Oneiron

by Laura Lindstedt

  As early as 1976, in her work Food Meditation, the future trademarks of Berkowitz’s art were visible: Jewish culture, in this case kosher rules, and a very personal, physical style.

  In most of her performances, Berkowitz was naked or scantily clothed. She did not shy away from pain, whether emotional or physical.

  All of these elements combined in her breakthrough 1979 work I Shall Fear No Evil for Thou Art with Me, in which the role of the audience was to demean the naked artist by reading anti-Semitic comments to her after choosing them blindly from a wicker basket.

  “I still have the slip of paper I fished out of that basket,” says the French performance artist ORLAN (b. 1947). “It was an excerpt from Hitler’s Gemlich letter from 1919. I was also asked to pin a Judensau under Shlomith’s left collarbone. I’m used to pain as an element of art, but I’ve never experienced the sort of unease that piece aroused in me then.”

  Prior to her fateful final performance, Berkowitz’s most controversial work was the The 614th Commandment (1983). The basis for the piece was a thought experiment suggested by the Jewish Canadian philosopher EMIL FACKENHEIM (1916–2003).

  The Torah contains 613 commandments and prohibitions, but Fackenheim developed a 614th commandment while attempting to find a theological explanation for the holocaust. According to the new commandment, “the authentic Jew of today is forbidden to hand Hitler yet another, posthumous victory.”

  For Fackenheim, fulfilling the 614th commandment meant protecting the Jewish identity, i.e.promoting marriage between Jews and separation from other cultures. In her performance, Berkowitz turned this arrangement on its head. She read aloud quotations from Jewish thinkers who explained the holocaust as the fulfillment of God’s will.

  “This if anything is a victory for the anti-Semitic mindset,” Berkowitz said in a Times interview in October, 1983. “Any attempt at finding a theological explanation for genocide is a dead end. God was absent then, and God is absent now. There is no God. There is only a flood of increasingly complicated explanations that don’t serve anyone.”

  In recent decades, feminist artists have mostly focused on mapping out and publicizing their own internal spaces. Female desire and sexuality, gender roles, body image, and corporeality have received ample study.

  “A certain ironic double exposure and postmodern theoretical machinery have pervaded most performances,” says performance art researcher NADIA KREIGHBAUM. As an example she cites ANNIE SPRINKLE’S classic performance Post Porn Modernism (1989), in which Sprinkle urinated on the stage and inserted a speculum in her vagina, among other things.

  But, according to Kreighbaum, Berkowitz’s works completely lack any ironic or erotic dimension. “Despite their strong physicality, they’re very literary works, since they’re based on the Book and interpretations of the Book. They deconstruct not only the word but also flesh. This was confirmed in tragic fashion in her final performance.”

  Shlomith-Shkhina’s final performance, with its shocking ending, casts her entire career in a new light. Did her art refine her disease, or was it the other way round?

  Performance artist MARINA ABRAMOVIČ (b. 1946) sees Berkowitz’s final presentation exclusively as an apologia for anorexia. “You can use art to try to sanctify anything. We have to behonest. I think Berkowitz hadn’t thought this performance all the way through.”

  Questions will continue, though. Did Berkowitz’s death make her a martyr? If it did, is she a martyr for the Jewish religion, western culture, or art? Whatever the case, there’s no doubt the performance that led to Berkowitz’s death, which literally incarnated an artistic idea, will become one of the macabre classics of her field. Furthermore, what influence will it have on artists who draw their inspiration from suffering and destruction?

