ý

MARTYRS ý

ý ý

Sometimes I imagine I’m sitting with

ý that old schizophrenic cross-dresser Joan of Arc

ý and we’re discussing what drives people

ý to lead others and what happens when you

ý lose that old charisma. She’s not Jewish

ý and doesn’t quite understand

ý why I am blaming her

ý for not getting through the witch trial.

ý She even tried using those cliches of Shaw on me.

ý ý “France is alone and God is alone

ý and what is my loneliness before

ý the loneliness of my country and my God?”

ý ý“You gotta live with the people in the madhouse you’re in --

ý wear what they wear, Joan,”

ý I say, “And deny everything -

ý that’s my motto. In the country of the deaf,

ý just say you’re don’t hear nothing.”

ý ý

ý Karen Alkalay-Gut

ý From The Love of Clothes and Nakedness (Sivan, 1999, 2003) ý