Death Sentences by Kawamata Chiaki Page B

he really did `discover' a new way of using words?"
    "Exactly!" Duchamp replied. "But he didn't make particularly good use of it. It may also be that there is nothing useful to be derived from it for us ordinary people."
    Duchamp picked at the corner of the manuscript on the table with a fingernail.
    "This man ... Who May ... isn't he Chinese? No matter, but what exactly did he think he was writing? Poetry? Well, this is nothing like poetry. It may be written with words, but this is painting. And, one might say, quite garish at that. Its fantasy is visually too primitive. Don't you think? That paranoid Catalonian would be delighted to crank out this sort of thing in reams."
    That was a bit of sarcasm directed toward Salvador Dali.
    Dali at that time was completely cut off from the surrealist group, and Breton had dubbed him Avida Dollars, an anagram of Salvador Dali, meaning "greedy for money."
    "That's
    Deep in thought, Breton muttered in reply.
    "... what he himself was saying ... he didn't know what he should do with his `discovery' of a new way of using or making words-"
    Then he added, "He said he was `ill' ... and he gave me the manuscript because he wanted my diagnosis ..."
    "That makes sense-"
    Duchamp nodded as if he understood the entire matter.

    "This is true, he is indeed ill. Without a doubt. Incidentally, how old is he?"
    "He said nineteen."
    "Nineteen! Well, in that case, we've nothing to worry about!"
    Duchamp's voice rang cheerfully.
    "He'll recover. His recovery is a sure thing!"
    "Recovery?"
    "Exactly! It's only natural. It is a sure thing!- After all, it is an illness. I wonder where he happened upon this spell, um,
    Apparently, Duchamp thought of it as a spell, too.
    In fact, there didn't seem to be any other way of referring to it.
    "In any event-" Duchamp drew a deep breath before continuing. "He will write something else-why don't we wait until then, Andre. We may be surprised; maybe this falling under a curse was a one-time thing. He may fully recover. That's what I tend to think. That's what will happen. Because he is simply ill-"
    Duchamp shrugged his shoulders only slightly this time.
    "Regardless, if he does send you a second work, let me know immediately. I'll hurry over. What a thrill it will be if we have another startling encounter with the unknown, and should the work disappoint us, in that case we will be happy for him, Who May. Don't you think?"
    He then went on to add, "Well, then, what shall we do with this manuscript? I am not against including it in the pages of VVV. But there will be trouble ... for sure. In any event, we need to keep a typed copy of it. I'd like to expose someone else to this menace."
    With these words, Duchamp placed two hands on the table and thrust him himself up.
    "All right!" He announced loudly as if putting it all behind them. "Let's go to dinner!"
    At that time-
    Duchamp probably did not actually believe that a second work would appear. And even if it did, he surely thought it would be a mistake to have high expectations of it. Both of Duchamp's predictions, however, would prove utterly wrong.

    At the same time he would have to learn the hard way that another startling encounter with the unknown would not necessarily give them cause for joy.
    And it was barely one week later-

     

1
    ... the second hand kept turning. It eventually met the long hand at the fifty-nine-minute mark. They overlapped, and then, with flawless precision, the second hand continued on, marking the passage of a new second.
    The short hand was now nearly approaching the four-hour mark.
    Bells chimed from across Pare Blanche.
    Breton did not look up.
    The movement of the watch hands held his attention completely.
    (Only another minute.)
    He did not want to change his mind again. He had no intention of changing his mind.
    With the passing of each second Breton had made the same pledge.
    He would wait until exactly four o'clock as marked on his watch. He would wait until then.
    That means