  It may be too soon to answer these questions, but not for much longer. The Sean Kelly Gallery, which specializes in concept and performance art, is organizing a symposium on September 15 entitled “Destructive Art in a Destructive Society.” The event is open to the public.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  The help I received from others during the writing of Oneiron was indispensable. Teemu Manninen wrote Polina’s hypothetical ode (p. 173–174). Rami Saari translated Shlomith’s letter into Hebrew (p. 223–224), and he and Riikka Tuori spared no effort helping me with questions related to Jewish culture and the Hebrew language. Joel and Ekaterina Geronik hosted me in Moscow and served not only as tour guides for the city but also the Russian mentality. For questions about the Russian language, I’ve frequently bothered Tintti Klapuri. Shlomith’s New York took shape after two weeks I spent in the home of Monique Truog and Damijan Sacchio. In addition to Monique and Damijan, Alison Smith shared details about the Hasidic culture of Borough Park that fed my imagination. Monique checked and refined my English phrasing. Jouni Kaipia taught me everything I know about West African architecture. I spent two unforgettable months at Villa Karo in Grand-Popo, Benin, in 2009–2010. The Autio Funeral Home provided information about burials. Anna Ripatti corrected a ridiculous misconception. Lieven Ameel corrected my nonexistent Dutch. Kari-Pekka Pöykkö helped with the Wolof phrases. Satu Taskinen taught me that what happens on the mountain, stays on the mountain. At a critical moment Judith Schalansky gave this gentle but strict command: “Now forget everything else and write.” Monica Vasku Machado gave Rosa Imaculada an authentic voice in The Heart of Rosa Imaculada (2013), a performance combining language, text, and heart sounds; thank you for the dancing, Auri Ahola, Valtteri Raekallio, and the rest of the Runovaara group! I consulted Timo Suonsyrjä on a number of medical questions. Reijo Aulanko explained how fricatives work. Markku Eskelinen, Kristiina Sarasti, Sinikka Vuola, and my mother read the manuscript and all supported me in every way during this long process. Special thanks to Sinikka for her precise linguistic observations!

  I owe the greatest debt of thanks to my life partner, Martti-Tapio Kuuskoski. He read and commented on the manuscript at every stage. We’ve had endless discussions about Oneiron and the laws of this otherworldly place. All of these journeys we made together.

  Any possible mistakes and misunderstandings, intentional or unintentional, are my responsibility alone.

  Financial support for the writing of this novel was provided by the Kone Foundation, the Uusimaa and Kainuu Regional Funds of the Finnish Cultural Foundation, Arts Promotion Centre Finland, the WSOY Literature Foundation, and the Otava Book Foundation.

  REFERENCES

  The epigraph for Part I of the novel comes from Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich.

  The epigraph for Part II is from Christoph Schlingensief’s Heaven Could Not Be As Beautiful As Here: A Cancer Diary (So schön wie hier kanns im Himmel gar nicht sein!). Original translation based on the Finnish translation by Eeva Bergroth, Kauniimpaa kuin taivaassa, p. 90 (Kansallisteatterin kirja / Kirja kerrallaan and Finnish National Theatre, 2011).

  The quotations on pages 38 and 39 are from The Tibetan Book of the Dead: The Great Liberation Through Hearing in the Bardo.

  The quotations on page 78 are from David Nicholls’s novel One Day, pp. 384–385 (Hodder & Stoughton, 2009).

  On page 170–171 there are excerpts from The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov. Original translations based on various English and Finnish translations.

  The quotation on page 168 is from Emanuel Swedenborg’s Arcana Cœlestia Vol 1, Redesigned Standard Edition, translated by John Clowes and revised by John Faulkner Potts, p. 8 (Pennsylvania: Swedenborg Foundation, 2009).

  The quotations on pages 172 and 175 are from Emanuel Swedenborg’s A Hieroglyphic Key to Natural and Spiritual Mysteries, by Way of Representations and Correspondences, translated from the Latin by James John Garth Wilkinson, pp. 13 and 14 (William Newberry, 1847).

  The quotations on page 179 are from Emanuel Swedenborg’s New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine from the Redesigned Standard Edition of the Works of Emanuel Swedenborg, edited by William Ross Woofenden, pp. 7 and 154 (Pennsylvania: Swedenborg Foun
dation, 2009).

  As noted in the text, the quotations on page 195 come from Faith after the Holocaust, by Eliezer Berkovits, pp. 81–82, modified as described (Ktav, 1973).

