GEORG TRAKL AND THE LITERATURE OF DECADENCE Ruth Wishart A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of St Andrews 1994 Full metadata for this item is available in St Andrews Research Repository at: http://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/13361 This item is protected by original copyright GEORG TRAKL AND THE LITERATURE OF DECADENCE by Ruth Wishart A thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of St Andrews December 1993 ProQuest Number: 10170670 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 10170670 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). 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 DECLARATIONS I, Ruth Wishart, hereby certify that this thesis, which is approximately 100,000 words in length, has been written by me, that it is the record of work carried out by me and that it has not been submitted in any previous application for a higher degree. I was admitted as a research student under Ordinance No. 12 in October 1987 and as a candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in March 1988; the higher study for which this is a record was carried out in the University of St Andrews between 1987 and 1990, and then 1992 and 1993. In submitting this thesis to the University of St Andrews I understand that I am giving permission for it to be made available for use in accordance with the regulations of the University Library for the time being in force, subject to any copyright vested in the work not being affected thereby. I also understand that the title and abstract will be published, and that a copy of the work may be made available to any bona fide library or research worker. date: signature of candidate: I hereby certify that the candidiate has fulfilled the conditions of the Resolution and Regulations appropriate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the University of St Andrews and that the candidate is qualified to submit this thesis in application for that degree. date: signature of supervisor: ABSTRACT This thesis examines the poetry of Georg Trakl within the context of literary decadence in Europe at the turn of the century (1880—1914). It provides an analysis of Trakl's early writing, and traces themes of literary decadence which recur throughout his work, particularly in the late prose and the dramatic fragment of 1914. In so doing, it also undertakes a comparative study of Trakl's poetry and decadent literature in Austria, Germany, France and England. Chapter One looks at the literary background and attempts a definition of what was understood by literary decadence in France and Germany at the end of the nineteenth century. Chapter Two examines motifs of crime and horror in Trakl's writing, paying particular attention to the concept of Lustmord in the early dramas B1aubart and Don Juans Tod and the later dramatic fragment of 1914. Chapter Three examines the issue of sexual guilt, and the portrayal of women in Trakl's poetry, from the femme fatale of the early poetry to the figure of the sister and the androgyne in the later poetry. Chapter Four traces the theme of blasphemy from the early lyric to the last poetic utterances of 1914, and touches briefly on the question of Trakl as a Christian poet. Chapter Five looks at motifs of isolation, obsession with death and decay, and poetry as the expression of the poet's etat d'ame. Chapter Six provides an analysis of the language and style of the early poetry, focusing on Trakl's affinity with the style of literary decadence. PREFACE This work was undertaken in the belief that a close examination of Trakl's early poetry, prose and drama, which have rarely been regarded in any detail within Trakl scholarship, would provide a better understanding of the later lyric, labelled by many critics as 'hermetic'. I have concentrated on themes of decadence which can be traced throughout Trakl's oeuvre, and which elucidate much of the later poetry; this method of study, and cross-reference within Trakl's writing, has provided in particular a better understanding of the late prose poems and the dramatic fragment of 1914. I owe a deep debt of gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Ray Furness, whose guidance and encouragement have been unfailing. I would also like to acknowledge the ready assistance of the following institutions, which put both published and unpublished material at my d i sposa1 : The Trak1 —Archiv, Salzburg The Brenner—Archiv at the University of Innsbruck The Deutsches Literaturarchiv, Marbach I am particularly grateful to Professor-Magister Hans Weichselbaum at the Trakl—Archiv for his help. I received financial support for my research from the Scottish Education Department and from the University of St Andrews Travel