He's about to publish his essay on Cohen and Rosenzweig, W. says on the phone. His essay on the meaning of messianism. The time has come. But where will he publish it? Somewhere as obscure as possible, W. says. Somewhere it definitely won't be read.
An obscure Polish journal has asked him for an essay, W. says. They'll translate it. That's where he'll publish it, after seven years of research. That's where his thoughts on messianism and mathematics will be archived: in a journal no one will ever read, in a language only the Poles know.
How many times has W. buried his thoughts in an obscure academic journal? How many times has his work disappeared into foreign languages no one in Britain reads? They come to him, the editors of these obscure journals, asking for something to publish. They must sniff him out. He'll do anything, if asked nicely, and by an Old European. What won't he do for a Mitteleuropean?
He hasn't really finished it, his paper, W. says. He never really understood the infinitesimal calculus, for one thing, he says, which means the long footnote he wrote on page six will never be complete. No one will know that but him, of course. No one will read the paper but him – oh, I will, of course. I might even do my best, but what could I make of it?
W.'s paper. Will he turn the world of Cohen, Rosenzweig and messianism scholarship on its head? Will he have given the world a new Cohen, a new Rosenzweig, and a new sense of messianism? Will he have transformed the scholarly field? Will he become an obligatory point of reference for the scholars who come after him?
Will papers for and against his interpretation of Cohen, Rosenzweig and messianism be presented at colloquia and conferences, and he published in academic journals? Will whole editions of journals be dedicated to his thought on Cohen, Rosenzweig and messianism, and to responding to his scholarly respondents?
Will doctoral students write these discussing the new Cohen, Rosenzweig and messianism debates with references to W.'s Cohen, W.'s Rosenzweig and W.'s messianism? Will a sense of the paradigm-busting significance of W.'s Cohen, W.'s Rosenzweig and W.'s messianism pass down into the popular imagination, into the pages of broadsheets and Radio 4 interviews?
Will the scholars of Oxford whisper of W.'s Cohen, W.'s Rosenzweig and W.'s messianism as they cross college quadrangles? Will the governing bodies of Cambridge wonder whether to offer W. a Chair ('he's not really one of us, but still …')? Will he receive offers of American lecture tours and plenary talks? Will fellow scholars stand on their chairs and cry, 'hurrah', throwing their mortar boards in the air when they hear him speak? Will a ticker-tape parade be held in W.'s hometown of Plymouth, W. being driven along and waving to cheering crowds?
It's not likely, is it?, W. says.
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