A Diagnosis of Modern Life. Robert Musil's Der Mann Ohne

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

A Diagnosis of Modern Life. Robert Musil's Der Mann Ohne A diagnosis of modern life: Robert Musil’s Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften as a critical-utopian project. Een diagnose van het moderne leven: Robert Musils Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften als een kritisch-utopisch project. (met een samenvatting in het Nederlands) Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit Utrecht op gezag van de rector magnificus, prof.dr. G.J. van der Zwaan, ingevolge het besluit van het college voor promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen op woensdag 23 mei 2012 des middags te 12.45 uur door Stijn De Cauwer geboren op 28 januari 1977 te Beveren-Waas, België Promotor: Prof. dr. A. B. M. Naaijkens Acknowledgments: First of all, I would like to thank my promotor professor dr. Ton Naaijkens for all of his support in helping me to realize this project. This dissertation was written with a grant provided by the Research Institute for History and Culture. I would like to thank the director professor dr. Frans Ruiter and all the other staff members of the OGC who gave me the opportunity to write this dissertation with funding, without which this dissertation would not have been possible. Unfortunately, the recent wave of austerity measures, in the Netherlands and elsewhere, make it increasingly difficult to obtain the required funding for academic research. Much gratitude goes to José van Aelst for all her effort, patience and support in helping me to obtain the grant and making the entire process as smooth as possible. Special thanks go to Jonathan Sholl for proofreading this dissertation, both the final text and earlier drafts, and all the stimulating conversations. His help was crucial for the realization of this dissertation. Further thanks go to professor dr. Ihor Junyk for his support in an early stage of this project, professor dr. René Devisch and professor dr. Steven Van Wolputte for their support earlier in my academic career, Dr. Christien Franken for editing sections of the text and for helping me to develop my English writing skills, and also James Mathew Fielding, Allen Thomas Jones, George Bruseker, Jeremy Bell, Gregory Kalyniuk, Peter Delmont, Charlotte Wolf, James Difrisco, Peter Reynders and Jef Van Acker for all the stimulating interactions. Finally, I would like to thank my parents for being supportive throughout my academic pursuits. Table of contents: A diagnosis of modern life: Robert Musil’s Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften as a critical- utopian project. Samenvatting: 1 Glossary of abbreviations 7 Introduction: the cultural critique of Robert Musil 10 1. Robert Musil as a cultural theorist 10 2. Musil’s life and background 13 3. Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften 15 4. The impossibility of coming to a synthesis of the times 16 5. The best of two worlds: science and mysticism 17 6. The essays and the incapacity to face modern times as a moral problem 20 7. Toward an ethics of transformation 21 8. Musil’s influences: inheriting problems 23 9. The different editions of Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften and continuing difficulties with Musil’s legacy 25 10. The reception of Musil’s work 27 11. The stakes of this dissertation 29 12. Concerns with using the texts of Musil 32 Chapter 1: Musil’s critique of moral and ideological rigidity 35 1. Tracing the role of morality and ideology in Musil’s cultural critique 38 2. The motivational deficit at the turn of the century 52 3. The inadequate responses to the crisis of morality: theories of decline, hatred of the present, naturalized identity, irrationalism and the need for a savior 62 4. Further clarifications of Musil’s ideology critique 81 5. Concluding remarks 98 Chapter 2: The critical-utopian aspect of Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften 104 1. The critique of Georg Lukács as the paradigm for later critical receptions of Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften 106 2. The utopian proposals in the first volume of Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften : the utopias of exact living and essayism 111 3. The utopia to ground one’s life in the ‘other condition’: the conversations on mysticism in the second volume 123 a) The other condition is an intensification, not a withdrawal 126 b) The other condition as a dereification ( Entdinglichung ) 128 c) The other condition can bring about a synthesis of different faculties 129 d) The other condition as an overcoming or a transformation of the self 131 e) The other condition is not an ideal in itself 133 4. Beyond the utopia of the other condition and the sequential readings of Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften 135 5. Musil’s critical-utopian project: from one final norm to the conditions of possibility of new norms 140 6. The aim of Musil’s critical-utopian project: beyond rigid mechanism and finalism 146 a) Similarities and differences between Musil’s analysis and Lukács’ theory of reification 147 b) Possibility and temporality in Bloch and Musil 150 c) The Nietzschean influence on Musil: error and origin 152 7. Musil’s attitude to the women’s movement in the light of his critical-utopian aspect 156 8. Concluding remarks 160 Chapter 3: The function of the ‘pathological’ in Musil’s cultural critique 163 1. The world as a madhouse: Musil’s implicit theory of pathology 168 Excursus: Pathology, normativity and the law in the theories of Georges Canguilhem 178 2. Pathology and moral rigidity; how the struggle against pathology leads to the worst kind of pathology 183 Excursus: Threatened Oedipus . Musil, Kraus and Freudian psychoanalysis 196 3. Madness becomes method: the strategic role of the ‘pathological’ in Musil’s development of a new form of ethics 201 4. The influence of Nietzschean ‘immunology’ 214 5. Concluding remarks 220 Conclusion: Working through the symptoms of modern life; Musil’s critical-utopian project 224 Postscript: Seinesgleichen anno 2011… The relevance of Musil’s ideas for today 238 1. Seinesgleichen continued… 241 2. Do we live in times that are mad? 245 3. Can Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften provide a cure? 248 4. The novel, still… 251 Bibliography 256 Biography: 265 1 Samenvatting: Een diagnose van het moderne leven: Robert Musils Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften als een kritisch-utopisch project Het werk van Robert Musil wordt niet enkel geprezen om zijn literaire kwaliteiten maar ook omwille van zijn originele theoretische rijkdom. Zonder het literaire aspect te veronachtzamen, of een ‘theorie’ los te willen koppelen van de literaire vorm, kan men niettemin zijn oeuvre opvatten als een omvattende en complexe cultuurkritiek. Musil beschouwde zijn magnum opus Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften niet als een historisch portret van de laatste jaren van het Oostenrijks-Hongaarse keizerrijk, maar als een kritische analyse van bepaalde problematische culturele, intellectuele en maatschappelijke tendensen. Deze tendensen waren verre van verdwenen na de Eerste Wereldoorlog. Zijn werk is opgevat als een interventie in vastgeroeste en steeds terugkerende reacties op de enorme uitdagingen van de moderne tijd. Behalve in het hoofdwerk Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften werkte Musil zijn cultuurkritiek uit in talrijke essays en notitieboeken. Een moeilijkheid met zijn werk is het vaak onafgewerkte en fragmentarische karakter van zijn teksten. Hij bleef tot aan zijn dood zoeken naar de juiste vorm om zijn kritische reflecties uit te werken. Musils werk is niet altijd positief onthaald. Zeker op het vlak van cultuurkritiek hadden sommige critici bedenkingen bij Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften . Deze bedenkingen werden het scherpst geformuleerd door Georg Lukács. Het is verhelderend deze kritiek nader te bekijken omdat op deze manier de belangrijkste vragen duidelijk worden die elke studie van Musils werk als een cultuurkritiek dient te beantwoorden. Volgens Lukács was Musils kritiek een totale afwijzing van de realiteit en kon hij bijgevolg ook geen duidelijk doel geven aan zijn kritiek. Musil zou zich verliezen in het literair-utopisch exploreren van abstracte mogelijkheden, als een vlucht uit de concrete maatschappelijke realiteit. Dat Musil zijn roman niet kon afwerken was een voorspelbaar gevolg van het feit dat hij geen concreet doel had met zijn roman opgevat als een maatschappijkritiek. Symptomatisch voor dit soort vlucht uit de realiteit in een literair utopia is een obsessie met het pathologische, waar Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften , aldus Lukács, een extreem voorbeeld van zou zijn. Deze bedenkingen komen neer op drie vragen, die door de jaren heen in verschillende vormen terugkeren in de studies over Musil. Ten eerste: wat is het juist dat Musil kritisch wil behandelen