The Importance o f Romantic Aesthetics for the Interpretation o f Thomas Bernhard's „Ausloschung. Ein Zerfall“ and „Alte Meister. Komodie “

A dissertation submitted for the award o f the PhD degree

Sylvia Kaufmann University College London May 1996

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CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

Acknowledgements III

Abstract IV

List of Abbreviations V

Preface VI

Int roduct ionTHOMAS BERNHARD - A MODERN ROMANTIC?

1. The Legacy of Romanticism 5

1.1. An Historical Outline of Romantic Art andits Critique 5

1.2. The Aesthetics of Romanticism 15

1.3. Recreating Unity - Romantic Philosophy andthe Artist’s Quest 20

1.4. The Evolution of the Aesthetic Subject 33

1.5. Romantic Forms of Expression 39

1.5.1. The Infinite Process of Art 39

1.5.2. The Fragment as Aesthetic Form 41

1.5.3. Irony and Literary Critique 43

2. Thomas Bernhard and Austria. Extinction ofthe Past? 50

3. "Ausloschung" - Extinction or Re-creation ofthe Subject? 62

3.1. The Narrative 62

3.2. The Destruction of Identity in "Ausloschung" 70

3.3. Identity as Failure - The Fragmentationof the Subject 77

3.4. Towards an Imposition of Order on ChaosBernhard’s Paranoic Projects 88

CHAPTER PAGE

3.5. The Self as Fictional Construct 97

3.6 Structural Principles in "Ausloschung" 109

3.6.1. The Text as Quotation 109

3.6.2. The Use of Paradox 116

3.7. Conclusion: Failure as Creative Potential 119

4. "Alte Meister" - A Comedy of Art 121

4.1. "Alte Meister" - The Novel in the Context ofBernhard’s Literary Development 121

4.1.1. The Setting 127

4.2. Reger - The Universal Romantic Artist 134

4.2.1. The Romantic Image of the Solitary Artist 144

4.3. Art as Fragment 150

4.4. Comedy and Irony 158

5. Conclusion - How Romantic is the Postmodern? 165

Bibliography 174

Ill

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Martin Swales, for his continuing support and invaluable advice.1 am also very grateful to Dr. Adrian Stevens, who was always willing to discuss my thesis and offer suggestions.

IV

Abstract

Since the early 1980's, in the context of discussions of the modern and the postmodern, the aesthetics of German Romanticism have gained widespread currency - particularly in their application to recent narrative fiction. Certain key questions have moved insistently to the forefront of attention: the notion of the incompleteness of the work of art, of creativity as an infinite process, of the de-centred subject (in contradiction to the Cartesian subject), of the fragment as a legitimate aesthetic mode, of criticism as a necessary part of the creative project. All these themes and problems recur in contemporary writing, but nowhere more urgently than in the works of Thomas Bernhard.This thesis is concerned to demonstrate the striking affinity that obtains between the aesthetics of Friedrich Schlegel and Novalis and certain key texts of Bernhard.

Three issues are singled out as essential terms of comparison: the problematic concept of subjectivity, thenotion of language and imagination as vitally complicit in the creation of identity, and the theory of self-reflexive art. For the purposes of detailed textual analysis, the thesis concentrates on two late works of Bernhard "Ausloschung. Ein Zerfall" bears witness to the destruction of the biographical subject and its subsequent re-creation as an aesthetic subject. The protagonist of the novel, Franz- Josef Murau, embodies the (characteristically Bernhardian) arrogant, obsessive individual who, for all his manically self-assertive presence in the text, fails to establish a coherent and stable identity. Bernhard insists, then, on the failure of identity, the extinction of selfhood and the irreversible fragmentation of the subject Murau. In response to the dismantling of the self, Bernhard explores processes of aesthetic or intellectual construction - only to expose them as hopeless projects. Ultimately, even the notion of aesthetic perfection or closure is called into question. These issues are also central to "Alte Meister. Komôdie". Here Bernhard suggests the idea of infinite approximation and exponential incompletion as the last refuge of individual potential. Yet, in the last analysis, the desire for self­creation and the search for truth are transmuted into a self- ironic exposure of the artificial nature of both art and subjectivity. The knowing, se 1f-thematizing artistic play with language remains the only defence against the sheer contingency of experience.

Abbreviations

AM.................................. Alte Meister. KomodieAmr............... AmrasAusl Ausloschung. Ein ZerfallBet.................................................. Be tonBi Die BilligesserErz........................................ ErzahlungenFr................................................ FrostGe................................................ GehenHf............................... Holzfallen. Eine ErregungIdH................. In der Hdhe. Rettungsversuch, UnsinnItal Der ItallenerJa................................................... JaKa....................... Die Kalte. Eine IsolationKe Der Keller. Eine EntziehungKi.......................................... Ein KindKo........................................... KorrekturKom................... 1st es eine Komodie?, in: ErzahlungenKu........................................ Der KultererKw........................................ Das KalkwerkMdg................. Die Macht der Gewohnheit, Stücke 1Mid................. Midland in Stilfs, in: ErzahlungenMin............................... Minetti, Stücke 2Ort........................ Am Ortler, in: ErzahlungenSt................................. Der StimmenimitatorUg........................... Der UntergeherUng........................................... UngenachUrs Die Ursache. Eine AndeutungVerst....................................... VerstorungVdR Vor dem Ruhestand, Stücke 3Wat............................... Watten. Ein NachlaBWN................................ Wittgensteins Neffe

