Hermann Broch, Robert Musil, and the Novels of Interwar Vienna Richard M. Lambert III a Dissertati

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Hermann Broch, Robert Musil, and the Novels of Interwar Vienna Richard M. Lambert III a Dissertati In Search of Lost Experience: Hermann Broch, Robert Musil, and the Novels of Interwar Vienna Richard M. Lambert III A dissertation submitted to the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures (German) Chapel Hill 2017 Approved by: Richard Langston Eric Downing Kata Gellen Malachi Hacohen Toril Moi Inga Pollmann © 2017 Richard M. Lambert III ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT Richard M. Lambert III: In Search of Lost Experience: Hermann Broch, Robert Musil, and the Novels of Interwar Vienna (Under the direction of Dr. Richard Langston) Characterized by themes of negation, fragmentation, and destruction, the novels of interwar Vienna are canonically read as a testament to the social and political shifts that reshaped Central Europe after the turn of the twentieth century—the upheaval of the fin-de-siècle, the devastation of WWI, and the fall of the monarchies. These canonical readings deny the modernist novel any sort of productive capacity. My dissertation, In Search of Lost Experience: Hermann Broch, Robert Musil, and the Novels of Interwar Vienna delivers a corrective to conventional understandings of the late modernist novel by pushing beyond this lament of crisis. In the Viennese interwar novels of Hermann Broch and Robert Musil, I locate a deeper agenda in the late modernist novel—the resuscitation of experience—which evidences the pinnacle of another Viennese modernism located around 1930. My dissertation examines the Musil’s Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törleß (1906) and Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften (1930/32) and Broch’s Die Schlafwandler (1930) and Die unbekannte Größe (1932). I read these novels together with theories from philosophy, psychology, and science studies that range from Kant to Dilthey, Lukacs, Mach, Freud, Neurath, and Wittgenstein in order to investigate literature’s unique purchase on experience by reawakening language as use, production, non-semiotic communication, and literary experimentation. This alternative to the standard accounts of modernism contrasts against the celebrated Viennese fin-de-siècle, and frees interwar Viennese literature from the pneumatic iii literary-historical narrative of crisis that has defined scholarship on twentieth century Austrian literature since Claudio Magris (1966) and Carl Schorske (1980), which frame Viennese interwar literature as backward-looking reactions to the political, social, and linguistic crises of the pre- WWI era. My dissertation instead asserts that the search for experience designates these novels as productive sites of aesthetic and cultural orientation during the interwar period. iv To Christen, for making sure I hold up my end of the deal. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation would never have taken shape without the guidance, support, and encouragement that I have received from so many individuals over the years. I am most deeply grateful to my advisor, Dr. Richard Langston, whose patience, support, and mentorship have kept me focused and inspired my belief in my self, and my project. I am thankful to Dr. Eric Downing for his leadership as Director of Graduate Studies, and for always taking an interest in my project and in me. I would also like thank Dr. Christina Wegel for ensuring my graduate school training was well-rounded and thorough. I am thankful to the many members of the Carolina-Duke German Studies Dissertation Colloquium, who have offered countless invaluable suggestions on my work over the years. I feel particularly indebted to Rory Bradley, Melanie Ungar, Erik Grell, Elizabeth Schreiber-Byers, Matthew Feminella, Tayler Kent, and Emma Woelk for their friendship and camaraderie. Thank you to the BTWH research network, and my colleagues at the Ludwig Boltzmann Institut für Geschichte und Gesellschaft. In particular, I must thank Erik Born, Ingo Zechner, Gabriel Trop, and Rob McFarland. And with deep thanks and fond memories of Dr. Siegfried Mattl, whose generous support brought me to Vienna, and who left a profound imprint on this dissertation. Thank you to my parents for their unconditional love and support, to my extended families for encouraging me to pursue this project. And thanks most of all to my wife Christen, for her unwavering support, love, and encouragement. And to Effi and Uli for helping keep things in perspective. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1 Experience...........................................................................................................................4 Fin-de-Siècle Vienna and the Crisis of Experience...........................................................18 Experience and Interwar Viennese Culture.......................................................................34 Overview of Dissertation...................................................................................................42 CHAPTER 1: OVERCOMING THE LANGUAGE CRISIS: DESIRING...................................44 EXPERIENCE IN ROBERT MUSIL’S DIE VERWIRRUNGEN DES ZÖGLINGS TÖRLEß Canonical Readings and the Value of Experience.............................................................49 Between Conceptuality and Concreteness: The Problem..................................................53 Of Parallel Lines Rationality and the Fin-de-Siècle Redefinition of Experience..........................................57 Bad Math and Experience as