy :o nue ed toofn ollyal nopdwa y
usteeh m fotreh sakoefs implaissc oioatnsty h ree aIl ity tetntitootn hp er ofeslesiritaotanunartdleh eynok un o­w
havienm inidss u fnfitclciyle eVaornlt.ua dreayt bhe comes �hatN?o thWihnegn.e svueirci oisbd ersev eadsa no bjec­
suictihpdeee rn,ss w ohosn uftfh emsoeulbtve ecsos muei ­ llfvaeac stw ,h esnc ieonbtsiesgrtavsle aa xniedel se ment;,!
cidaenssd,u icoirpd oatlessn utiicaairltde he osws heoc arry partoibcsleeerrssbv, e codmies tfarnovtmo luntai
thper ojoefcc hton ogts iode i withteihmn,r egarodfl essm oraned m orseoi np ropnot rotte hi doataanf dc
wheetrth ehya er seriously iotcr op nlsagiyw diientrhi ngg tahe.rT he�ir s,s cientsiefircvailclle ya ble,
it.2 •evn therapseeuf-tubilucjtau lwslhtya d tou ets
Buwte aern'tth faatyr e Wte.h avonel jyu nsotpw u sedh rneahnere ?-arvee hitchlaietnasc, o nstaacenlct�l y
thdeo oorpen w itgehra dti ffiacnuhdla tlyf sweatyot ul­red I mpot,e oabrs erovuoettfr h sme a gsipch oeftrh e"e l
selviensat d oa nresktsh canatn eervb ec pmplieltleulmyi ­ " rlUdl.t"i mtahtedeiilrsy t,ia osnn lcmyee asuirna ble
·ars.
nat-ewdhyic ta nb'eit ss t tioble tlo lBduh.ta veflna'rte s 1
beeing nievteerdy e?wI hsetnrh'eet pr sychtohole oulgspy? Inh iisn strluictbttoiloLvekeeS uictieh Fdrene, -. h
Sociotlooo rngityue sI?s nt'htea rler eaab drncyah o fr e­ 11g sitP ieMrorreoq nu ottehwseo rokfa c olleva gu
seartchhca atil tlssseu lifc itdwooh liowcgehoy w e significan·t' ,"Y T hteh ouogfsh uti cais diem,mp elnet ra lp• r111 1,
worokfsres earOcfch o?u rTsheyea .r neo t unktnoo wn ioontf h aec hta,ts ob e t heoreetxicclafulrdloey�md , ud
meI.h ae vplowed mtahnroyoft u ehmg.hI h avlee arned Io ustu icbiedhaalwv hiiocrbh yd, e nfiitioonnlb,wy 1 1s
thainstd h fartot mh eesnereg ectoimcp ilatwihoenrse:, holwlt,hh g ee stBuurwteh .et nh iiossb e rsveadst hv irt,u r1l,1
andw hyp eorpelvee ot khemsewlhviaecgshae; rs me o satt It haec otne,c afinn idnt hteh outghhseta mient itn,u 11-
riisnwk ;h iccohu nmtroiraeens id nw hiccohnut rfieweesr 1·1t ieiv mpeu tlhsiaistn t haec tth:ie n ntteiofng i111,-:
volundteaaratyrhr ese corBdyte hwdea. y t,hs et atoifs-tics' l,hlt oon ese"Nl ofw.t hawth'asItc aslhla trhpi n,k,i n
On Suicide
4 I 5 I Before the Leap
Nothing can escape that man. But let's bring 23-year-old necessarily completely wrong: it might be instead that
4
Otto Weininger to mind now,a man who is full of himself 11d X,w ho survived his attempt,h as abandoned himself,
and in whose brain,a gitated to death,o nly woman is reflected 111g been called back,a nd is now compliantly and shamc-r:: -• -
the logic of life,
again and again, the creature whom he despises yet for ubmitting to out of whose armor h
whom he is not able to master his desire; Otto Weininger, Ia lready broken.