en hoe werkt dit proces van kritiek in Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften ? Ten tweede: als Musils werk opgevat 2 kan worden als een cultuurkritiek, wat was dan zijn doel met deze kritiek? Ten derde: wat is de functie van al het ‘pathologische’ gedrag in zijn algemene cultuurkritiek? Het zijn deze drie complexe en, zoals ik duidelijk probeer te maken, hecht met elkaar verweven vragen die ik zal proberen te beantwoorden in de drie hoofdstukken. Het eerste hoofdstuk behandelt het kritische aspect van Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften . Om te begrijpen waarin Musil juist wilde tussenkomen, is het cruciaal om zijn opvattingen over moraliteit en ideologie te verduidelijken. Deze onderwerpen worden echter enkel gefragmenteerd behandeld in zijn teksten, zoals in het belangrijke maar onafgewerkte essay Der deutsche Mensch als Symptom . In dit essay gaat Musil radicaal in tegen de nationalistische of rassentheoretische opvattingen over de mens. Hij stelt dat de mens in wezen ‘vormeloos’ is, maar dat hij of zij tot in de kleinste details wordt gevormd door de gangbare morele codes. Moraliteit heeft bij Musil een psychologische functie. Mensen nemen de gangbare morele voorschriften, inclusief waarden, gewoonten en rolpatronen, aan om existentiële angst over hun levenskeuzes en identiteit te vermijden. De rol van ideologie is het faciliteren en verstevigen van de verwevenheid van mensen met de gangbare morele codes. Sinds het einde van de negentiende eeuw waren er echter drastische veranderingen in de maatschappij.
Recommended publications
  • A New Perspective on Post-Migration German Identity Sandra Digruber
    Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2015 A New Perspective on Post-Migration German Identity Sandra Digruber Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON POST-MIGRATION GERMAN IDENTITY By SANDRA DIGRUBER A Thesis submitted to the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2015 Sandra Digruber defended this thesis on April 3, 2015. The members of the supervisory committee were: Christian Weber Professor Directing Thesis Birgit Maier-Katkin Committee Member A. Dana Weber Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the thesis has been approved in accordance with university requirements. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iv 1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 1 2. ATTEMPTS TO DEFINE GERMAN IDENTITY IN THE 19TH-CENTURY ......................... 3 2.1 Johann Gottlieb Fichte ........................................................................................................ 7 2.2 Richard Wagner ...............................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • The Blue Review Literature Drama Art Music
    Volume I Number III JULY 1913 One Shilling Net THE BLUE REVIEW LITERATURE DRAMA ART MUSIC CONTENTS Poetry Rupert Brooke, W.H.Davies, Iolo Aneurin Williams Sister Barbara Gilbert Cannan Daibutsu Yone Noguchi Mr. Bennett, Stendhal and the ModeRN Novel John Middleton Murry Ariadne in Naxos Edward J. Dent Epilogue III : Bains Turcs Katherine Mansfield CHRONICLES OF THE MONTH The Theatre (Masefield and Marie Lloyd), Gilbert Cannan ; The Novels (Security and Adventure), Hugh Walpole : General Literature (Irish Plays and Playwrights), Frank Swinnerton; German Books (Thomas Mann), D. H. Lawrence; Italian Books, Sydney Waterlow; Music (Elgar, Beethoven, Debussy), W, Denis Browne; The Galleries (Gino Severini), O. Raymond Drey. MARTIN SECKER PUBLISHER NUMBER FIVE JOHN STREET ADELPHI The Imprint June 17th, 1913 REPRODUCTIONS IN PHOTOGRAVURE PIONEERS OF PHOTOGRAVURE : By DONALD CAMERON-SWAN, F.R.P.S. PLEA FOR REFORM OF PRINTING: By TYPOCLASTES OLD BOOKS & THEIR PRINTERS: By I. ARTHUR HILL EDWARD ARBER, F.S.A. : By T. EDWARDS JONES THE PLAIN DEALER: VI. By EVERARD MEYNELL DECORATION & ITS USES: VI. By EDWARD JOHNSTON THE BOOK PRETENTIOUS AND OTHER REVIEWS: By J. H. MASON THE HODGMAN PRESS: By DANIEL T. POWELL PRINTING & PATENTS : By GEO. H. RAYNER, R.P.A. PRINTERS' DEVICES: By the Rev.T. F. DIBDIN. PART VI. REVIEWS, NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE. Price One Shilling net Offices: 11 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, W.G. JULY CONTENTS Page Post Georgian By X. Marcel Boulestin Frontispiece Love By Rupert Brooke 149 The Busy Heart By Rupert Brooke 150 Love's Youth By W. H. Davies 151 When We are Old, are Old By Iolo Aneurin Williams 152 Sister Barbara By Gilbert Cannan 153 Daibutsu By Yone Noguchi 160 Mr.
