In 1926: living at the edge of time - Monoskop

BEING·IN·THE·WORLDS OF 1926 469
ground of his thinking." 113 Such imposing male attitudes force the
weaker protagonists-particularly the women-to withdraw, and sometimes
even to repress their idle talk: "Huge and powerful, the old man
takes his stand before the entrance to the king's court, and immediately
the chattering women disappear into their rooms."114
Despite such unmistakable semantic contrasts, it is not always easy for
the protagonists to make the right choice. Even Ull, the strongest and
most taciturn of the warriors serving under the Empire of the Sun, needs
occasional exhortations to adhere to authenticity. Like Dasein in Sein
und Zeit, VII's existence is often marked by the calling of voices (Rufe),
whose origin seems to oscillate between immanence and transcendence:
Hor calls in his sleep. Ull gets up, but he must first look into the flame's
red brain-searching the core around which its dress is flickering. And
while he gazes straight into the red pit, a log bends and bursts. A flame
flares high and burns his eyelashes. "My office," says Bra and holds his
hand between the king and the fire. The calls of warning come again,
but they are different from Hor's voice. Ull awakes from his thoughts;
the wind is beating and drumming against the ground. His dog jumps
up and listens. Then the sound ceases. Did someone call? Ull is again
alone with Bra's quiet words and lets him speak about Hilboe, about
her brother Hill in the east and about her sister Flode in the west. And
the king tells about the day when the sun wanted to leap off the rock
right in front of him, and he asks him to interpret this. 115
Even the boldest of Blunck's heroes find something uncanny (unheimlich)
in such moments, when they are defenseless against the powers of the
night and the magic of those powers. 116 But for Blunck, as for Heidegger,
the uncanny bears exclusively positive connotations. Those who are
capable of enduring anxiety and the uncanny without falling prey to the
spell of the night, those in whose lives death is constantly present, will
(in silence, of course) achieve the greatest deeds.
Ull has to kill his beloved wife, Solmund, because she yielded to the
spell of the moon and the stars. To avenge her death, Solmund's brother,
the sorcerer Borr, challenges Ull:
"Hear me, Ull," shouted Borr, crying with rage, "Where is my sister,
whom you stole from me? Where is she whom I cherished as the apple
of my eye? Where is she whom you found and took away?"