Last of the Comanches, by the Hungarian director Andre de Toth in 1953 introduces desonance into the western genre with an all but imperceptible retouch. He retains the cast of characters that gives the western its unmistakeable flavor, without regard for the destinies that are preordained for each such type in the Holy book of America's southern woods. The result is a free play that develops between rigidly molded types, a humorous unleashing of possibilities of dialogue and inter-action that continuously switches the relative positions between the placeholder of the hero function and those subject to his power, which extend from the five privates to numberless Indians to the land itself. The audience's being turned around starts when the thinned out troop of Americans returning from a defeat vis-a-vis the Indian chief of the Kansas region, Black Cloud, finds itself at the mercy of the landscape of which they have but poor information. The desert, or simply the earth, holds back its precious resource, water, playing a passive resistance kind of trick upon the otherwise heavily fire-armed party. The weapons of the battle are switched upon Sergeant Trainor, even as de Toth launches his attempt to turn tables upon the big-budget state of the art machinery of Columbia Pictures.

*to be connect-e-cut!

Agua de beber

But, curious to tell, we felt but little inclination for food. It was water, bright water, cool, sparkling water, alone, that we craved. And of this, also, our store at first seemed ample. But as our voyage lengthened, and breezes blew faint, and calms fell fast, the idea of being deprived of the precious fluid grew into something little short of a monomania; especially with Jarl.

Every hour or two with the hammer and chisel  belonging to the tinder box keg, he tinkered away at the invaluable breaker; driving down the hoops, till in his over solicitude, I thought he would burst them outright.

Now the breaker lay on its bilge, in the middle of the boat, where more or less sea-water always collected. And ever and anon, dipping his fingers therein, my Viking was troubled with the thought, that this sea-water tasted less brackish than that alongside. Of course the breaker must be leaking. So, he would turn it over, till its wet side came uppermost; when it would quickly become dry as a bone. But now, with his knife, he would gently probe the joints of the staves; shake his head; look up; look down; taste of the water at the bottom of the boat; then that of the sea; then lift one end of the breaker; going through with every test of leakage he could dream of. Nor was he ever fully satisfied, that the breaker was in all respects sound. But in reality it was tight as the drum-heads that beat at Cerro-Gordo. Oh! Jarl, Jarl: to me in the boat’s quiet stern, steering and philosophizing at one time and the same, thou and thy breaker were a study.

(Mardi, "Jarl's Misgivings")

retreatise (retreatief) -i-

"It is, therefore, only to those distinguished beings, who can resort to their own bosoms for an antidote against disquiet, who are fearless of the numerous sacrifices which virtue may demand, whose souls are endowed with sufficient energy to drive away the dread of being alone, and whose hearts are susceptible of the pure delights of domestic felicity, that I pretend to recommend the advantages of Solitude. The miserable being, in whose bosom the corruptions of the world have already destroyed the precious gifts of nature; who knows no other pleasure, is sensible to no other happiness, than what cards or the luxury of a richly furnished table affords; who disdains all exercise of the understanding, thinks all delicacy of sentiment unnatural, and, by a brutality almost inconceivable, laughs at the sacred name of sensibility; must be lost to virtue, and utterly incapable of pleasure from any operations of his own mind.
 **

 "The legion of fantastic fashions, to which a man of pleasure is obliged to sacrifice his time, impair the rational faculties of his mind, and destroy the native energies of his soul. Forced continually to lend himself to the performance of a thousand little triflings, a thousand mean absurdities, he becomes by habit, frivolous and absurd. The face of things no longer wears its true and genuine aspect; and his depraved taste loses all relish for rational entertainment or substantial pleasure. The infatuation seizes on his brain, and his corrupted heart teems with idle fancies and vain imaginations. These illusions, however, through which the plainest object comes distorted to his view, might easily be dispelled. Accustomed to a lonely life, and left to reflect in calmness and sobriety, during the silence of the solitary hour, upon the false joys and deceitful pleasures which the parade of visiting and the glare of public entertainments offer to our view, he would soon perceive and candidly acknowledge their nothingness and insipidity.

 **

"…I shall show… that [Solitude] enables man to live independent and alone… that it adds dignity to his character, and gives fresh vigour to the powers of his mind; that he cannot in any other situation perfect a knowledge of himself; that it enlarges the sphere of attention, and ripens the seeds of judgement: in short, that it is from the influence of Solitude alone that man can hope for the fruition of unbroken pleasures and never-fading felicity.(emphasis added)

 **
 "Possessed of such felicity, it must not be attributed to austerity of character, or invincibility of manners, but to a venial error of imagination, if the intercourses of ordinary minds no longer charm us; if we become insensible to their indifference, and careless of their aversion; if in consequence of the superiority of our joys we no longer mix in the noisy pleasures of the world, and shun all society which has numbers only for its recommendation." 

Johann Georg Zimmermann, On Solitude 

[Über die Einsamkeit, 1756] (trans. from French by J. B. Mercier) pp.10-26.

The Supine and the Self-Pruner

Supinity involves “neglect of enquiry, even of matters whereof we doubt; rather believing than going to see, or doubting with ease and gratis than believing with difficulty or purchase. Whereby either from a temperemental inactivity, we are unready to put into execution the suggestions or dictates of reason; or by a content and acquiescence in every species of truth, we embrace the shadow thereof, or so much as may palliate its just and substantial acquirements.

 ...But now, our understandings being eclipsed, as well as our tempers infirmed, we must betake ourselves to ways of reparation, and depend upon the illumination of our endeavours. For thus we may, in some measure, repair our primary ruins, and build ourselves ]men[ again.

.... And this is the reason why some have transcribed anything; and although they cannot but doubt thereof, yet neither make experiment by sense, nor enquiry by reason, but live in doubts of things, whose satisfaction is in their own power; which is, indeed, the inexcusable part of our ignorance.

... For, not obeying the dictates of reason, and neglecting the crys of truth, we fail not only in the trust of our undertakings, but in the intention of man itself. Which, although more venial in ordinary constitutions, and such as are not framed beyond the capacity of beaten notions; yet will it inexcusably condemn some men, who, having received excellent endowments, have yet sat down by the way, and frustrated the intention of their abilities. For certainly, as some men have sinned in the principles of humanity, and must answer for not being men; so others offend if they be not more. Magis extra vitia, quàm cum virtutibus, would commend those: these are not excusable without an excellency. For, great constitutions, and such as are constellated unto knowledge, do nothing till they out-do all.... God expects no lustre from the minor stars; but if the sun should not  illuminate all, it were a sin in nature.... Thus, while it exceeds not the bounds of reason and modesty, we cannot condemn singularity. Nos numeros sumus, is the motto of the multitude, and for that reason they are fools."

Thomas Browne, Vulgar Errors: "Credulity and Supinity"

"All round me, my fellow men are new grafting their vines and dwelling in flourishing arbors; while I am forever pruning mine, till it becomes but a stump. Yet in this pruning I will persist; I will not add, I will diminish; I will trim myself down to the standard of what is unchangeably true. Day by day I drop off my redundancies; ere long I shall have stripped my ribs..."

Herman Melville, Mardi