No More Learning

5. H. Munsterberg I9I61I970, I. Bloem's chapter on "tricks" begins with
similar questions: "On what star was cinematic man born? On a magic constella- tion where the laws of nature are suspended? Where time is at rest or goes back- ward, where set tables grow out of the ground? Where the desire to glide through the air or to sink into the ground is enough to do it? " (Bloem 1922, 5 3 ) .
6. Foucault I9691I972, 166. See Lorenz 1985, 12 (including the Sartre- Foucault polemic).
7. See Lorenz 1985, 252-92. 8. See Rabiner and Gold 1975, 438.
9. Bischoff I9281I950, 263. 10. Klippert 1977, 40.
II. KittlerisreferringplayfullytotheverbalsimilaritybetweentheGerman
Herz (heart) and hertz, the international unit of frequency equal to one cycle per second (named after Heinrich Rudolf Hertz, the German physicist who first pro- duced radio waves artificially). -Trans.
12. Zglinicki 1956, 108.
13? Goethe I 829iI979, 125.
14. See Benn I9491I959-6I: 2: 176.
? 284 Notes to Pages I20-25
IS. Seeabove,p. 000.
16. Nietzsche I 872ir956, 59. On the difference between negative (comple- mentary) and positive afterimages, see H. Munsterberg I9I6ir970, 25.
17. For an early reference to sensory deprivation in the acoustic realm, see Groos 1 899, 25, which ostensibly goes back to Wilhelm Preyer's theories of 1 877: "The province of radio play far exceeds that which is acceptable to our senses- a fact to which we've been referring in our discussion of other sensory domains. We are missing something when we don't hear anything; the awkward feeling upon exposure to continuous silence has even led to the thought of assuming a quality of sensation particular to silence, corresponding to the positive perception of blackness in the realm of vision. "
18. Nietzsche I872ir956, 42.
19? Ibid. , 59.
20. See Wieszner 195 1 , l I S : " Bayreuth aspired to the darkened room. That,
too, was at that time a surprising element of production. 'The whole theater was made into a dark night, so that one could not recognize one's neighbor,' writes Richard Wagner's nephew, Clemens Brockhaus, on the occasion of the Kaiser's visit to Bayreuth in 1 876, 'and the wonderful orchestra began to play in the pit. '"
21. Following Altenloh, 1914, as quoted in Vietta 1975, 294.
? 22. 23? 24? 25 . 26. 28. 30. 31. 3 2 .
37-40. 33.
See Kittler 1993, 232.
Pretzsch 1934, 146.
Morin 1956, 139. See also Morrison 1977, 94.
See H. Munsterberg I9 I6ir970, 2.
See Nadar 1 899, 246-63 . 27. See Mitry 1976, 59-60.
See Nadar 1899, 37-42. 29. Virilio I984ir989, II.
See Mitry 1976, 64, and Nadar 1 899, 260.
Pynchon 1973, 405.
Virilio I984ir989, I I ; see also 6 8 . On Janssen, see Arnheim I933ir977,
See Ellis 1975. For example, II,OOO Dervish, 28 British, and 20 other soldiers were killed during the 1898 battle of Omdurman, in which Lord Kitch- ener had used six Maxim guns (ibid. , 87. ) In the imperial poetry of Hilaire Bel- loc: '''Whatever happens, we have got / The Maxim Gun, and they have not''' (quoted in ibid. , 94). From all this Junger has the following to say about the films of Chaplin ( 193 2, 129): "In essence, they contain a rediscovery of laughter as a mark of terrible and primitive hostility [against obsolete individuality], and the screenings, which take place in centers of civilization, inside safe, warm, and well- lighted rooms, may well be compared to skirmishes in which tribes equipped with bows and arrows are fired upon with machine guns. "
34. See Junger 1932, 104-5.
35. See Virilio 1984/1989, 18. See also Morrison 1977, 22: "The sniper's ri- fle is an extension of his eye. He kills with injurious vision. "
3 6. Wedel 19 62, I I6. O n air reconnaissance and von Fritsch's oracular ut- terance, see Babington Smith 1958, 25 1-52.
37. Kittler is alluding to the Battle of Tannenberg (August 26-30, 1914), at which German forces under Hindenburg and Ludendorff defeated the Russian army. -Trans.
