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72- 4 ^ 5 CHANNER, Burley Dean, 1937- LYRICAL STRUCTURE IN TWO NOVELS OF WILHELM LEHMANN: PER BILDERSTURMER AND WEINGOTT♦ The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1971 Language and Literature, modern University Microfilms, A XEROX Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED LYRICAL STRUCTURE IN TV-0 NOVELS OF WILHELM LEHMANN: DER BILDERSTURMEK AND WEINGOTT DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University fly Burley Dean Channer, B.A., A.M. The Oh.;n Stite University 1971 Approved by AdvTsrty/ Department of German PLEASE NOTE: Some Pages have Indistinct print. Filmed as received. UNIVERSITY MICROFILMS To the Family PKEFACE The five novels of Wilhelm Lehmann are not easy for a modern reader to approach. In a time when one tends to expect from serious fiction the treatment of political, social, or psychological quandaries, Lehmann's predominantly esthetic experience of the world has little appeal. But his early prose works are not examples of an ascetic artistry for its own sake which merely play intellectually with symbols in an ethereal world divorced from experience. They embody rather an intense experience of Life, transformed into complex tapestries of images, and they document Lehmann's gradual emergence as a nature lyricist. A recent study of Lehmann's work by Hans Dieter Schafer* has examined the imagery of all his works from the standpoint of its development through prose works to lyric poetry. This study contains significant observations on the relationship of Lehmann's early imagery to the imagery of Jugendstil and literary Expressionism. Schafer's observations have yet to be recognized and developed further by other scholars of Lehmann's work. Earlier studies and commentaries on Lehmann's novels *Wllhelm Lehmann; Studien zu seinem Leben und Werk (Bonni H. Bouvier u. Co. Verlag, 1969). (Hereinafter referred to as Wilhelm Lehmann.) iii t have tried to characterize these strange works from the stand point of their thematic content* the kinds of situations and characters which occur in them* and their autobiographical origins* With the exception of brief book reviews which appeared shortly after the first publication of the novels* these studieS'form part of larger essays and monographs which are usually entitled: "Wilhelm Lehmann." No such study has been devoted exclusively to Lehmann's prose works* let alone to just his novels* The object of the present study is to deal exclusively with the first and third of the three early novels in an effort to gain some basic insights into the author's use of lyricism as a structural technique. This Is an aspect of the works which has not been adequately examined as yet* in part no doubt because it demands more space in shorter articles* I have tried to do justice to the particular kind of lyricism of these works * a technique which makes the "everyday" world* as well as more "poetic" or "visionary" scenes and events* into products of the narrative consciousness or of the various characters* To put it another way* the "reality" underlying these novels undergoes a "lyrical" transformation within the consciousness of some figure in the novel, or of the narrator* before it is presented to the reader. A major result of such transformations is that objects* but also events and even characters, take on an image quality akin to the way objective forms of reality lv become subjective in lyric poetry* Characters and events of "lyrical" novels thus require a different mode of perception from the reader than do their counterparts in more "realistic" novels* Indeed* the unity of "lyrical" novels derives more from the associative patterns of their imagery than it does from such traditional structural features as plot development and the purely psychological make-up of the characters* Per Bilderstiirmer belongs* I feel* to the hybrid tradition of the "lyrical novel." Lehmann's later novels tend away from this type* though lyricism is still present in them* Die Schmetterlingspuppe (1918) uses the motif of the chrysalis as a unifying symbol in the story of the gradual deterioration of a man's life* Weingott (1921) treats the same theme by transforming the everyday world into a mythical one of great power* I have chosen to discuss Weingott over Die Schmetter- 1ingspuppe because of the situational similarity between Wein gott and Leube of Per Bildersturmer« two teachers who come into conflict with an academic approach to the world which is the antithesis of their own* Structure in the later two novels (Per (Iberlaufer* 1927 ( Per Provinzlarra* 1930) is not as dependent on lyricism as it is in the earlier ones* The later novels treat reality much more "realistically*" and their "lyrical" transformations of this reality into imagery are more in the nature of special