night

Untitled, 1961

Extract from Unica Zürn, Dark Spring:

Her dream is about violence, forced upon her by some dark man. With all the strength of her imagination, she longs for this wild, murderous man. At night, while lying in her room, she imagines herself in a black hall lit by torches and glittering with diamonds. This image is dominated by black, the most frightening of the colors she knows. She finds herself lying atop a cold, sharp-edged block of black marble. She has been bound by her kidnappers. She is naked, trembling from the cold and the excitement.The gloomy torchlight is reflected by the black marble walls. The edges of her torture bed cut into her back. The circle of men appears and they close in on her. Glowing eyes stare at her through the eyeholes of the repulsive masks. Some wear gleaming helmets. When they tear off their masks, she sees the wild faces of Arabs, Chinese, Blacks and Indians. She prefers the colored men to the white ones. None of them look like any of the men she knows. They are silent and practically immobile. She is frightened of them. This fear is very important to her. She loves to feel dread and terror. She feels greatly honored to be the center of these men's attention. Each of them is armed. They came to kill her. For her, this is a high honor. These are kings, lords and princes. Suddenly, she hears the deafening sound of an organ. A threatening and woeful music. It is Captain Nemo playing. She tears at her bonds so that they cut deep into her flesh. Her imagination is so strong that she actually feels the pain. It is not always possible to remain conscious to experience this scene up until the point of her death, which takes place by means of a thousand slow and extended knives. She is not allowed to scream or change her facial expression. Gradually a knife drills into her "wound" and turns into the dog's hot, agile tongue. As she experiences the pleasure of this, an Indian slowly cuts her throat. She can imagine these scenes only in the dark, when she is alone. Nobody is there to rescue her. Night after night she suffers death anew.