Form....................................................................................61 The Gleichnis and the Language of Similarity..................................................................66 Verwirrung and Rationality: Törleß’s Confusions and......................................................75 the Impossibility of Experience CHAPTER 2: “STARS IN THE WATER”: HERMANN BROCH’S..........................................84 DIE UNBEKANNTE GRÖßE AND THE ORDINARY LANGUAGE OF EXPERIENCE Mathematics, Modernism, and Kant: Die unbekannte Größe...........................................87 in Broch Scholarship vii Out of the Language Crisis: Mathematics and Adamic Language....................................90 Beyond the Word: Language as Social Signifier...............................................................98 Broch’s Theory of the Novel: Experience, Language, and Literature.............................107 The ‘Sterne im Wasser’ as Mîse-en-Abyme....................................................................113 CHAPTER 3: BETWEEN “NICHT MEHR” AND “NOCH NICHT”:......................................119 METAPHOR AND THE WEIGHT OF HISTORY IN HERMANN BROCH’S DIE SCHLAFWANDLER The Disintegration of Values and Historical Fiction.......................................................124 Pasenow and Historical Convention................................................................................129 Esch and the Failure of Metaphor....................................................................................133 The Total Novel?.............................................................................................................139 The Essay as Fiction........................................................................................................142 Order, Authorship, and the Disintegration of Values......................................................149 Beyond Decline: The Prison House of Language............................................................155 CHAPTER 4: EXPERIENCE WITHOUT QUALITIES:...........................................................160 PICTURE WRITING AND HISTORICAL NARRATION IN ROBERT MUSIL’S DER MANN OHNE EIGENSCHAFTEN Neurath, Wittgenstein, and Theories of the Image..........................................................165 Clear Images: Picture Writing and Musil’s Cultural Critique.........................................172 Discourse, Experience, and Writing History...................................................................182 The Blurred Image and Rewritten History.......................................................................189 CONCLUSION: VIENNESE MODERNISM AT THE..............................................................201 NEXUS OF EXPERIENCE BIBLIOGRAPHY........................................................................................................................207 viii INTRODUCTION From the first words of Robert Musil’s fledgling novel, Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törleß (1906), it is clear that language occupies a privileged but also problematic status in his work. Borrowing a quotation from Belgian symbolist Maurice Maeterlinck, Musil introduces the text by describing an inexpressible treasure, “sobald wir es aussprechen, entwerten wir es seltsam.”1 The problem of language persists through to the end of Musil’s oeuvre, exerting a formative influence in his masterpiece Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften (1930/32). A contemporary of Musil, the early novels of Hermann Broch express a similar concern for the status of language. As Broch writes in his infamous essay “Hofmannsthal und seine Zeit” (1955), every historical period, “…stellt das Realitätsbild ihrer Zeit in deren spezifischem Vokabular dar.”2 While these two passages present differing critiques, with Musil questioning the essential expressive potential of language and Broch highlighting the proliferation of rhetoric and plurality, in both cases the registration
Recommended publications
  • The Total Work of Art in European Modernism Series Editor: Peter Uwe Hohendahl, Cornell University
    The Total Work of Art in European Modernism Series editor: Peter Uwe Hohendahl, Cornell University Signale: Modern German Letters, Cultures, and Thought publishes new English- language books in literary studies, criticism, cultural studies, and intellectual history pertaining to the German-speaking world, as well as translations of im- portant German-language works. Signale construes “modern” in the broadest terms: the series covers topics ranging from the early modern period to the present. Signale books are published under a joint imprint of Cornell University Press and Cornell University Library in electronic and print formats. Please see http://signale.cornell.edu/. The Total Work of Art in European Modernism David Roberts A Signale Book Cornell University Press and Cornell University Library Ithaca, New York Cornell University Press and Cornell University Library gratefully acknowledge the support of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for the publication of this volume. Copyright © 2011 by Cornell University All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writ- ing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. First published 2011 by Cornell University Press and Cornell University Library Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Roberts, David, 1937– The total work of art in European modernism / David Roberts. p. cm. — (Signale : modern German letters, cultures, and thought) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8014-5023-5 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Modernism (Aesthetics) 2.
