Thursday, 16 April 2009

Word of the day - die Gegenwart der Vergangenheit

I read this splendid oxymoron last night as one of the headings in this excellent appreciation of Christa Wolf's life and work. I suppose it means "the present of the past", it just has a different weight and rhythm in German which is intrinsically pleasing. Given that so much of Christa Wolf's work is also about how the past impinges in very real ways on the present it is also a very apposite title.
What's your favourite oxymoron?

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