scholarly journals Der Zauberberg in philosophical, psychological and sociological contexts: an intertextual reading of Thomas Mann

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jessica Macauley
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
Sigmund Freud ◽  
Thomas Mann ◽  
Critical Study ◽  
The Novel ◽  
World War ◽  
Textual Relationships ◽  
Science Philosophy ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Main Protagonist

<p>Life, death, disease and Eros are themes of universal relevance that have been addressed in works of science, philosophy, literature and art throughout recorded human history. In the early 20th century, the unprecedented scale of human extermination during World War I necessitated the adaptation of old ideas to a new reality. This is manifest in the work of the German author Thomas Mann, whose developing ideas on life, death, disease and Eros are clearly apparent in his novel Der Zauberberg (1913-1924).  Der Zauberberg is set at a Swiss tuberculosis sanatorium in the years leading up to World War I. The main protagonist, Hans Castorp, arrives at the sanatorium as a visitor and is subsequently diagnosed with tuberculosis. During his sanatorium stay, Castorp comes into contact with three pedagogic figures: Ludovico Settembrini, Leo Naphta and Mynheer Peeperkorn. These men represent various attitudes towards life, death, disease and Eros. The humanist Settembrini, for example, affirms life but is repulsed by Eros, disease and death; the Jesuit ascetic Naphta glorifies erotic suffering and death while denying life, and the coffee magnate Peeperkorn celebrates life and Eros – yet to a pathological extent. My thesis follows the dialogic clash between the views of these pedagogues, as well as their influence on Hans Castorp, and is divided into sections that relate these views to their sociological implications. After examining the nature of death, life and disease within the novel, I relate these to the novel’s portrayal of society. I follow this with an investigation of the connection between death, life, disease and Eros, and conclude by examining these themes within their sociological context in Der Zauberberg.  The conceptions of life, death, disease and Eros in Der Zauberberg are largely borrowed, following Thomas Mann’s creative technique of “Montage”, which allowed him to incorporate themes, concepts, paraphrased passages and quotations from other thinkers into his own work. These borrowed ideas create a complexity of textual relationships that corresponds to the theory of intertextuality; accordingly, my thesis examines Thomas Mann’s novel from an intertextual angle. Although Der Zauberberg has been the subject of intensive, source-critical study, the newer field of intertextual theory has largely been ignored, notable exceptions being the analyses of Thomas Mann’s works by Barbara Beßlich, Claudia Gremler, Michael Maar and Franziska Schößler. These scholars have narrowed the original, prohibitively wide scope of intertextual theory to enable intertextual analysis of individual texts. Following their example, I limit my definition of the intertext to philosophy, sociology and psychology, specifically to the works of the philosopher-poet Novalis (Friedrich von Hardenberg), of the philosophers and sociologists Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzsche, and of the psychologist and sociologist Sigmund Freud. My analysis of Der Zauberberg identifies connections to the intertexts within the novel, and examines how clearly these are presented and what form they take. Most importantly, I investigate the heuristic impact of the novel’s intertextuality, that is, how the intertextual relationships in Der Zauberberg influence the reader’s interpretation of both the nature of life, death, disease and Eros, and their effect on culture in the novel.</p>

scholarly journals Der Zauberberg in philosophical, psychological and sociological contexts: an intertextual reading of Thomas Mann

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jessica Macauley
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
Sigmund Freud ◽  
Thomas Mann ◽  
Critical Study ◽  
The Novel ◽  
World War ◽  
Textual Relationships ◽  
Science Philosophy ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Main Protagonist

