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Scene 5
- University of Wisconsin Press
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arendt: Negotiation ultimately must lead to some written material. Otherwise, how can she ask us to write a foreword or persuade a publisher? Anyway, a foreword is only a foreplay . It’s what follows that usually counts. But in the meanwhile , search your memory for who that woman might be. A humiliated woman is a dangerous foe. (End of scene 4.) Scene 5 (theodor adorno, wearing hat and coat, hands in his pockets, paces up and down in an apparently cold outdoor location. Suddenly fräulein x approaches and heads straight for him.) x: I am glad to see that Professor Arendt persuaded you to come. adorno: How do you know that some undercover police officer is not observing us? x: I don’t, but it wouldn’t bother me. What would he see? A possible assignation between an elderly man and a younger woman in front of a nondescript building? I doubt that you would behave in public the way you did with me in private. Or should I remind you of some details? adorno: What exactly are you after? If it is replaying some old tape along the lines reported to me by Professor Arendt, it seems that you came willingly and left more than satisfied— x (interrupts): Since you mention “tape,” are you carrying a recording device on you? adorno ( first surprised, then amused ): Who knows? Or are you now going to frisk me? x: Hardly, because it does not really matter. Nothing I have to say will be incriminating. But for insurance, I am recording our conversation. 42 Foreplay (Quickly unbuttons her overcoat to show a lapel microphone attached to her blouse and a small tape recorder. She quickly rebuttons her coat. adorno is clearly taken aback but says nothing.) I presume Professor Arendt informed you of my request? adorno: A foreword to some mysterious book on Walter Benjamin’s last days written by a nameless author— x: You’ve now met the author and you’ll learn her name soon enough. But the foreword is to carry Professor Arendt’s and your names— adorno (interrupts, trying to make light of the question): Is the order of the foreword’s authors specified? x: Indeed: Hannah Arendt and Theodor W. Adorno. adorno: Not the reverse? x: Definitely not. adorno: Any reason? x: I have reasons for everything I am demanding of you. adorno: Demanding? I thought you were requesting. x: A slip of the tongue. adorno: In other words, you are requesting. x: No. The slip of the tongue applied to the word “request.” adorno: What makes you think that you are in a position to make any demand? x: That’s why we’re meeting right now. To convince you of my ability to make demands that you will hopefully then consider reasonable ones—indeed, eminently reasonable ones—considering what might otherwise be at stake. adorno: And how do you plan to convince me? x: For the moment, with two sheets of paper. (Reaches into her coat and produces the first page.) adorno (reaching for it): Let’s see how convincing that is. x (takes a step back): Oh, no . . . you can’t. Not yet! Remember, I’m recording our conversation. I shall read it to you. (Switches to an affected, “precious” tone.) “Through Scene 5 43 [54.243.2.41] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 03:12 GMT) circumstances, which I shall not disclose to you, my dearest friend, because they would disturb you, my husband has learned about the contents of some of your letters, without, however having actually read any of them. During the ensuing marital contretemps, I made the injudicious mistake of referring to our correspondence as some form of foreplay. His curiosity piqued, he challenged me to describe to him the orgasmic consummation . . . if any . . . of that seemingly drawn out foreplay. This question . . . mark you . . . was posed by a husband who in the past has judged me on more than one occasion . . . admittedly clinically and not nastily . . . as basically anorgasmic. Many a woman would consider such judgment demeaning, but I simply attributed his misdiagnosis to the fact that he never discerned a tonal confirmation on my part to his amorous exertions.” (She momentarily stops reading to look at adorno.) “You may wonder at my somewhat dry, descriptive prose— so unlike most of my other correspondence with you. Let me ascribe it to the fact that I hold a PhD in chemistry and as a woman scientist...