Storytelling Means Dissolving Relations

Abstract

This chapter explores the dialogue between Piero Salabè and Alexander Kluge wherein they talked about Kluge's book Tür an Tür mit einem anderen Leben (Next Door to Another Life, 2006). Kluge claims that there are always two aspects to sadness: it isolates, but it can also bring people in contact with one another. Sadness and crying are capable of dissolving hardened relations. When asked whether he believes in progress, Kluge answered that he does not believe in linear progress because for him “the past is always coming at us from the future.” Instead, he believes in circular movement like those in whirlpools. The concept of enlightenment must begin with the real phenomenon that time does not actually pass. Kluge says that “we must continue to tell stories about problems in the world, and with storytelling we must also push back against these problems that people fail to respect.” Storytelling means dissolving in the literal sense of “analyzing.” Kluge believes that this is the great, unfinished project of enlightenment. Salabè and Kluge also discusses the individual's capacity for differentiation.