    [Show full text]
  • Program of the 76Th Annual Meeting
    PROGRAM OF THE 76 TH ANNUAL MEETING March 30−April 3, 2011 Sacramento, California THE ANNUAL MEETING of the Society for American Archaeology provides a forum for the dissemination of knowledge and discussion. The views expressed at the sessions are solely those of the speakers and the Society does not endorse, approve, or censor them. Descriptions of events and titles are those of the organizers, not the Society. Program of the 76th Annual Meeting Published by the Society for American Archaeology 900 Second Street NE, Suite 12 Washington DC 20002-3560 USA Tel: +1 202/789-8200 Fax: +1 202/789-0284 Email: [email protected] WWW: http://www.saa.org Copyright © 2011 Society for American Archaeology. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted in any form or by any means without prior permission from the publisher. Program of the 76th Annual Meeting 3 Contents 4................ Awards Presentation & Annual Business Meeting Agenda 5………..….2011 Award Recipients 11.................Maps of the Hyatt Regency Sacramento, Sheraton Grand Sacramento, and the Sacramento Convention Center 17 ................Meeting Organizers, SAA Board of Directors, & SAA Staff 18 ............... General Information . 20. .............. Featured Sessions 22 ............... Summary Schedule 26 ............... A Word about the Sessions 28…………. Student Events 29………..…Sessions At A Glance (NEW!) 37................ Program 169................SAA Awards, Scholarships, & Fellowships 176................ Presidents of SAA . 176................ Annual Meeting Sites 178................ Exhibit Map 179................Exhibitor Directory 190................SAA Committees and Task Forces 194…….…….Index of Participants 4 Program of the 76th Annual Meeting Awards Presentation & Annual Business Meeting APRIL 1, 2011 5 PM Call to Order Call for Approval of Minutes of the 2010 Annual Business Meeting Remarks President Margaret W.
    [Show full text]
  • Mind-Crafting: Anticipatory Critique of Transhumanist Mind-Uploading in German High Modernist Novels Nathan Jensen Bates a Disse
    Mind-Crafting: Anticipatory Critique of Transhumanist Mind-Uploading in German High Modernist Novels Nathan Jensen Bates A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2018 Reading Committee: Richard Block, Chair Sabine Wilke Ellwood Wiggins Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Germanics ©Copyright 2018 Nathan Jensen Bates University of Washington Abstract Mind-Crafting: Anticipatory Critique of Transhumanist Mind-Uploading in German High Modernist Novels Nathan Jensen Bates Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Richard Block Germanics This dissertation explores the question of how German modernist novels anticipate and critique the transhumanist theory of mind-uploading in an attempt to avert binary thinking. German modernist novels simulate the mind and expose the indistinct limits of that simulation. Simulation is understood in this study as defined by Jean Baudrillard in Simulacra and Simulation. The novels discussed in this work include Thomas Mann’s Der Zauberberg; Hermann Broch’s Die Schlafwandler; Alfred Döblin’s Berlin Alexanderplatz: Die Geschichte von Franz Biberkopf; and, in the conclusion, Irmgard Keun’s Das Kunstseidene Mädchen is offered as a field of future inquiry. These primary sources disclose at least three aspects of the mind that are resistant to discrete articulation; that is, the uploading or extraction of the mind into a foreign context. A fourth is proposed, but only provisionally, in the conclusion of this work. The aspects resistant to uploading are defined and discussed as situatedness, plurality, and adaptability to ambiguity. Each of these aspects relates to one of the three steps of mind- uploading summarized in Nick Bostrom’s treatment of the subject.
    [Show full text]
  • Klirnt and Schiele Stephan Kleinschuster May 6, 1997 AR592
    The Evolution of Expressionism In Turn-of-the-Century Vienna: Klirnt and Schiele Stephan Kleinschuster May 6, 1997 AR592 1 1 Until 1897, Classicism in Viennese high art had served as a mimetic construct of the elite society who were both art's staunchest supporters and the purveyors of moral and philosophical values that served as it's staple of judgment. In the following years, from 1898 to 1918, were revolutions of both natures, political and philosophical. The artistic transformation from the Classicism of the Habsburg Monarchy to the expressionism of the Cafe "Nihilism" could be seen most obviously in two of Vienna's foremost artists of the time, Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele. This paper seeks to compare and contrast the works of these two artists who seem to crystallize the moral, social, political, and artistic upheaval of early Twentieth Century Vienna. It lS fitting that Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele died six months from one another, both of the Spanish influenza, and both in 1918. It is important to note that even though stylistic variables call for their ultimate contrast, they loved and admired one another, and they both stood for the values that defined Secessionism. Their proximity in philosophy makes it all the more profound to discover their differences. In Klimt came classical objectivity housed in a contemporary conceptual framework. In Schiele came the shift to brutal subjectivity that pushed the limits of this framework. Even though, as will be discussed, the similarity of the subject matter seems to remain a constant, the execution becomes the variable upon which the change becomes dependent.
