This article is based on this Dutch article of Martijn Benders.
I recently finished the translation of Ritsos Erotica, which will be included in my new collection.
I also wrote the poem Sjek about H.H. ter Balkt, but for now, I won’t be sharing any more poems. I want to move on to the next phase: revision.
I’m currently working on The Stoss, my Neue Mierlose Welle project. This will be the next album I’ll release. The album will be predominantly in German but will also feature a few Dutch tracks.
Today, the focus is on Mein nam ist Hase (meine eier sind aus kase). Ton was here yesterday and didn’t know the song at all. My name is haas, my balls are made of cheese. (my balls are made of tin, rikketikketik). Is that a specific Brabantian song? It seems suitable for a German transformation, although Jurgen will undoubtedly find it too comedic.
Perhaps I could incorporate Lynch’s rabbits into the music video.
The expression “My name is haas” means “I know nothing” and originates from an event in 1855. The German law student Victor von Hase lent his ID to another student, who helped a peer flee the country after killing someone in a duel. When Von Hase was questioned about it, he replied, “Mein Name ist Hase, ich weiß von nichts.”
The brains behind the decision to abolish the tradition of dueling didn’t do literature any favors. Writers of vapid works could never keep their seats for long back then. Soon enough, a wild swordsman would show up with a rapier, and all the drabness would vanish. Kssst!
But no, they knew better. It had to be all Oedipal, with no possibility whatsoever of overthrowing the throne-hoggers brimming with self-entitlement. And so, you get a generation brimming with frustrated little monkeys trying all day to do digitally what they could have settled swiftly with a duel. Against the marketing firms propped up by politicians, no less. It’s maddening! Why has the duel disappeared?
Best regards,
Martinus Benders