(i) A Closet within a Closet

The Twofold Vibration must be understood in relation to The Voice in the Closet/La voix dans le cabinet de débarras. Federman claims he originally intended to publish the 20 pages (in English) of The Voice in the Closet “in the middle” of The Twofold Vibration. A closet within a closet, Federman's bilingual, hermetic text is referred to throughout. Most importantly, it is gestured to in his alter ego's “confession” as he comes close to exposing his secret, the reason why his name is on the list of deportees. I say Federman only claims he wanted the full text reprinted because The Voice in the Closet is all the more conspicuous by its absence. The void at the center of Federman's oeuvre, X-X-X-X, is recreated by the absence of what should be at the core of his text (and his work), the creature's cry. In the final novel of Federman's early cycle, a character known as “the old man” or “the old guy” repeats his narrative of survival. The Twofold Vibration, published in 1982, is set in the year 2000. In what is now “The United States of Planet Earth (USPE),” peace and prosperity are maintained by a benevolent computer, “Onselacouledouce” (4). Part of this involves a purging of undesirables every year on New Year's Eve, who are deported to the space colonies (or to their deaths). The computer's cute name, which could be translated as “Wetakeiteasy,” masks the threatening allusion to “Death's Calculator,” the IBM Hollerith machine used by the Nazis. The list of deportees includes “Ramon Hombre della Pluma,” Erica Hubscher (Federman's wife), scholars Larry McCaffery, Ihab Hassan and Jacques Ehrmann. The list also includes Federman's uncle David Naimark (who brought him to America) and what seems to be his old lover from Double or Nothing, Loulou Jacobson (169). The old guy, like the actual Federman, will inexplicably be spared.

In the year 2000 there are no wars, no famines or natural catastrophes.