Zwiegespräch
A. War ich krank? Bin ich genesen?
Und wer ist mein Arzt gewesen?
Wie vergass ich alles das!
B. Jetzt erst glaub' ich dich genesen:
Denn gesund ist, wer vergass.
–Friedrich Nietzsche
I am going to discuss this prose in a completely different manner than what I have with the other poems that thus far. I am aplomb that poetry is not only historic and not only from the speakers mindset. understand this German to the fullest. Zwiegespräch translate into conversation. There is person A and person B in this poem. Normally I would reflect upon the time this poem was written but at this moment I am not going to do that. This poem to me is full of emotion.
I want to the paint the picture without translating word for word and then I will post Kaufmann's translation with no further analysis. This post none will be needed.
I invision two people sitting in an empty living room or kitchen nook. They have both of a cup of coffee in a generic white coffee cup. My vision is a black and white image. One person is elderly and looks like they have lived a lot of life. The other is youthful, still full of life. The elder is the parent to this child. The resemblance is significant. Both the child and the parent seem wearisome. Then sitting on the table is the generic manilla folder, it is a file folder that has doctor visit bills and prescriptions and diagnostics.
The elderly parent is looking through the folder. They don't seem to understand what is going on. This person as alzheimer disease. Today is a good day in this battle. In this dialogue the parent is asking questions. Then they start to forget again and they slip back into the state of forgetfulness.
This forgetfulness shows that they will never have to face the eternal recurrence because they will never be punished to remember.
Dialogue
A. Was I ill? Have I got well?
Who was my doctor? Can you tell?
Oh, my memory is rotten!
B. Only now you're truly well.
Those are well who have forgotten.
-Friedrich Nietzsche translated by Walter Kaufmann
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