Myth Puzzles and Stone Pieces - Modes of Citation in Hermann Broch's Die Schuldlosen Tabea Weitz Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2017 © 2017 Tabea Weitz All rights reserved ABSTRACT Myth Puzzles and Stone Pieces - Modes of Citation in Hermann Broch's Die Schuldlosen Tabea Weitz This dissertation examines modes of citations in Hermann Broch's work Die Schuldlosen. Focusing on the topoi of romanticism and myth, I discuss tensions between Hermann Broch's theoretical arguments and his last literary work. These tensions are an expression and formal manifestation of an auctorial attempt to implement his self-declared principles of literature, such as the creation of epistemological value, the depiction of world totality, and the creation of a new form of expression, a new language, and a new myth. In each chapter, I focus on a different topos relevant to Broch's work Die Schuldlosen. With the help of close readings and a genetic analysis of the work, I demonstrate how Broch creates the unreliable citations that serve his goals. The first chapter illuminates the tension between Broch's theoretical works and Die Schuldlosen concerning the topos of romanticism. In a case study on stone imagery, I ask whether Broch's modes of citing romanticism can be considered a productive intermediate step to creating a new form. I show that Broch's citations can be qualified as unreliable citations, and how structural correspondences intensify their effect on the reader’s experience. The chapter ends with a discussion of the political function of Broch's citations. The second chapter deals with Broch's concept of myth and discusses the tension between Broch's declared intention to develop a new myth and his actual use of existing myths in his works. In two case studies, I trace Broch's citations of the Faust myth and the Don Juan myth. I show that one can understand Broch's specific citations of myth as an experiment to explore how the interruption of a recurring cultural cycle would allow for a new form to develop. Table of Contents INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................1 METHODOLOGY..........................................................................................................................................8 PROJECT PURPOSE.................................................................................................................................. 12 BROCH'S VIENNA.................................................................................................................................... 17 CHAPTER 1: FORBIDDEN TRACES: ROMANTICISM IN BROCH'S TEXTS .............. 25 ROMANTICISM IN BROCH'S THEORETICAL WRITINGS.................................................................... 26 ROMANTICISM IN BROCH'S DIE SCHULDLOSEN. CASE STUDY OF A ROMANTIC TOPOS: STONES IMAGES..................................................................................................................................................... 36 Stone Imagery in Die Schuldlosen..............................................................................................38 References to Romanticism...........................................................................................................46 Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................51 BROCH'S MODES OF CITING ROMANTICISM ...................................................................................... 55 Unreliable Images - Unreliable Citations................................................................................55 Structural Correspondences .........................................................................................................73 Ironized Citations..............................................................................................................................89 Arbitrary Citations......................................................................................................................... 104 Conclusion: Broch's Citation Practices.................................................................................. 115 BROCH'S MODES OF CITATION AS POLITICAL INTERVENTION ....................................................122 Hermann Broch as Political Author ....................................................................................... 122 The Discourse on the Role of Romanticism for the Rise of Facism............................ 126 Broch's Specific Political Intervention .................................................................................. 131 INTERLUDE: FROM CAMPE TO BARTHES: BROCH'S CITATIONS AS META- EXPERIENCE..........................................................................................................................141 CHAPTER 2: MYTH AS CULTURAL CITATION PRACTICE AND BROCH'S BROKEN CULTURAL CYCLE ................................................................................................................152 TERMINOLOGY: BROCH'S CONCEPT OF MYTH ................................................................................153 CASE STUDY: REFERENCES TO THE FAUST MYTH..........................................................................161 Importance of the Faust Myth for Broch.............................................................................. 161 Broch's References to and Variation of the Faust Myth ................................................ 166 Functions of Referencing the Faust Myth and the Tasks of Literature................... 183 Conclusion - Faust Myth .............................................................................................................. 199 CASE STUDY: CITATIONS OF THE DON JUAN MYTH........................................................................203 Conclusion - Don Juan Myth....................................................................................................... 212 FUNCTION OF BROCH'S CITATION OF MYTHS .................................................................................215 CONCLUSION.........................................................................................................................226 BIBLIOGRAPHY....................................................................................................................232 i List of Tables Table 1 Genetic Classification of Die Schuldlosen....................................................................170 ii Acknowledgments I would like to thank everybody who has contributed to the success of this project through support and suggestions. I would not have been able to finish this dissertation without you. I would like to acknowledge my sponsor Professor Mark Anderson, whose ongoing support made the writing of this dissertation possible. I also wish to thank my second reader and committee member, Professor Oliver Simons, for his outstanding mentorship and unceasing belief in my project. I also wish to thank Professors Harro Mueller and Walter Frisch for their willingness to serve on my committee and for their thoughtful suggestions for improving this project. I would also like to express my gratitude to my committee member Professor Thomas Herold for his incredibly insightful and constructive feedback on my dissertation. iii Dedication To my parents & Eternal love and the universe. iv Introduction This dissertation is motivated by the observation of a tension between Hermann Broch's theoretical texts and his literary text Die Schuldlosen regarding important topoi1 of literature. Broch, an avid theoretical thinker, developed his literary theories over decades and presented them in numerous essays with a determination that his critics admired.2 And yet, his literary piece seems to free itself from this dogma, offering a new take on the topoi that is at times covertly dissonant, and at times overtly confrontational with Broch's theoretical thoughts. Does Broch simply expand his theoretical discussions into his literary work, thus 1 I define the term topos to mean a commonplace in literature that has appeared in literary and art works over centuries, has thus established a fixed space and is endowed with a set of recognizable characteristics. As a result, its appearance in texts activates collective memory. Authors can use topoi, among others, as a means of establishing an intertextual reference, as well as expressing their auctorial standpoint through demarcating or referencing existing topoi. The theoretical discussion about the term topos remains an issue of contention in academic circles. Traditionally, the term topos in rhetorics meant a "Suchformel für das Finden von Argumenten" but it had always also had the meaning of a "sprachliche Formulierung mit allgemein anerkannter kulturspezifischer Bedeutung" (Reallexikon der deutschen Literaturwissenschaft. Vol. 3. 1997, 649). Important contributions to the discourse were made by Ernst Robert Curtius, who made the term a center of scholarly attention in the middle of the 20th century and pointed out the significance of literary commonplaces as a link between European literature and medieval rhetoric.1 He defined topoi as "Klischees, die literarisch allgemein verwendbar sind" and which exist "über alle Gebiete des literarisch erfaßten und geformten Lebens" (Curtius 1948, 77).