Re: going insane

Johannes Birringer (orpheus@rice.edu)
Tue, 09 Mar 1999 22:03:58 +0000

the earth is the head of god
god is fire in the head

i am alive so long as i have a fire in my head

my pulse is an earthquake
i am an earthquake...

i speak out of the mouth of god.

(The Diary of Vaslav Nijinsky, edited by Joan Acocella (New York, 1999).

[After retreating to Switzerland to wait out the war, by the time of the
armistice, Nijinksy had begun to go insane. The diary written in six
and a half weeks (January 19-March 4, 1919), is the record of his
thoughts of what was happening. It is the only sustained, on-the-spot
(not retrospective) written account, by a major artist, of the
experience of entering psychosis."]
(Has anyone started to read this remarkable book? I will be back when I
have finished it),

greetings
Johannes Birringer