<p>Life, death, disease and Eros are themes of universal relevance that have been addressed in works of science, philosophy, literature and art throughout recorded human history. In the early 20th century, the unprecedented scale of human extermination during World War I necessitated the adaptation of old ideas to a new reality. This is manifest in the work of the German author Thomas Mann, whose developing ideas on life, death, disease and Eros are clearly apparent in his novel Der Zauberberg (1913-1924).  Der Zauberberg is set at a Swiss tuberculosis sanatorium in the years leading up to World War I. The main protagonist, Hans Castorp, arrives at the sanatorium as a visitor and is subsequently diagnosed with tuberculosis. During his sanatorium stay, Castorp comes into contact with three pedagogic figures: Ludovico Settembrini, Leo Naphta and Mynheer Peeperkorn. These men represent various attitudes towards life, death, disease and Eros. The humanist Settembrini, for example, affirms life but is repulsed by Eros, disease and death; the Jesuit ascetic Naphta glorifies erotic suffering and death while denying life, and the coffee magnate Peeperkorn celebrates life and Eros – yet to a pathological extent. My thesis follows the dialogic clash between the views of these pedagogues, as well as their influence on Hans Castorp, and is divided into sections that relate these views to their sociological implications. After examining the nature of death, life and disease within the novel, I relate these to the novel’s portrayal of society. I follow this with an investigation of the connection between death, life, disease and Eros, and conclude by examining these themes within their sociological context in Der Zauberberg.  The conceptions of life, death, disease and Eros in Der Zauberberg are largely borrowed, following Thomas Mann’s creative technique of “Montage”, which allowed him to incorporate themes, concepts, paraphrased passages and quotations from other thinkers into his own work. These borrowed ideas create a complexity of textual relationships that corresponds to the theory of intertextuality; accordingly, my thesis examines Thomas Mann’s novel from an intertextual angle. Although Der Zauberberg has been the subject of intensive, source-critical study, the newer field of intertextual theory has largely been ignored, notable exceptions being the analyses of Thomas Mann’s works by Barbara Beßlich, Claudia Gremler, Michael Maar and Franziska Schößler. These scholars have narrowed the original, prohibitively wide scope of intertextual theory to enable intertextual analysis of individual texts. Following their example, I limit my definition of the intertext to philosophy, sociology and psychology, specifically to the works of the philosopher-poet Novalis (Friedrich von Hardenberg), of the philosophers and sociologists Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzsche, and of the psychologist and sociologist Sigmund Freud. My analysis of Der Zauberberg identifies connections to the intertexts within the novel, and examines how clearly these are presented and what form they take. Most importantly, I investigate the heuristic impact of the novel’s intertextuality, that is, how the intertextual relationships in Der Zauberberg influence the reader’s interpretation of both the nature of life, death, disease and Eros, and their effect on culture in the novel.</p>

scholarly journals Thomas Mann - Gennem krigens sygdomme mod en ny humanisme

2018 ◽  
pp. 47-64
Author(s):  
Rasmus Navntoft
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
Nobel Prize ◽  
Nobel Prize Winner ◽  
Thomas Mann ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Main Character ◽  
World War ◽  
Major Work ◽  
New Humanism

The German author and Nobel Prize winner Thomas Mann (1875-1955) perceived World War I as a moral battle against the civilization project rooted in the European enlightenment. Like many other German intellectuals of that time, Mann stresses an opposition between the concept of culture and that of civilization – this conflict is seen as inherent in the European soul – and defends Germany’s right to remain a culture that does not evolve into a civilization. The concept of culture can contain irrational features such as mystical, bloody and terrifying teachings, whereas civilization is characterized by reason, enlightenment, skepticism and hostility towards passion and emotion. In his major work The Magic Mountain (1924) however, Mann tries to overcome this opposition and displays, through the metaphors of the text, that a new humanism is dependent upon a mystical and completely illogical balance between culture and civilization. The main character of the novel does not succeed in finding this balance. But, nonetheless, Mann continues to see the possibilities of a new humanism through this perspective in order to point out a humanistic hope in the shadesof two European world wars.

„Zurück zu Schleiermacher! und von Schleiermacher aus vorwärts!“

2012 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brent A. R. Hege
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
World War I ◽  
The State ◽  
World War ◽  
Psychological Method ◽  
Dialectical Theology ◽  
Complex Picture ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Definition Of

AbstractAs dialectical theology rose to prominence in the years following World War I, the new theologians sought to distance themselves from liberalism in a number of ways, an important one being a rejection of Schleiermacher’s methods and conclusions. In reading the history of Weimar-era theology as it has been written in the twentieth century one would be forgiven for assuming that Schleiermacher found no defenders during this time, as liberal theology quietly faded into the twilight. However, a closer examination of this period reveals a different story. The last generation of liberal theologians consistently appealed to Schleiermacher for support and inspiration, perhaps none more so than Georg Wobbermin, whom B. A. Gerrish has called a “captain of the liberal rearguard.” Wobbermin sought to construct a religio-psychological method on the basis of Schleiermacher’s definition of religion and on his “Copernican turn” toward the subject and resolutely defended such a method against the new dialectical theology long after liberal theology’s supposed demise. A consideration of Wobbermin’s appeals to Schleiermacher in his defense of the liberal program reveals a more complex picture of the state of theology in the Weimar period and of Schleiermacher’s legacy in German Protestant thought.