    [Show full text]
  • Taking the Cure: a Stay at Thomas Mann's "The Magic Mountain" Philip Bmntingham
    Taking the Cure: A Stay at Thomas Mann's "The Magic Mountain" Philip Bmntingham THERE ARE THOSE who say that the human The subject of Shakespeare's play is race is infected by two sicknesses: the the spiritual malaise of one man. In Tho- sickness of the body and the sickness of mas Mann's 1924 novel, The Magic Moun- the spirit. In fact, both afflictions are po- tain, the subject, as so many critics have tentially fatal. The first sickness can be told us, is the malaise of an entire group traced to a number of causes: namely, an of people, indeed a generation. These outside intrusion (infection), or an inner critics—too numerous to mention—have failure (malfunction). The second sick- suggested that Mann's intent was to use ness comes solely from within: emotional illness as a metaphor for the condition of distress, deep anxiety, or that decline pre-World War I European society. sometimes called failure of the will. A Such a theme would be an ambitious mixture of the two sicknesses sometimes one, to be sure. Novels normally do not happens; and it has been proven that the attempt to describe the decay of an entire sickness of the mind often can affect the society—how could they? Novels are not health of the body—and cause what is tracts or scientific reports, and whenever called psychosomatic illness. they attempt to become either of these In Shakespeare's Hamlet, the hero suf- things, such as we find in as Robert Musil's fers from the second sickness, and it de- The Man Without Qualities (1930-43), they bilitates him so much that he contem- are no longer fiction but prose seminars.
    [Show full text]
  • Absorber 202 Acetaldehyde 130 Acidic Acid Butyl Ester 119 Activated
    219 Index a Aristotle 1 absorber 202 art 207 acetaldehyde 130 art gallery 205 acidic acid butyl ester 119 activated carbon 71 b activation energy 25 B(OCH3)3 167 Adalbert Stifter 211, 213 B(OH)3 167 Adolf von Bayer 61 B.Z. Sakhashiri XIV Ag2O 183 Ba(OH)2 · 8 H2O 39 AgCl 133, 134 banana 149 AgNO3 53, 109, 110, 111 beer can 159 AgSCN 213, 215 bell jar 11 air 169, 171, 181 Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction 138 Albert Einstein 17, 95, 111, 125 Berzelius 47 Albert Schweizer 7 bisdimethylaminoketone 191 AlBr3 154 blackbody 202 alchemist’s gold 163 Blauer Reiter 209 alcohol 203 bleach 47, 48, 78 alcohol fl ame 167 bleaching 77, 87 alcohol test 129 blood cells 12 aldehyde 69 blue bottle 73 Alexander von Humboldt 159 boiling water 23 Alice’s adventures in bond energy 25 wonderland 217 bones 2 alkali metals 80, 203, 204 boric acid 167 alkali silicates 95 boric esters 167 aluminum 153, 154, 159 brain 2 aluminum foil 154 brass 163 aluminum wire 155 brilliant green E 142 213, 215 ammonia 40, 79, 122, 123, 196 bromine 153, 155, 189, 199 ammonia solution 79, 121, 177, 211 bromocresol green 119 ammonium chloride 178 bromothymol blue 139, 140 ammonium molybdate 63 ammonium thiocyanate 213 c aniline blue 71 C.P. Snow xiii anode 34, 56, 57, 58 C2H5OH 129, 130 Antoine de Saint Exupéry 177 CaCl2 7, 8 aquacomplex 211 CaCl2 · 6H2O 7, 8 aqueous ammonia 212 CaCO3 44 aqueous phase 166 calcium phosphate 28, 170 Spectacular Chemical Experiments. Herbert W.
