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The Indistinct Image of the Golem: an Aspect of the Uncanny

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The Indistinct Image of the Golem: an Aspect of the Uncanny THE INDISTINCT IMAGE OF THE GOLEM: AN ASPECT OF THE UNCANNY SHELLEY FOWLES Ph.D 2010 THE INDISTINCT IMAGE OF THE GOLEM: AN ASPECT OF THE UNCANNY SHELLEY FOWLES A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Brighton for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. October 2010 ABSTRACT The Golem is a creature formed by a rabbi out of mud or clay (although it can be made of wood). It is an enduring and favourite subject in Jewish folklore, and it has proved invaluable in its power to reflect the vicissitudes of history. The Golem can take many forms, but is always powered by a magic or holy word. The tale usually ends with the destruction of the creature, but hints of its probable return usually haunt and disrupt any sense of finality. The most famous and enduring version of the story was set in the Prague Ghetto, and was a favourite subject for German Expressionist artists. This is because it reflected a time when the old and the new combined in uncanny and disturbing ways. The Golem story was popular with Romantic writers like E.T.A. Hoffmann, who were similarly reacting to a world that was changing under the influence of Enlightenment thinking and war. Sigmund Freud’s famous essay, ‘The Uncanny’, (‘Das Unheimliche’) of 1919, used Hoffmann’s classic Golem tale, The Sandman, as its central focus, though Freud was never to acknowledge its Jewish origins. The thesis looks at Freud and his German/Jewish identity, and analyses what the Golem tales can tell us about the uncanniness of identity in a broader sense. Here I consider subjects like Nationalism, anti-Semitism, and Zionism in the light of the Golem myth. The Golem has represented the concerns and ideas of those who have re-told this story, while maintaining the illusion that it is unchanged and unchanging, and in this way it can be seen to reinforce Roland Barthes’ ideas about mythology. The thesis argues that the various versions of the Golem myth reflect and influence the ideology of the period in which they appear. Furthermore, as the Golem can be female as well as male, my analysis of identity extends to gender, and in this context the thesis deals with feminist theory, and how it relates to the “uncanniness” of women according to Freud and others. The Golem tales reveal new insights into philosophy and its relationship to psychoanalysis, and I consider these. The thesis examines, from a metaphysical point of view, spectral and uncanny architectural space, notably that of the Prague Ghetto, which has been the focus of attention by Anthony Vidler. Here I consider Paul Wegener’s film, Der Golem and Gustav Meyrink’s novel on which it was based. The uncanny is also something that is experienced through and with the body, and this insight provides the research with a bridge between the project’s theoretical and practical elements. From my point of view, the Golem’s most interesting quality lies in this process of becoming that never reaches resolution, so I came to the decision that my practice should be used to demonstrate and evoke uncanny irresolution directly, as an experience. The practical research takes the form of a DVD containing two films. The first film aims to show and explain how my practice developed into its final form and, in the process, reflected my theoretical findings. The other film develops a key theme from Meyrink’s The Golem, and employs some of Wegener’s ideas about “absolute film”. I have aimed, through theory and praxis, to express ideas of the illusive and uncanny nature of identity which, as Martin 2 Heidegger noticed, is a continuous and fragile process of becoming that has, for its setting, the terrifying emptiness of an abyss of non-existence. 3 CONTENTS Page: ABSTRACT 2 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 8 DECLARATION 9 INTRODUCTION 10 CHAPTER 1 – SIGMUND FREUD AND THE GOLEM MYTH INTRODUCTION 21 FREUD AND JEWISH THOUGHT 21 EXPRESSIONISM AND THE RELATIONSHIP OF JEW TO GERMAN 25 GERMAN/JEWISH MYSTICISM, THE SANDMAN AND ‘THE UNCANNY’ 31 THE GOLEM AND THE ID 36 FATHERS AND SONS 38 RAISING THE DEAD 41 CONCLUSION 45 CHAPTER 2 - IDENTITY AND THE UNCANNY INTRODUCTION 47 THE UNCANNINESS OF IDENTITY 47 FREUD AND HIS JEWISH HERITAGE 49 SANDER GILMAN AND THE STEREOTYPING OF THE JEW 51 DIFFERENCE AND PATHOLOGY AND THE STEREOTYPE 53 WHAT IS A JEW? 55 FREUD - DEFIANCE AND IDENTITY 56 FREUD AND “THE OVERCOMING” OF JEWISH TRADITION 58 JULIA KRISTEVA AND THE QUESTION OF IDENTITY 60 THE SABBATIAN MOVEMENT 62 INTERPELLATION AND PRACTICE 64 CONCLUSION 66 3 CHAPTER 3 - THE GOLEM AS MYTHOLOGY INTRODUCTION 70 THE GOLEM MYTH AND JEWISH HISTORY 70 THE MAHARAL VERSION OF THE GOLEM TALE 74 THE GOLEM AND ANTI-SEMITISM 75 THE GOLEM AND THE SCREEN 78 THE