Focus Spring 1999.tif Minds, Bodies, and Memories: The Mind/Body Split in Christa Wolf's Kassandmi Christina F rei Tbe postmodern movement in literary ana lysis re-evaluates the concept of hislory. No longer can scholars think in terms of ab­ solute and unquestionable truths. Si nce the meaning of events comes from interpretation, the emphasis has lihihed from validation {O signi­ fi cation , and with this shift, the role of the interpreter becomes eve r more noticeable. H owever, this signification raises the question of subjectivity. In her text Teaching the Postmodern, Brenda K. Marshall writes: The poststructuralist decentering of the subject from the po­ sition from which reason emanates means that we may no longer perceive history as a linear construCt which places the subject, in the present, in the privileged position of making sense of all that has come before-as if the subject were either 'outside' of histOry, or else the final moment tOward wh ich all history has marched ... we are never 'oU(side' the labyrimh of discourse, we are never outside of a point of view or perspec­ tive which is always situated as a systematic function, within textuality. (148) Marshall sees history as the telling of a story in narrative form, mean­ ing that one cannot speak of a "history" but rather of "'many histories" since the producer as well as the reader of a story/text are in subject positions; neither one is in a superior position. In that, the author, reader, and text are n Ot separate from each other, the underlying pat­ tern of Marshall's model suggests an unfolding of non-binary think­ ing. Furthermore, since mind and body cannot be viewed as separate of each other this viewpoint questions the traditional discourses of the mind/ body split as well. The binary construction of mind versus focI« on Lill:rtltllr Vol. 6, No. I (1999) 2 Focus on Lileralllr body is radicalized when "mind" stands forculture/intellect/man, and "body" is equated with nature/emotions/woman. This separation of mind and body no longer functions when patterns of binary thinking are broken. How could Descartes, then, understand his mind "outside" of his body? Can his argument '" think, therefore I am" still be applied in discourse today? Basing his formation of subjectivity on dualism, Descartes placed body and mind as two independent aspects in a hier­ archical system, with the mind placed in a superior position outside the body. He queStions anything that is perceived through the senses by analyzing bodily functions/sensations. Therefore, the inqu isitive mind also gives substance to this "'other," called "'body." Subjectivity, then. becomes the unshakable point from which all knowledge, that is, the knowledge of corporeality, arises. But body is real. Body senses itself. Body knows itSelf. Freud and the Body Freud's psychoanalytic work on subjectivity lends itself to the exploration of a dualistic understanding of subjectivity. H is attempt to connect the mind and the body in an interdependent system is well­ known. l In his essay "The Ego and the ld,· he elaborates on the bodily ego, yet he also sees subjectivity as a dualistic understanding of external and internal perceptions. In one of his last theoretical papers of 1922, Freud called the body "a surface:~ "A person's own body, and above all its surface, is a place from which both external and internal perceptions may spring" (15). According to Freud, the body facilitates perception; the body can remember and represent experiences. He elaborates further: The ego is fim and foremost a bodily ego; it is nOt merely a surface entity, but is itseU tbe projection of a surface. The ego is ultimartly derived from bodily sensations, chiefly from those springing from the surface of the body. It may thus be re­ garded as a mental projection of the surface of the body. (16) Thus, Freud places the ego, not the body, as a mental projection. Here Freud's view differs from that of Decartes. For Freud, bodily sensa- Minds. Bodies, and Memories 3 lions trigger the forrmltion of the ego. Hewever. how can the ego exist without the body? If the mind perceives the ego through bodily sen­ sations and therefore stands in direct relation to the body, an exclu­ sio nary understanding of body and mind is no longer possible, and a hiel"3rch ical order can no longer explain the complexity. Freud also equates the ego with perception and reason, while the id is signified by instinct and passion. But, does one haw to exclude the olher, or can they stand in relation