    [Show full text]
  • AS.450 ( Liberal Arts) 1
    AS.450 ( Liberal Arts) 1 AS.450.605. Art Since 1960. 3 Credits. AS.450 ( LIBERAL ARTS) What is contemporary art, and what are the factors that shaped it? This course will attempt to answer those questions through a chronological AS.450.082. MLA Capstone: Portfolio. and thematic investigation of some of the most influential artworks, The MLA Portfolio is a zero-credit Capstone option. Students who select movements, and theories of the past 60 years. Beginning with a close the Portfolio option will take 10 courses in the program (one core course look at mid-century modernism, we will move into a consideration of Pop, and 9 electives), and register for the zero-credit portfolio in their final Minimalism, conceptual art, land art, performance art, postmodernism, semester. The portfolio will be completed within the same semester as AIDS activism, and relational aesthetics. Along the way, we will also the 10th course. The portfolio consists of a sampling of the best papers consider the relevance of feminist and phenomenological theory and of and projects written over the course of the student's graduate career, institutional critique and globalization; at the same time, we will explore and it is designed to highlight the intellectual points of convergence in ways in which art of our own time constitutes both an extension of, and each student's course of study, presenting the student's reflections on reaction against, some of the historical ideas we encounter. Throughout, knowledge gained and lessons learned. students will have a chance to read and discuss both primary and AS.450.600.
    [Show full text]
  • In --Thomas Mann
    Postmodern Pathologies: Living with Disbelief in The Fictions of Angela Carter AU interest in diseuse and death is only another expression of interest in life. --Thomas Mann Jennifer J. Gustar A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctorate Graduate Department of English University of Toronto O Copyright by Jennifer Joyce Gustar 1997 Bibliothéque nationale du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographic Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A ON4 OttawaON KIAON4 canada CaMda The author hm granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence dlowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in ths thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otheMrise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. ABSTRACT Postrnodem Pathologies: Living with Disbelief in the Fictions of Angela Carter Jennifer Joyce Gustar PhD Degree-June 1997 Graduate English Department University of Toronto This study of the narrative techniques employed in Angela Carter's novels, The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman and Nights at the Cireur.
    [Show full text]
  • Austriaca, 87 | 2018 Maria Piok, Ulrike Tanzer Und Kyra Waldner (Hg.), Marie Von Ebner-Eschenbach
    Austriaca Cahiers universitaires dʼinformation sur lʼAutriche 87 | 2018 Finis Austriae : la chute de l’aigle bicéphale Maria Piok, Ulrike Tanzer und Kyra Waldner (Hg.), Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach. Schriftstellerin zwischen den Welten Marc Lacheny Édition électronique URL : http://journals.openedition.org/austriaca/469 DOI : 10.4000/austriaca.469 ISSN : 2729-0603 Éditeur Presses universitaires de Rouen et du Havre Édition imprimée Date de publication : 1 décembre 2018 Pagination : 279-283 ISBN : 979-10-240-1354-1 ISSN : 0396-4590 Référence électronique Marc Lacheny, « Maria Piok, Ulrike Tanzer und Kyra Waldner (Hg.), Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach. Schriftstellerin zwischen den Welten », Austriaca [En ligne], 87 | 2018, mis en ligne le 01 mars 2020, consulté le 28 janvier 2021. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/austriaca/469 ; DOI : https://doi.org/ 10.4000/austriaca.469 Ce document a été généré automatiquement le 28 janvier 2021. Austriaca. Cahiers universitaires dʼinformation sur lʼAutriche Maria Piok, Ulrike Tanzer und Kyra Waldner (Hg.), Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach.... 1 Maria Piok, Ulrike Tanzer und Kyra Waldner (Hg.), Marie von Ebner- Eschenbach. Schriftstellerin zwischen den Welten Marc Lacheny RÉFÉRENCE Maria Piok, Ulrike Tanzer und Kyra Waldner (Hg.), Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach. Schriftstellerin zwischen den Welten ( =Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Kulturwissenschaft. Germanistische Reihe. Bd. 90), Innsbruck, innsbruck university press, 2018, 236 p., ISBN : 978-3-901064-53-1, 38 €. 1 Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830-1916) s’est imposée comme auteure à une époque de bouleversements politiques, intellectuels et culturels majeurs : se frayant un chemin entre des conceptions et des valeurs traditionnelles d’un côté et sa quête d’évasion par la littérature de l’autre, elle a produit une œuvre littéraire abondante qui interroge à plusieurs niveaux les changements sociopolitiques de son temps sur la voie de la modernité.