VI

Preface

It is, I think, appropriate for me to preface this thesis with a few remarks concerning its method and scope. Essenti­ally my aim is to read to late texts by Thomas Bernhard in the light of a particular corpus of concerns deriving from Romantic aesthetics. We know that Thomas Bernhard was aware of - and drawn to - the work of a number of German writers of the Romantic period - Novalis in particular. And I do on occasion, where appropriate, refer to this demonstrable indebtedness. But it cannot be stressed too strongly that I am not primarily concerned with "Rezeptionsgeschichte". In essence, this thesis is a study in creative affinity. And its chief claim is that certain aesthetic tenets, advanced by Friedrich Schlegel and Novalis, can help us to understand key preoccupations in Bernhard’s narrative art. While it would have been possible for me to draw on a number of narrative works by the Romantic writers for comparative purposes (such as, for example, Brentano’s "Godwi”), I have elected to confine my choice of Romantic texts to theoretical rather than fictional works because I feel that many of the thematic preoccupations of Romantic fiction have no counterpart in Bernhard’s narrative world.

As far as Bernhard’s oeuvre is concerned, I restrict myself to the prose narratives. This is not in any sense meant as a disparagement of his dramas; but I find that they have, on occasion, a political and personalized cutting edge that is not pertinent to my inquiry. Of his fictional works, it is the two late texts, "Ausloschung. Ein Zerfall" and "Alte Meister. Komodie" which concern me. I have taken the liberty of treating them in defiance of the chronology of their publication; "Ausloschung" appeared in 1986, and "Alte Meister" in 1985. But the offence is less weighty than it may seem, if for no other reason than that the planning of "Ausloschung" went back a number of years before it assumed its final form. In this sense it is an earlier work than "Alte Meister".

VII

A final word about the divide of a century and a half that separates the aesthetic writings of the Romantics from the work of Thomas Bernhard. I am well aware that there are a number of important talents active in the intervening years who transmit many of the stylistic, thematic, and philosophi­cal issues addressed by the Romantic generation to the period in which Bernhard was writing (roughly 1963 to 1986). Key figures in this process of intellectual mediation are Kierkegaard, Heidegger, and Wittgenstein. But none of them lend themselves to easy or brief summary. And I was wary of the thesis expanding to unmanageable proportions. I am aware that my restriction of focus tends to imply that Bernhard as it were "received" the Romantics undiluted, unmediated. This of course is not the case. But, to repeat the point I have already made: this thesis is not a study in literary andphilosophical reception. Rather, it is concerned with affinities. And I readily acknowledge that there are more affinities in play than I had time and space for in the confines of this thesis.

THOMAS BERNHARD - A MODERN ROMANTIC?Introduct ion

Since the publication of his first novel "Frost" in 1963 Thomas Bernhard has attracted the attention of a large number of readers and literary critics.From the beginning of his literary career Bernhard simultaneously enchanted and irritated, even repelled the public. He became the ’enfant terrible' of the literary scene and an almost permanent annoyance to Austrian officials. His personal statements and particularly the staging of several plays often created public scandals and furore in the press.Critics labelled him an inveterate "Untergangshofer" and "Alpenbeckett"*) in their diverse attempts to come to terms with the complex, but intriguing works of Thomas Bernhard and moreover, characterized him as "den gnadenlosesten Schimpfer und Raunzer gegenwartiger deutscher Zunge"^\ His standard image became that of a misanthropic recluse, obsessed with topics such as disease, death, debilitation and madness. In general, Thomas Bernhard was perceived as an author who displayed nothing but contempt for his surroundings, including his critics and readers.Today, it is indisputable that Bernhard has captured a place in contemporary German-language literature as one of its still controversial, but highly acclaimed and widely

1) Bernhard had published three volumes of poetry, several short pieces in prose and journalistic writings, but it was the publication of "Frost" which established him as an important novelist and which first attracted serious attention for him,

2) The scandals and lawsuits are numerous. As the atost popular one can cite the lawsuitfiled against Bernhard by his former friend the composer Gerhard Lampersberg over "Holzfallen", which resulted in a temporary ban on the sale of the book in Austria, See: "Der Spiegel", 19 November 1984, Bernhardts remarks upon receiving the Austrian Nationalpreis 1968 caused the Secretary of State to leave the audience with the somewhat helpless outcry "wir sind trotzdem stolze Osterreicher", see: Jens Dittaar, "Der skandalôse Bernhard. Dokumentation eines offentlichen Argernisses", in: Text und Kritik, Vol. 43, München 1982, p, 76,

3) Jurgen P, WalImann, "Thomas Bernhiu'd, Die Erzahlungen", in: Literatur und Kritik,Vol. 143, 1980, p. 186.

