Peter
Altenberg
LITTLE THINGS
For
a long time now I have been judging people on the basis of minute details. I am sorry to say I cannot wait for the "big
events" in life through which they “reveal” themselves. I must be able to
discern these "revelations" on the basis of the smallest events! For
example, the cane or parasol handle he or she selects. The necktie, the
material of a dress, the hat, the dog he or she keeps, a thousand insignificant
little things, even down to, or really up to, the cuff links! For everything is an essay about the person
who chose them and enjoys wearing them!
He
reveals himself to us! "He wrote a good book, but he "wore crudely
tooled, artificial-looking cuff links!" That says it. Something is wrong
somewhere in the "state of the soul!" It's not important that some beloved woman deceived us! Destiny will surely punish her mercilessly with deep disappointment! But what matters most is her first coquettish,
passionate glance! I can compete with the one who deceived me, totally, but
not with the one who shot a covetous look
from afar! Little things murder! Fulfillment can always be overcome, but
never anticipation! That is why I put
store in the little things of life,
in neckties, parasol handles, cane handles, discrete remarks, pearls that roll
under tables and nobody ever finds!
The
momentous things in life have no
significance at all! They tell us no more about existence than what we
already know! That is because in great
need they all function exactly alike! But it is in details
alone that the important distinctions appear! For example, what flowers a man
gives his most dearly beloved! Or what belt buckle he selects for her among hundreds!
Which pears from France, or grapefruits from America, he brings her home, which
brown-speckled Canada apples he chooses for her among hundreds. That
demonstrates many more intimacies than the orgies of so-called love!
Aesthetics, understanding, and love must, after all, constitute a triple
alliance. One should be able to compose a symphony
of ordinary existence out of "little things!" Instead of waiting
for big ones to happen! The very smallest thing is big! The squeaking of
a mouse in a trap is a terrible tragedy! Somebody once said to me: "The most awful thing is a young rabbit
dragged into a fox hole. Day and night the little foxes slowly gnaw on its
still-living body with their needle-sharp teeth!" Those are the tragedies
of existence!
Little things take the place in life of
the "big events!" That is their value, if one can grasp it!
“Kleinigkeiten,”
1909. Original text in Bilderbögen des kleinen
Lebens, 3d ed. (Berlin-Westend: Erich Reiss Verlag, 1909), 182~3.