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    158 views7 pages

    What The Shadow Demands - Catulle Mendes

    Uploaded by

    LizbethDresden
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    © All Rights Reserved
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    CATULLE MENDES What the Shadow Demands This story was collected in the volume Rue des Filles-Diewu, 5 ou L’Héautonpératéroméne (Paris: Charpentier et Fasquelle, 1895). 52 the prison of La Roquette: La Grande Roquette, opened in 1851, was the central prison in Paris at the time, at the entrance to which, in the street and in view of the public, a special base was constructed for the guillotine. 59 miping it off the map: Mendés must be referring to the cataclysmic eruption of Krakatoa in 1883, in the vicinity of Java and other islands, that caused tsunamis with innumerable casualties in their wake. News of this catas— trophe caused a stir in Europe and North America, 62 the universal law would no longer be transgressed: it is here that the story shows most clearly its appurtenance to the genre of littérature fantastique, defined as an occurrence that cannot be explained rationally erupting within a framework obedient to the laws of nature. 8 I Sed SO RS Zee CATULLE MENDES What the Shadow Demani Te scene is the prison of La Roguette inthe cell ofa condemned “Gentlemen, I thank you. You have brought me paper, envelopes; ‘pen, an inkwell’ (he arranged these objects before hin on the table a Fhe spoke), thankyou indeed. Thanks lso to Monsic le Directeu governor ofthe prison, fr allowing me to keep alight burning ford part ofthis night. Thave a leter to write. This will ake mea fide while; and Ihlive, yes Tibelieve(and her he chuckled almost mis chievously) ‘that Fonly have few hours left me. So Ibid you good ening, gentlemen, Sleep wel, slecp well, while I write. I sense that we shall be woken early tomorrow morning, And so goodnight” ‘One of the warders left the cll, followed by « heavy scraping sound asthe holt was shot to in the thick wall. The other warder stretched out on a camp-bed placed direct in front ofthe door, He was soon snoring away peacefully. The prisoner caused them no co cern whatever, He was a sickly, prematurely aged litle man, whose fingers continually trembled. He was aways cooperative and gendle inmanner, notwithstanding the atrocity of his erm They had never once had to use the straitjacket on him. And he would assuredly be as gentle as lamb when they led him to the guillotine, alam who knew Where he was going, but who would offer no resistance. In that hitesh and brownish cell, where th candle fame burned absolutely straight, the lite man, wth his nose pressed up against the paper scraped avay with his pen, the only sound to he hear between the In the way of methodical people, he began by addressing the envelope: ‘For the Attention ofthe Chaplain, Prison of La Roquette? And he undetlined an instruction: “Not to be opened before my death.’ Excellent. Now forthe letter, And he began to write, care fully, but without undue haste—he was used to the slight rembling What the Shadow Demands 8 his ingers—like a conscientious clerk calmly copying outa report His writing was very close and smal Reverend Sir, Lams ask you to forgive me for having so long psiponed, despite your charitable enquires, revealing w you the ive behind the abominable marde Ihave committed, I cll not no te cause of my crime to be known before its perpetrator found tol beyond the reach ofall absolution or meres. Fox my salvation ruld have been a disobedience. But todas—this afternoon, this ry evening-—I knew by some inflible signs chat the decisive ment a8 near, inthe instants when, given the positioning and hight of the two narrow windows, my appearance in the shadow jected on the wall seemed to flout every natural aw. ust now, for instance, while [was speaking to my warders, seated not behind, hut in front of the candlestick, the trenchant absence of what I sill, possess as so clear-cut in the shadow eas, [knew the time was close hen all would be resolved, and my appearance corrected. I knew tharjust before dawn, Monsieur le Directeur, governor of the prison, sould come in here, accompanied by others, and tell me chat must fesolve t0 die, Which gives me just time to write this letter of planation, itis indeed extrwoninary that a man like