Closing the gap between music and history in Thomas Mann’sDoktor Faustus Rosemary Pratt A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the University of London Department of German University College London March 2000 ProQuest Number: U642797 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest. ProQuest U642797 Published by ProQuest LLC(2015). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Abstract The thesis aims to systematise in more detail than has been attempted to date the portrayal of music and German history in Doktor Faustus, and connections made between them. It first traces Mann's interest in pohfics and music, and how these were brought together in writing Doktor Faustus. It then examines discourse about music in the novel, separating description of the timeless, ontological features of music from descriptions of compositions, as particular historical manifestations of that ontology. The composer is seen as the key intermediary between ontological and historical features. The thesis then examines Adrian Leverkiihn’s role; both the manifestation of music’s ontology in his works, and the place of ‘Erkenntnis’ in them. Leverkühn himself is found to have only limited engagement with the historical circumstances in which he composes. The next part o f the thesis focuses on Serenus Zeitblom, showing that he, in his fimctions as narrator and admiring audience, gives Leverkühn the historical specificity he would otherwise largely lack, rooting him in early twentieth century German history. It considers his descriptions of Germany, which, like music, is portrayed as having both a timeless ontology and specific historical manifestations. Both sets of characteristics correspond closely to those of music. Finally, the thesis considers how music and history are related to one another. Their treatment is found to lend weight to Mann’s theory of ‘one Germany’. Leverkühn’s significance, and thus, much of the connection between music and history, is found to stem from Zeitblom’s narrative, but even this does not offer a clear framework of coimections, e.g. a detailed allegory. The thesis concludes that whilst music and histoiy do reflect each other in the novel, the gap between them is closed through the shared responsibility o f the artist and his audience, suggesting that Zeitblom’s role and culpability may be worth further examination. Acknowledgements This thesis has been researched and written entirely on a part time basis. I am indebted to many people who have, in different ways, made this possible. The will to continue this thesis, despite the competing demands on my time, owes a good deal to Sheila Jenkins, my German teacher at Plymouth High School, and Gilbert MacKay, my tutor at St. Peter’s College, Oxford, both of whom firmly rooted and encouraged my love of German language and literature. More recently, I have been very fortunate to have Professor Martin Swales as my supervisor at UCL. I have relished his consistent intellectual stimulation, constructive ideas and good humour, and have been gratefiil for his kindness and practical help. I must also thank my Civil Service fiiends and colleagues for tolerating my ‘double life’ for so long. There are too many to mention them all individually, but I am especially grateful to Clive Saville for first enabling me to work part-time (and for tracking down some useful books) and most recently, to my colleagues in the DfEE’s Standards and Effectiveness Unit, especially Matthew Young and other members of the Uteracy and numeracy policy teams. I owe much to my family. I am thankful to my parents, Sam and Thea Pearce, for their moral and practical support in this endeavour, as in so many others. My constant companion in the last six months of writing up has been my son Jonathan, bom in September 1999, plus a large basket of toys to keep him amused! He deserves thanks for being so good-natured, and a little more of my undivided attention in future. Finally, I must record my gratitude to my husband and greatest fiiend, Philip; not simply for his computer skills and scientist’s eye for detail, invaluable though these have been. Having gained a PhD himself in 1996, he understands only too well how it feels to produce a thesis. He has combined this fellow feeling with unwavering love and support, all of which have sustained me perhaps more than he realises. Contents Abstract 2 Acknowledgements 3 Contents 4 1 Introduction 7 1.1 The significance ofD oktor Faustus 1 1.2 The scope of this thesis 11 1.3 The implications of closing the gap 15 2 The genesis ofDoktor Faustus 19 2.1 Thomas Mann and politics 19 2.1.1 A genuine political force? 