Grant. It is impossible for me to acknowledge my indebtedness to all the individuals who have contributed in some way to this finished product; my thanks must go to friends in St Andrews and Wurzburg who provided me with encouragement, understanding, and advice. Above all, I would like to thank my parents for the support which they have shown throughout this period of study. Edinburgh, December 1993 I ch glaube, es miifite furchtbar sein, imnier so zu leben, im Vollgefiihl all der animal ischen Triebe, die das Leben durch die Zeiten walzen. Ich habe die f iirchter 1 ichsten Mog 1 i chke i t en in mir gefiihlt, gerochen, getastet und im Blute die Damonen heu1en horen, die tausend Teufel mit ihren Stacheln, die das Fleisch wahnsinnig machen. Welch entsetzlicher AlpM CONTENTS Preface 7 Epigraph 8 CHAPTER ONE: LITERARY DECADENCE "Une race condamnee au malheur": The Literary Background 9 "Womit kennzeichnet sich jene literarische Decadence?": Decadence in France, Austria and Germany 16 CHAPTER TWO: CRIME AND HORROR "Die Nacht ist vo11 Wahnsinn": The Legend of Bluebeard 28 "Deine Kindertage sind urn": Herbert's Loss of Innocence 36 "Du geifernd Tier": The Personification of Decadent Sexuality 40 "Keusch bluhende Rose": Elisabeth as Ambivalent Victim 50 "Dies wirre Bild": Style and Imagery 53 "Orgel seufzt und Hoile lacht": Blaubart Themes in the Later Lyric 60 "Im Zwiespalt deines Wesens": Don Juan's Dual Nature 77 "Weg, schreck1iches Gesicht": The Struggle with Guilt 80 "Da bin mit meinem Morder ich allein": Lustmord as LustseIbstmord 86 "O! ihr stillen Spiegel der Wahrheit": The Mirror as a Symbol of Recognition 93 "Die Fieberlinnen des Jiinglings": Blaubart's Heirs 101 CHAPTER THREE: WOMEN AND SEXUALITY "O rasende Manade": The Masochistic Vision 113 "Die herrlichste Hetare": The Allure of the Femme Fatale 119 "Verruchter Wollust Sufie": Incest as a Decadent Motif 133 "Ein Geschlecht": The Androgynous Ideal 150 "Schwester sturmischer Schwermut": The Sister as Redeemer 169 CHAPTER FOUR: PERVERSE RELIGIOSITY AND BLASPHEMY "In der Hoile se1bstgeschaffener Leiden": The Suffering Saint 175 "In seelenlosem Spiel mit Brot und Wein": Catholicism 187 "Der flammender Sturz des Engels": The Struggle with Sin 196 CHAPTER FIVE: ISOLATION AND THE SOUL "Mich daucht', ich traumte": Introspective Subjectivity 208 "Das Schweigen der Ver1assenheit": The Poet's Isolation 210 "Und dich zermalmt des All tags grauer Gram": Ennui 216 "In meiner Seele dunk 1em Spiegel": Seelenstande 221 "So spielt um kranke Blumen noch die Sonne": The Aestheticism of Death and Decay 229 "O Nacht, ich bin bereit": The Poet's Longing for Death 240 CHAPTER SIX: LANGUAGE AND STYLE "Car nous voulons la Nuance encor": Decadence as a Literary Style 250 "Meine ganze, schone Welt, vo11 unendlichen Wohllauts": The Escape in Aestheticism 255 "Style ing^nieux, compliqu^, saveant": Over-ref inement 258 "Notre style doit etre rare et tourmente": Linguistic Experimentation 261 "De la Musique avant toute chose": The Musicality of Poetry 264 CONCLUSION "Das lebendige Fieber": The Conquest of Decadence? 270 FOOTNOTES 280 BIBLIOGRAPHY 335 9 CHAPTER ONE: LITERARY DECADENCE So ist Dekadenz eine Abendrote der Menschheit, mit aller Miidigkeit des Abends, mit der indischen Stille des Abends, durch die lautlose Winde rinnen, a lies in schwankende Bewegung auf- losend. Und iiber den tausend Farben des Abends sinkt die Sonne mit der Theatralik eines Sternes, der kein Morgen verspricht.1 "Une race condamnee au malheur": The Literary Background "Je suis 1'Empire a la fin de la Decadence";2 these words, from Paul Verlaine's sonnet ‘Langueur' well convey the climate of the late nineteenth century: solitude, ennui, moral impotence expressed in an identification with the mood of Rome in its decline. The concept of decadence in Europe at the end of the century was not a new one, but rather the culmination of a century or more of gradual decline. In France, where the artistic movement was born and flourished, "decadence" was the final stage of a literary trend which included the writings of the Marquis de Sade, the French Romantics and Baudelaire. In the late eighteenth century, the moral decline which was regarded as widespread in France, and much criticized by Montesquieu and Rousseau amongst others, found its affirmation in the writings of the Marquis de Sade. Unlike Rousseau, the 'divine Marquis' revelled in the lack of moral standards which he saw about him: "1 'etat le plus heureux sera toujours celui oil la depravation des moeurs sera la plus universe 1 le."3 His 10 writing presents a world of sexual perversion, where flagellation, rape, vampirism and castration are regular occurrences, and where gratification is only achieved through brutality and even murder.