Notes to Pages I27-36 285
38. Pynchon I973, 474. See also p. 660: "Three hundred years ago mathe- maticians were learning to break the cannonball's rise and fall into stairsteps of range and height, LlX and LlY, allowing them to grow smaller, approaching zero. . . . This analytic legacy has been handed down intact-it brought the tech- nicians at Peenemunde to peer at the Askania films of Rocket flights, frame by frame, LlX by Lly, flightless themselves . . . film and calculus, both pornographies of flight. "
39. See Hahn I963, II.
40. For specifics, see Kittler I986ir997, I57-72.
41. Pynchon I973, 887?
42. See M. Munsterberg I922.
43. See H. Munsterberg I9I6ir970, roo
44. Bloem I922, 86.
45? Toeplitz I973, I39?
46. Ludendorff, I9I7, quoted in Zglinicki I956, 394. See also Gorlitz I967,
I94, as well as Junger, I926ir993, 200-201. As a troop officer, Junger as always was responsible for disseminating orders coming from the Army High Command: Film "would be an admirable means of enhancing the modern battlefields. To turn away from this theme or to veil it is already a sign of inward weakness. Gigantic films with a wealth of resources spent upon them, and shown nightly to millions during the only hours of the day they can call their own, would have an invalu- able influence. Moral and aesthetic compunction has no place here. The film is a problem of power and to be valued as such. The direct interests of the state are in- volved, and they necessarily go far beyond a negative interference by censorship. "
47? Junger I922, 45.
49. 51. 53. 5 5 .
48. Ibid. , 92. 50. Ibid. , 20. 52. Ibid. , 23. 54. Ibid. , I8.
Ibid. , I2.
Ibid. , I8.
Ibid. , I9?
Ibid. , 5 0 . O n Anglo-American literature describing the First World War
as film, see Fussell I975, 220-21.
56. Junger I926ir929, 280.
58. Ibid. , 30.
60. Pinthus I914/I963, 23.
62. See Virilio I984ir989, 14, 70. 64? Junger I926/r929, I34-36. 66. Ibid. " 26.
57? Ibid. , 29.
59. Junger I922, I9?
61. Ibid. , 22.
63. See van Creveld I985, I68-84. 65. Junger I922, I09?
67. Ibid. , I07.
? 68. Ibid. ; ro8.
69. See Theweleit I977-78ir987-89, 2: 176-206.
70. Junger I922, 8. 71. Ibid. , I8.
72. Pynchon I973, 6I4? 73.
Bahnemann I97I, I64?
74? Marechal I89I, 407? See also W. Hoffmann I932/33, 456. "As speech
travels through the microphone it becomes more acute, while its living immediacy dwindles. What do we mean by acuteness? If one studies the technological repro- duction of speech in film, for example, the muscular action of the mouth is pre- sented much more acutely than we would observe in real life. "
75? Mitry I976, 76.
76. Marechal I 89 I , 407.
286 Notes to Pages I36-50
77? Demeny 1899, 348.
7 8 . See Demeny 1904, as well as Virilio I9841I989, 69 . However, a s early as 1900 Bergson illustrated in his lectures the "cinematographic illusion of con- sciousness" through the examples of the goose step and the cinematic rendition of a defiling regiment. See Bergson I9071I9 I I , 3 29-3 I .
79? Hirth 1897, 364-65.
80. Junger is playing on the German Uhrziffern, which literally means "watch ciphers" and further implies that these ciphers are classified. -Trans.
81. Junger 1922, IOI.
82. SeeFussell1975,315. The"watch,worn. . . ontheinsideofhiswrist," by contrast, is "WW II style" (Pynchon 1973, 141).
8 3 . A reference to the 198 5 song "Tanz den Hitler / Tanz den Mussolini" by the German punk rock group DAF (Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft [German-American friendship]). -Trans.
84. Foucault I9761I990, 56.
85. See Cagnetta 1981, 39.
86. See Farges 1975, 89.
87. Freud, Studies on Hysteria, 1 895, in idem I962, 2: 280.
88. Ibid. 89? Rank I9141I97I, 3-4. 90. Ibid. , 3. 91. See Kittler 1985, 129. 92. See Lichtbild-Buhne, 1926, quoted in Greve 1976, 326.
94? See Urban 1978, 30-38. 96. Ibid. , 2014.
98. Ibid. , 2013.
100. Ibid. , 2014.
berg I9I61I970, 15.
I09. Hennes 1909, 20II-I2.
