Roberto Arlt - The Seven Madmen

“But that’s a monstrous idea. It could never happen.”

“Why not? Oh, I know it couldn’t happen, but we have to proceed as if it were possible.”

“Everything is upside down … and science …”

“To hell with science! Have you any idea what its purpose is? And didn’t you make fun of geniuses in your notebook and say they were ‘infatuated with all that’s transient’?”

“I see you’ve had a good read of my rubbish.”

“Of course. And you shouldn’t contradict people just for the sake of it. As for your saying that everything is hopelessly upside down in my society, it’s the same in present society, but in the opposite sense. Our knowledge — by which I mean our metaphysical lies, is still in its infancy, while science is a giant … and man, poor suffering creature, has to bear the burden of this dreadful imbalance … on the one hand he knows everything; on the other, nothing. In my society, metaphysical lies, intimate acquaintance with a god of marvels, will be the goal, while everything represented by the science of things — useless for inner happiness — will be nothing more than a means of domination in our hands. Don’t let’s argue about that, there’s no point. Man has invented almost everything, but he hasn’t found any guiding principles for government better than the teachings of a Christ or a Buddha. No. Naturally, I won’t question the right to be sceptical about this, but scepticism is a luxury for the minority … we’ll offer the rest a well-cooked happiness, and humanity will gorge itself on this divine pigswill.”

“You think you can actually bring this off?”

The Astrologer paused for a moment. He twisted the steel ring with the purple stone off his finger and peered inside it; then he leant over towards Barsut, but with a distant look as if his mind was far from the reality he found himself in, and began again:

“Yes, everything that man’s mind can imagine is achievable given time. Hasn’t Mussolini already introduced religion into all Italian schools? That’s just one example of how effective the stick across the back is to bring people into line. The essential thing is to capture the soul of a generation … the rest is plain sailing.”

“What about your grand idea?”

“I was coming to that … My plan is to found a secret society that would not only spread my ideas, but serve as a school for future kings of men. I know you’ll say there have been lots of secret societies in the past … and it’s true … they all failed because they weren’t based on solid foundations, they relied on emotion, a political or religious illusion, without taking into account any concrete reality. Our society, on the other hand, will be based on a solid, modern concept: industrialism. In other words, it may have its fantastic side, if that’s how you want to describe what I’ve been talking about, but it will also have industry as its solid foundation, and that is how we will strike gold.”

His voice had taken on a sharper edge. A violent spasm gave his face a cross-eyed look. He moved his grizzled head from side to side, as though the pressure of extraordinary emotion was pounding in his brain. He rested his hands on the small of his back, started to pace up and down again, and went on:

“Ah, yes, gold … gold … Do you know what the ancient Germans used to call it? Red gold … gold … D’you follow me? Don’t say a word, Satan. Do you realise that never once has a secret society tried such a combination? Money will be what binds it together, gives the ideas the weight and violence needed to draw people to it. We will aim above all at youngsters, because they are more stupid and more easily carried away. We’ll promise them the kingdom of this world and the triumph of love … we’ll promise them everything … d’you follow me? We’ll give them shiny uniforms, splendid tunics … capes with plumes of every colour … sparkling jewels … different levels of initiation with resounding names, hierarchies … in the mountains we’ll build a cardboard temple, and use it to shoot a film … No. Once we’ve triumphed we’ll build a temple of seven gold doors … it will have pink marble columns and the paths leading to it will be lined with copper shavings. And all around it we’ll create gardens … the whole of mankind will come to adore the living god we’ve invented.”

“But what about the money for all this … how many millions …?”

The more the Astrologer spoke, the more his enthusiasm rubbed off on Erdosain. He had forgotten about Barsut, although he was standing right next to him. Despite himself, he conjured up the possibility of a new world. Mankind would live a perpetual happy ritual of simplicity; strontium beams would fill the night sky with showers of red stars, an angel with verdigris wings would perch atop a cloud, while down below men and women dressed in white tunics would glide beneath arches of vegetation, their hearts cleansed of the filth that was choking his. He closed his eyes, and Elsa’s face swam into his memory, but before he could capture its resonance, the Astrologer’s voice boomed out with this ferocious reply:

“So you want to know where we’ll get the millions from? That’s easy. We’ll organise brothels. The Melancholy Thug will be the Grand Patriarch of the Brothels … every member of the lodge will have a direct interest in all our businesses … we’ll become usurers, we’ll take advantage of women, children, workers, the countryside, madmen. In the mountains … down in Campo Chileno … we’ll pan for gold, we’ll use electricity to help us mine ore. Erdosain has already designed a 500-horsepower turbine. We’ll produce nitric acid by concentrating nitrogen from the atmosphere with a spinning electric arc system; we’ll use hydroelectric power to produce iron, copper and aluminium. D’you follow me? We’ll dupe the workers into going there, and we’ll use the whip to finish off those who refuse to work in the mines. Isn’t that what happens right now in the Gran Chaco, in the tea, rubber and coffee plantations, in the tin mines? We’ll put up an electrified wire fence all round our property, and we’ll buy off all the cops and inspectors of Patagonia with juicy bribes. The thing is to get started. The Gold Prospector’s already here. He found placers of gold when he was travelling through Campo Chileno with a prostitute known as the Mask. We have to get started, that’s all. For the farce of our living god we’ll choose an adolescent … or better still, we could raise an exceptionally beautiful child, educate him to play the role of god. We’ll talk about him … he’ll be talked about everywhere, but with an air of mystery, so that his prestige will grow and grow in people’s minds. Can you imagine what all the fools of Buenos Aires will say when they get wind of the rumour that in the remote mountains of Chubut there’s an adolescent god living in an inaccessible gold and marble temple … a wondrous youth who performs miracles?”

“Your nonsense is interesting, d’you know that?”

“Nonsense? Didn’t people believe in the existence of the plesiosaur a drunken Englishman discovered, the only man in Neuquén the police wouldn’t give a gun licence to because he was such a dreadful shot? … Didn’t people in Buenos Aires believe in the supernatural powers of that Brazilian charlatan who claimed he could cure Orfilia Rico’s paralysis? And if ever there was an unworthy, grotesque spectacle without an ounce of imagination, that was it. Yet didn’t countless idiots weep their eyes out when that trickster held her arm up in triumph, though the girl’s as crippled as ever? It just goes to show that the people of this and every generation have an absolute need to believe in something. And if we can get a newspaper to back us, we can perform miracles. There are lots of them desperate for something sensational like this to sell. And we’ll supply all these people hungry for marvels with a magnificent god, embellished with stories we can copy from the Bible … Now, there’s an idea: we can announce that our youngster is the Messiah the Jews have prophesied … I’ll have to think more about that … we can have photos taken of the god of the jungle … we could make a film with our cardboard temple in the middle of the jungle, and show the god talking to the spirit of the earth.”