……………………… if it is true, as he asserts, that that narrative succeeded in giving body and meaning to the phantoms of regret……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………….. but what sort of nostalgia are we speaking of? Some paradise lost, a nostalgia for purity, a time when man was not yet contaminated by evil? we are not in a position to say, but we can assert with Camus that the great revolutions are always metaphysical and that, as he affirms by referring to Nietzsche, the great Problems are to be found by the roadside……………………………………………………..
…………………………. this man who stands before us, and whom I have not the least compunction in calling ignoble, on account of the tortures he practices, because surely no one can imagine anybody stubbing out cigarettes on a corpse, so…………………………………………..
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………….. our police stations without any legal control and protection, where individuals such as Sergeant Titânio Silva operate……………………………………………”
More incomprehensible noises were heard and Firmino switched off the tape-recorder.
“Time to eat these eggs,” said the waiter.
“They’re still warm,” replied Firmino.
“Like a spot of ketchup?” asked the waiter, “everyone asks for ketchup nowadays.”
“I can do without,” said Firmino.
“What he said about the big problems being found by the roadside really struck me I must say,” said the waiter, “who was it who wrote that?”
“Albert Camus,” replied Firmino, “he was a French writer, but in fact he was quoting a German philosopher.”
“About this lawyer,” said the waiter, “what’s his name?”
“It’s a bit long and complicated,” said Firmino,” but there in Oporto everyone calls him Attorney Loton.”
“Press the button again, I’d like to hear more of what he has to say.”
Firmino pressed the button.
“………………………………………………………………. and as for the supposed suicide of Damasceno Monteiro……………………………………..
………………………………………………….. Jean Améry……………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………. his implacable pages, Diskurs über den Freitod, tell us that abhorrence of life is the basic prerequisite for a voluntary death, though not only his book but the story of his life is essential to our understanding……………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………… Jean Améry, a Mittel-European Jew, was born in Vienna, took refuge in Belgium in the late 1930s, was deported by the Germans in 1940, escaped from the concentration camp of Gurs and joined the Belgian Resistance, arrested by the Nazis again in 1943, tortured by the Gestapo and sent to Auschwitz, he survived……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………….. but what is the meaning of survival?…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
………………………… I ask myself………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………… devoting himself with great finesse to literature he wrote in both German and French, I recall for example his studies on Flaubert and two novels………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………….. but can writing save one from an irreparable humiliation?…………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………….. he finally committed suicide in Salzburg in 1978…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………… and I therefore assert that if Damasceno Monteiro laid violent hands upon himself, because my profound doubts in the matter cannot be confirmed by any witness, even though we have to strain all reason to credit this version of the facts……………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
….. his desperate act would have been forced upon him, as the result of the tortures he had undergone, as shown by the results of the autopsy………………………………………………………………………………………..
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………. I assert that the person responsible is Sergeant Titânio Silva……………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…… the methods worthy of the Inquisition employed in his headquarters……………………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………….. do my opinions strike you as Quixotic? In that case allow me one last literary quotation, in saying that for all essential questions, by which I mean those for which people risk death, or which strengthen the will to live, there are only two ways of thought, that of Don Quixote and that of Monsieur La Palisse……………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
…………….. they would have us believe that Damasceno Monteiro died on account of a cup of coffee………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………. but this insulting idiocy, worthy indeed of Monsieur La Palisse, which we have heard in the laughable testimony of the accused, stops nothing short of infamy…………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………