Did Mikhail Sholokhov Write The Quiet Don?

2020 ◽  
pp. 209-230
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
World War I ◽  
Russian Revolution ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Russian Civil War ◽  
World War ◽  
Unpublished Manuscript ◽  
Nobel Committee ◽  
Magnum Opus

This chapter discusses the novel “The Quiet Don” and the controversy over its authorship. It briefly recounts some of the relevant events of World War I, the Russian Revolution of 1917, and the Russian Civil War. The chapter focuses on Soviet writer Mikhail Sholokhov who was awarded by the Nobel Committee in 1945 for the literature prize on his magnum opus, the four-volume The Quiet Don. It also looks into the initial claim that Sholokhov stole the book manuscript for The Quiet Don in a map case that belonged to a White Guard who had been killed in battle. It talks about an anonymous author known as Irina Medvedeva-Tomashevskaia, who wrote several historical studies and claimed that Sholokhov had plagiarized an unpublished manuscript of Fedor Dmitrievich Kriukov.

scholarly journals The Impact of World War I on Middle East “Arabs” in Awwad’s “Al-Raghif”: A Cultural Perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-36
Author(s):  
Lateef Wisam Hamid
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
World War I ◽  
Great War ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Cultural Perspective ◽  
World War ◽  
War Narrative ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Great War

Abstract My paper will explore the genre of war narrative from a cultural perspective, namely the impact of the Great War on Arabs in the novel Al-Raghif (The Loaf’) in 1939 by the Lebanese novelist Tawfiq Yusuf Awwad, as it is the first Arabic novel which is totally concerned with WWI and its longlasting consequences: hunger, despair and the elusive promise of freedom to Arabs.

scholarly journals Powieść historyczna pod czujnym okiem cenzora – analiza tekstów

Adeptus ◽  
2015 ◽  
pp. 11-25
Author(s):  
Thibault Deleixhe
Keyword(s):  
Historical Novel ◽  
Literary Work ◽  
Literary Form ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Spectral Character ◽  
Romantic Period ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Main Protagonist

The historic novel under the vigilance of the censor – analysis of textsThis article focuses on the relation that Jacek Bochenski’s historical novel entitled The poet Naso published in 1969 presents towards the concept of censorship. In the article the author aims at proving that the understanding of censorship by Bochenski is similar to the observations of the Hungarian essayist Mikos Haraszti. Tracking the allegoric references scattered through the novel, the author of the article reconstructs Bochenski’s reflection about this internalized censorship and checks its convergence with Haraszti’s remarks. From this exercise emerges a definition of the role of the artist that seems to be inherited from the romantic period: an artist as a person that subordinates himself unconditionally to art, and not to the temporal power. The author of the article then interrogates the respect which Bochenski has been showing to his definition in his literary work. It appears that the writer has been prone to make bigger concessions in order to soften the reception of his book by the censors than he advises his writing colleagues. However, the literary strategies deployed by Bochenski operate on two levels: creating an overall ambiguity about the guilt of its main protagonist, they tend to soften its reception by the censorship; while at the same time, rendering this overall atmosphere of ambiguity, they give a literary form to the spectral character of the guilt of the artist, who – as in Ovidius’ case – is permanently accountable for what he has not yet done in the building of communism. Powieść historyczna pod czujnym okiem cenzora – analiza tekstówArtykuł poświęcony jest  powieści historycznej Jacka Bocheńskiego pt. Nazo poeta z roku 1969 i jego rozumieniu pojęcia cenzury uwewnętrznionej. Autor artkułu udowadnia, że ujęcie problemu cenzury przez Bocheńskiego jest zbliżone do konstatacji węgierskiego eseisty Miklósa Harasztiego. Tropiąc alegoryczne odniesienia do cenzury rozproszone w tej powieści, autor artykułu odtwarza refleksję Bocheńskiego i sprawdza jej zbieżność z uwagami Harasztiego. Z rekonstrukcji wyłania się, zapożyczona z okresu romantyzmu, definicja artysty jako osoby bezwarunkowo podporządkowanej sztuce, a nie władzy. Autor artykułu testuje czy Bocheński pozostaje wierny tej definicji we własnej twórczości i uwypukla skłonność pisarza do ustępstw mających na celu złagodzenie odbioru jego dzieła przez cenzurę. Są to ustępstwa większe od tych, które zdaje się zalecać swoim kolegom po fachu. Strategie literackie, które stosuje Bocheński, działają jednak na dwóch płaszczyznach. Tworząc niejednoznaczność winy głównego bohatera powieści, łagodzą jej odbiór przez cenzurę, a jednocześnie – kreując tę niejednoznaczność – pozwalają na literackie przedstawienie widmowego charakteru winy artysty, który jest zawsze odpowiedzialny – tak jak Owidiusz – za to, czego jeszcze nie zrobił. W tym wypadku czego nie zrobił dla budowy komunizmu.