    [Show full text]
  • Stanford Prison Experiment - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
    Stanford prison experiment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Log in / create account Article Discussion Read Edit View history Stanford prison experiment From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Main page Contents The Stanford prison experiment was a study of the psychological effects of becoming a Featured content prisoner or prison guard. The experiment was conducted from August 14th to 20th[citation needed], Current events 1971 by a team of researchers led by Psychology professor Philip Zimbardo at Stanford University. Random article Twenty-four students were selected out of 75 to play the prisoners and live in a mock prison in the Donate to Wikipedia basement of the Stanford psychology building. Roles were assigned randomly. The participants adapted to their roles well beyond what even Zimbardo himself expected, leading the "Officers" to Interaction display authoritarian measures and ultimately to subject some of the prisoners to torture. In turn, Help many of the prisoners developed passive attitudes and accepted physical abuse, and, at the request About Wikipedia of the guards, readily inflicted punishment on other prisoners who attempted to stop it. The Community portal experiment even affected Zimbardo himself, who, in his capacity as "Prison Superintendent," lost Recent changes sight of his role as psychologist and permitted the abuse to continue as though it were a real prison. Contact Wikipedia Five of the prisoners were upset enough by the process to quit the experiment early, and the entire Toolbox experiment was abruptly stopped after only six days. The experimental process and the results remain controversial. The entire experiment was filmed, with excerpts made publicly available.
    [Show full text]
  • Franz Kafka's Transformations
    Franz Kafka’s Transformations Andrew Barker ALONE amongst the contributions to the volume, this essay does not address a Scandinavian topic. The theme of transformation in Franz Kafka’s work and life does, however, allow us to recall that Peter Graves is himself a notable example of a changeling, having begun his career at Aberdeen University as a student of German under the venerable Professor Wilhelm (Willy) Witte. What is presented here may thus serve as a reminder of a world Peter inhabited long ago, before he morphed into the Scandinavian polymath we know and honour today. The impetus for the present contribution came from reading James Hawes’ exhilarating study Excavating Kafka (2008).1 This work was promptly written off by Klaus Wagenbach, the doyen of Kafka studies in Germany, who is quoted as saying: ‘Irgendein Dämel kommt daher, weiß nix und schreibt über Kafka’ (Jungen 2008).2 In defence of Wagenbach’s po-faced dismissal of a much younger, non-German scholar’s work, one might plead that his grasp of English was insufficient for him to grasp the book’s satirical and polemical intentions. In fact, Excavating Kafka is the work of a scholar who knows a great deal about Kafka, and writes about him with panache and insight. I can match Hawes neither in my knowledge of Kafka nor the secondary literature, but I share with him a mounting frustration with the commonly-peddled myths about Kafka’s life and work, and it is some of these which I shall address in this short paper. Looking at the work first, I shall concentrate on what is probably Kafka’s most iconic story, Die Verwandlung (1912; ‘Metamorphosis’), the English translation of whose title I find particularly problematic.
    [Show full text]
  • Frank Martin's Interpretation of the Tristan and Isolde Myth
    MARTA SZOKA (Łódź) Frank Martin’s Interpretation of the Tristan and Isolde Myth: Following the Trail of a Certain Novel Some people may frown at a juxtaposition of the Tristan and Isolde myth, one of the greatest sources of artistic inspiration in Euro­ pean culture, and its numerous musical representations with a novel by Charles Morgan, a minor writer known today almost exclusively to English literature scholars. If, however, we assume that the practice of musicology, apart from the analysis of music in terms of purely sonic structures, embraces also critical reflection, then we can put forward a perspective which will - to quote Polish poet Zbigniew Herbert - ‘open up a dialogue with the maker of the work, with his unique inner world, his love, passion and dilemmas, and also the path of perfection charac­ teristic of him and given to him’.1 I set out to scrutinise Frank Martin’s work in view of certain cul­ tural and psychological issues, as well as the social aspect of myth. Taken out of its complex context, the music score is forced to be an autonomous organism, and thus the multidimensional sense of art in the modern world becomes forgotten. Bearing an artistic and cultural message, a work of art is a carrier of meanings beyond the author’s in­ tent - meanings to be reached and understood. Moreover, this process of reaching out toward meaning does not exhaust itself in a single act of cognition, supposed to establish a certain truth once and for all. I would like to adopt here Hans-Georg Gadamer’s premise of the ‘inexhaustibil­ ity’ of the meaning of art as well as the ever renewed process of its un­ derstanding.2 1 Zbigniew Herbert, ‘Willem Duyster (1599-1635) albo Dyskretny urok soldateski’ [Willem Duyster, or the Discreet charm of the soldiery], Zeszyty Literackie 68 (1999), 18.