    [Show full text]
  • Abigail Gillman's CV
    CURRICULUM VITAE 6/2018 ABIGAIL E. GILLMAN Associate Professor of Hebrew, German, and Comparative Literature Department of World Languages and Literatures Affiliated Faculty, Graduate Faculty of Religion and Jewish Studies Boston University 745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 613a Boston, MA 02215 [email protected] Employment Boston University, Department of World Languages and Literatures (formerly MLCL). Visiting Assistant Professor of German, 1994-1997. Assistant Professor of German and Hebrew, 1997-2008. Associate Professor of Hebrew, German, and Comparative Literature, 2008-. Interim Director, Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies, 2016-2017 Education Harvard University, Ph.D., Germanic Languages and Literatures, 1994. Dissertation Director: Dorrit Cohn Yale University, B.A., Literature, 1986. Magna cum laude, with distinction. Hebrew University, Jerusalem. Fall 1991. University of California at Berkeley. Summer 1986. Goethe Institute, Freiburg. Summer 1985. Publications Books A History of German Jewish Bible Translation. The University of Chicago Press. 2018. Viennese Jewish Modernism: Freud, Hofmannsthal, Beer-Hofmann and Schnitzler. Penn State University Press, 2009. Articles and Book Chapters “Not Like Cherries, but like Peaches: Mendelssohn and Rosenzweig translate Yehuda Halevi’s ‘Ode to Zion.’” The German Hebrew Dialogue: Studies of Encounter and Exchange, ed. Rachel Seelig (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2017): 19-39. “Moses Mendelssohn’s Be’ur: Translating Torah in the Age of Enlightenment.” www.TheTorah.com (2017) Gillman / 2 “’Anokhi,” in AJS Perspectives: The Magazine of the Association for Jewish Studies. The Translation Issue (Fall 2016): 14-16. “Shylock in German-Jewish Historiography.” Wrestling with Shylock: Jewish Responses to The Merchant of Venice, Ed. Michael Shapiro and Edna Nahshon. Cambridge University Press, 2017. 51-73.
    [Show full text]
  • Mass Culture and Individuality in Hermann Broch’S Late Works
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Sunderland University Institutional Repository MASS CULTURE AND INDIVIDUALITY IN HERMANN BROCH’S LATE WORKS JANET PEARSON A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Sunderland for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. APRIL 2015 i Abstract Mass Culture and Individuality in Hermann Broch’s Late Works Janet Pearson This thesis explores Hermann Broch’s thought regarding the relationship between the individual and the mass, in an age of mass-culture. Broch, an Austrian-Jewish intellectual, who emigrated to America in 1938, discussed ideas upon this theme in theoretical essays, including a theory of mass hysteria (Massenwahntheorie) as well as his fictional The Death of Virgil (Der Tod des Vergil). In the study, the analysis of his theoretical work shows that Broch’s views regarding the masses differ from those of other theorists contemporary to him (Le Bon, Freud and Canetti), in that they are closely linked to his theory of value. It also establishes that his ideas about individuality reach back to the earliest philosophers, and that he perceived this dimension of human existence to be changing, through the development of ‘ego- consciousness’. Building upon this, the textual analysis of the Virgil demonstrates that Broch finds similarities between his own era and the age of Augustus, but also indicates that the concept of individuality portrayed in the work goes beyond that discussed in his theoretical writing and points towards a new role for art in the post-industrial age.