4) Eckhard Henscheid, "Der Krypto-Komiker", in: Pardon, Vol. 6, 1973,

2

discussed authors.Over the last decades no other Austrian writer has aroused such an immense interest in his work and personality and, at the same time generated such constant controversy about his stand on political and social issues as well as about his literary work. Apart from his notorious accusations and abuse of the Austrian state and its representatives, Bernhard developed a unique literary style which is without equal in contemporary German literature. Although Bernhard appeared throughout his life as a critical and cynical commentator on political and social events in his home country, he was not predominantly concerned with everyday public issues, but with the development of his literary project, which to a great extent can be seen as a philosophic and linguistic experiment.^The essential problem in Bernhard's poetics, equally apparent in his early poems, the novels, the autobiographical writings and the plays, is the status of the subject and the problem of identity. A theme which became prominent and was widely discussed for the first time in the literature and philosophy of the Romantic period and, as I shall argue, is still an extremely explosive topic in contemporary writings and in art in general.There is, however, a development from the early works, such as "Frost" (1963), "Amras" (1964), "Prosa" (1967), "Verstorung" (1967) and "Ungenach" (1968) to the last texts "Holzfallen", "Alte Meister" (1985) and "Ausloschung" (1986), which can be interpreted in terms of a gradual progression towards a more ironic and humorous position.

In the following I shall analyze the impact of Romantic tradition on the poetics of Thomas Bernhard. I shall consider

5) Although some of these are now incomplete, the best essay-collect ions on Bernhardare: Anneliese Botond, ed, "Ober Thomas Bernhard”, (Frankfurt/Main 1970); Bernhard Sorg, "Thomas Bernhard”, (München 1992); Manfred Jurgensen, ed. "Thomas Bernhard. Annaherungen”, (Bern 1981); Text + Kritik, No. 43, "Thomas Bernhard", (München1982); Jens Dittmar ed,, "Thomas Bernhard. Werkgeschichte", (Frankfurt/Main 1981); Kurt Bartsch; Dietmar Goldschnigg; Gerhard Melzer eds., "In Sachen Thomas Bernhard", (Konigstein/Taunus 1983); See also the new biography: Hans Holler, "Thorns^Bernhard", (Seinbek bei Hamburg 1993).

6) See Gerhard vom Hofe; Peter Pfaff, "Das Blend des Polyphem. Zum Thema der Subjektivitat bei Thomas Bernhard, Peter Handke, Wolfgang Koeppen und Botho StrauO", (Konigstein/Taunus 1980).

to what extent Romantic thought and a general Romantic disposition recur in modern poetic discourse and whether Bernhard tries to rescue and revitalize the notion of the subject in his fiction.The term ’Romantic’ in this thesis mainly refers to the early Romantic period (Jenaer Friihromant ik ) , represented by Friedrich Schlegel and Novalis, although consideration is also given to a second generation of Romantics, namely Heinrich von Kleist, Clemens Brentano and Caroline von Günderrode. My discussion will be mainly based on theoretical texts produced between 1798 and 1802.^^Additionally, it is important to mention that Thomas Bernhard showed a particular attraction to the work of Novalis, and a significant connection between both writers can be observed with regard to their philosophy of death and illness.^" This, however, should not be taken to mean that I view Bernhard asa kind of Romantic epigone. My aim is to show significantaffinities between Bernhard’s works and Romantic theory, which on the one hand may shed more light on Bernhard’s writings and on the other hand may show that the literary- philosophic discourse around 1800 has lost none of its resonance for contemporary literature.

I shall concentrate on three basic criteria that are centralto Romantic theory and will show in what form and to whatextent they can still be traced in Bernhard’s writings.In a first part I shall analyze the question of subjectivity. Taking the last and most substantial of Bernhard’s novels ”Auslôschung. Ein Zerfall" as a basis of analysis, it will be asked, whether Bernhard, like the Romantics, ultimately tries to rescue the idea of a coherent subject. Does he, despite postmodernist and deconstructivist theory, attempt to create

7) For an overview of most recent developments in the research on Romanticism see the introduction by Klaus Peter in: Klaus Peter ed,, ”Romantikforschung seit 1945”, (Konigstein/Taunus 1980).

8) Bernhard frequently refers to Novalis as one of the authors he particularly admires. Some plays, the two narratives ”Amras” and ”Die Billigesser” as well as the autobiographical work ”Die Kalte, Eine Isolation” are preceded by quotations from Novalis, In the novel ”Das Kalkwerk” Konrad’s wife is exclusively reading ”Heinrich von Ofterdingen”, her ”Lieblingsdichter”, In ”Ausloschung” the very first volume the protagonist Franz-Josef Uurau buys for his new library in Rome is also Novalis’ "Heinrich von Ofterdingen”,

a notion of identity in the making of art?

Subsequently, I shall concentrate on formal aspects developed in early Romantic theory, such as the self-reflexivity of art, the form of the fragment and Romantic irony. All these aspects will be discussed in the context of Bernhard’s text "Alte Meister" (1985), in which the legacy of German Romanticism is significantly incarnated as a comedy of self- ref lexivity.Thirdly, the aspects of comedy and humour analyzed on a formal level, will be identified as the most important stylistic and rhetorical techniques operative in the text.

