I found this story in a file of high school papers. The story, Ein Tisch ist Ein Tisch by Peter Bichsel had made such an impression on me that I photocopied my textbook and have hung onto the copy all these 20-some years. If I remember right (my German isn't what it used to be!), the story tells of a lonely and old man who, to amuse himself, renames items in his apartment, then tests himself on the new names. So "couch" becomes "chair", "chair" becomes "clock" and so on. But he becomes so accustomed to the new words, which he has challenged himself to memorize (while getting older with little or no personal interaction), he becomes confused and can't remember the correct names. Nobody can understand him. It is a very sad story.
Just because I can do now what I couldn't in high school, I googled the story and found numerous links, including a Youtube video and a page that, with a simple click, will translate the whole story for me. I didn't click. It is so beautiful in German, I don't want to read it in English.
It targets, though, a fear that has always bothered me - that of losing my memory while still having the mental capacity to know that I don't know. I read an article
here about an amazing neurologist, Dr. Karen Ashe, working toward a better understanding of Alzheimer's Disease. The newspaper article mentioned Ashe's book club was currently reading Tolstoy's
The Kruetzer Sonata. I was so inspired by the article (and I love anything "bookclub"), that
The Kruetzer Sonata is now in my increasingly daunting tower of "to read"s.
I sense a theme here. This is another book I've had for years - a childrens book before I ever even considered having children. I adore how simply a well written, and well illustrated, childrens book can explain even a confusing topic like memory loss. And this book does it without ever having that agenda.
If I ever forget, remind me please.