19 2.1.2 The journey to political awareness 21 2.1.3 What kind of politics? 27 2.2 Thomas Mann and music 32 2.2.1 The musicality of writing 32 2.2.2 The significance of Richard Wagner 34 2.2.3 Music as paradigm for art and life 39 2.3 Unification of musical and historical themes inD oktor Faustus 44 2.3.1 Rediscovery of the Faust themes 44 2.3.2 Faust and the contemporary historical context 48 2.3.3 Theodor Adorno and the unification of the musical and historical themes 51 3 Discourse on music inDoktor Faustus 59 3.1 The concept of music 59 3.1.1 Leverkühn's musical education 59 3.1.2 The Romantic concept of music 61 3.1.3 The composer as intermediary 66 3.2 The ontological characteristics of music 70 3.2.1 The struggle fo r‘Durchbmch’ 70 3.2.2 The tension between sensuality and cerebralism 72 3.2.3 Lack of stability 76 3.2.4 Spiritual capacity 79 3.3 The manifestation of music’s ontology in specific compositions 86 3.3.1 The struggle fo r‘Durchbmch’ 86 3.3.2 The tension between sensuahty and cerebrahsm 93 3.3.3 Lack of stabihty 97 3.3.4 Spiritual edacity 100 4 Adrian Leverkühn and his music 105 4.1 The distinguishing feature of ‘Erkenntnis’ 105 4.1.1 The nature of the artistic crisis 105 4.1.2 ‘Erkenntnis’ of musical history and crisis inD oktor Faustus 108 4.1.3 The combination of ‘Erkenntnis’ and ‘Hof&ung’ 113 4.2 The manifestation of music ’ s ontology in Leverkühn ’ s compositions 117 4.2.1 The stmggle for ‘Durchbmch’ 117 4.2.2 Tension between sensuality and cerebralism 124 4.2.3 Lack of stability 128 4.2.4 Spiritual capacity 130 4.3 Adrian Leverkühn’s historical identity 136 4.3.1 Leverkühn as intermediary between music and historical reality 136 4.3.2 Leverkühn’s universal identity 141 5 Serenus Zeitblom^s account of Germany 147 5.1 The ontological characteristics of Germany 147 5.1.1 The stmggle fo r‘Durchbmch’ 147 5.1.2 Tension between sensuality and cerebralism 150 5.1.3 Lack of stability 154 5.1.4 Spiritual edacity 158 5.2 The manifestation of Germany’s ontology in its twentieth century crisis 163 5.2.1 The stmggle for ‘Durchbmch’ 163 5.2.2 Tension between sensuality and cerebrahsm 167 5.2.3 Lack of stabihty 172 5.2.4 Spiritual capacity 175 5.3 Zeitblom as narrator and historical vehicle 183 5.3.1 The unsatisfactory and subordinate narrator? 183 5.3.2 Zeitblom as historical vehicle 187 6 Closing the gap between music and history 192 6.1 Doktor Faustus and the concept of ‘one Germany’ 192 6.1.1 T he‘one Germany’ argument 192 6.1.2 A shared ontology 197 6.1.3 Germany’s culpability and the power of myth 201 6.2 Zeitblom’s hesitant closure 207 6.2.1 The portentous biography 207 6.2.2 Textual and linguistic juxtaposition 211 6.2.3 A hesitant framework for the reader’s understanding 213 6.3 Closing the gap 218 6.3.1 Allegory or realism? 218 6.3.2 The art of politics 223 6.3.3 Zeitblom’s pact 231 7 Conclusion 240 Appendix 245 Bibliography 247 Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 The significance ofDoktor Faustus Doktor Faustus was begun during the last years of World War II, and published in 1947 in Switzerland. It was freely available in Germany only from 1949. It is a dense, intellectual novel, which assumes a good deal of knowledge about German music and culture. Whilst D oktor Faustus has moments of humour alongside its erudition, it does not have the accessibility of the Buddenbrooks ‘family saga’, and is probably a more difficult prospect even than Der Zauberberg for a relative newcomer to Mann’s work. As a result, it is the least well known of his major novels, certainly outside Mann’s German-speaking readership. At the same time, it is, quite possibly, the one that has been most dissected and explored by scholars. John Fetzer’s 1996 survey of theDoktor Faustus literature identifies ten broad topics of interest merely as a starting point. Fetzer notes that barely twenty years after the novel was published, “the lament had arisen that the critical literature dealing with D oktor F a u s t u s .