Manifestations of Wilhelm Busch‘s Aesthetics in Eduards Traum by Angelika Morris B.Sc., University of Ottawa, 1981 A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS In the Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies © Angelika Morris, 2010 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This thesis may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author. ii Supervisory Page Manifestations of Wilhelm Busch‘s Aesthetics in Eduards Traum by Angelika Morris B.Sc., University of Ottawa, 1981 Supervisory Committee Dr. Angelika Arend, Professor Emerita, Supervisor (Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies) Dr. Helga Thorson, Departmental Member (Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies) Dr. Lisa Surridge, External Examiner (Department of English) iii Supervisory Committee Dr. Angelika Arend, Professor Emerita, Supervisor (Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies) Dr. Helga Thorson, Departmental Member (Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies) Dr. Lisa Surridge, External Examiner (Department of English) Abstract Whether considering Wilhelm Busch‘s famous picture-stories of poetic realism, or his prose works with their satiric grotesque and surrealistic elements, Busch‘s aesthetic views and practices straddle the divide between earlier and contemporaneous forms of art (folk tales, Classicism, Romanticism, Realism) and those akin to late nineteenth and early twentieth century German Moderne. In this thesis, Busch‘s aesthetic views on art and literature are gleaned from a variety of his writings including his mature prose piece Eduards Traum (1891). This study argues that Busch‘s aesthetics in this piece anticipated a number of developments associated with the German Moderne, such as complex narrative techniques, distorted states of time and space, ambiguity, fragmentation, and surrealistic modes of expression. iv Table of Contents Supervisory Page ........................................................................................................................ ii Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ....................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgments ...................................................................................................................... v Dedication .................................................................................................................................. vi List of Abbreviations ................................................................................................................ vii Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Literature Review ....................................................................................................................... 4 Definition of the German Moderne .......................................................................................... 10 My Argument ............................................................................................................................ 14 Thesis Outline ........................................................................................................................... 16 CHAPTER 1: Wilhelm Busch‘s Reception .................................................................................. 20 1.1 Busch‘s Reception During His Lifetime ............................................................................. 20 1.2 Reception After Busch‘s Death .......................................................................................... 27 1.3 North American Reception ................................................................................................. 37 1.4 Summary ............................................................................................................................. 39 CHAPTER 2: Busch‘s Statements on Art and Literature ............................................................. 41 2.1 The Artist and his Sources .................................................................................................. 42 2.1.1 Busch’s Aesthetic Views and Attitudes ........................................................................ 42 2.1.2 Busch’s Sources and Influences ................................................................................... 45 2.1.3 Busch's Views on Art and Representation ................................................................... 49 2.2 The Creative Process .......................................................................................................... 61 2.2.1 Precision ...................................................................................................................... 61 2.2.2 Metaphors and the Artistic Process ............................................................................. 63 2.2.3 Brevity .......................................................................................................................... 65 2.2.4 Simplicity...................................................................................................................... 69 2.3 The Text and its Themes ..................................................................................................... 70 2.3.1 Pleasure and Horror .................................................................................................... 70 2.3.2 Dreams ......................................................................................................................... 73 2.3.3 Busch as Critic ............................................................................................................. 75 2.4 Summary ............................................................................................................................. 81 CHAPTER 3. Eduards Traum: an Interpretation ......................................................................... 84 3.1 The Narrative Structure: Ambiguity and Polyvalence ........................................................ 86 3.2 The Dream Episodes ........................................................................................................... 91 3.2.1 The Dream-Dot-Reality: Altered States of Time and Space ........................................ 91 3.2.2 ―Surreal‖ and ―Grotesque‖ Elements ........................................................................ 95 3.2.3 Schein and Sein as Raison d’être ............................................................................... 101 3.2.4 Ambiguity, Openness and Imagination ...................................................................... 107 3.3 The Poet, the Work of Art, and the Reader in Eduards Traum ........................................ 108 3.3.1. The Poet .................................................................................................................... 108 3.3.2 The Work of Art .......................................................................................................... 113 3.3.3 The Reader ................................................................................................................. 116 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 118 Works Cited ................................................................................................................................ 125 v Acknowledgments I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude to those who have given me of their time, expertise, and friendship over the years. I would like to thank the professors, staff, and students in the Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies at the University of Victoria for their personal and academic support. My supervisor and mentor Dr. Angelika Arend, Professor Emerita, has been most generous with her time and continued to work with me even after her retirement. I sincerely thank her. I wish to thank Dr. Helga Thorson, Dr. Peter Gölz, and Dr. Lisa Surridge (Department of English) for helping me improve my final thesis submission. Thank you for answering my many e-mails so thoroughly and promptly. I have also valued the professional and personal advice of Dr. Serhy Yekelchyk, Dr. Elena Pnevmonidou, Dr. Matthew Pollard, and Gerlinde Weimer-Stuckmann. I wish to thank Irina Gavrilova for both personal and administrative support. I thank Colleen Allen for her time-saving tips on the computer and Rebecca Reed and my daughter Sandra Morris for helping me prepare for my oral examination. It was a pleasant surprise when I received the Germanic Studies Graduate Scholarship at the beginning of my program, followed by a University of Victoria Fellowship in 2005/2006. Thank you to the Faculty of Graduate Studies for their support. I particularly thank my family for their help and patience throughout my studies. Thank you to my husband Patrick Morris, whose proof-reading skills were invaluable, to my son Matthew Morris for his technical help, and to my daughters Kara Levis and Sandra Morris, who have helped in many ways. vi Dedication Books written in the German language were a rare commodity in German-Canadian immigrant households – few were carried with the many families that arrived in Canada after the Second World War. This work,