scholarly journals Między wyobraźnią romantyczną a literacką moderną. Georg Groddeck w lustrze psychoanalizy

Schulz/Forum ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 144-154
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Więckiewicz
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
Sigmund Freud ◽  
Literary Tradition ◽  
The Other ◽  
Writing Strategies ◽  
World War ◽  
The Unconscious ◽  
Writing Genres ◽  
Entire Theory ◽  
German Physician

The aim of the present paper is to introduce the theory of a German physician and so-called “wild psychoanalyst” Georg Groddeck. During World War I, after contacting Sigmund Freud, Groddeck has started to develop his own psychoanalytic theory in his scientific as well as literary writings. In 1923 he published a novel entitled The Book of the It (Das Buch vom Es), in which he discussed and reinterpreted Freud’s theory. By introducing the category of the “It” (das Es), Groddeck aimed to elaborate on Freud’s concept of the unconscious, which he considered too restricted and reduced to what the Viennese psychoanalyst defined as the conscious and the preconscious. The author points out to the importance of the discussion between Freud and Groddeck, which began as early as in 1917 in their letters. The publication of The Book of the It coincide with Freud’s treatise The Ego and the Id (Das Ich und das Es) written the same year. The author analyzes the similarities as well as the differences between Freud’s and Groddeck’s concepts of the It (das Es). Groddeck’s theory is presented in the light of German philosophical and literary tradition. The paper addresses the problem of Groddeck modernist writing strategies, such as combining psychoanalysis with literature and with different life-writing genres which are seen as his way to create a new language in the scientific discourse of his time. The author emphasizes the importance of two main categories in Groddeck’s writings, which have animated his entire theory. One is imagination, deeply rooted in romanticism, the other is self-analysis related to the modernist understanding of autobiography. While imagination represents Groddeck’s general doubt in the objectivity of science, especially in a linear progress in medicine, self-analysis is linked to his conviction that every discourse – not only literary, but also philosophical or psychoanalytic, has an autobiographical, hence also intimate dimension.

scholarly journals THE FAMILY NARRATIVE IN THE NOVEL “BUKOVA ZEMLYA” [BEECH LAND] BY MARIYA MATIOS

2020 ◽  
pp. 42-46
Author(s):  
Likhomanova N.O.
Keyword(s):  
Group Living ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
The Novel ◽  
World War ◽  
Family Stories ◽  
Family Narrative ◽  
The Family ◽  
Home Village ◽  
Individual Features ◽  
Definition Of