"Wir sehen daher, der Name roaicuitisch nag nun alt oder von den Schlegels er- funden sein, überall keinen vemünftigen Orund, von einer Bezeichnung abzuweichen [...], deren angebliche Unklarheit und Nebelhaftigkeit hier cun wenigsten sto- rend ist, da ja das Roaantische selbst, nach alien Seiten ins Unendliche aus- laufend, sich nirgend in feste und be­st iamte Begriffsgrenzen einengen laBt"

(Eichendorff)

1. The Legacy of Romanticism1.1. An Historical Outline of Romantic Art and its

Critique

"Whatever else is said about the Romantic movement, no one can deny that it really did h a p p e n . T h e s e defensive words are to be found in the introduction to William Vaughan’s substantial work on "Romantic Art" and they highlight the uncertain nature of the word "romantic", the history of its use and, above all, the essence of Romanticism as a period or as a state of mind. Unlike other literary periods Romanticism is not an easily identifiable, homogenous movement in the history of art. A clear definition of its distinctive features always aroused controversies among scholars and literary critics.Romanticism proper was a universal movement developing in the last decades of the eighteenth and the first decades of the nineteenth century. A precise definition of Romanticism as a literary period however, has already produced a long scholar­ly debate about its beginnings and the time of its alleged end. Some literary historians confine the temporal scope of German Romanticism to the four decades from 1795 to 1835.^^ Other Germanists suggested the year 1798 as the birth of Romanticism. In that year the brothers Friedrich and August

1) William Vaughan, '’Romantic Art”, (London 1978), p. 9.

2) Walter Claues, "Deutsche Literatur”, (Zürich 1966), 1795 is the year Ludwig Tieck published ”Die Geschichte des H e r m William Lovell” and Jean Paul his "Hesperus”, The full impact of "William Lovell”, was not felt, however, before positively ack­nowledged in Friedrich Schlegel’s journal "Athenâum” (Fragment 418), The date set for the demise of Romanticism is equally arbitrary as no major downfalls of the movement occurred in that year.

Wilhelm Schlegel began to publish their pioneering literary and philosophic journal "Athenâum", Fichte had finished his revised version of the "Grundlage der gesamten Wissenschafts- lehre" (1795) as well as the "System der Sittenlehre" (1798). One year after the "Ideen zu einer Philosophie der Natur"(1797) Schelling published his second monumental work dealing with the world soul "Von der Weltseele, eine Hypothese der hôheren Physik" (1798), Wilhelm Heinrich Wackenroder had already published his "HerzensergieGungen eines kunstlie- benden Klosterbruders" in 1796, which was an immediate success, particularly among the younger artists of that time, and Ludwig Tieck published "Franz Sternbalds Wanderungen". The year 1835 set for the demise of Romanticism seems largely arbitrary, as all major works were published before 1830 and the most influential works establishing the theoretical background of a Romantic literature all appeared before 1805 including the literary journals "Athenâum" (1798-1800) and "Europa" (1803-1805).1805 also marks the approximate end of the early phase of Romanticism with its centres in Jena and Berlin. Later these centres shifted to Heidelberg (1805/1807)^ and again back to Berlin (1807/1811)^% where the movement acquired new energy and a more political orientation. The growing preoccupation with social and historical themes is also discernible in the Romantic journals "Phobus" (1808) and the "Berliner Abend- blâtter" (1810/1811) both edited by Heinrich von Kleist. After 1815 most groups and literary circles disintegrated and a more nationalistic and regressive tone prevailed in the literary production of that time. Ludwig Uhland (1787-1862) wrote the "Vaterlândische Gedichte" (1817), Ernst Moritz Arndt, Theodor Korner and Joseph Gorres produced ballads and

3) Clemens Brentsuio, his wife Sophie Mere&u, Achim von Arnim and Joseph Gorres lived in Heidelberg, Friedrich Carl von Savigny, a lawyer, founder of the "historische Rechtsschule" and later minister of Justice of the Prussian state, Georg Friedrich Creuzer and the brothers Grimm were closely connected with the Romantics,

4) In Berlin Brentano, Arnim and Kleist met frequently and were joined by Adelbert von Chamisso, Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué and from 1814 B,T,A, Hoffmann; Berlin was also the place of literary circles, where particularly well educated Jewish women such as Rahel Varnhagen and Henriette Herz hosted philosophers, poets, scientists, diplomats and others in their salons, which became well-known cultural and social centres. See Inge Hoffmann-Axthelm, ”’Geisterfamilie’, Studien zur Geselligkeit der FrUhromantik", (Frankfurt 1973),