MYTHS OF DEFENSIVE ZIONISM 81 FANTASY AND ZIONISM 82 JEWS AND “THE OTHER” 84 FREUD AND ZIONISM 86 CONCLUSION 88 CHAPTER 4 - THE FEMALE GOLEM INTRODUCTION 92 OZICK’S FEMALE GOLEM AND JEWISH TRADITION 92 OZICK, DERRIDA AND LEVINAS - THE POSSIBILITY OF OTHERNESS 96 THE UNNAMEABLE 99 “JEWISH” AND “GREEK” THOUGHT 102 THE WOMAN AND THE PHILOSOPHER 103 THE WOMAN AS VEHICLE OF SPEECHLESSNESS AND DEATH 105 MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS 108 FREUD, THE MOTHER AND THE DEATH DRIVE 111 LACAN, KRISTEVA AND THE MATERNAL 114 CONCLUSION 116 CHAPTER 5 – DISLOCATION AND THE UNCANNY INTRODUCTION 123 THE ABYSS 124 GERMAN PHILOSOPHY AND THE UNKNOWABLE 126 UNCANNY ALIENATION 128 THE SANDMAN AND THE SHATTERING OF REALITY 130 PHILOSOPHY AND THE UNCANNY 131 4 TWO WORLDS 134 ROMANTIC LONGING 138 HOFFMANN AND THE SPLIT SELF 140 WEGENER, MEYRINK AND HOFFMANN - LOCATING THE GOLEM 141 MEYRINK AND THE OCCULT 147 CONCLUSION 149 CONCLUSION 154 BIBLIOGRAPHY 160 APPENDIX - DVD SOURCES AND TECHNICAL PRODUCTION 166 5 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. 1: Hugo Steiner-Prag. The Golem. 1915. Printed book with eight lithographs. two copies 25.3 x 19.9 x 2.6 cm. each. G. Meyrink, Der Golem (Leipzig: Kurt Wolff Verlag, 1915). Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, New York. Collection Mark Podwal, New York. E.D. Bilski, Golem! Danger, Deliverance and Art (New York: The Jewish Museum, 1988). 58. Fig.32. Print Fig. 2: Hugo Steiner-Prag. One of two studies of the Golem’s face. 1915. Ten drawings with the golem theme. Charcoal and chalk on paper. Statni zidovske muzeum v Praze/State Jewish Museum, Prague. E.D. Bilski, Golem! Danger, Deliverance and Art (New York: The Jewish Museum, 1988). 58. Fig. 33. Print. Fig. 3: Hugo Steiner-Prag. The Golem. 1915. Printed book with eight lithographs 25.3x19.9x2.6 cm. each. G. Meyrink, Der Golem (Leipzig: Kurt Wolff Verlag, 1915). G. Meyrink, The Golem (New York: Dover Publications Inc., 1976). Print. Fig.4: Hugo Steiner-Prag. The Golem. 1915. Printed book with eight lithographs 25.3x19.9x2.6 cm. each. G. Meyrink, Der Golem (Leipzig: Kurt Wolff Verlag, 1915). G. Meyrink, The Golem (New York: Dover Publications Inc., 1976). Print. Fig.5: Hugo Steiner-Prag. The Golem. 1915. Printed book eight with lithographs 25.3x19.9x2.6 cm. each. G. Meyrink, Der Golem (Leipzig: Kurt Wolff Verlag, 1915). G. Meyrink, The Golem (New York: Dover Publications Inc., 1976). Print. Fig.6: Hugo Steiner-Prag. lithograph. Illustration from the story of Der Sandmann The reproduction rights for this edition was held by The Heritage Press, Avon, Connecticut. The 43 lithographs appeared in Tales of Hoffmann, Limited Editions Club, New York 1943. E.T.A. Hoffmann, Der Unheimliche Gast – und andere Erzahlugen. (Munchen: Winkler Verlag, 1976) 39. Print. Fig.7: Alfred Kubin. Etching. Illustration for the story of Der Sandmann. (n.d.) E.T.A. Hoffmann, Zwei Nachtstücke (Munchen: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag GmbH & Co, Mai 1980) 7. Print Fig.8: Alfred Kubin. Drawing from Die Andere Seite. (n.d.) A. Kubin, Die Andere Seite, (Munich: Georg Müller, 1923). This illustration was originally drawn for Meyrink’s Der Golem, but never used. G. Meyrink, The Golem, trans. Madge Pemberton (New York: Dover Productions, 1967). Print 5 Fig.9: Paul Klee. Carnival in the Mountains. 1924. Watercolour. 26.5 x 33cm. Kunstmuseum, Paul Klee Foundation. Bern. C. Naubert-Riser, Klee (London: Studio Editions Ltd., 1988) 83. Print. Fig 10: E.T.A. Hoffmann. Der Sandmann (n.d.). Drawing. Illustrations in this text are drawings by E.T.A. Hoffmann, reproduced from W.Steffen and Hans von Müller. Handzeichnungen E.T.A. Hoffmanns in (Berlin: Faksimiledruk 1925) E.F. Bleiler (ed.), E.T.A. Hoffmann, The Best Tales of Hoffmann (New York: Dover Productions, 1967) 187. Print. Fig.11: Still from Der Golem. Paul Wegener. 1920. Taken from a version of the film which was fully restored, digitally remastered and transferred to DVD by Eureka Video, 2003 Fig 12: Hugo Steiner-Prag. At the Master’s Grave. 1916. Der Golem. Prager Phantasien/The Golem. Prague Fantasies.At the Master’s Grave. Lithograph. 1916. Portfolio 33.7 x 24.2 cm. Collection Peter Tumarkin, New York. E. D. Bilski, Golem! Danger, Deliverance and Art (New York: The Jewish Museum, 1988) 57. Print. Fig.13: Sigmund Freud. Diagram. S. Freud, New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis, trans. J. Strachey (London: Penguin Books, 1991) 111. Print. Fig.14: Diagram of Kabbalistic Attributes. G. Scholem, On the Mystical Shape of the Godhead: Basic Concepts in the Kabbalah (New York: Shocken Books, 1991) 44. Print. Fig.15: Christian Boltanski. Golem. 1988. Mixed media installation; includes copper and projected light. Approx. 2.8 x 4 x 4.8m. Lent by the artist, Paris. E. D. Bilski, Golem! Danger, Deliverance and Art (New York: The Jewish Museum, 1988) 108.
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