Jew,
who constantly sees only the the most disgraceful and Immediately,t he pumped-up common sense that can-
lowest of all creatures,t he Jew that he himself is. Perhap, 11 see beyond its own interests will interpose here:
for him it was like being in a small room whose walls ari· , minger? Why talk about someone like him as an ex-
moving closer and closer together. Moreover, his head h 1ple? And doesn't it sound like the self-importance of in­
growing larger,l ike a balloon being blown up,a nd at the: lkctual arrogance to drag him in? Psychologically ther•·
same time it is getting thinner. His head beats against all 1· completely different forms of "suicidal behavior" condi­
four walls as they relentlessly move closer. Every contact is med by many different kinds of causes,t horoughly difficult
painful and reverberates like the beat of a kettledrum. Fi­ , unravel. No one is really qualified to speak of these f
nally, Weininger's skull, running in all directions, beats a ,cept an expert on auto-aggression,o n the Oedip\1c
raging drumroll-until it ... Until it leaps into pieces or •kx,o n "social isolation," on narcissistic neurosis,1
"goes through the wall," as those observing him outside the ptic disposition, on hysterical theatricality, in sht
room are wont to say. That doesn't concern him any more. xpert armed with psychosociological instrumentation
And what the skillful gentleman from France has to say could onjure up right at the beginning a myth of intellectu,
have concerned him even less. Weininger knew nothing of ory such as Otto Weininger, a prime example of J
I
a "suicidal behavior." But think,a dmittedly speculating, \'If-hatred,a nd,i n an act of oversimplification,p resen
that he only saw and heard,w ithout interruption,b ut with ,articular act as a metaphor? I know. Honor for those \
all the force of a heart trying to pull itself together,w oman, deserve honor,a nd science fills me with so much rcs1
Jew,e go: away with them all. rhat I would never dare ...Y es,r espect. But also a ht
,
-Are we ready to find our way around in this darkness rontempt. Then further. There are forms and stories ol d1
I
we've stepped into? think so,b ecause we have already elopment. There are ideas of voluntary death that an.· ,11
given up trying to dissect what has thus been designated as different from each other that it seems only possible to
"suicidal behavior," as if we were forensic surgeons with a that their commonality consists in nothing other than
not away
piece of dead tissue. We are already on our way, !act that a suicidal person is seeking a voluntary death.
toward
from persons annihilating themselves,b ut them.T hey Let's remain at first only with those who sought .ind
will thank us,w ithout pleasure,i nsofar as chance permits round,t he suicides,a nd let's raise the question whether in
that they survive.A nd if they don't thank us,t hen we are reality something else united them other than the
6 I On Suicide 7 I Before the Leap
tively verified fact that they were putting an end to their voluntary death. But what about Cesare Pavese, who killed
life. We shall see. It is undeniable that there are acts of sui­ himself at the height of his fame and powers as a writer
cide that, at first glance, have hardly anything to do with because of an "insignificant love affair?" Or Paul Celan, L'In­
connu de la Seine
each other as far as their causality, their transsuicidal inten­ (the unknown person found in the Seine),
tions, and even their ranking are concerned. A report oc­ or Peter Szondi, the unknown person found in a Berlin lake,
curs to me that went through the Austrian press when I both of whom found quenching waters better than a life
6
was young: a housemaid had thrown herself out of a win­ of honor and renown? Do Pavese, Celan, and Szondi have
dow "because of her unhappy love for a radio lover," as it more in common with the defenestrated housemaid from
was expressed in the newspaper language of the time. How Vienna than with Freud and P.F.? And what about Schnitz­
is one supposed to make this act agree with other, obvi­ ler's Lt. Gusti, an invented but thoroughly true-to-life figure?
ously quite incommensurable death wishes and ways of He spent a night in the Prater, convinced that he had to kill
finding death? At an advanced age, P. F.,5 a psychoanalyst himself because of an argument during which a master
and first-generation disciple of Freud, shot himself. Shortly baker, superior to him in physical strength, had kept him
before that he had lost the woman who had been his com­ from drawing his saber as required by the code of hone
panion; moreover he was suffering from an inoperable can­ the imperial and royal army.7 He could have said to him�
cer of the prostate. It was understandable when he reached ''Fine, the fellow was stronger than I am and that's not .
for his revolver, even if it was noted, in an undertone with fault; and now if he is so crude as to let the disgraceful st
a serious expression, that it could not be condoned. In a et out and my superiors are dumb enough to expel n
great and rich productive life, the man had lived, learned, from the army, then I don't have to worry about it an.