  The quotations on pages 195 and 196 are from Ignaz Maybaum’s The Face of God after Auschwitz, pp. 61, 64, and 84 (Polak & Van Gennep, 1965).

  The quotations that begin on page 219 are from Bruno Bettelheim’s The Children of the Dream, in order of appearance from pp. 277, 278, 213, 288, & 320 (Macmillan, 1969). Some quotations have been altered slightly.

  PERMISSIONS

  Excerpt from One Day by David Nicholls copyright © David Nicholls 2009. Reproduced by Hodder and Stoughton Limited.

  Excerpt from The Children of the Dream by Bruno Bettelheim reprinted with permission of Scribner, a division of Simon and Schuster, Inc. Copyright © 1969, The Macmillan Company. All rights reserved.

  Excerpt from So schön wie hier kanns im Himmel gar nicht sein! by Christoph Schlingensief, copyright © 2009, Verlag Kiepenheuer & Witsch GmbH & Co. KG, Cologne/Germany.

  OTHER IMPORTANT SOURCES

  Esther Altmann: “Eating Disorders in the Jewish Community” (www.myjewishlearning.com/article/eating-disorders-in-the-jewishcommunity)

  Dan Cohn-Sherbok: Issues in Contemporary Judaism (Macmillan, 1991)

  Daniel Gavron: The Kibbutz. Awakening from Utopia (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2000)

  Stefanie Teri Greenberg: An Investigation of Body Image Dissatisfaction Among Jewish American Females: An Application of The Tripartite Influence Model. PhD dissertation (University of Iowa, 2009, ir.uiowa.edu/etd/368)

  Benzion C. Kaganoff: A Dictionary of Jewish Names and Their History (Jason Aronson, 1996)

  Edward Kessler: What Do Jews Believe? The Customs and Culture of Modern Judaism (Walker Books, 2007)

  Jean-Luc Nancy: Corpus (Métailié, 1992) and L’Intrus (Galilée, 2000)

  Michael Orbach: “Orthodox and Anorexic”, Tablet – A New Read on Jewish Life, August 23, 2012 (tabletmag.com/jewish-life-and-religion/109958/orthodox-and-anorexic)

  Roni Caryn Rabin: “Rabbis Sound an Alarm Over Eating Disorders”, The New York Times, April 11, 2011 (www.nytimes.com/2011/04/12/health/12orthodox.html)

  Jyrki Siukonen: Introduction to Clavis Hieroglyphica. Hieroglyfinen avain ja muita filosofisia tekstejä, selected translations of Emanuel Swedenborg’s Clavis Hieroglyphica, Finnish translation by Jyrki Siukonen, pp. 7–113. (Gaudeamus, 2000)

  Rivkah Slonim: “The Mikvah”, TheJewishWoman.org, from Rivkah Slonim’s introduction to Total Immersion: A Mikvah Anthology (Jason Aronson, 1996), (www.chabad.org/theJewishWoman/article_cdo/aid/1541/jewish/The-Mikvah.htm)

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  A Oneworld Book

  First published in North America, Great Britain and Australia by

  Oneworld Publications, 2018

  This ebook published 2018

  Originally published in Finnish as Oneiron by Teos Publishers, 2015

  Copyright © Laura Lindstedt, 2015

  English translation copyright © Owen Witesman, 2018

  English edition published by agreement with Laura Lindstedt and

  Elina Ahlback Literary Agency, Helsinki, Finland

  The moral right of Laura Lindstedt to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  All rights reserved

  Copyright under Berne Convention

  A CIP record for this title is available from the British Library

  ISBN 978-1-78607-259-7

  ISBN 978-1-78607-260-3 (eBook)

  Work published with the support of the Finnish Literature Exchange

  Every reasonable effort has been made to trace the copyright holders of material reproduced in this book, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the publishers would be glad to hear from them. For legal purposes the Permissions section on page 360 constitutes an extension of this copyright page.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

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