The purpose of the research is to define “family narrative” term; to analyze its structure as well as typological features in “Bukova Zemlya” [Beech Land]. Panorama-novel covering 225 years” by M. Matios published in 2019.Methods have been designed in compliance with the key principles of narratology (particularly, works by Roland Barthes, Gérard Genette, Yury Lotman, Vladimir Propp, Wolf Schmid, etc), the inter-relation of narration types as well as the implemented forms of memory’s reproduction.Results. The author of the research has suggested a definition of “family narrative” term as a form of transformation of cultural, historical and communicative memory. The author has identified and analyzed its structure, key functions, typological and individual features using “Bukova Zemlya” novel by M. Matios. The text of the novel is built as a linear narrative of four families during 225 years in XVIII-XX centuries at the territory of Bukovyna (currently, in the South-West of Ukraine). According to G. Genette’s typology, the impartiality of the story is achieved via conducting a narration on behalf of a heterodiegetic narrator in an extradiegetic situation. Combination of a family and a historical narratives is typologically manifested through detailed descriptions of ancestry trees; family stories; ethnography-styled descriptions of customs and every-day living of Hutsuls [an ethnic group living in Caprathian mountains of Ukraine or nearby]. The author also mentions well-known historical figures, uses testimonies of the individuals who lived in those times found in archive sources on the First World War, protests, rallies and riots in 1918; describes the events of the Second World War, anti-Soviet Resistance in Bukovyna and finishes the novel with the events of the War in Donbas in 2014. Following the classification approach by G. Genette, M. Matios applies an internal focalization of a plural type. In particular, the views of the various characters are presented from the perspective of a heterodiegenetic narrator. For example, one of the novel’s chapters describes a cross-cutting theme of war simultaneously both as viewed by a peasant, Dariy Berehovchuk, and by an ambassador, Nikolay Vasylko. The family narrative includes specific typology features as “sine qua non” components of the plot: birth, marriage, re-location (home/village/city/home country), hardships (diseases, famines, the Holocaust, wars), death. The author’s specific elements of her view upon the family narrative include the themes of Land, the God and belief, Language, Ethnicity (including the topic of multiple ethnic groups living in Bukovyna). The novel also has such popular elements for a family narrative as images of twins (or twin strangers) and some borrowed traditional features of folk epic tales: cases of “magical recognition” and “magical prophecy” for a future of a kin.Conclusions. The family narrative of M. Matios’ novel includes both typology and individual features. It is built in compliance with the structure of the internal focalization of plural type. The narration is presented as conducted by a heterodiegentic narrator in a extradiegenetic situation. Hence, an impartiality of a narration and a subjectivity of a discourse in present time provides for realization of “I”-presence of a reader and avoiding idealization and mythologization of a family narrative, which are quite traditional for it.Key words: narration, heterodiegenetic narrator, historical narrative, cultural memory, communicative memory. Мета – визначити поняття «родинний наратив», проаналізувати його структуру та типологічні ознаки у творі М. Матіос «Букова земля. Роман-панорама завдовжки у 225 років» (2019).Методи дослідження формуються відповідно до основних положень наратології (праці Р. Барта, Ж. Женетта, Ю. Лотмана, В. Проппа, В. Шміда та ін.), взаємозв’язку типу нарації і втілених форм репродукції пам’яті.Результати. У процесі дослідження було запропоновано дефініцію поняття «родинний наратив» як форми трансформації культурної, історичної та комунікативної пам’яті. Визначено та проаналізовано його структуру, основні функції, типологічні та індивідуальні ознаки на прикладі роману М. Матіос «Букова земля». Зазначено, що текст побудований у формі лінійного наративу історії чотирьох родів протягом 225 років на території Буковини XVIII–XXI століть. Об’єктивність викладу досяга-ється, за типологією Ж. Женетта, завдяки нарації від імені гетеродієгетичного наратора в екстрадієгетичній ситуації. Типо-логічною ознакою є поєднання родинного та історичного наративів, що демонструється через детальний опис родоводів, сімейних історій, етнографічного опису побуту та звичаїв гуцулів, згадок про відомих осіб, використання свідчень сучасників з архівних джерел подій Першої світової війни, протестів, мітингів і заворушень 1918 р., подій Другої світової війни, істо-рії антирадянського опору на Буковині та завершення оповіді роману подіями війни на Донбасі у 2014 р. За класифікацією Ж. Женетта, в романі використано внутрішню фокалізацію множинного типу, а саме подаються погляди різних персонажів із точки зору гетеродієгетичного наратора. Наприклад, наскрізна тема війни в одному з епізодів роману одночасно описується з погляду селянина Дарія Береговчука і посла Николая Василька. Типологічними ознаками родинного наративу є і неодмінні складники сюжету: народження, одруження, зміна місця (дому/села/міста/батьківщини), випробування (хвороби, голод, голо-кост, війна), смерть. Виразними елементами авторського погляду на родинний наратив стали теми землі, Бога і віри, мови, національності (зокрема, і тема багатонаціональної буковинської землі). У романі присутні і такі поширені елементи родин-ного наративу, як образи близнюків (або двійників), а також запозичені усталені ознаки сюжетів народного епосу – епізоди чарівного упізнання і магічного передбачення майбутнього роду.Висновки. Родинний наратив роману М. Матіос містить типологічні та індивідуальні ознаки, формується відповідно до структури внутрішньої фокалізації множинного типу. Нарація подається у викладі гетеродієгетичного наратора в екстрадієге-тичній ситуації. Таким чином, об’єктивність оповіді та суб’єктивність дискурсу теперішнього часу дає змогу втілитися ефекту «я»-присутності читача та уникнути традиційної для родинного наративу ідеалізації та міфологізації.Ключові слова: нарація, гетеродієгетичний наратор, історичний наратив, культурна пам’ять, історична пам’ять, комуні-кативна пам’ять.

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