and accomplished much. There was nothing left to c9me more; I'll take my own farewell and go into some sort
· s way except bodily pain and loneliness: what we call a ivil service." But the Kaiser's uniform was to him ju t
ture was blocked. And so he turned a nonfuture, which much a compulsory condition of all existence as the lov
would have meant a life entirely enveloped in death, into the singer with the melting voice was to the housemaid.
something clear, into death itself. Or take Sigmund Freud. Without this uniform he would-could-no more liv th n
The old man's cancer of the gums was in its final stage. The the girl could live without the love of the man who an so
patient's mouth produced a pestilential odor so obnoxious l' nderly "Two Fairy-Tale Eyes, as Lovely as the Star "-an I
that his favorite dog wouldn't go near him anymore. He h only failed to shoot himself because, even before h t k
said to his personal physician that everything was just tor­ 11p his weapon, he learned by chance that the poor tr ng-
ture and more torture and demanded the injection that 1rmed baker had died that same night from a heart atta k.
would liberate him-which his old friend did not deny him. I l.Gu sti and the housemaid stood under laws of a life w nh
That, too, is a clear case of socially accepted and recognized 1 ing that were different from those of Freud ' F d rn ,
On Suicide
8 I 9 I Before the Leap
Pavese, and Celan; laws they could not obey under the giv­ one's death in great serenity as a "balance suicide," as the
en circumstances. relevant research on the subject describes it; another, under
This does not invalidate the judgments of suicidology, the precipitous pressure of an unbearable external situa­
which would speak of Lt. Gustl's compelling obligation to tion, may have been driven to what is called a "short-circuit
an inhuman code of honor, of the triggering factor-the suicide"; still another may have been dosing suicidally
unhappy love-that simply brought the basic displeasure through life for a long time in a condition of mourning and
with life deep within the housemaid to a suicidal explosion, melancholy or, on the contrary, may have been, according
and perhaps of endogenous depressions in the cases of Celan to witnesses, in a good mood just a few hours beforehand­
and Szondi. Suicidology is right. Except that for suicides and the moment before the leap makes all distinctions irrelevant
potential suicides what it says is empty.F or what it comes and brings about a bizarre equality. Differences are always
=
to for them is the total and unmistakable singularity of their important to relatives or even to science. The latter, for in-
situation vecue, ...
situation, the (lived situation) that can never stance, when dealing with the case of our housemaid, spea �
be completely communicated, so that therefore every time of "insignificant motives." l!:Yhat does it know? Everythi
someone dies by his or her own hand or even just tries to that can be known from outside, that is, nothing. I knew
die, a veil falls that no one can lift again, which in the best man who took a good number of sleeping pills becau?e of a
of cases can only be illuminated sharply enough for the eye marital squabble, was "rescued" by pure chance, lay in a
to recognize as a fleeting image.W e have yet to speak of coma for twenty-four hours, and still lives today.H e was
such images. But before we get there, we need to ask about dragged to a neurologist who was a friend of his and who
what our examples have in common beyond the objective wisely said, "Don't you realize that things like domestic
facts that voluntary death occurred or seemed unavoidable. quarrels, tears, and reconciliations belong to vaudeville?" A
The answer can be given easily.I t sounds trivial at first hear­ trifle had escaped the doctor: what is to be called vaudeville
ing; with a more thorough analysis it opens the abyss of the and what is to be called tragedy is decided by the author)
situation before the leap.
