Invitation To a Beheading

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Examples of Potustoronnost in Invitation to a Beheading: 1) The mere presence of two Cincinnatus’ When Cincinnatus is told by Rodrig that his interview with Marthe will have to wait until another day, the “external” or “material” Cinncinnatus responds to Rodrig, “ ‘As you wish… I am powerless anyway’” while the other Cincinnatus “cr(ied) and curled up into a ball” (69). The reader has to believe that only one of these Cincinnati is real while the other belongs to the transcendent realm. 2) The first time Cincinnatus escapes from his cell. Cincinnatus escapes his cell a few times throughout the novel, but the first of which is the best example of a transcendent realm. In his excursion in the city, Cincinnatus finds himself at the door of Marthe’s house. When he pushes the door open, he “entered his lighted cell” (20). Obviously, either the excursion outside in the town was a delusion or his stay in the cell is a delusion for any sort of rationality to be conserved in this situation. In case, the setting that is the delusion would be an example of the transcendent realm. 3) The double within all of us. This example is similar to the first one listed, but the idea of duality is extended to all people, “the double, the gangrel, that accompanies each of us- you, and me, and him over there- doing what we would like to do at that very moment, but cannot….” (25). Again, this idea of duality is an example of potustoronnost in the sense of metaphysics, or the transcendent world that exists next to the mundane world that humanity is enveloped in. 4) Rules 6 and 8 for the prisoners Rule number 6 that Cincinnatus needs to abide by in the prison is read as follows, “(the inmate) should immediately suppress nocturnal dreams whose content might be incompatible with the condition and status of the prisoner” (49). Simply in virtue of this being seen as an issue within the
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