poems to stimulate a unifying national feeling. During the Wars of Liberation (1813-1814), the "Wiener KongreB" (1814/15) and the subsequent foundation of the "Deutsche Bund" (1815), many authors tried to harmonize spiritual and social contradictions of the German people by the help of a particular concept of "Volkspoesie"^\ The German past was invoked in order to create a common identity and supported a new national consciousness which still lacked the reality of a political unification. The congress of Vienna re-establis­hed the balance of power in Europe and basically reinstated those monarchs who had been in power before the French Revolution. The resolutions of 1815 destroyed all hopes for a democratic or republican development, as all reforms were limited to territorial reorganization. The historical outcome was a period of restoration and a radical suppression of all liberal tendencies culminating in Metternich’s "Karlsbader Beschliisse" (1819) which undermined any democratic develop­ment.®^ At the same time an increasing popular interest in folk-songs and fairy-tales can be noted. Influenced by Clemens Brentano’s and Achim von Arnim's collection of early German songs "Des Knaben Wunderhorn" (1805/1808), the brot­hers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm published the famous "Kinder- und Hausmarchen" (1812/1815). Wilhelm Hauff (1802-1827) produced a collection of fairy-tales, the "Mârchenalmanach für Sôhne und Tôchter gebildeter Stânde” (1826/28) which made the genre of "Kunstmarchen"^^ widely known and brought its author a large success. Some of these fairy-tales are still part of the children’s books and the literature for younger readers today and belong to the current literary canon in German education. Achim von Arnim wrote "Die Kronenwachter" (1817), a novel that centres upon the resurrection of the

5) Hugo Moser, "S&ge und Màrchen in der deutschen Romantik", in: Hans Steffen ed,, ''Die deutsche Romantik, Poetik, Formen und Motive”, (Gôttingen 1978), pp, 257,

6) See Hans Ulrich Wehler, ”Deutsche Oesellschaftsgeschichte”, Vol. 1, ”Vom Feudalismus des Alten Reiches bis zur defensiven Modernisierung der Reformara, 1700-1815”, (München 1987), pp, 506,

7) Volker Klotz, ”Das europaische Kunstmarchen, Funfundzwanzig Kapi tel seiner Geschichte von der Renaissance bis zur Moderne, (Stuttgart 1985). See also Reiner Wild, "Wer ist der Ràuber Orbasan? Oberlegungen zu Wilhelm Hauffs Marchen”, in: ”Athenaum, Jahrbuch für Romantik”, Ernst Behler; Jochen Horisch; Günter Oesterle eds.. Vol. 4, 1994, (Faderborn 1994), pp, 349,

8

realm of the Staufer and the preservation of their crown as a warrant of national unity. With the death of Wackenroder(1798), Novalis (1801), Kleist (1811) and E.T.A.Hoffmann (1822), the latter never fully identified with the movement, and the retreat of the Schlegels into the field of science and religion Romanticism lacked the power for intellectual renewal. A widespread tendency to trivialize Romantic motives, themes and forms can be traced in the popular literary production between 1815 and 1820 till new literary styles, the beginning "Biedermeier" and the "Junge Deutsch­land" began to dominate the literary s c e n e . T h e r e are however single authors such as Ludwig Tieck and Clemens Bren­tano who continued to be productive after 1820. Yet, after he had left Berlin in 1818 Brentano entirely concentrated on religous literature in the didactic mode (Tendenz1iteratur) and recorded the visions of a stigmatized nun.®^ One of the most popular Romantic authors Joseph von Eichendorff had by that time only published his first novel "Ahnung und Gegen- wart" (1815) and the narrative "Das Marmorbild” (1819). The greater part of his writings was produced in the 1820s, and it was only in 1826 that "Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts" was first published in its entirety.

The definition of Romanticism as a literary period seems difficult, as the above survey may suggest. Part of the pro­blem lies in the difficulty of deciding whether to look upon Romanticism as an explicit period (Epoche) or movement, or as a symptom of the times and a certain state of mind. In a major publication at the end of the 1970s scholars of Romanticism reached the conclusion;

"Der Begriff Romantik ist demnach als Epochenbegriff untauglich, zumal er vom Romantischen als Stilbegriff nicht genau abzusetzen ist."^®^

8) See Jost Heraand; Manfred Windfuhr eds,, "Zur Literatur der Restaurâtionsepoche, Forschungsreferate und Aufsatze", (Stuttgart 1970),

9) Wolfgang Fruhwald, "Das Spatwerk Clemens Brentanos (1815-1842), Romantik im Zeitalter der Metternichschen Restauration", (Tiibingen 1977),

10) Richard Brinkmann ed,, "Romantik in Deutschland, Ein interdisziplinares Symposion", special edition of DVjs,, (Stuttgart 1978), p, 421,

In 1833 Heinrich Heine asked: "Was war aber die romantische Schule in Deutschland?"^^ He himself was a disaffectedRomantic and a member of the progressive "Vormarz"-group and he was among the first who formulated a polemically negative response to Romanticism. Although fascinated by authors such as Novalis and Brentano he criticised the Romantic movement for its esoteric poetic interest, its revival of medieval poetry in combination with political ignorance and itsinability to confront the present circumstances.^^* Heine almost deliberately overlooked the prophetic terminology of Friedrich Schlegel and his brother August Wilhelm andcynically accused the younger Schlegel of lacking theintellectual capacity to understand the art of the present time:

"Aber allés was Gegenwart ist, begreift er nicht; hochstens erlauscht er nur etwas von der Physiogno­mie, einige auBere Züge der Gegenwart, und das sind gewohnlich die minder schônen Züge; indem er nicht den Geist begreift, der sie belebt, so sieht er in unserm ganzen modernen Leben nur eine prosaische Fratze.