    [Show full text]
  • Présence Et Absence De Friedrich Hebbel En Autriche
    PRÉSENCE ET ABSENCE DE FRIEDRICH HEBBEL EN AUTRICHE. HISTOIRE D’UNE RÉCEPTION MOUVEMENTÉE Il existe plusieurs contributions – plus ou moins récentes – consacrées à la réception du dramaturge allemand Friedrich Hebbel (1813-1863) en Autriche des années 1940 à nos jours. Parmi celles-ci, les premières apparaissent largement sujettes à caution. Il y a tout d’abord l’ouvrage collectif Friedrich Hebbel. Leben und Werk in Einzeldarstellungen zur Wiener Hebbel-Woche (Vienne, Verlag « Die Pause » zusammen mit dem Bibliographischen Institut Leipzig), publié en 1942 sous la direction de Walter Thomas, qui rend compte d’une « semaine Hebbel » dont le but non dissimulé était de montrer l’interdépendance entre Vienne et la « Grande Allemagne », ce qui nuit bien entendu fortement à l’objectivité des contributions – certaines d’entre elles versent d’ailleurs même dans un antisémitisme patent à l’égard des amis juifs de Hebbel à Vienne. Il s’agit ensuite de l’article de Josef Nadler « Hebbel à Vienne » (« Hebbel in Wien »), paru la même année (1942) dans le Hebbel- Jahrbuch, où se fait jour la tendance à romantiser et sentimentaliser la vie de Hebbel au lieu de s’appuyer sur des faits biographiques avérés. Il faut également citer la thèse de Gerda Benesch Hebbel et l’Autriche (Hebbel und Österreich), soutenue en 1947 à l’Université d’Innsbruck, qui repose sur des représentations très stéréotypées de la différence entre Allemands « du Nord » d’une part et Allemands « du Sud » et Autrichiens d’autre part pour tenter de prouver que Hebbel aurait évolué vers ce second groupe à partir de son installation à Vienne en 1845.
    [Show full text]
  • Operetta After the Habsburg Empire by Ulrike Petersen a Dissertation
    Operetta after the Habsburg Empire by Ulrike Petersen A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Music in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in Charge: Professor Richard Taruskin, Chair Professor Mary Ann Smart Professor Elaine Tennant Spring 2013 © 2013 Ulrike Petersen All Rights Reserved Abstract Operetta after the Habsburg Empire by Ulrike Petersen Doctor of Philosophy in Music University of California, Berkeley Professor Richard Taruskin, Chair This thesis discusses the political, social, and cultural impact of operetta in Vienna after the collapse of the Habsburg Empire. As an alternative to the prevailing literature, which has approached this form of musical theater mostly through broad surveys and detailed studies of a handful of well‐known masterpieces, my dissertation presents a montage of loosely connected, previously unconsidered case studies. Each chapter examines one or two highly significant, but radically unfamiliar, moments in the history of operetta during Austria’s five successive political eras in the first half of the twentieth century. Exploring operetta’s importance for the image of Vienna, these vignettes aim to supply new glimpses not only of a seemingly obsolete art form but also of the urban and cultural life of which it was a part. My stories evolve around the following works: Der Millionenonkel (1913), Austria’s first feature‐length motion picture, a collage of the most successful stage roles of a celebrated
    [Show full text]