UC Berkeley UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title The Topographic Imagination: Kerouac, Regener, Kafka and the Quest for Self-Realization Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6nf2c25f Author Backman, Donald Eugene Publication Date 2012 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California The Topographic Imagination: Kerouac, Regener, Kafka and the Quest for Self-Realization By Donald Eugene Backman A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in German in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Winfried Kudszus, Chair Professor Jeroen Dewulf Professor Robert Alter Fall 2012 The Topographic Imagination: Kerouac, Regener, Kafka and the Quest for Self-Realization © 2012 By Donald Eugene Backman Abstract The Topographic Imagination: Kerouac, Regener, Kafka and the Quest for Self-Realization. by Donald Eugene Backman Doctor of Philosophy in German University of California, Berkeley Professor Winfried Kudszus, Chair Few of us think about the ways in which the topography of our environment affects our worldview. But when one takes a closer look at it, he/she finds a certain limiting aspect to where they live, while also discovering a definition of self in reference to this topography. In each of the novels of this study, the main character is defined by his geographic origin. Sal Paradise in Jack Kerouac’s On the Road is from New Jersey, and eventually finds comfort in New York, but ultimately he is an Easterner. Frank Lehmann, in Herr Lehmann, is a Berliner, more specifically a Kreuzberger. He comes originally from Bremen, but in his ten years in Berlin he has found himself the location that fits his worldview. Finally, Josef K. is an urbanite. Kafka’s Der Proceß is never located specifically in a geographic sense. However, as Max Brod points out, this is a “‘zeitlose’ Roman” (Brod 216). It is simultaneously an ortslose Roman. Located entirely within the city limits, the novel explores the topography of the city in the same way that Kerouac explores the United States. In my analysis of literary representations of single men engaging in the struggle for self-realization, I employ the term “topographic imagination” to denote each individual’s conception of the geographic and topographic space within which they live. The limits of the topographic imagination do not possess a physical dimension inasmuch as they are boundaries defined by the psyche. Using the writings and theories of Leslie Fiedler, Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari, and Claire Parnet, this study explores the topographic imagination, that limiting force of identity, and its role in the quest for self-realization in the protagonists. All of them are aware of their limiting self-identity, but also unaware of what it will take to accomplish their goal of knowing themselves completely. Through a mapping of their rhizomes, and through Deleuzean lines of flight, all accomplish the becoming, the metamorphosis that is inherent in becoming a man. There is in each of the works a lack of certainty about what lies ahead, what is to be found around that next corner. Yet, this does not stop them. Unfettered by relationships, each is free to search the boundaries of their topographical imagination in search of “IT”: in search of the power to define their lives and live modern life on their own terms. Fiedler writes of the Frontier as “the margin where the Dream has encountered the resistance of fact, where the Noble Savage has confronted Original sin (the edge of hysteria: of the twitching revivals, ritual drunkenness, ‘shooting up the town,’ of the rape of nature and the almost compulsive slaughter of beasts) we call simply: the Frontier” (Fiedler, A 1 New Fiedler Reader 14). The Frontier is a place located outside of geography. It is more concerned with the margins; those places just outside the realm of our existence. Dreams meeting the resistance of fact, are, in fact, at the heart of the search for self-realization not only in the novels in question, but for the modern experience in general. We are all always already in the milieu that comprises the rhizomatic existence. Although our lives contain a beginning and an end, we remember neither of them. As far as the human experience is concerned we live and experience in a series of dimensions and/or directions in motion. Our changes of dimension, aging, life experiences, etc. necessitate frequent, if not constant, metamorphoses. In my analysis, self-realization, the most important step in any life metamorphosis, necessitates a direct and intentional engagement with the rhizome. This engagement eventually leads to a crossing outside of the realm of the protagonist’s topographic imagination. This then is the moment of self-realization. Each novel is characterized by a moment in which the protagonist recognizes that by crossing out of the limiting space of his topographic imagination he has taken responsibility for his own actions and owned the possibility of his self-realization. 