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For a long time, this library was able to capture the emotions of its stunned visitors. Some emotions remained stuck to the grilles in front of the books, or else they trickled away down the gaps in the parquet flooring. There, these emotions groaned and wished the whole day long, whenever visitors glided over them while wearing their felt slippers. Even more “oohs” and “aahs” emanated from the stream of visitors to this library, all of which hid in the ornate lettering of the old-fashioned scripts used for the first letters on every page. Soon after, that is to say, 200 years ago, such books were all taken up, and there remained space for the virginal “oohs” and “aahs” only in the printed matter. |
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Gerda Steiner & Jorg Lenzlinger, Seelenwarmer, 2005.For a long time, this library was able to capture the emotions of its stunned visitors. Some emotions remained stuck to the grilles in front of the books, or else they trickled away down the gaps in the parquet flooring. There, these emotions groaned and wished the whole day long, whenever visitors glided over them while wearing their felt slippers. Even more “oohs” and “aahs” emanated from the stream of visitors to this library, all of which hid in the ornate lettering of the old-fashioned scripts used for the first letters on every page. Soon after, that is to say, 200 years ago, such books were all taken up, and there remained space for the virginal “oohs” and “aahs” only in the printed matter.
More and more visitors came, and the room became increasingly full. The unseen back rows of books swallowed emotions. Controllable, small emotions could be classified alphabetically according to the card index. The sweeping stuccowork had to archive the southern Europeans’ euphoric, effusive cries of joy in the busy, vaulted room. Saint Cecilia took over the incontrovertible Japanese hoo. Pancras had taken upon himself so much in trying to save the monastery that he could muster no more emotion. For a long time, the putti looked after the quiet and the deep feelings of the northern Europeans, until they too found the task too much. After having filled the upper levels with a huge amount of books, which even dwarfed the number of books in the main hall, but also with emotions, and having filled the cloakrooms to boot, a little space remained in the neon strips of the newly-installed lighting. Tears of rapture evaporated straight up into the clouds depicted in the ceiling frescos of the third synod. This occurred up until a warning was issued by the restorers who stated that the paint would soon flake away, since those clouds were becoming increasingly heavy.
Thirty-seven cases of fainting and 25 fits of dizziness took the lift to the Lapidarium, where they were kept locked up in the room designated for the protection of cultural items. The reproduction of Holbein’s dead Jesus is thankfully larger than the original, and was therefore able to take on thousands of soulful sighs and deep exhalations. Seventeen litres of sweat were poured straight into the courtyard, so that the humidity in the room would not rise too high. Three pivot teeth—one of which had been carved out of wood—fell out with astonishment and, unfortunately, disappeared without trace, but there were a fair number of goosebumps stored in the drawers underneath the book racks, along with some compromised bit of reverence.
The stream of visitors did not recede—quite the opposite: people came from far and wide to be overwhelmed. Once again, emotions trickled into the library, which had reached the saturation point. And so it came to pass that the slightly raised left eyebrow of one Frenchman could no longer be stowed away. Thus, he decided to overwhelm the library itself with an outbreak of feeling which would permeate everything, from the bottom up. At a stroke, all stored emotions were set free. Natural powers and higher forces sprang forth; memories swung their arms and legs; the animalistic instinct was liberated; fragmented souls were warmed, put together afresh, and life was breathed into them. Now there is space once more in the Stiftsbibliothek.