to one another? In her text the Practice of Love, Teresa De lauretis develops a nOlion of the body drawing on Freud's model. Thus, De Lauretis sees t he "ego not located between the id and the superego, but the frontier between them and th e external world" (22). According to De Lauretis, the body is the place of the fromier .. the place where the negotiations (interactions) between the superego and the id happen. Since De Lauret is's analysis does not question the dualistic model as soon as the external world is juxtaposed onto the internal one, many questions arise; What is moving between these two posi· tions? Can the boundaries of "internal" and "external" be redefined? What if the re is an error in the perception of the body? What if this "frontier body" is n Ot a front ier between "outside~ and "inside" bUl a space without boundaries? If this is the case, what happens to the notion of perception? Since a body can experience itself-feel, touch, smell, hear, taste, and see itself-it can be a love object or a fetish to irse1f. The body can combine "inside" and "'outside;- it can be object and subject at the same time. The body can experience itself holisti­ cally, perhaps it even Strives for th is experience. In her work Volatile Bodies, Elizabeth Grosz challenges Freud's dualism, analyzing the role of the body in Freud's writings. In the introduction, Grosz writes: "Bodies have all the explanatory power of minds" (vi i). Searching to define this power, Grosz concentrates "on the contributions psychoanalytic theory has made to understand how the body functions, not simply as a biological entity but as a psychi· cal, lived relation, and the ways in which the psyche is a projection of the body's form" (27). Unlike Freud and De Lauretis, Grosz understands that the body and mind experiences are not limited to a concept of "inside" and "outside," instead Grosz sees these experiences as a surface upon which multiple spaces exist simul taneously. These spaces are inter- 4 Focus on LileralUr connected and interdependent and reflect each other. Thus, Grosz's model removes the Cartesian body/mind split and estliblishes:II body and mind imer.relacionship. What, in tum, emerges in these body/ mind spaces is a subjectivity inclusive of mind and body experiences. Grosz speaks in this context of "double sensations;" "Double sensations are those in which the subject utilizes one part of the body to touch another, thus exhibiting the interchangeability of active and passive sensations, of those of subject and object, mind and body" (35). Grosz sets this experience of sensation as being parallel to the notion of the "Mobius Strip." In this "double sensation" the bound­ aries fall away, and "inside" becomes "outside" and vice versa. The formerly dualistic positions cross, meet, and touch each other: "The Mobius strip has the advantage of showing the inflection of mind into body and body into mind, the ways in which, through a kind of [wist­ ing or inversion, one side becomes another" (Grosz. xii). Grosz com­ pares this not.ion to what Freud describes as "the tWO neuroses travers­ ing between the mind/body split, hysteria and hypochondria which both involve a somatization of psychical conflicts" (Grosz 38). She further points out that, in Freud's model, these neuroses are "sexually coded as 'feminine' in which it is precisely the status of the female body that is causing the psychical conflict" (38). Why, then, are women thought to somatize their bodies? Are women less able to live with the body/mind split than men are? Or, do men nOt experience the body/mind split? Is the human experi­ ence so different for each gender? I think not. Nevenheless. Freud's theoretical essays imply this essentialist notion. He marks the space of mind wd body interaction with pathological premises and by do­ ing so excludes possibilities to explore the frontier space (the mind and body connection) as a place of interrelation and health. In this 'W'ay, Freud creates a pathological model for the body and mind rela­ tionship, and he transposes this pathological model onto the "femi­ nine" body, setting a pattern in discourse which is challenged by femi­ nist scholars De Lauretis and Grosz. Their works raise the following queStions, "What if mind and body feel one wother as part of each other?" "Where does such an understanding place the role of hysteria, neuroses, etc.?" And in particular, "What happens to the traditional understanding of 'Wahnsinn'?" Minds, Bodies, and Memories C h rista Wolf: M inds. Bodies. and MemoFies Sind vernunftbegabte Wesen denkbar, die nicht die Spaltung des heutigen tl.leoschen in Leib/Seele/Geisl kennen, sie gar nicht verslehen konnen?l 5 The Cartesian mind/body split is pathologized in Freud's work and thus has a value judgment attached. As mentioned before, Freud understands the space created when body and mind traverse as a neu­ rosis and terms th is movement as a "feminine" phenomena. I care­ fully examine this space, or [his moment of interaclion of body and mind, in ChriSta Wolf's Kassandra.