1 – 2 – 1 – 2 – 2 – 5 Sebald writes, quoted portion If the funeral march began on October 5 and arrived at its destination on November 1, it took not three weeks (as the narrator misleadingly suggests) but exactly four weeks or 28 days. At another point – to provide another example – we read that Emperor Kuang-hsu died in 1908 at the age of 37. According to this piece of information, however, he cannot have been a ‘two-year-old’ but must have been four years old when he acquired power over the monarchy from his predecessor T-ung-chich, who died in 1875 (179-185, 148-153). The barrage of dates and numbers in this and similar passages induces some confusion. The narrator undercuts the impeccable, seemingly irrecusable, logic of the victor’s history and, as such, implicitly challenges the legitimacy of the ruling class’s claim to power. 2 – 1 – 2 – 4 – 5 The barrage of dates and numbers induces some confusion. We read that Emperor Kuang-hsu died in 1908 at the age of 37. According to this piece of information, however, he cannot have been a ‘two-year-old’ but must have been four years old when he acquired power over the monarchy from his predecessor T-ung-chich, who died in 1875 (179-185, 148-153). Through the misrepresentation of dates and erroneous facts inserted into his text, the narrator figuratively breaks down the ‘continuum of history of the oppressors” on behalf of the fragmentary perspective of the oppressed. He undercuts the impeccable, seemingly irrecusable, logic of the victor’s history and, as such, implicitly challenges the legitimacy of the ruling class’s claim to power. 4 - 5 – 2 – 1 – 2 – 1 – 2 – 4 Through the misrepresentation of dates and erroneous facts inserted into his text, the narrator figuratively breaks down the ‘continuum of history of the oppressors” on behalf of the fragmentary perspective of the oppressed. He undercuts the impeccable, seemingly irrecusable, logic of the victor’s history and, as such, implicitly challenges the legitimacy of the ruling class’s claim to power. Let us consider two examples, beginning with the narrator’s account of the funeral march for Chinese Emperor Hsien-feng: example If the funeral march began on October 5 and arrived at its destination on November 1, it took not three weeks (as the narrator misleadingly suggests) but exactly four weeks or 28 days. At another point – to provide another example – we read that Emperor Kuang-hsu died in 1908 at the age of 37. According to this piece of information, however, he cannot have been a ‘two-year-old’ but must have been four years old when he acquired power over the monarchy from his predecessor T-ung-chich, who died in 1875 (179-185, 148-153). The narrator figuratively disrupts the continuum of the history of the victors.
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