2 Dedication I dedicate this work and give special thanks to my partner, Jeremy, whom I can’t thank enough. He has, until now, never known me when I wasn’t working on my dissertation and his trust and understanding have been a foundation I have relied heavily on. I dedicate my dissertation work to my family and many friends. A special feeling of gratitude to my parents, Rosealee and Emery Backman whose words of encouragement and support for all I have ever tried to accomplish ring in my ears. I also dedicate this dissertation to my many friends who have supported me throughout the process. I will always appreciate all they have done, especially Dayton Henderson, Julie Koser and Jenn Zahrt for their faith in me, and their encouragement along every step of the way. i ii Table of Contents Abstract 1 List of Figures iv Introduction v On The Road: Mapping Self-Realization onto the Frontier 1 Herr Lehmann: The Berlin Wall, the Topographic Imagination, 25 and Self-Realization Der Proceß or Josef K.’s Becoming 57 Conclusion 81 Works Consulted 87 iii List of Figures Diagram i.1: Progress Toward Self-realization ix Diagram 1.1: Route 6: The Longest Transcontinental Highway, 1940 7 Diagram 2.1: Kreuzberg SO36 26 Diagram 2.2: Intersection of Eisenbahnstrasse and Wrangelstrasse 29 Diagram 2.3: Lausitzer Platz 1875 30 Diagram 2.4: Berlin Customs and Excise Wall ca. 1700 53 Diagram 3.1: Aerial view of St. Vitus Cathedral, Prague, Czech Republic 59 iv Introduction Few of us think about the ways in which the topography of our environment affects our worldview. But when one takes a closer look at it, he/she finds a certain limiting aspect to where they live, while also discovering a definition of self in reference to this topography. I, for example, readily refer to myself as a Midwesterner, and a Wisconsinite. Although, I was born in Illinois, this had little effect on the person I have become. Two of my distinguishing characteristics are geographic. And for a lot of people, these characteristics explain a lot. A Midwesterner has a certain reputation for frugality, friendliness, and dare I say it, a lack of sophistication. A Wisconsinite is to many a farmer, a cheese maker, a drinker. These are the first attributes that come to the minds of many when I share my geographic origins. Ironically, none of these aspects are those I would use to describe myself, yet I allow my geographic origins to define me in the minds of other people. Yes, I lived on a farm when I was a child, but I was never a farmer. I never let my address define me. Yet, so many do. In each of the novels of this study, the main character is defined by his geographic origin. Sal Paradise is from New Jersey, and eventually finds comfort in New York, but ultimately he is an Easterner. Frank Lehmann, in Herr Lehmann, is a Berliner, more specifically a Kreuzberger. He comes originally from Bremen, but in his ten years in Berlin he has found himself the location that fits his worldview. Finally, Josef K. is an urbanite. Kafka’s Der Proceß is never located specifically in a geographic sense. However, as Max Brod points out, this is a “‘zeitlose’ Roman” (Brod 216). It is simultaneously an ortslose Roman. Located entirely within the city limits, the novel explores the topography of the city in the same way Kerouac explores the United States. Leslie Fiedler, in his essay, “The Many Names of S. Levin,” contemplates his own relation to the land. …[C]ontemplating a return to the Northwest—a trip across the Mississippi, the Great Plains, and finally a passage through the mountains, over the Divide and down the Western Slope, a journey into what had once seemed to me an almost unimaginable future and now has become a nostalgically remembered past…. (Fiedler on the Roof 123) Fiedler succinctly defines for us his previously defining geographic characteristic. He is clearly from the East. He has defined for himself a certain list of topographical boundaries for himself. These boundaries, the Mississippi, the Great Plains, and the Continental Divide are the obstacles that keep him in the East. I refer to this limiting worldview as the topographic imagination. His process began as a defining of himself according to his geographic origins. Fiedler being from Newark, New Jersey, easily identified himself with the Jews of the East Coast. Their historic presence and influence on the culture of the region, made this identification all the easier. But as he grew he realized that this was not the be all and end all of existence.