> Furthermore, I analyze the role of body-memories, understanding Wolf's Kassandra as a historiographic metafiction.· I develop tbe notion that corporeality remembers and, with this re-membrance, tbe body has an intrinsic relationship to the mind. Body and mind cannot be separated in discourse or in life. Body-memory is shaped by dramatic instances, momenLS of such imense physical/sensory experiences which inscribe themselves on the body and trigger a memory at any given time. Corporeality, also, has a memory of its own. Likewise, in Kassalldra, the traditional body ~nd mind split is challenged . A space of ambiguity emerges. In some Insta nces, the body is still constructed as separate from the mind. Yet, in this separation, the body re-members and with re-membering, it stands in direct relation to the m ind once again. I deconstruct Kassandra, hoping to elucidare rhe surface of Contacl, that is, lhe spaces created when Kassandra remembers her mind-body connection. I read Kassandra as a testimony about war, so it is by no means a seamless representation of a hjslorical character. In \.0ralmeaungen emer ETLihlung, Wolf makes lhe reader aware of her ~or~-in-progress style: "Das Gewebe, das ich Ihnen nun vorlegen will, 1st rucht ganz ordendich geworden, nicht mit einem Blick uberschaubar, manche seiner Mouve sind nicht ausgefuhn, manche seiner Faden verschlungen" (VE 7). Wolf remtnds [he reader that her view of histo­ ries is not all-inclusive. Therefore, her work should be seen as a web of interrelations between [he past, present and future, all of which are shaped by memories. But what are memories? Wolf describes memo- 6 Focus on Literatur ries as medallions, fossilized images and experiences locked forever in a hardened, unchangeable form: Anscheinend brauchen wir fUr unser Leben die Zustimmung und Unterstutzung der Phantasie. Das heifk das Spiel mit offenen Moglichkeiten. Zugleich aber geht envas anderes in un s vor, taglich, stundlich - ein schleichender, kaum vermeidbarer Proze6: Verhanung, Versteinerung, Gewohnung. Besonders macht er sich iiber die Er innerung her. ("Medaillom" 478) In this way, memory has the tendency to become encrusted, to become a hard object. Yet, it is exactly this process of fossilization that Wolf writes against. Indeed, Wolf creates Kassandra as a self-re­ flecti.ng character. Standing in front of the lion gate at Mycenae, Kassandra experiences her fear as a process of remembering. She re­ cognizes the format ion o f her medallion: "J etz t wird der Kern gesch liffen" (K 11). She reflects and becomes aware of the danger of her own memories. Thus, Kassandra is no more exempt from the formation of fossilized habituat ions than any other person . Wolf wants to p lay with endless possibilities and not suffocate under t u rned-to­ stone habituation. Medallions appear in several different forms: West­ ern metaphysics, master narratives of gender hierarchy, as well as the traditional representation of h istory. Challenging the form ation and representation of such medallions is among Wolf's aims in Kassandra . Revisiting the past also means [0 shed a di fferen t light 0 0 the great heroes of the past. Wolf provides Achill es as an instance of tra­ ditionally considered heroic actions. T hus, Kassandra sees h is arrival on [he coast of Troy as adversarial: Ein Pulk von Griechen, d icht bei cliche sich haJrend, gepanzert und die Schilde urn sich herum wie eine liickenlose Wand, sturmre, einem Organismus gle ich, m it Ko pf und Gliedern ,umer oie vernommenem Geheu l an Land. D ie aufiersten. so war es wehl gemeim. wurden von den schon erschophen Troern bald erschlagen. Die der Mitte zu erschlugen eine vie1 zu hahe 2ahl cle r unsern . Der Kern, so saUte es sein, erreichte das Ufer, und der Kern des Kerns: def Minds, Bodies, and Memories 7 Griechenheld Achi ll. (K 83-4) Wolf's p icture of Achilles's an-ivaI fits [he description of an encapsu­ lated, hence encrusted, historiographic memory of the fall of Troy. Wolf