IIO. See Lacan I9731I978, II3: "Let us go to the great hall of the Dages'
Palace in which are painted all kinds of battles, such as the battle of Lepanto, etc. The social function, which was already emerging at the religious level [of icons], is now becoming clear. Who comes here? Those who form what Retz calls 'les peuples,' the audiences. And what do the audiences see in these vast composi- tions? They see the gaze of those persons who, when the audiences are not there, deliberate in this hall. Behind their picture, it is their gaze that is there. "
III. Cocteau 1992, 39. II2. Bronnen 1927, 139-40.
II3. Nabokov I9261I970, 40. 114. See Lacan I9731I978, 209-13. II5? Pynchon 1973, 157?
I I6. Bronnen 1927, 3 5 . Elsewhere Fitzmaurice remarks: "Some people sup-
port themselves from the writing of books, namely, reviewers. By the way, I once saw a man who read a book; I will never forget that impression" (ibid. , 196).
93. See Schneider 1985, 89-94. 95. Hennes 1909, 201 3 .
97. Ibid. , 2012.
99. Ibid. , 20IO.
IOI. See Kaes 1979, 94.
I03. Ibid. , 62.
104. See Bourneville and Regnard 1 877-78, 2: 208-26.
I05 . See Clement 1975 .
I06. Freud, October 15, 1897, in idem 1985, 272.
I07. See Jentsch 1906, 198 .
I08. Bloem 1922, 57. On the use of puppets in film, see also H. Munster-
I02. Kracauer I9471I974, 67?
? Notes to Pages I5I-57 287
I I 7 . Kittler i s building on both the German word for literacy, Alpha- betismus, and Lacan's Alphabetise, a composite of the French alphabetisme (lit- eracy) and la betise (stupidity). The use of language, in effect, is a culturally in- stilled and mechanical exercise that perpetuates the illusion of an existent (fully present or coherent) soul. -Trans.
II8. Buchner 1842ir963, 129.
II9. See Kittler 1985, II8-24.
120. Cendrars 1926iI970, 207.
121. See Mallarme 1945, 880. "It is not a matter of distorting but of invent-
ing. The coach, with its team of horses, requires the inconvenience of a driver blocking the view: it is left to him, like an oven in front of a cook. Something en- tirely different will have to come about. A bow window, opening onto the space that one moves through magically, with nothing in front: the mechanic is placed in the rear, with his upper body above the roof, to steer like a helmsman. Thus the monster advances in an innovative fashion. This is the vision of a passing man of taste, putting things back in perspective. " On cars and moving cameras in gen- eral, see Virilio 1976, 25 1-57.
122. Schreber 1903ir973, 161.
123. Mach 1886ir914, 4n [trans. modified], from which follows: "The ego is as little absolutely permanent as are bodies. "
124. Freud, "The Uncanny" (1919), in idem 1962, I7: 248. Hauptmann's poem "1m Nachtzug" (In the Night train) casts such railroad doppelgangers in verse (Hauptmann 18881r962-74, 4: 54)?
125. Todorov I970ir973 , I61.
126. Ibid. , I68.
I27. Ibid. , 160.
1 2 8 . Behne, I9 26, in Kaes I983 , 220. For a similar comment, see Bloem
I922, 51.
129. Melies quoted in Toeplitz I973, 26.
I30. Ewers, October 8, 1912, quoted in Zglinicki, I956: 375.
131. See A. M. Meyer, I9I3, quoted in Greve et al. I976, III: "It was a
very real opening night. Many smokings. In the guest gallery one caught occa- sional glimpses of poets and their pretty female company. . . . Goethe, Chamisso, E. Th. A. Hoffmann, Alfred de Musset, Oscar Wilde were present as well. Namely as godfathers of this 2,000-Mark film. "
I32. Haas, I922, on Hauptmann's film Phantom and in reference to The Student ofPrague, quoted in Greve et al. I976, I IO.
I33? Bronnen I927, I44?
I 34. Ewers quoted in Greve et al. I976, I IO.
I 3 5 . Bloem I922, 56.
I36. Der Kinematograph, advertisement (I929), reproduced in Greve et al.
I976, I27?
137. Benn, August 29, I935, in idem 1977-80, I: 63. Lindau, by the way,
was among the reading matter of Freud's youth.
I38. See the facsimile in Greve et al. 1976, lO8. I 39. Lindau 1906, 26.
140. Ibid. , 8.
?