The Postsecular Traces of Transcendence in Contemporary German Literature Thomas R. Bell A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2015 Reading Committee: Dr. Sabine Wilke, Chair Dr. Richard Block Dr. Eric Ames Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Germanics ©Copyright 2015 Thomas R. Bell University of Washington Abstract The Postsecular Traces of Transcendence in Contemporary German Literature Thomas Richard Bell Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Sabine Wilke Germanics This dissertation focuses on texts written by four contemporary, German-speaking authors: W. G. Sebald’s Die Ringe des Saturn and Schwindel. Gefühle, Daniel Kehlmann’s Die Vermessung der Welt, Sybille Lewitscharoff’s Blumenberg, and Peter Handke’s Der Große Fall. The project explores how the texts represent forms of religion in an increasingly secular society. Religious themes, while never disappearing, have recently been reactivated in the context of the secular age. This current societal milieu of secularism, as delineated by Charles Taylor, provides the framework in which these fictional texts, when manifesting religious intuitions, offer a postsecular perspective that serves as an alternative mode of thought. The project asks how contemporary literature, as it participates in the construction of secular dialogue, generates moments of religiously coded transcendence. What textual and narrative techniques serve to convey new ways of perceiving and experiencing transcendence within the immanence felt and emphasized in the modern moment? While observing what the textual strategies do to evoke religious presence, the dissertation also looks at the type of religious discourse produced within the texts. The project begins with the assertion that a historically antecedent model of religion – namely, Friedrich Schleiermacher’s – which is never mentioned explicitly but implicitly present throughout, informs the style of religious discourse. Formulating religion with an emphasis on the subjective appeal to “Anschauung” (Intuition) and “Gefühl” (Feeling), he provides a Romantic reaction to the Enlightenment, and his response shares structural and thematic similarities to what we find in the postsecular position towards secularism. The dissertation shows that certain contemporary German texts – as they enter into and inform dialogue in the public sphere (Jürgen Habermas) by attempting to find a publicly acceptable language to speak about and critique religious sensibilities – participate in a postsecular religious discourse with its own underlying response to the modern, secular age. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS As I look back on this writing process I am especially grateful for Dr. Sabine Wilke and what she did to promote the development of my intellectual curiosity. She consistently provided me with constructive feedback on my writing and offered suggestions that challenged me to explore new ideas and alternative ways of understanding texts. Another individual who offered a tremendous amount of support during my four years in Münster was Dr. Martina Wagner-Egelhaaf. Through our inspirational discussions I came away with renewed motivation to write. I would also like to acknowledge Dr. Eric Ames for the considerable amount of time he invested in reading my chapters and providing commentary. The precision with which he approached the writing task increased my personal expectations. Additionally, Dr. Richard Block was constantly supportive throughout my graduate training, and I enjoyed the opportunity to learn from him. I also deeply appreciate those peers of mine who participated in the writing colloquia at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster and at the University of Washington; particularly, I would like to mention Olivia Albiero, Constanze Bartsch, Seth Berk, Julia Bodenburg, Eva Esseling, Katharina Grabbe, Japhet Johnstone, Verena Kick, Jasmin Krakenberg, Tristan Weigang, and Kerstin Wilhelms. Their feedback and encouragement were more than helpful throughout this journey. Finally, I would like to mention my family that supported me throughout these years of exploration. DEDICATION for my dad TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction: The Postsecular Moment………………………………………………..1-58 Chapter One: Nature and Materiality as Sources of Religious Reflection; Sebald’s Die Ringe des Saturn and Schwindel. Gefühle.