myself, not wicked, not demented, but a straightforward fellow, born of decent folk well iht-up and espectalyemployed—T as, you will eal, a hab: asher in Rény-sur-Oise—tha aman lke myself, say, shoul be uty, and without any hated to motivate it, as if id it for pleas- ive, of such # dreadfal and cafculsted marder.T can imagine the ‘upelaction ofthe members ofthe jury of the cour, ofthe: appointed t report on my mental alt, (Chase been careful not to reveal the truth, they would have taken me for 2 madman! T would have been sequited, and therefore unable to fll my destiny.) ean siso well understand your bewilderment before me, Chaplain Fccause you know no more than the others, Bt Fknow ‘One thing that surprises even me, however, shat Iwas not aware of this thing immediately, I mean even after I had attained the age of reason. Wasit because, 8 child, with undisciplined mind and eyes, {imply didn't notice the strangeness of my conltion, or possibly {believed that everyone shared it? No, instinct alone would have informed me that I was somehow acted, Could ite, then, thatthe Catlle Mendes places where I worked and played—the schoolroom, the lite Table garden behind my parents? neat house—simply prevented iil rotiing the anomaly? No again, beease light plays through the Ba ffa schooloom window as roe asit does elsewhere; and the garda tall was a good deal taller than Twas t shoulder height. Having pal in my boyhood and early adolescence 1 was—as far le wo repens nse mal costed ie oer ye Tl Cee tie a deeen fy edeyacpeda ool sip get he men aneleotie son adil Mia Sr requaty tht ipl the en coer tay cee fl domand oe Beko Syl Taka antarate nee when etn Sd a oat on thr drenny hindi ‘Tete sow autne fr yu Reverend Re, ow ad ll Lea undend thence he ory St ave eye il honor, baby sieciaton ad conta, wth ri Pee neceiek oom eee se ego etend nels inept ing a so of Sut Ray ur Oe Oe her, who Wa a jung nan down fou i avd ink fe nnd dike toominornon= call Cataray clieeeeticg anmnononos al set wg he aun dccnng hn ea we ocic nd ete apres nt acl Tego hah, die my sgh snted apparn att danas cence a by ne red youn techn a nig po ee pipe ceva cela ay hoo ey wl Madncloes then ate wel ep What the Shadow Demands 55 Tateady had a taste of what my Tie woul always be, calm vst aching ahead. Even at fifteen, I scarcely fel the disturbances asso- aacinatof puberty, My mother rejoioed at my plciity. ie ar have to confess tit fom sateen on, T would steal more re an were steely appropriate atthe mew apprentice, youn ei scl almost, who came dally and worked inthe back of the Mabini on hatands and the peaks for cps. She woudl end up a aaa of litle black pinpricks on her fingertips, But she had wh prety ees, glowing with He, under her mop of unruly red tal And between her feces, her skin was so whit Meare ihe daughter of our neighbour, the village drugsist. She ane atinny, and had long arms tha she didn'e quite know what seit they would hang down awkwardly when se had stopped (rang fund her charming, ust as she was, When I gsze a ey wed on the other side of the table, she would aug id orycand when she cried she was prettier sil. Youmust forgive vate crllend Father, for recounting these flies, perhaps not Me aly ntsnted by nn, My excuses that I did intend roars he tuhen Fame of age and got established. We used co ect on spring mornings, inthe clamp of willows by ence, We would hold hands, butnotstand so close; we didsay io rrr and we didn't look at each other. Bur W could hear ber Tea hich ike may own came strong and rapid, a though we eaeiny preah, Then twas sunsmer. Twasseventeen. Now, when er ited, I drew closer to her. ida’ dare declare myself ye, but tea aw hor close, ax if to whisper something in her ca. She rou sor head to lok at the tees, oF lowered itto the sandy path then on one cecasion—the ar was on fire and the bees were pa ee dragonflies darted about us—T drew her brusque towards we nl tugged her chose, and searcely knowing what I was doing evened may lip co hers: We stopped, astonished, delighted, lot Seay bined and Kept Kissing her beautiful hor mouth which she ‘ond not eos Hae oie atthe very instant ny child's heart was wering ito tea and while I Kssed her still I drew slighty to one that ofa ane our two shadows, our rvo slender and lengthened Shadows, clearly outlined onthe pale narrow path? esd make ont her body next eo mine, could see owe arms “eauwineds and ttle higher than her shoulder Ieould see my own, 6 Gasle Mendes slightly inclined, and higher stil, there was her forehead, and Ah prety tousle of her har, but as was breathing inher own breath 1 did not see... no, n, 1 did not se, on the pale path, my om fe 1 did not sce my forebead, I did not see my har. My own lips Welt ‘upon her lips! But, fom the neck upwards, my own shadow bad ‘mouth, no forehead, no ai... My shadow was without ahead Te would be dificult indeed, Sir, to express my agitation on dig ‘covering that my shadow had no head Aft later on, [rushed bad {othe spot the track where my image had been cut of, supposing there mst be some abrupt hollow or hoe into which my head. had filen, eu offby the edge. But there wasn such hollow. The ground was smooth and unbroken. And there, in front of me, stretched mie Aecapitated shadow! Out of some instinctive terror, Through my hands up tomy cheeks and my temples: I touched, and touched agi my fleshy, downy, living skin: andl on the road I saw the black shade ons of my palms stething the contour of the mating that a 1 succumbed 1.4 fever that confined me 1o my bed for Sty days ‘Once in convalescence, my eyes looked wildy, and I seid nota wor people started to wonder whether my illhss—it was typhoid fever—had not left me mad or simple, Nether wis true. My reason ing was entirely intact. But I could not help thinking of my unfin ished shadow. And I thought about it obsessively, with fear and with ‘age. I was both terrified and consumed by the desive to know whether, after my illness, the thing was as before. Today, peshape, my shadow hada head! How L wished it were so! In the end, my cor ‘sity triumphed over my apprehension, One morning wen Iwas alone in my bedroom, sunk deep in my valetudinaran's armchai, [rose up slowly between the window and the wall, I turned around slowly... above the chair-back rose my shoulders, my neck —and nothing else! fell back in a dead faint “For days, weeks, months Iwas morose and sit with staring eyes, ‘hich alarmed my mother. cis very hard to give an idea unless one has experienced it oneself—of the anxity that borders on teror, of theshae that cunt torture, which inthe eary day man who isin any way sensitive and who is persuaded—a conviction com. firmed at every moment— that his shadow lacks ahead. Temight even beciser to get used to not having head nese in that ease to Keep ‘he mind calm, it would simply mean not touching the face or the What she Shadow Demands 9 ut and eel ving mir. Pechaps one might eve forest Maton "wan headless. But how is it powable, without Hing in tn so reeceh pein ea Mat dre tel one of my rouble, IU had ben be to contest 0 ty pte orm ends I might have lesened the torment. But iim inance—and sine then {have come to understand the wis fmf hiinwiner~warned me ora lent, snd tat shold trap ret the deviance fom natal that was eno in clo, oat eatin the appuren incompleteness of ay peson Whar proved ome ta ado Kep it secrets that thanks othe sperton of ome meters a higher wil Iwas the oly one force No one ever evinced the est suerae a seting, ext to his {Rado complete with head; my own that was no. The fac hat Mendy coe through nay sion sa a esd thee Bat thir remased somehingberween mand... someone In ation to this Twas helped bec ime, bic acestoms us 0 most things, ind eptton of the fact ended by taking the edge off my anguish Fiat ny antnishment and then ny feat became es acute, cn fronted with ths neck hat sports nothing. My father died the arate ny mote, and Tha buy myst—aer the shck of "hich had become smear chor, To keep mylene, Thad 1 ne vata adverse in the oa aespaper of Sei Rémy su Cine, Then {zoe marid, tothe ite apprentice, daughter of oar seth the Uroggse who had vrmed ou and Beastial had Children, wo boys andi anda of this took my sind off my Tbe Thee remained ste slight hesitation my speech, and Sigh conan im my movements which ited with de amiable face ofmy chriter nea stopped nosicing my anomaly of a ean Tacnoweged i without psi sometime even treated ith Teal never forget t—Lvas showing our ange of silk top-hats tothe ‘own ofthe Hotel des Trois Empereurs; not knowing where to put bles and chairs fone which was much to small for my client, the being clurtered, I put ton my own ead—and I doubled up, Hiter- aly doubled up laughing! Why? Because onthe wallsa theshadow of the hat, which