juxtaposes his arrival to a medallion revealing another side of Ach illes-his lust to kill: "Wie naherte sich d ieser Feind dem Bruder. Als Marder? Als Verfiihrer? j a gab es das denn, Marderlust und Liebeslust in einem Mann? .. . Das dinzelnde Herannahn des Verfolgers, den ich jetzr von h inren sah, ein geiles Vieh" (K 85). Achilles kills one of Kassandra's brothers, a person to whom she feJt very close. As a witness to Achilles's lust to kill, she offers a different picture of the great war hero. He is not at all like the Statue of himself; he is not at aU frozen in a heroic pose. Instead, through killing, he feels lust and desire, pleasure and greed; his brutal sexuality is visible. His body has the likeness of a th robbin g animal; Kassand ra does not question his animalness. T he telling of her experiences illustrate the lack of self­ reflection present in "patriarchal paradigms." In h er essay "Counter-Memory an d H istoriograph ic Metafiction," Marshall exclaims: "Because our histOry of Western meta­ physics takes p lace with in a tradition of the subject as male, an at­ tempted return to the origin in history often reproduces o r substanti­ ates a patriarchal system" (158). Likewise, Wolf's &ssandra retells the past in an attempt to breach the "patriarchal paradigm" which sur­ rounded the fall of Troy and the representation of t he war hero Achil· les. This time, a woman tells the Story and, from her point of view, history looks com pletely different. Kassandra lived in a time when history was conveyed t hrough an oral tradition. One spoke aloud of the past because the actual writing down of h istorical events was JUSt emerging and in the bands of male slory-tellers and note-takers: "Die Tafelchen der Sch reiber, die in Troias Feuer haneten liberliefern d ie Buchfiih ru~g des Palastes, Getreide, Kriige, Waffen , 'Gefangene. Fur Schmerz, G luck, Liebe gibt es keine Zeicheo. Das kommt mir wie ein ausgesuchtes Ungluck vor" (K 89). In this context , the noti on of a "weiblich es Schreiben" pre­ sents itself. Wolf wonders, perhaps if women had been included in the writing of histories, a different history would have unfolded. Women's narrat ive fo rms would have given a different basis for the theories (p ar­ t icularly Freud 's use of narratives as representation of early "case-stu- s FoCItS on Lileralltr dies"}, which have shaped Western phi losophical thought. Wolf writes in her third lecture; Schreiben fUr Frauen als ein Mittel, das sie zwischen sich und die Mannerweir legen .... Unvermeidlich clef Moment, da die Frau scheibt (die. im Faile Kassandra, 'siehl'), nichts und niemand mehr vertritt, nur sich selbst , aber wer ist das. Gibt es das aminase Recht (oder die Pflicht) zur Zeugenschafr? (VE 90) It is e.xtremely important for Kassandra to give her testimony: "!eh will Zeugin bleiben, auch wenn es keinen einzigen Menschen mehr geben wird, der mir mein Zeugnis abverlangt" (K 27). On [he one hand, rhe acr of testifying makes ir possible for her to become the subjecr; on rhe other hand, [he act of speaking/wriring of her experi­ ences facilirates another perception of a panicular situation. The ques­ tion arises: What makes the writings of a woman different from the writings of a man? In her text Kassandra: Obey Christa Wolf, Sonja Hilzinger paraphrases Wolf and presupposes three moments of female writing: 1. eine andere Erfahrung von Realitat, die auf rustorischen und sozialen Unterscrueden zwischen den Geschlecbtern sowie auf der Tarsache eines Gewal[VerhaItnisses beruht, worin dieFrau­ en die U nterlegenen v.raren und sind; 2. ein selbstbewufher \X'idersrand gegen das aus 'mannlichem' Denken erwachsende 'wahnsinnige' Reaiitatsprinzipi 3. Einheit von Schreiben und Leben, von asrherischem Aus­ druck und Auronomies[['eben. (14) Kassanclra lived in a cultural context different from that of male histo­ nans. Her experiences were shaped by her object position; rhe cul~ tural codex required her to live under irs principles. Funhermore, she was not in a position to formulate decisions concerning th e Trojan government. When she attempted ro speak up in front of the council, her farner had her arrested. Therefore, Kassandra's visions, that is, the body and mind connection, were nOt understood as a gift of prophecy. Iinstead, they were identified as insaniry by an unquestioned prin- Bodies, Minds, and Memories 9 ciple: a male-deterrnined reality principle. ' Kassandra thematizes this difference afrer she has visited the women who live in the caves: "Wie viele