In his analysis of the origins of conservative ideas Karl Mannheim identifies Romanticism together with historicism as one of the most crucial and dominating features of German thought throughout the nineteenth century, and still influen­tial in the twentieth century:

"Das ’deutsche Denken’ ist seit dem 19. Jahrhundert dermaBen romantisch und historistisch, daB sogar

11) Heinrich Heine, ”Die romantische Schule”, in: Heinrich Heine, ”Samtliche Schriften”, Klaus Briegleb ed,, (Frankfurt/Main, Berlin 1981), Vol. 5, p, 361,

12) Friedrich Nietzsche distinguished the same lack of feeling for the present (Oegenwartslosigkeit), when analyzing Wagner’s "Meistersinger. In his essay "Jenseits von Gut und Bose”: ”ein rechtes echtes Wahrzeichen der deutschen Seele, die zugleich Jung und veraltet, übermürhe und überreich noch an Zukunft ist, Diese Art von Musik drûckt am besten aus, was ich von den Deutschen halte: sie sind von vorgestern und von iibermorgen, - sie haben noch kein Heute, ” Friedrich Nietzsche, ”Werke in vier Bânden”, Gerhard Stenzel ed, , (Salzburg 1983), 8, Hauptstiick, p, 242,

13) Heinrich Heine, "Die Romantische Schule”, op.cit,, p, 413,

10

seine eigene, im Lande gewachsene Opposition noch tief in diesen Denkformen steckt."^^^

In Mannheim’s theory this assumption, which gained general acceptance, particularly after the Second World War, is combined with an inclination to disregard the specific innovative elements of Romanticism and instead underlines its backward, regressive features. Shortly after the end of the war, Thomas Mann drew on and sharpened these ideas. In his novel "Doktor Faustus” (1947) he interpreted the regressive and backward-looking elements of Romanticism as a political and cultural paradigm of the Germans. German thought in general has been identified with the spirit of Romanticism starting with Hamann, Herder and Savigny to Heinrich Heine and Karl Marx. Thus, in the twentieth century Romanticism is still perceived as an essentially irrational, anti-modern and backward oriented way of thinking. The American historian Gordon A. Craig repeated this verdict in his successful book "Ober die Deutschen” (1982) when he warned of the inherent irrationalism, despair of civilization and the hostility to rational debate prevailing in German thought. For Craig, as for most historians and sociologists of the twentieth century. Romanticism is not only the key feature of German thought, it is also one that dominates the academic, in­stitutional discourse. It embodies, in Craig’s opinion, an anti-rational, anti-modernist, deeply pessimistic and poli­tically naive attitude, still at work today. He writes; "denn

14) Karl Meoinheim, ”Konscrvatismus. Bin Beitrag zur Soziologie des Wissens'*, David Kettler, Volker Ueja, Nice Stehr eds., (Frankfurt/Main 1984), p. 142.

15) See Karl Heinz Bohrer, "Die Kritik der Romantik. Der Verdacht der Philosophie gegen die literarische Moderne", (Frankfurt/Main 1989), pp. 284.

16) Franz Werfel with a view to Richard Wagner also blamed the evil spirit of Romanticism for political backwardness and a lack of liberalism. In 1924 he wrote: "Der Geist der Romantik hat iiber den Geist von Achtundvierzig gesiegt, Der Geist der Romantik, Verbündeter aller heiligen Allianzen, Knecht Jeder zweifelhaften Autoritat, dieser Geist des Wahnsinns, sofern Wahnsinn die Flucht vor der Wirklichkeit bedeutet, dieser Damon unaufgeraumter und deshalb schwulstiger Gemuter, dieser Narzissus der Tiefe, dem der Abgrund ein IQsterner Kitzel ist, dieser Gott der Verwicklung und Wider- klarheit, dieser Abgott erstorbener Sinnlichkeit, verbotener Reize, scheinhei1iger Gebàrden, krankhafter Vergewaltigungen, der bose Geist der Romantik, terroristisch von rechts und links, diese Pest Europas hat die lebenswilligste Jugend besiegt, um heute noch zu herrschen.", in: "Verdi. Roman der Oper", (Frankfurt/Main 1992), p. 31/32.

17) See Herbert Schnadelbach, "Philosophie in Deutschland 1831-1933", (Frankfurt/Main1983).

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die Romantik hat im gegenwartigen Deutschland erkennbare und beunruhigende Formen angenommen". Romanticism and its aftermath of populist, nationalistic thinking still runs the risk of being globally condemned as a movement of anti­intellectual, self-obsessed artists out of touch with reality. Karl Heinz Bohrer describes this attitude with its particular positivist and teleological notion of truth as foilows;

"Die bedeutenden Philosophen, Historiker und Soziolo- gen haben die Romantik hundert Jahre lang negativ bestimmt unter dem Kriterium ihres eigenen Wirklich- keits- und Wahrheitsbegriffs [...]. Sie haben, wie wir sehen werden, gerade das Romantisch-Asthetische und das Romantisch-BewuBtseinsanalytische negativ gegenuber dem Ethischen, dem Logischen, dem Pol iti- schen als den Bestimmungsmerkmalen ihres Realitats- begriffs ausgegrenzt: namlich als unethisch, unlo- gisch, unpolitisch, d.h. als unwirkl ich.