………………………………….59-137 Chapter Two: Inscribing Transcendence at the Limits of Science; Kehlmann’s Die Vermessung der Welt ……………………………………………………..138-220 Chapter Three: A Subject and his Projected Image of an Absolute Metaphor; Lewitscharoff’s Blumenberg ……………………………………………...221-289 Chapter Four: The Intuition of Transcendence Unveiled through a Subjective Performance; Handke’s Der Große Falle…………………………………290-354 Concluding Remarks: The Postsecular in the Contemporary German Novel……..355-364 Works Cited………………………………………………………………………..365-385 Bell 1 Introduction The Postsecular Moment Daniel Kehlmann’s global bestseller Die Vermessung der Welt (2005) has as one of its themes the age-old contest between science and religion.1 The narrator positions his protagonists as secular; they are scientists. Carl Friedrich Gauß (1777-1855) was a German mathematician, and Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) was a Prussian geographer, naturalist, and explorer. Throughout the text these protagonists endeavor to obtain and contain knowledge. Without reverting to supernatural explanations, they strictly employ the scientific method and scientific tools to acquire epistemological certainty. At the same time, the narrator fuses together the religious and the rational when presenting certain moments. This becomes particularly lucid at one key point in the novel. With his travelling companion Pilâtre, Gauß rides in a hot air balloon up into the atmosphere, arriving ultimately at a heightened position, which becomes religiously coded. Before their flight, Gauß is nervous. Pilâtre asks if he is praying. No, replies Gauß, “Er zähle Primzahlen” (65). Due to the looming uncertainty involved in traveling upwards to an unknown region, he is anxious and perhaps slightly fearful; nevertheless, he remains scientific. Numbers provide stability. As the journey commences, the two scientists ascend upwards. At their apex, Pilâtre says, “So sieht Gott die Welt” (66). Gauß is speechless: “er hatte keine Stimme mehr” (66). Space, “der Raum selbst” (66), absorbs his attention. He wants to remain in this elevated position with this voyeur-godlike perspective (De Certeau 92). The mathematician, a figure symbolic of the rational, enlightened thinker, experiences at this border location his scientific revelation of non- 1 See Soboczynski. Bell 2 Euclidean space: “Er…begriff zum erstenmal, was Bewegung war, was ein Körper, was vor allem der Raum, den sie zwischen sich aufspannten und der sie alle, auch ihn, Pilâtre und diesen Korb, umfaßt hielt” (67). Positioned beyond, the protagonist occupies a transcendent location, from which he arrives at his scientific revelation that shapes the subsequent trajectory of the novel. In this scene, we vividly see how the narrator conflates religious imagery with scientific discovery. With this performance the narrator imbues his text with a transcendent moment that provides an alternative, “postsecular” perspective. It is widely assumed, and rightly so, that the modern West is secular.2 The same is true of its various cultural spheres, including literature. So, why should we now describe German-speaking literature as “postsecular?” Indeed, the very idea would appear to be contextually out of place, as a “post,” when positioned towards the secular, would seemingly herald the end of secularism and those generally accepted positive advancements accompanying it. Yet, the term does provide a timely conceptual framework for understanding how contemporary literature, while recognizing secularism and its insistence on scientific positivism, points to the limits of empirical reality and provides an alternative way of reading and perceiving the world. Of particular interest for this project is how German sociologist and philosopher Jürgen Habermas uses the term in his Dankesrede for the Friedenspreis des deutschen Buchhandels.3 For him it describes a 2 Philosopher Richard Rorty offers a forthright explanation for why the West’s secularization has been a necessary good to be embraced: “It was a good thing for both religion and science that science won the battle…science gives us the means to carry out better cooperative social projects than before” (Future 39). 3 Later in this introduction I provide a detailed assessment of the term “postsecular.” At this point it should be noted that the term is not unique to Habermas. Andrew Greely first Bell 3 society involved in adapting itself to the “Fortbestehen religiöser Gemeinschaften in einer sich fortwährend säkularisierenden Umgebung” (Glauben und Wissen 10).4 Here, Habermas contends that religious communities have a continuing presence in secular society. In another one of his works, Zwischen Naturalismus und Religion, he conceives postsecular society as one embracing both religious and secular mentalities (116). He encourages secular citizens to recognize that they live in a postsecular – i.e. religiously inflected – society (139), and he calls upon religious individuals to realize their position in an increasingly secular environment. Consequently, he advocates for a complementary learning process (140). Within this contextual framework, as society secularizes,