effects* Since their polished and subtle lyricism was first worked out in the earlier novels, 1 felt it would be more important to demonstrate the origins and earlier applications of this technique. At this point I would like to thank the teachers who through the years have helped me to some understanding and appreciation of what language and literature studies are all about. Special thanks go to my dissertation adviser, Dr. Charles W. Hoffmann, and to the other readers of the manu script, Dr. Hugo Bekker, Dr* Gisela Vitt, and Dr. Frank Silba- joris. Their careful and thoughtful criticisms have been a great aid in making a somewhat unwieldy text much easier to follow. Appreciation is due also to numerous friends and acquaintances, in discussions with whom several basic concepts of the present study were clarified at last. Finally, I congratulate my wife for sticking with me through it all, for reading the manuscript, and for making appropriate "jaba11 when necessary. vi VITA May 14, 1937 . Born - Hutchinson, Kansas 1958 ............. B.A. , The University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 1959-1960 ........ Exchange student, Johannes-Gutenberg Universitat, Mainz, Germany 1960 ............. A.M., Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont Summer, 1962 . Special student, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 1960-1963 ........ Instructor in German, French, Spanish, Department of Foreign Languages, South eastern Louisiana University, Hammond, Louisiana 1963-1967 ........ Teaching Assistant, German Department, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1967-1970 ........ Instructor, German Department, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1970 - Instructor in German, Department of Foreign Languages, The University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: German Literature of the Eighteenth Century German Literature Professors Hugo Bekker, Dieter Cunz, Charles W. Hoffmann, Oskar Seidlin, Werner Vordtriede, and Wolfgang Wittkowski Germanic Philology - Professors Wolfgang Fleischhauer and Ulrich Groenke vit TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE ........................................ H i VITA ............ vii PART I. PER BILDERSTdRMBR Chapter I. INTRODUCTION: THE PROBLEM OFFO R M ........ 2 II. ELEMENTS OF EXTERNAL FORM 9 Plot and Chapter Correspondences as Forn Time Phases and Seasonal Rhythms as Forn III. INTERNAL FORM: PER BILDERSTPRMER AS A LYRICAL NOVEL................................... 30 Recapitulation: The Structural Function of Imagery Lyricism as Structure: Three Representative Analyses Chapter One Chapter Five Chapter Eight Characters and Events as Images of a Monistic World View IV. CONCLUSION............................. 137 PART II. WEINGOTT V. INTRODUCTION........................... 146 VI. ELEMENTS OF EXTERNAL FO R M ................. 149 The Plot Sectional Divisions, Narrative Phases, Tine Phases viii The Associative Function of Seasonal Imagery Manipulations of Tine Narrative Stance and Narrative Perspective Anticipatory Statements Anticipation through Parallelism VII. INTERNAL FORM: UNITY THROUGH THEMATIC ANTICIPATION........................... 208 The Problem of Unity Thematic Anticipation and Rhythmic Forn VIII. WEINGOTT AS A TRAGEDY OF M A N ............. 233 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................... 288 ix PART I PER BILDERSTORMER CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION: THE PROBLEM OF FORM Wilhelm Lehmann's first novel, Per Bildersturmer, is a difficult and confusing work to approach. Its dynamic language is heavily laden with imagery derived from the author's intimate acquaintance with the flora, fauna, and meteorological phenomena of the world of nature. The imagery also echoes Greek and Celtic mythology and the world of the German fairy tale. The story line unfolds in a relatively straightforward fashion, but a profusion of apparently non-essential incidents and descrip tions continually delays the reader's progress. As a result of this, the reader may well be unable to say exactly what has happened in the book after he has read it. He will probably also feel that the work is not a coherent whole. The main barrier to a full understanding of Per Bilder- at urine r as a work of art is the reader's failure to appreciate the structural function of its lyrical technique. Critical studies of this novel to date^ have concerned themselves witb *Until now only two full-length scholarly treatments of Lehmann's total literary production containing detailed studies of Per Bildersturmer have appeared: Heinz Bruns, Wilhelm Lehmann: Sein Leben und Pichten (1962); and Hans Dieter Schafer, Wilhelm Lehmann: Studlen zu seinem Leben und Werk (1969). Three longer articles of high quality which

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