Europe has always been a mess.
None of these things happened. They are based in the following historiographical
co- ordinates which are truly European.
Métissage: restlessness, broken borders, violence, polyglot. Acceleration: opulence, ideals, apocalypse, sublime.
*
Restlessness/opulence
Their courtly habits allowed them to enclose the land. Rent, fences, livestock. Each farmstead mapped. Near the road, a great stone house was built by those who had lost their land.
Broken borders/apocalypse
They swam from the boat to the shore and walked out through the tourists. In her coat, a mobile phone in a sealed plastic bag. It had one number which her uncle had bought from an armed man in the market back home. The number belonged to a man called Jamal. If the person on the line was not Jamal, she was to cut the call.
Violence/opulence
A scream of mortal terror went out when they realised that families would not be spared the fate of their patriarchs. The windows were pushed out and she landed on the ground in front of a cheering crowd.
Polyglot/opulence
At the base of the slopes, the cocktail menu was in four languages, starting at 50 Francs.
Broken borders/sublime
The government that erected the statue pulled it down. In both events, the people were commanded to attend.
Restlessness/apocalypse
When nearby villages sickened, the town’s Mayor finally commanded roadblocks and a curfew. In one house, a girl sang from the window. In another house, a boy hid his sister’s toys and watched her search for them.
Polyglot/sublime
His heart quickened as he watched the bag in the café over the road. After a short prayer in an ancient language, he pressed the button.
Violence/sublime
Although they spoke many different languages, they marched together with shoulders pressed back and chests out. They sang Christian songs in Latin in the mornings and by the time the campaign was over half of them would be dead
Polyglot/apocalypse
The ship returned eighteen months later. The cargo was unloaded but a small number of negroes remained confined on board until negotiations were completed.
Broken borders/ideals
The music was performed just once, and then all returned to their own nations, changed.
Restlessness/sublime
There was not a single village throughout in which a cross was not placed to record the invasions that the nation had perpetrated and suffered.
Violence/ideals
There was a new light in the night sky, observed throughout the land. The next day, in order to give the light meaning, a man was bound to a tree and his entrails spilled out.
Polyglot/ideals
The twenty-seven flags, waving together, were stolen. Later the police arrested a man who spent a year in prison.
Broken borders/opulence
Arriving, he realised he had forgotten to put his watch back on after customs so he bought a new one in one of the shops in the hotel’s atrium.
Restlessness/ideals
The carnations were strewn along the avenues. When the petals dried they resembled confetti.
Violence/apocalypse
The television shared with the middle classes an image of war in which a great demon gouged the bodies of men with spurs on its ankles.
blackout
refuse to sink
fellah33 text by Graham Harrison
