#elsevonstritzky

[scribbleanalysis]

One section that jumped out at me – from 3 February 1921 of Bloch’s ‘Gedenkbuch für Else Bloch-von Stritzki’. He evokes the doctrine of the cabalist who believes that the Messiah will not bring a pre-established new world but rather transform it through the displacement of a number of details of this world. Bloch then writes: “I do not believe in this; for evil volition, pain and death are not merely errors of place [Raimfehler], and paradise cannot be the product of a slight modification of hell”

[scribbleanalysis]

Tendenz – Latenz – Utopie, which appeared posthumously in 1978, contains a diary written by Ernst Bloch in the aftermath of the death of his first wife Elsa von Stritzky on 2 January 1921 at the age of 37. It has been translated into French by Lucien Pelletier. It is a really tragic account, of grief, loss, care, abandon, ghosts, sorrow. 

[scribbleanalysis]

At first glance, Linda merges with (Arthur) Müller-Lehning on the transcribed diagram. Linda is rather connected with the name above: Ernst Bloch. She was Bloch's second wife, and she sits next to his first wife: Else von Stritzky, whom Benjamin grants her first and full name. 

Linda, born Oppenheimer, was married to Ernst Bloch for less than a year, in either 1921 or 1922, the sources differ. They did not formally divorce until 1928.

In October 1935, Linda writes to Benjamin from the Villa "Petit Paradis" in Cannes:    

Early in the year, Benjamin writes to Adorno. In the letter he seeks "clarification on our relationship with E Bloch". This then comes down to a judgement of his relationships: from Else von Stritzky, Linda Oppenheimer and finally Karola Piotrkowska, whom married Bloch in 1934 after meeting in 1927, about whom he is most scathing.