Wirklichkeiten gab es in Troia ooeh auner def meinen, die ich doch fur die eillzige gehalten habe" (K 24). Furthermore, who is to say that Kassandra's reality is defined by her madness? Perhaps the true madness lies not in Kassandra's gift of propbesee, but in the madness-filled reality of the men in power. Perhaps rhis is the "Wahndenken." Wolf wrote rhe Kassandra-readings in 1982 during a rime of Western European rearmament. Indeed, Wolf was terrified of the pos­ sibility of nuclear war. For her, the "real" insanity meant the percep­ tion that war could solve problems. Wolf writes: Was merne ich eigentlich, wenn ich "Wahndenken" sage? Ieb mei.ne die Absurditat der Behauptung, eine exzessive atomare Aufrustun g beider Seiten mindere als "Gleichgewicht des Schreckens" die Kriegsgefahr; biete auf die Dauer :luch nur ein Minimum an Sicherheit. Ich meine die groteske Kalkulation mit Straregien, die schon auf konvemioneilen Waffenarren bezogen verheerend waren, auf Aromwaffen bezogen sinnlos, irrational geworden sind, wie es der zynische Satz ausdriickt: Wer als eester zuschIagt, wird als zweiter sterhen. (VE 87) I suggest that Kassandra has a similar belief. For her, war is filled with deception. Once Kassand ra discovered H elena's abduction as false and her father's only concern was the honor of the kingdom, she realized the insanity of the situation. Thus, the reasoning behind the decision to go to war was void of any understanding of the suffering, rape, slaying, and tOrment of people. Indeed, [he body and mind con­ nection did not weigh in the decision of the men in power. Their cerebral decision places insanity intO a completely opposite position. If the mind/body split is complere, regardless of female or male soma­ tization, the human experience becomes worthless. When decisions are entirely based on thought, the complete human experience is dis­ regarded. Where is this argumentation in the wrirings of Freud? Nevertheless, Kassandra does listen to her famer and succumbs to his demands to keep quiet: "Da versprach ich ihm, das Wissen urn die schone H elena geheimzuhalten und ging unangefochten von ihm 10 Focus on LiteralUr weg" (K 81) . Indeed, Kassandra is caught in a vicious web. On the one hand, she wants to become a speaking subject, yet, on the ot her hand, she adheres to her father's expectations. Kassandra does not succeed in her autonomy or in her anernpt to find comfort in her body/mind connectlon: In einem Strom von Erinnerungen, Assozjarionen, Uberlegungen, Deutungen und Umdeurungen ihrer Erfahrung stellr sich Kassandra ihfer eigenen Geschichte. Es ist die uralre und ganz gegenwartige Geschichte einer Frau, die zum Objekt gemacht werden sol I. Sozial gehunden an die herrschende Oberschicht, emotional gefesselt an ihren Vater, an die Geschichte und Gegenwart des Konigshauses, erleht sie einen schweren, langwierigen Proze6 der Loslosung.5 Kassandra resists becoming anybody's object; her task is to become a subject. Her desire to achieve subjectivity is embodied in her need to see and speak: " ... jch zag Lust aus aHem, was ich sah~Lust; H offnung nicht! . Warum wolhe lch die Sehergabe unbedingr? Mit meiner Stimme sprechen: das Au£eme" (K. 6). Everyrhing that Kassandra sees evokes desire in her. She desires the gift of prophesee and, with this, comes her voice. "Das Gliick, ich selbsr zu werden und dadurch den anderen niitzlicher- ich hab es noch erlebr" (K. 15). Kassandra is the only text by Wolf written in the first person. Since Wolf problemarizes the significance of first person narratives in her other work, particularly in Kindheitsmuster, I see a connection between the desire to become a subject and her usage of the personal pronoun "I." Therefore, a close reading of Wolf's usage of first person in all her textS is crucial. Wolf's "I" has to have a body. How is this body constituted? Again, body and mind stand in a tight relation to each other. One cannot exist without the other. Both constitute the subject: "lch mache die Schmerzprobe ... \XTie der Arzt, urn zu priifen, ob es abgestorben ist, ein Glied ansticht, so stech lch mein Ge&ichtnis an" (K. 8). Pain [riggers memory for Kassandra. For example, once she remembers the pain, the pictures of the past start to emerge. But what is pain, if not a body experience? Kassandra re-members her relationship to Myrine and Penthesilea, the two Amazons, who simul­ taneously evoke pain and desire in her: "Endlich nach so langer Zeit Minds, Bodies, and Memories 11 wieder mein Korper. Wieder der heifie