    [Show full text]
  • The Significance of the Ancient Standing Stones, Villages, Tombs on Orkney Island
    The Proceedings of the International Conference on Creationism Volume 5 Print Reference: Pages 561-572 Article 43 2003 The Significance of the Ancient Standing Stones, Villages, Tombs on Orkney Island Lawson L. Schroeder Philip L. Schroeder Bryan College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/icc_proceedings DigitalCommons@Cedarville provides a publication platform for fully open access journals, which means that all articles are available on the Internet to all users immediately upon publication. However, the opinions and sentiments expressed by the authors of articles published in our journals do not necessarily indicate the endorsement or reflect the views of DigitalCommons@Cedarville, the Centennial Library, or Cedarville University and its employees. The authors are solely responsible for the content of their work. Please address questions to [email protected]. Browse the contents of this volume of The Proceedings of the International Conference on Creationism. Recommended Citation Schroeder, Lawson L. and Schroeder, Philip L. (2003) "The Significance of the Ancient Standing Stones, Villages, Tombs on Orkney Island," The Proceedings of the International Conference on Creationism: Vol. 5 , Article 43. Available at: https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/icc_proceedings/vol5/iss1/43 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ANCIENT STANDING STONES, VILLAGES AND TOMBS FOUND ON THE ORKNEY ISLANDS LAWSON L. SCHROEDER, D.D.S. PHILIP L. SCHROEDER 5889 MILLSTONE RUN BRYAN COLLEGE STONE MOUNTAIN, GA 30087 P. O. BOX 7484 DAYTON, TN 37321-7000 KEYWORDS: Orkney Islands, ancient stone structures, Skara Brae, Maes Howe, broch, Ring of Brodgar, Standing Stones of Stenness, dispersion, Babel, famine, Ice Age ABSTRACT The Orkney Islands make up an archipelago north of Scotland.
    [Show full text]
  • University of Bradford Ethesis
    University of Bradford eThesis This thesis is hosted in Bradford Scholars – The University of Bradford Open Access repository. Visit the repository for full metadata or to contact the repository team © University of Bradford. This work is licenced for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence. THE NEOLITHIC AND LATE IRON AGE POTTERY FROM POOL, SANDAY, ORKNEY An archaeological and technological consideration of coarse pottery manufacture at the Neolithic and Late Iron Age site of Pool, Orkney, incorporating X-Ray Fluorescence, Inductively Coupled Plasma Spectrometric and Petrological Analyses 2 Volumes Volume 1 Ann MACSWEEN submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Archaeological Sciences University of Bradford 1990 ABSTRACT Ann MacSween The Neolithic and Late Iron Age Pottery from Pool, Sanday, Orkney: An archaeological and technological consideration of coarse pottery manufacture at the Iron Age site of Pool, Orkney, incorporating X-Ray Fluorescence, Inductively Coupled Plasma Spectrometric and Petrological Analyses Key Words: Neolithic; Iron Age; Orkney; pottery; X-ray Fluorescence; Inductively Coupled Plasma Spectrometry; Petrological Analysis The Neolithic and late Iron Age pottery from the settlement site of Pool, Sanday, Orkney, was studied on two levels. Firstly, a morphological and tech- nological study was carried out to establish a se- quence for the site. Secondly an assessment was made of the usefulness of X-ray Fluorescence Analysis, In- ductively Coupled Plasma Spectrometry and Petrological analysis to coarse ware studies, using the Pool assem- blage as a case study. Recording of technological and typological attributes allowed three phases of Neolithic pottery to be iden- tified. The earliest phase included sherds of Unstan Ware.
    [Show full text]
  • MODERN PROCESSES and PLEISTOCENE LEGACIES by Louise M. Farquharson, Msc. a Dissertation Submitted In
    ARCTIC LANDSCAPE DYNAMICS: MODERN PROCESSES AND PLEISTOCENE LEGACIES By Louise M. Farquharson, MSc. A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Geology University of Alaska Fairbanks December 2017 APPROVED: Daniel Mann, Committee Chair Vladimir Romanovsky, Committee Co-Chair Guido Grosse, Committee Member Benjamin M. Jones, Committee Member David Swanson, Committee Member Paul McCarthy, Chair Department of Geoscience Paul Layer, Dean College of Natural Science and Mathematics Michael Castellini, Dean of the Graduate School Abstract The Arctic Cryosphere (AC) is sensitive to rapid climate changes. The response of glaciers, sea ice, and permafrost-influenced landscapes to warming is complicated by polar amplification of global climate change which is caused by the presence of thresholds in the physics of energy exchange occurring around the freezing point of water. To better understand how the AC has and will respond to warming climate, we need to understand landscape processes that are operating and interacting across a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. This dissertation presents three studies from Arctic Alaska that use a combination of field surveys, sedimentology, geochronology and remote sensing to explore various AC responses to climate change in the distant and recent past. The following questions are addressed in this dissertation: 1) How does the AC respond to large scale fluctuations in climate on Pleistocene glacial-interglacial time scales? 2) How do legacy effects relating to Pleistocene landscape dynamics inform us about the vulnerability of modern land systems to current climate warming? and 3) How are coastal systems influenced by permafrost and buffered from wave energy by seasonal sea ice currently responding to ongoing climate change? Chapter 2 uses sedimentology and geochronology to document the extent and timing of ice-sheet glaciation in the Arctic Basin during the penultimate interglacial period.
