Free Death Sentences by Kawamata Chiaki Page B

but he personally would not cast his vote that way.
    That much was clear.
    Anyhow-(Why?)
    Why hadn't Who May's spell been transmitted to him? (Dobaded!) Was it because French was not his native language? Still, he would not have any trouble understanding it. The work that he had done with artists in exile like Breton provided ample proof. Perhaps there were completely different grounds for experiencing its value, in different dimensions?
    "Let me just say ... for me. - ."
    Hare took another sip of wine, and gazing out into space, he proceeded slowly.
    "I would wait another fifteen years and bring it out in a science fiction magazine."
    "What! Fifteen years?"
    To his dismay, Breton hadn't the slightest idea what Hare was trying to say.
    "Science fiction?"
    "Today, it isn't feasible. Readers haven't matured enough yet. There are some, but this is too avant-garde. This fantasy world called `another world' is quite attractive. It is truly beautiful. It is full of an otherworldly sense of wonder. Unfortunately, however, it doesn't have a principal hero or heroine. Moreover, the vocabulary is too specialized. The absence of a hero is a fatal flaw in this genre. At least the editors who currently work in this genre in America think so ... but in another fifteen years or so ..."

    "You are ..." Breton replied, struggling to control himself. "You're dodging the question."
    "Dodging? Not at all!"
    Hare shrugged his shoulders as if surprised.
    "I was doing my best to tell you honestly my impressions."
    Breton groaned.
    This time he made no attempt to hide it.
    He had had some heated arguments with Hare in the past. He wasn't one to pick a fight with at this point. If he said he had spoken "honestly," then those were indeed his impressions.
    Still, there was something that Breton didn't understand.
    When it came to science fiction, the only works that came to mind were those of the Jules Verne variety. And he was fairly certain that American science fiction was considered vulgar and lowbrow. In fact, he himself couldn't think of even a single title.
    "Science fiction ... well, you're right, you could look at it that way. But-"
    Backing up a step, Breton repeated his question.
    "I would really like to hear your opinion as a surrealist. What do you think?"
    Hare tilted his head slightly. "I see. But ..." He looked rather at a loss.
    Still, he looked directly at Breton and, as if coming to a conclusion, spoke again.
    "As I understand it, I don't see any connection between this `Another World' and surrealism."
    "Why is that?"
    Breton posed the question with unintentional sharpness.
    "You yourself once pointed out, did you not, that `the imagination aims to become reality'?"
    "Indeed-I did."
    The phrase had appeared in something Breton had written some ten years earlier.

    Hare proceeded from there.
    "In this `Another World,' however, there is absolutely no sense of striving for `reality.' It is escape. I have only the impression of a concerted effort to leave reality behind, or to obliterate it completely. Doesn't this run counter to the role that the power of the imagination is supposed to play in surrealism?"
    Breton's silence prompted Hare to continue.
    "His unique manner of expression certainly has its appeal. I even feel a certain sense of violence in the evocative power of his images. No one could deny his ... Who May's ... talent. But nevertheless-"
    Hare nodded his head softly. It looked to Breton as if he was trying to convince himself.
    "In particular, in `Another World,' with his evocative use of images, rather than troubling or destroying our everyday perception of things, he seems primarily intent on their power to stupefy and immobilize. What do you think about this?"

    Breton drained another glass.
    "The vision of 'Another World' is truly overflowing with, well, strange and wondrous beauty. That much I admit. Above all, it dazzles. It verges on a sense of vertigo. But I can't help thinking that this vertigo is a sort of