The same prejudices regularly recur in public debates, as most recently repeated by the French philosopher Alain Finkielkraut^°\ In the monumental exhibition "The Romantic spirit in German art. 1790-1990" shown in Edinburgh, London and Munich aspects of Romanticism were irritatinglymixed in order to suggest that symbolic landscape paintings served as a precursor of the official art of the Third Reich. The theoretical criteria of Romanticism remained vague and the exhibition did not help to illuminate the affinities of modern art to Romaticism, since the genesis of the artistic ideas and motifs in the Romantic period were not sufficiently explained. Instead, the political aspects such as the problem of national identity, glorification of the past, memorials to

18) Gordon A, Craig, "Ober die Deutschen", (München 1982), p. 217,

19) Karl Heinz Bohrer, "Die Kritik der Romantik, Der Verdacht der Philosophie gegen dieliterarische Moderne", op,cit,, p, 23,

20) Alain Finkielkraut, "La défaite de la pensée", Paris 1987, p,13, pp,39,

21) See the exhibition catalogue "The Romantic Spirit in German Art 1790-1990", K,Hartley; H,M, Hughes; P.K, Schuster; W, Vaughan eds,, 1994,

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German heroes etc, dominated the image of Romanticism.^^^ As noted in one of the BBC documentary features:

"The German Romantic search for a national cultural identity and national mythology, with the emphasis on intuition and emotion at the expense of reason, all reappear in perverted form in Nazi ideology.

The insistence on the opposition in principle between ideas of Enlightenment and Romanticism also dominated the debate in German literary history. As Julius Petersen wrote in 1926:

"Der Mensch von heute darf schwerlich als Romantiker bezeichnet werden. Aber mehr noch vielleicht als damais fühlt er in seinem Antiintellektualismus, in seinem Gegensatz gegen Rationalismus, Mechanismus und Materialismus, in seinem religiosen und metaphysi- schen Drang nach ewigen Werten und in seinem Streben, die Dinge von innen zu sehen, eine Wahlverwandt- schaft, die ihn zur alten Romantik treibt."^^^

An image of Romanticism as drawn by Petersen might explain why this art was singled out by Nazi propaganda to represent the national values of the Germans. Yet, it does not allow us to interpret Romanticism as a prefascist movement. Moreover, it reveals a profound misunderstanding of certain central features of Romanticism which have survived up to the present. The positivist historical perspective is insuffi­cient to analyze Romanticism in terms of poetic and literary criteria which were neglected until the early twentieth century. As Karl Heinz Bohrer observes:

"Die Kritik der Romantik im Zeichen eines teleolo- gischen Idealismus und historischen Positivismus bedeutete eine Verhinderung der Moderne als Kontin- genzbewuBtse in, also das BewuBtsein vom Zufall und Zerfall, wie es von der romantischen Poesie entdeckt,

22) Petra Kipphoff judged the exhibition in London as a negative contribution to international understanding, due to its "insinuierte Blutsbriiderschaft von Romantik und Nazi-Kunst", "Nachts, wenn es licht wird”, in: "Die Zeit", 10 February 1995.

23) BBC Radio 3, Deutsche Romantik Season, The Friday Feature, October 7, "Romantic Delusions: Art in the Third Reich".

24) Julius Petersen "Die Wesensbestiamung der deutschen Romantik. Eine Einfiihrung in die moderne Literaturwissenschaft", (Leipzig 1926/Heidelberg 1968), p.3.

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von Baudelaire emphatisch gedacht und weiterentwic- kelt werden ist."

The French poet Charles Baudelaire and the Surrealist writers André Bréton and Louis Aragon discovered and welcomed the modern aspects of Romanticism, which had been largely dis­regarded.^*) In German literary theory it was only with Walter Benjamin's doctoral thesis "Der Begriff der Kunst- kritik in der deutschen Romantik"^’) that the genuinely aesthetic qualities of Romanticism were acknowledged. However, literary historians after 1968, who have shown a particular interest in the social and political implications of literature, have been governed by their limited per­spective on genuinely complex aesthetic problems.^*) Gradually, however, the long-established ideology which contrasted with progressive Enlightenment, has been revised over the last few y e a r s . A less narrow approach has allowed critics to concentrate on the theoretical and aesthetic implications of Romanticism and today reflects the change of direction in the debate on Romanticism. New critical editions of the works of many Romantic authors included new material, letters and philosophic writings and indicated the reorientation in literary research. Ernst Behler together with Jean-Jaques Anstett and Hans Eichner started the monumental edition consisting of 35 volumes of the "Kritische Friedrich Schlegel Ausgabe" in 1958. Hans- Joachim Mahl and Richard Samuel edited the complete works of Novalis which were published between 1965 and 1975. The third

25) Karl Heinz Bohrer, Die Kritik der Romantik, Der Verdacht der Philosophie gegen die literarische Moderne", op.cit., p. 11.