riddle of life. I am speaking of the Along with all other distinctions, the situation befor
Regardless of psychological motivation and the psyche's the leap, that sometimes lasts only a moment, but at other
causal associations at the end of which the indescribable act times drags on for torturous hours, also obliterates the dis­
stands, this situation before the leap is fundamentally the tinction of status: in that case the housemaid makes just as
same in all cases. Suicides or potential suicides-for here it much of a heroic or heartrending figure as a great poet or a
is not a matter of whether death has occurred or not-beat famous psychologist. This apparently simple person wh
with their heads a raging drum tattoo against the advancing jumped out of her window many decades ago won't get out
walls and eventually break through the barrier with a skull of my mind. How did it begin? With "Two Fairy-Tale Eyes,
beaten thin and already wounded. One may have planned ,1s Lovely as the Stars," tenderly sung into her earphones as
10 I On Suicide 11 I Before the Leap
she aslaootnn te h eed goefh er bleidst,ot flsteol uyn ding enmeFnrti.e lnidifssse,t bielualt i.Bf uuwtlh adto ets�•h�-· ---
hiwso rtdohs e rsIemlpfo.st soti hbilonefhk e wri rlels istingp roRvee?aj lsulttyh f ea tchta t,s uacfcteteshrrsea fptuyhl,e
thtiesn lduerrPe e.r hsahphesa w dr ittthheeen a rltt-imneg ardeiffe rent peopbluet, t nhoattth ebye came abne tter
voivciteah rea dsitoa tainroden c eniov eadn Msawyebre. morree speocnteaHsbel.rie ets h pel aIc et,h tiopn ukatL, r: 1!':1
shfeo uanp dh ootfo atrhteii nss otm kei nodfs tatyi onersttoopt emporaanhldii srttiy)oc ity
stosrheo,w ai nmgwa ints hm ooatnhod i bllya hcaki r cling­JeaBna rotihtsei, tc lhea raocftt henero vbeyl Roger
intgoh ihse ad,c hseoesfkwtse ,es tmliyla intno gt hSihneg . MartdiuGn a rwdr,o thei lsia ns ta nwtdie lslt awmheennt
loviensso ,t lorveetdus rhicnean, n g 'ot j osunt lbiys teningh ew a4s0 y eaorlstd h haetd indo wta natC hirstbiuarni al
toh imI.f thoef amtrahmnies nt hteu xeadrnoeo gto ing becaautts heta itm ienf, u plolss sseioofhn im so rali na­nd
toe mbrhaectreh ehne wro rldb eaw w iolrlol fd torturet ellepcotwueharelsw a,as d eclaatrheeadin swdth ahte
and maWdhnoemsesv.se hsrep eato kasb oiutt- tghier l migshatoy rd ol aetrw,i tadh i msihnecido nstisthuotuilodn ,
ont he snteaxittr hcbeau stecb,ho eyr- ailttl'hs sea mneo: nobtev alJieda.nr oBiaassa, no ladn sdi mcakn , thhaed
onlei stSehnseas y."s cI,a ng'oot n" .S igmuFnrdesu adi d, pasctoomrae t theh ihdsoe uarNt ohoww.fh o watsh ree al
"Ijtsu'ttso rtaunrmdeo rteo rtTuhreefiy.n "td h emselvesJ eaBna roIiwfse s? i wdiett he mpoarnahldii sttiyot ry,i ct'­
beftohrleee ap-aattn hdi s Iph ooipnneoo t n dea rteos lgoicJaelalBnyar ohiasts ob e the dyinga1 sold man who
smiilreo niocroa flfalle yer a rwnoerTddh .Ii d so not tolefrot­rh per ibeescta aulpslre ed cienmgo menotfls iw foe1
ate,m antoth eorwb rilolniieaps nr to vteobn e obnye 's havbee esnt raitnhi ifiamen did nt heir stwroaut ification
sociopluobgliiicocanOalsnt .lt yh owsheoh ave einntteor ed havpee rmeataendo t,oeh nveeerl rayto enraess imir.l ati
thdea rkcnaehnsa sva es aiynt his mattuenre.a rTthhe yt'heleal r olnieeasrnt d h erterbayn sftohrem-miI.an mgn c
nothtihnaagpt p euasfreusil nt hlei ght outtshiedye . Wohianttgos adye icdetdhlatyth i insso sto n,om attheor"'i
havber oufgrhotm the rduelnpi fitknheses a ntwdhi rlolu gh mucmhy p erssoynmaplab tehlyot ntogh 4se0- yeasrilft- old
thefiinrg ebryds a By.utt htaht,e a ynodn ltyh, ew yeroen ihni fsu plolw e.Br uts Ir'emf rafirnotimhn piges r asilon n-
threi ghtt hpweaa tych o,r resptootn hdeeix npge riencel,n iatoiofmni naen odn lwya nitkt e pitnm intdh eavt ery
willc obnefi rbmyae ldwl h oa rseu icaisld oanlag,st hey tmeporsaetlci oonfo uerx istienfn acecevt,e e nv emroy­
stitcotk h emsaenlddvo ne osdt e ntyh ems:{J!e'lnsvi etcos e menhta,is to sw nl ogainicdt o sw ns enosfhe o n,to hrtahte
assutmheta hthe o suemaoirPd a veosrCe le awno uhladv e tepmorparlo coefmsa str uiinasgl asttoh sea mtei mape r o-
beesna vaendtd a kienntt hore aptyh,aa lttlh rweoeu hladv e esosfd yingt hatanhtde relfaotirenher e, lr i mfyep ,o or
unanimporuoscllyta hiemhyea oddn lbye en derangedh uofsoerm waoiudlp dos sibnleyvh earv ree acthheed same
am omenatn,d ntohwae tvy etrhiinsg fiFnoer.g iavnedn gardoefa utthiecnaisst hyde i d wshhjeemun p eodu tth e
forgotten.w ouNblodewfi ltlwheiedty h thatnhkes fowrni do.Dw ihde grr eat love NoennensnosIbeotl.n e l yh er?
