Basic HTML Version
56
JEW ISH BOOK ANNUAL
“fleshing-out” o f the ending . What is the read e r supposed to
make o f the helicopters hovering overhead at the conclusion o f
A .H .’s tirade? Several possibilities covering a whole spectrum o f
visions o f the world suggest themselves. Perhaps the occupants o f
the helicopters will kill both the Israelis and A.H., inscribing a
stark
fin is
to the whole affair. Maybe they will kill A.H. alone, leav
ing the Israelis with no th ing more than ou trageous claims. Or,
they will kill the Israelis and “save”A.H., e ither enshrin ing him or
bring ing him back to trial. Finally, perhaps the helicopters are
peopled with Lieber’s men who will bring A.H. back to trial in
Jerusa lem . One may even choose to leave the helicopters where
they are. On any spectrum there are infinite shades. T h e above
list by no means exhausts the possibilities, which are indeed
endless, limited only by the number o f readers who unde r take to
think seriously about the ending o f the novel. T he answer one
gives to the question raised by the hovering helicopters is in pa r t
determ ined by one’s
Weltanschauung,
by one’s vision o f the world.
Steiner’s answer, it is clear from his writings, is to despair. It stems
from a tragic vision o f the world, a vision which says tha t time is
runn ing out and there is nowhere else to go. In the world o f this
vision, whatever one does, one is doomed.
Is Steiner’s vision, where there are only m ud puddles, a vision
we can live with? O r are there blue skies as well? Does evil
trium ph , or does good? Perhaps the answer is to leave the heli
copters hovering for all eternity because ne ither evil no r good tr i
umphs: Nothing triumphs, one m ight say, because life goes on.
T he play is prologue. Let the dialogue begin.