was so narove that child's head could scarcely have fted it with its rim, resting rather shabily, right on the shadow s® Catule Mende say tS sn my te od T derived some pleasure from that. cnc started to manifest themselves in the winter of th ea ‘waters, and one day I saw the apple t the d ¥ fom which tovatcnractnoad oy sao jected against the wall, L repeated, almost in a whisper, betw & trembling lips: es, here i something amy. Thee ineoeeen awry in the world.” ol th the ely wars comet Tene Wha the Shadow Demands 0 them did not strike me at all—and the relation of cause and effect Detween the two anomalies even les. But just as one ean scarcely Inake out the tendsils of creeper stretched from one side of the track Wo the other, inthe growing ight of dawn, it seemed to me chat there were ink, leit ight, tenuous, vague, more guessed at than verted, hich connected the two phenomen. Yes, I flt that Iwas noc a strange to the strange thing that was happening, ad thatthe tans pression of one of nature's laws, in me, corresponded in some mys Terious way withthe transgression of another of nature's laws. ‘Nevertheless, the suspicion-—which remained in any ease very ngue, uncertain, scarcely hinted at—that the headlessness of my hadow was not unrelated to the anomaly of a winter so burninly wammerike, soon fled as the esto in econance with unalerable w, cooled down to is seasonal norm; and T think thatthe suspicion which troubled my mind would have vanished for good, ha it no boon fr the fact that, quite a while late, a¢ the begining of April, the papers carried reports, often recounted in grat detail, ofthe sad ‘ken and appalling estalysm which had overwhelmed the island o Java, nearly wiping tof the map.* The few survivors ofthis prolonged disaster gave descriptions of what seems to have been more than a week of unparalleled horror. To the backdrop ofa terrifying and ceaseless barrage of thunder, and an ping darkness on which the sun rose no more, tony by ight hing flashes, mountains crashed into abysms that were suddenly ‘opened at ther foot, caseades of rock and molten metal surged up through lakes or from the plains; what had been mountains were swallowed up in an instant, and a vest, thinly spread, torrential sur- faos, not of Water but of lav, roared over the whole island, ike some s,houses—on gigantic seythe and cut down everything—hills, forest is path, and left nothing but heaps of ruins behind it. The whole hing represented a formidable inversion of the laws that govern matter: huge rocks were see flying off, earred by a wind that id aot ‘come from the sky. Meanvhile, mysteriously weighted, swarms of doves and swans were seen plunging down in rocks. Contraiety triumphed inthe great hullabaloo of the end ofthe world! Tr ‘nae limited world—not even a continent but a world nonethe- less. And the inhabitants ofthis whole globe of ours—without ever interpreting it a a sign—vere dumbfounded by this upheaval, and trembled, 60 Cotile Mendes But Fundestood: twas signa warning: understood ha Destoyec—vho was oriinally the Crestor—-had amounces this eoncentaed ruin, the oniversl ruin comes de ROE snniilstion ofan land wast rn forthe ttalcaeesephcarip felsic, ‘But why shuld the sign have been given preiely when it was Why shuld it be my own epoch ht witncsed the mine ene suofal he nsf mater which had ithera governed ne eng handiwork of six days? Why should the end he word ele during my terme “Te was then that the vague suspicion which had maged at me Aung our strange silty winter retuned, but mare pee ae precise and wihateribleurgeny. And soit waa ahe iad Jong and pin mectation,lcquired this erin “Tne weal sing tend case my shadow hashed inefatabe, my’ dear Si, that T fel mold be ar inutt the sublets of yourintelignce wero reheat ny each ie ments that convinced me leaned man lite you il ender inwamty wt ctok simpleton ie mesa long poop Everything in natures intereonnectd. Noting com become de ordered that does na she the whole. Etching exestng considered like cate made of rds; he mont in nee exitence perssdes uso tssoldity th fond ilmim ote oe on this ephemera dling pace; romove 2 single end, a ae whole edie collapses and setters To speak mae blu tase Process thts turned aside fom ts normal complain, tile pe Borting strut withdrawn rom the nique and melas lacs sah fle lw in the nivel order trnspresed an inl ater ny 1 saying!