hantdhssa at ved them anwdo rtodhfese n lgiegnhetr-ofuufisll lheedcro mpllyeb,te oeswtitnog ehxeirs tade ennc-e
12 I On Suicide
13 I Before the Leap
sity that scarcely would have been granted to her later with ger, or simply a decrease in vitality). But the suicide is the
a good husband and in the midst of happy children. She one that calls-and it is death that imparts the incompre­
was living at the utmost and, therefore, the truest degree at hensible, inaudible answer.[!'hat means that a suicide gets
the moment of jumping. right up from the "mattress sepulcher" on which he is lying
We'll speak of this again and again, for it is the alpha and strike0 Walls that have moved closer, that's one thing;
and omega of the problem. What happens here is obvious. but La tete contre !es murs (The head against the walls), the
Death, with which we have to live in any case as soon as we title of a novel by Herve Bazin, that's something else en­
get older, which grows in us and makes itself felt as angor tirely. Anyone who wants to commit suicide is breaking out,
(anguish) or threatens us from outside as terror, death is out of the logic of life, as I've already indicated. This logic is
seized upon here. The phrase seized upon, as if it sounded given to us, the biologist knows it just as well as the behav­
like something else, has the same metaphorically twilight ioral scientist, and perhaps also the physicist, because re­
characteristic as when we say that we flee into death. Where cent works of theoretical physics seem to allow the conclu­
do we flee? Nowhere. We begin a trip in order to arrive at a sion ( one that of course lies beyond the older vitalism) that
point we can't imagine. And what do we seize upon? The bias and human being are perhaps more than "chance hits "
word fails, must fail, because "death is nothing, a nothing, a as Jacques Monod thought. The logic of life is prescribe,
negativity," as I have written elsewhere (in On Aging). Still, us, or "programmed," if you wish, in every daily reactim
whether to "flee" into a region that does not exist or to seize has gone into our daily language. "In the long run, you
upon something that has no being and therefore is not the got to live," people say, excusing every miserable thing th
"nothing" (which has always seemed to me to be a sloppy have initiated.lJ3ut do you have to live? Do you always ha,
form of expression) but simply "not," are two different kinds to be there just because you were there once? In the mo
of things. Waiting for death is just a kind of passive action, ment before the leap, suicides tear to pieces a prescriptio
insofar as this paradox, imposed upon me by grammar, is of nature and throw it at the feet of the invisible prescribed
allowed. But voluntary death, the killing of oneself, is with­ just like a statesman in the theater who throws a contract,
out a doubt an activity not only in grammar but also in fact. which from that moment is just a piece of paper, at the feet
Thus, living-on-to-death and the autonomous act of sui­ f another statesman. Even before any questions are asked,
cide cannot easily be compared, regardless of whether the Lhose ready to kill themselves shrilly scream, "No!" Or they
result in both cases is the same. People who must die are in numbly say, "Maybe someone has to, but not me, and I'm
the condition of answering a destiny and their rejoinder not going to bow down to an ardent compulsion that comes
consists of fear and bravery. But suicides or potential sui­ from somewhere outside as a law of society and from within
cides speak themselves. They speak the first word. They can­ as a lex naturae, and which I don't want to recognize any­
not ask, "Death, where is thy sting?" after they have been more."
addressed by death itself in whatever form (sickness, dan- This is where they all find themselves, the Kleists,