Stich durch mein Inneres ... wie machtig die Lust gewesen war" (K 9). But Kassandra also wants to control her emotions since they give her such desire and pain: "Jeur kann ich brauchen, was ich lebenslang geiibt: meine Gefiihle durch Denken besiegen. D ie Liebe fri.iher, jerzl die Angst." (K 11) But why does Kassandra experience herself in a body/mind split? Why then can she not see herself as whole? Kassandra's initial question , "Wird der Korper die Herrschaft uber mein Denken ubernehmen?" (K 26) supports her binary body perception. And she goes on to say: ... daB ich, gespalren in mir selbst, mir seIber zuseh, unter meinem Tuch, von Angst geschunelr. Werd ich, urn rnich nicht vor Angst zu winden, urn nicht zu bri.iUen wie ein Tier - wer, wenn nicht ich, sollt das Gebriill der Opfertiere kennen! - .. werd ich urn des Bewu£tseins willen bis wletzt mich selber spalten, eh das Beil mich spalret ... , (K 27) She must have learned to perceive herself in this broken way during childhood experiences. Indeed, Kassandra remembers the death of another brother, whom she loved very much as a child. H e killed himself after his wife died duri ng the birth of their first child. There­ fore, Kassandra is jealous of her sister-in-law who often greeted her husband " ... mit einem Uicheln ... das mir ins Fleisch schnitt" (K 51). Already at this point, the young Kassandra experiences the emo­ tional10ss of her brother. She feels betrayed and in her pain starts to scream: " Ihn wolhe ich wiederhaben, mit H aue und Haar, schrie ich, ihn, ihn, ihn, ihn" (K 51) . At this point, she first hears her mother Hekabe identifying her behavior as insane: Sie ist von Sinnen. Hekabe die Muner hat mit Armen, in denen Mannerkraft steckte, meine zuckenden bebenden Schultern gegen die Wand gedriickt - immer das Zucken meiner Glieder, immer die kalte harte Wand gegen sie, Leben gegen Tad, die Kraft der Mutter gegen meine Ohnmachr. (K 51) This identification sets a pattern for young Kassandra who will expe­ rience many more such episodes. Uncler the care of her mother, 12 Focus on LileratuY Kassandra's body reactions will be drugged, leaving her in dream-filled sleep, perceiving her body as beast and the minds of the others as superior. Her mother Hekabe places a value judgment on young Kassandra, marking her to struggle for her entire li fe to misunderstand her body and mind connection. Later, on the outskirtS of the city, in the caves of the women who live under the protection and guidance of Kybele, goddess of na­ ture, Kassandra finds a different reality. She watches the women dance in adoration of their goddess: Marpessa glitt in den Kreis, der meine Ankunft nichl einmal bemerkte - ... der sein Tempo allmahlich steigerte, seinen Rhytmus verstarkte, schneller, foroernder, ungesriimer wuroe, einzelne Tanzerinnen aus dem Kreis schleuderte ... Sle zu Gesten trieb, die mein Sch amgefjjhl verletzten, bis sie auGe r sich gerieten , sich sch jj rtelten. sich heulend verrenkten, in eine Eksrase verfielen in sich zusammensachen und ersc hopft niedersanken . (K 24, emphasis is mine) I compare this passage to the passage when Kassandra throws a fit after she has heard that Kalchas, the prophet, has joined the Greeks. Kassandra lets her voice free and willingly experiences what fol1ows: Schlonemed, gliederschiittelned hing ich an ihm, jeder meine. Finger [at was er wollte ... und meine Beine, die ich so wenig in de, Gewalt hane wir irgendein andres Glied, zuckren und tanzren in einer anriichigen unpassenden Lust .... In die Umnacb w o g, in die ich endlic.h fi el , flog mi, ein Fiinckcben Triumph vornus. (K 46, emphasis is mine) Although these two instances describe two different situations, the similarities of the description are evident and suppOrt the fact that the autonomous women, living apart from the organized society in the city, experience what Kassandra experiences. They, however, see their behavior as a manifestation of corporeality and mind; they identify neither Kassandra nor themselves as split and insane. For these women, "body" means "to be whole and healthy.n Neverrheless, they are shut out from society and irs male determined reality principles. They are Minds, Bodies, and Memories 13 not accepted by the Mycenaen culture and have ro live apart from it. Indeed, the cave women, that is, a subculture, function among them­ selves on different principles; they are concerned with communicat­ ing with each other, with sharing and learning about each other's dreams and most intimate thoughts. But