Эрнст Юнгер: A German Officer in Occupied Paris: The War Journals, 1941-1945

Mycelium: the vegetative part of a fungus made of long, branching, threadlike tubes.

Reference to the blue-enameled cross, badge of the order Pour le Mérit [ For Merit ], the highest German military honor. E. J. earned this decoration in September 1918 for his valor in combat during World War I.

See note to Second Paris Journal , Paris, 1 August 1943.

E. J. cites the original Low German dialect: “Unser Ein is hire to vele. Westu nicht, dat wi wol twintig tonnen pulvers under den voten hebben?”

Bight: a nautical term for bay. The German Bight is the southeastern bight of the North Sea, bounded by Denmark and The Netherlands.

Les Trois Vallées [the Three Valleys] is a region of the Savoie in the South of France near the Italian border.

Fronde (French, “sling”): a political faction in France opposed to the policies of Cardinal Mazarin; metaphorically, any violent political opposition.

Whereas the two brothers in The Marble Cliffs belong to the old Order of the Mauritanians, E. J. also sometimes uses the reference to allude to his own earlier activity as a political activist with nationalist leanings.

Becerillo: a particularly vicious dog of the conquistadors (sixteenth century).

Reference to E. J.’s earlier reading, see Notes from the Caucasus , Berlin, 15 November 1942.

Reference to T. E. Lawrence, “of Arabia.”

The first line of Platen’s poem, “Tristan” (1825). It continues: “is at the mercy of death.”

Phrase from the title of Bloy’s book, Propos d’un Entrepreneur de Démolitions (1884) [ Remarks of a Demolition Contractor ].

Bologna bottle, also called Bologna phial: a container strong enough on its outside to hammer a nail, while a small scratch on its interior causes it to shatter; often used in physics demonstrations and magic tricks.

Reference to Glasir, a tree or grove in Norse mythology that bears golden red leaves beside the gates of Valhalla.

Reference to the German designation. The first element of the word ( klatsch ) means clap, snap.

See Second Paris Journal , Paris, 25 June 1943.

This image evokes “Nature, red in tooth and claw” (Tennyson) and is E. J.’s metaphor for the Darwinian struggle for existence.

E. J. admitted that he sometimes conflates experiences. It has been determined that the last bombing raid on Paris ended on 27 May 1944 at 13.45. By the evening then, the roof of the Raphael was indeed a safe place, and there were no squadrons overhead that evening. See Tobias Wimbauer, “Kelche sind Körper. Der Hintergrund der ‘Erdbeeren in Burgunder’–Szene,” in Anarch im Widerspruch. Neue Beiträge zu Werk und Leben der Brüder Ernst und Friedrich Georg Jünger, 2nd ed . (Hagen-Berchum: Eisenhut Verlag, 2010), 25–76.

Fragment of a famous line in Goethe’s Faust in which Faust addresses the moment, saying, “Tarry a while, thou art so fair.”

Luigi Galvani, professor of anatomy at the University of Bologna after 1775, induced muscular contractions by attaching electrodes to laboratory specimens.

Hoplite: armed Greek warrior.

Reference to Jan Bockelson. See entry of Second Paris Journal , Kirchhorst, 29 February 1944.

The so-called V-weapons (V-1 and V-2) were long-range artillery rockets used against cities, particularly London in 1944–1945.

See First Paris Journal , Paris, 23 February 1942.

Reference to Pliny the Younger’s eyewitness account of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE.

1756–1763, a war fought across the globe by all the major powers.

Reference to La Noche Triste on 30 June 1520 when the conquistadors were expelled from the Mexican capital at Tenochtitlan.

Bendlerstrasse: address of the German ministry of war in Berlin.

Although Berlin issued a report of Rommel’s supposed automobile accident in Normandy, the field marshal actually sustained severe wounds and a concussion from a fighter attack.

Here, the NSDAP (National Socialist Party).

See Notes from the Caucasus , Kirchhorst, 21 January 1943. E. J.’s comment acknowledges the subservience of the army to the Party.

Reference to the drama Des Meeres und der Liebe Wellen (1831) by the Austrian playwright Franz Grillparzer treating the mythological story of Hero and Leander. E. J. could have been reminded of these tragic lovers by Rodin’s sculpture of Cupid and Psyche.

Field Marshal Erwin von Witzleben was executed after the 20 July 1944 bomb plot on Hitler’s life.

E. J. copied Rotsart’s title incorrectly. It should read “de Hertaing.”

Lämpchen. Nickname for Ursula Lampe, art historian.

E. J. refers to such bases as Igelstellungen , “hedgehog positions.”

Key, key, valve, rabbit hutch, cloister (prison, enclosure), clandestine, noose (snare), conclusion (end).

Natura naturans , “nature naturing,” that is, expressing its own self-generating activity, which is the infinite essence of God; Natura naturata , “nature natured,” that is, all created things, the products of God’s attributes.

Maquis: armed resistance groups who hid in rural areas of occupied France.

One Homeric epithet for Agamemnon is “shepherd of the people.”

Hunting books: E. J.’s catalogues of beetles he has collected.

See note to Second Paris Journal , Paris, 5 October 1943.

The wave offering [Ger. Webopfer ] derives its name from the Old Testament ritual in which the priests held up the offering and waved it back and forth before the altar.

Francs-tireurs , literally “free shooters,” a term for irregular military units during the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871); sometimes applied generally to guerrilla fighters.

Tantalus: a son of Zeus and thus immortal who was punished for his crime of stealing the food of the gods and giving it to mortals. He was made to stand in water forever receding before he could drink, beneath a fruit tree with branches that moved beyond his grasp before he could eat.

Palinurus, helmsman of Aeneas, was overcome by the god of sleep and fell overboard.