—mat of neceity involve the breshdown of the aha normots edifice. And my head, wit it shadow, meatal colase of erring im nothing. “No sooner had this conviction taken hold of my mind than {became prey oa tele and anccasing melancholy Nevtocen L mourned for my own if, smn to be ptchel healong ine the ener disaster; nr for my wie ad eilren, doomed he ee desl end. Although had some indnent omen fo deat hadallzhe endrnes th the hen oa husund saad oo fo ‘vas importand by a wide, more enoompanngly mea an p Demands 6 Concern for my own welfare was the last ofthe things that caused tne grief Twas filled with compassion forthe whole besutifl earth, and forall the happy beings that dwell therein, What! Could it be true, could it be certain, that dawn would no longer smile upon the calm blue sea or on the green and Nowery meadow? There would "eno more sun, because there would be no more sky? There would he no more stars, for nigh itself would no longer be? Oh my God, to think that after that treble hour no birds will ing in the withered ees, and nowhere, nowhere at al, would roses flower. And all the men and women who Tove each other will love each other no mare The highest and most glorious aspirations will be worthless in the decomposition attendant upon the funeral, The dy before the unive sal catastrophe, engaged couples, he twenty, she sixteen yeas of ag will sil exchange their vows “An immense pity for all things an forall living beings wrung my heart repeatedly; as my lashes were continually wet with tears, people sround me surmised that I must have developed some weakness of the fachrymal glands, and this was the cause ofthe great, slow teats that swelled and trembled... Not a bit of itt I was weeping because the end of the world was night [also flea certain amount of remorse It vas certainly not my aul hat the ering eatclysm was so neat athund! Butit was still in my own person, however guiltless may be thatthe first sign was made manifest, announcing the cause and th final disaster A remedy? Was there some remedy against the imminent evil? "My pity convinced me that there must be a remedy “The world was going 10 its perdition because the kaw that gov ‘med it had been broken in me— Because my shadow had no head! [ began vo wonder if there were nota way Lcouldfarish my head with aashadow. Ifonly I could obtain this result, then all things, neces iy, would return to their old order—and the universes would con nue to live. [cannot begin to tellyou, kind Sir (and 1am somewhat confused onthe matter) how much time I devoted to inventing some ruse whereby I might correct my abnormal shadow on the wal, [recall only that, more than once, I experimented with wearing ‘masks, with several wide and very dark masks, in fact, hoping that imeressed darkness, greater opacity, would infinge upon the light, ‘Alas! The masks covering my face had no more shadow than my own fice on Catulle Mendes ; Then it was chat God, who has shown pity on hie worlds and a PEL Revples sent me inspiron... fr which I thank him on ap knees! “So that the danger shouldbe averted, forthe presenta est, an ihst everything shouldbe restored ta the state demanded br nap HRM Was not necessary (why did Int think oi befor) charg head appear on che walt was enous no longer be in disharmony wld no Tonger be trans: stream of life, naturally, would pursue jTcan promise you that, when the idea came to me, [lec out aay og. Hamanity wa saved! didn't wastea second, laxized oy soap and sanding there, before the narrow mirror, by the window eit Git fora moment thinking of my wife and children, n grief boli ihe faeral car—I st about euting my own neck. Eat tor ‘SPaatin ofthe head from the trunk could not be completed tay auempted bya hand that trembled, inevitaly, andthe ensueg vy pias eaten is resolve cold only be beheaded uss by hich 1 mean entirely—T could only become an identical earch By shadow with the steady, methodical, even mechanical ad oe fameone acting without passion and without gre. Only the cee tone could render me identical 10 my image on the wal r og sho Bath, only the executioner could accord me the joy of eocure hers Rotingness, univer lift. Ok, the sweet hope! My comme, hn ‘were ised, would bein conformity with its shore ‘Butonly the mos hideous murderers are gullocned, “Ah! Kind Si, I loved my children

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