most of all they are con­ cerned with the people that will live after them (K 149). Therefore, they want ro leave messages for the furu re, bur unable to write, the women of the caves develop a "body-language." Indeed, they carve animal and people symbols, as well as symbols of themselves intO the wall s of the caves; they press their hands one next to the other into the wet day in the belief they can become immortal. Kassandra lives with the women in the caves for two years and experiences a c~nnection to them and herself as well as her body. She is. one of them. Among them, her body/mind interrelation is the gift of insight. In the world of her father and the kingdom, however, Kassandra is considered insane; her corporeality is not valued as equal to her mind. Her drive to become a prophet 10 see and ro speak, to live autonomously from her family's belief-system is met with resistance and punishment: "Priamos der Konig hatte drei Mittel gegen eine Tochrer, die ihm nichr gehorchte: Er konnte sie fur wahnsinnig erklaren. Er konnte sie einsperren. Er konnre sie zu einer ungewoUren Heirat zwingen" (K 90). And indeed, the king deals with Kassandra's inde­ pendence in exactly these three ways. First, she is identified as insane by her mother, who has arms like a man. Then Priamos locks Kassandra away (K 144) and finally forces her to an undesired wedding (K 151). Kassandra's mind/body split is supported through her experi· ences as a child and teenager. She has learned to disregard her body experiences as valuable and to identify her corporeality as animal-like. Although she lived in an alrernative environrnem, ailhough she is self­ aware of her medallions, she cannot overcome her learned perception of herself. Her behavior falls back into [he Cartesian hierarchical sys­ tem, as well as the Freudian notion of neuroses. Kassandra somatizes her psychical conflicts; she does subordinate her body to her mind. Perhaps this explains why she can give up her body for a "higher ideal. D In the end, it is her mind standing separately that perceives the ego through the bodily sensatio ns, but interprets these perceptions as in­ sane. Because of the cultural reality principles in which Kassandra 14 Focus on Licerallir lives, she cannot free herself of them and falls back into the established binary order. It becomes clear why Kassanclra chose death as her destiny. In a socie[}' where she is misunderstOod, especially by her parents, she cannot exist. Her death. tben, symbolizes the dangerous trappings of a culture that adheres to binary thought panerru. I regard her death not as :a heroic moment, but as her complete defeat. Unl'WTSlty oj Cali/orma at D:l'fJU Noces lIn the beginning of his essay "The Ego and the Id,- Freud attempts to identify tbe v.'Orkings of the mind, but he restrains from using the term "mind. - Instead he introduces the concept of "thought.processes; He ex­ plains: "All perceptions which are receivt:d from without (sense-perceptions) and from within-what we call sensations and feelings-are consciousness from the stan. But what ahout those internal processes which we may­ roughly and inexactly-sum up under the name of thought-processes?- (9). For t he purpose of this paper, I use the term mind. lWolf, Voraussetzungen t:lnt:r Erzahlung 8S. All further quotations from this 'work will be given parenthetically in the text as VE followed by the pagt: number. I All further quotations from this work will be given parentheti· cally in the text as K fo llowed by the page number. 'HistOriography as the telling of history in narrative fo rm. See White's concept of "metahislory," which identifies historiography as a poetic construct. sWolf, /(assandra, jacket cover Works C iced De Laurelis, Teresa. Tht: PrawCt: of 1...mJe. Bloomington: Indiana U P, 1994. Freud, Sigmund. Tht Ego and tbt Id. T tans. Joan Riviere, New York: Nonon, 1960. Grosz, Eliz.abt:th. Volacilt: Bod't:$, Bloomington: Indiana U P, 1994. Hilzingt:r, Sonja. Kassandrll.: ObeT Chris~ Wolf Frankfurt a. M,: Haag und Minds, Bodies, and Memories Herchen, 1984. Marshall, Brenda K. Ttaching tht PoSlmod~rn: Fiction and Theory. New York: Routledge, 1992. White, Hayden. MeuWlllory: The HUloTlcal /nugm.:itlon In NmetuTuh-Cen- tury Europe. Baltimore: John Hopk ins U p. 1973. Wolf, Christa. Vorallsst'LZungtll tm~ Erzahlung. Munchen: d[v, 1993. -. Kassandra. Darmsudt: Luchterhand, 1984. -. MMedaillons. - Die Dimension des Autors: Essays, Aufsatu, Reden und Gespriiche 1959·1985. Frankfun a. M.: Luchterhand, 1990.