There was to be no funeral service for Alexander Rilke. That had been his request, not to have one last marking of his existence, but instead to fade into the abyss of death alone, quietly. Rilke was gone and his departure had left the world exactly as it was, except for the powerful effect it had on the life of Amerwitz, who rose each morning set to the task of meticulously reading each of the dead man’s journals. These were almost hieroglyphic to any other man, but to Amerwitz it was as if he were reading his own handwriting. Each word seemed to take on an emotional relationship, strangely conveying the expression and cadence of spoken language. Each day the dead man’s handwriting greeted Amerwitz with a growing familiarity; the characteristics of the tangled mess of M’s and indecipherable vowels became more and more distinct to Amerwitz. With his flair for numerical systems, he adapted to these cryptic symbols adeptly, reading nuances of phrasing within them; the text to him seemed to express emotion, a depth of meaning, conveyed as though spoken aloud…
Men In Dark Times is a text and audiobook which forms a central part to the event From the Centre of the Elephant. The third chapter of Men In Dark Times has been excerpted and published in the forthcoming issue of MAP magazine.
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From the Centre of the Elephant 