    [Show full text]
  • ICLA 2016 – Abstracts Group Session Panels Content Computational Comparative Literature
    ICLA 2016 – Abstracts Group Session Panels, July 17th, 2016 ICLA 2016 – Abstracts Group Session Panels Content Computational Comparative Literature. Corpus-based Methodologies ................................................. 5 16082 - Assia Djebar et la transgression des limites linguistiques, littéraires et culturelles .................. 7 16284 - Pictures for Everybody! Postcards and Literature/ Bilder für alle! Postkarten und Literatur . 11 16309 - Talking About Literature, Scientifically..................................................................................... 14 16377 - Sprache & Rache ...................................................................................................................... 16 16416 - Translational Literature - Theory, History, Perspectives .......................................................... 18 16445 - Langage scientifique, langage littéraire : quelles médiations ? ............................................... 24 16447 - PANEL Digital Humanities in Comparative Literature, World Literature(s), and Comparative Cultural Studies ..................................................................................................................................... 26 16460 - Kolonialismus, Globalisierung(en) und (Neue) Weltliteratur ................................................... 31 16499 - Science et littérature : une question de langage? ................................................................... 40 16603 - Rhizomorphe Identität? Motivgeschichte und kulturelles Gedächtnis im
    [Show full text]
  • Land, Stone, Trees, Identity, Ambition
    Edinburgh Research Explorer Land, stone, trees, identity, ambition Citation for published version: Romankiewicz, T 2015, 'Land, stone, trees, identity, ambition: The building blocks of brochs', The Archaeological Journal, vol. 173 , no. 1, pp. 1-29. https://doi.org/10.1080/00665983.2016.1110771 Digital Object Identifier (DOI): 10.1080/00665983.2016.1110771 Link: Link to publication record in Edinburgh Research Explorer Document Version: Peer reviewed version Published In: The Archaeological Journal General rights Copyright for the publications made accessible via the Edinburgh Research Explorer is retained by the author(s) and / or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing these publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. Take down policy The University of Edinburgh has made every reasonable effort to ensure that Edinburgh Research Explorer content complies with UK legislation. If you believe that the public display of this file breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 01. Oct. 2021 Land, Stone, Trees, Identity, Ambition: the Building Blocks of Brochs Tanja Romankiewicz Brochs are impressive stone roundhouses unique to Iron Age Scotland. This paper introduces a new perspective developed from architectural analysis and drawing on new survey, fieldwork and analogies from anthropology and social history. Study of architectural design and constructional detail exposes fewer competitive elements than previously anticipated. Instead, attempts to emulate, share and communicate identities can be detected. The architectural language of the broch allows complex layers of individual preferences, local and regional traditions, and supra-regional communications to be expressed in a single house design.
    [Show full text]
  • Notice of Excavations in a Broch and Adjacent Tumuli Near Levenwick Thn I , E Paeis Dunkossnessf Ho , Zetland
    IV. NOTICE OF EXCAVATIONS IN A BROCH AND ADJACENT TUMULI NEAR LEVENWICK THN I , E PAEIS DUNKOSSNESSF HO , ZETLAND. BY GILBERT GOUDIE, ESQ., F.S.A. SCOT. The surface of the Zetland Islands is dotted as closely as perhaps any are similaf ao r extenUnitee th n ti d Kingdom, with remain prehistorif so c times. Chiee brochs th f thes o d ftumule an ar e, f variouo i s kinds which have repeatedly been brought unde notice th r thif eo s Society. Though the brochs are very numerous, and have been the subject of much discussion, only two of them, so far as I am aware, have been systematically explored—that in the Loch of Clickirain, near Lerwick, bettee th d r an known Castl f Mousao e e M6seth , y jarbore Sagasth f o g. Within a few miles distance of the latter, on a desolate rocky sea-cliff, near Levenwick e paristh f n Dunrossnesso i h, s situatei , d another broch. Sir Eobert Sibbald, in his survey of the islands, published in 1711, mentions two broch thisin s placewordHis . s are,—" Sout southand h - west from Leven Week (a large mile distant), lie the ruins of two forts, built by the Picts, upon a rock, close by the sea." largA e area adjacen s coverei t debrisa y b brokedf o n stone f greaso t size, strew remaine th n e e actio seat irregularlth th f bu ,so f y o nb f i s ya only one distinct building can now be traced.
    [Show full text]