26) See André Breton, "Introduction aux *Contes Bizarres* d ’Achim D ’Arnim", in: "Point du Jour", (Paris 1970).

27) Walter Benjamin, "Der Begriff der Kunstkritik in der deutschen Romantik", Frankfurt/- Main 1973).

28) See for example Horst Albert Glaser ed., "Deutsche Literatur. Bine Sozialgeschichte. Zwischen Revolution und Resauration: Klassik, Romantik 1786-1815", (Reinbek bei Hamburg 1980), p. 7. Glaser who wanted to concentrate on the subject, finally came up with BUI instructive analysis explaining the political and social background of the Romantic period, but offered no insights in the nature of Romantic poetry and art.

29) Wolfdietrich Rasch, "Vom Verhaltnis der Romeuitik zur Aufklarung", in: Ernst Ribbat ed., "Romantik. Ein 1iteraturwissenschaftliches Studienbuch", (Konigstein 1979). Gisela Dischner, Richard Faber eds., "Romantische Utopie - Utopische Romsmtik", (Hildesheim 1979).

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major new edition after 1945 was the critical edition of "Samtliche Werke und Briefe" of Clemens Brentano by Wolfgang Fruhwald and Friedhelm Kemp published since 1975.However, there is still no definitive consensus about the nature of Romanticism. Romanticism is, rather, a complex and multi-faceted corpus of energies. The major Romantic move­ments form no unity of theories, philosophies and style. Perhaps it is the very undefinability that is the governing signature of Romantic art. Romanticism can be seen as a movement of contradictions or as an aporetic state of mind. It is as Schlegel has defined it a progressive movement that understands itself as a continuous process.

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1.2. The Aesthetics of Romanticism

In current research the reflexive and theoretical implica­tions of Romantic poetry are regarded as central and many essays stressing the modernism of Romanticism have appeared. In the following I want to consider a number of key aspects of Romanticism - such as the centrality of poetic intuition, the notion of the fantastic, of the self-reflexivity of the work of art - not least because I wish to highlight the contribution made by Romanticism to an understanding of aesthetic and poetic forms.

The theoretical renewal of literature and art in terms of the loosening of generic concepts (Auflosung der Gattungsgren- zen), the break-up of the classical definition of a work of art (Aufgabe des Werkbegriffs) and the disappearance of the boundaries between poetry and philosophy led to the formation of a radically modern aesthetics at the beginning of the Romantic period. The Romantics created an understanding of art in which the difference between life and art was finally to be obliterated - or so they claimed. The "Poet isierung der We 11 t h e Romantics’ aim to poeticise or transfigure life and thereby validate artistic enthusiasm and emotionalism, has been regarded by critics on the one hand as a decadent tendency to flee the present situation, on the other as a philosophically sophisticated state of being. Friedrich Schlegel claimed to fuse the separate spheres of art and life, to reunite the different species of poetry and put them in touch with science and philosophy. This new form of "Sym- philosophie" or "Sympoesie"^^^ can be seen as the core of Romantic theory from which most formal renewals were develo­ped. In the famous "Athenaums-Fragment 116" Schlegel program-

30) Georg Lukâce, "Fortschritt und Réédition in der deutschen Literatur", (Berlin 1947), p, 63,

31) Friedrich Schlegel, "Kritische Schriften und Fragmente", Studienausgabe in sechs Banden, Ernst Behler; Hans Eichner eds,, (Faderborn 1988), "Athenaums-Fragment 125", Vol, 2, p, 116,

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matically formulated the basic idea of the new progressive, universal poetry:

"Die romantische Poesie ist eine progressive Uni- versalpoesie. Ihre Bestimmung ist nicht bloB, alle getrennte Gattungen der Poesie wieder zu vereinigen, und die Poesie mit der Philosophie und Rhetorik in Berührung zu setzen. Sie will, und soli auch Poesie und Prosa, Genialitat und Kritik, Kunstpoesie und Naturpoesie bald mischen, bald verschme1zen, die Poesie lebendig und gesellig, und das Leben und die Gesellschaft poet isch machen,

According to Schlegel, art was no longer meant to portray and to mirror the world as it is, but developed independent patterns to legitimize itself, which radically differed from the traditional concepts of art It was the Romantics who for the first time in literary history turned completely away from mimetic principles of art and formulated, as Bohrer puts it, "ein neues Prinzip des Mog1ichkeitssinns gegen das Real i tat spr inz ip"^^\ The radical reorientation in art, the "Abkehr vom Grundsatz der Naturnachahmung"^^ liberated art from the purpose of serving and promoting external, practical causes. Accordingly, Friedrich Schlegel compared poetry to the idea of republicanism:

"Die Poesie ist eine republikanische Rede; die ihr eignes Gesetz und ihr eigner Zweck ist, wo alle Teile freie Bürger sind, und mitstimmen dürfen."^^^

32) Friedrich Schlegel, ’ Kritische Schriften und Fragmente", op.cit. Vol. 2, p. 114.

33) See M.H. Abrams, "Spiegel und Lampe. Romantische Theorie und die Tradition der Kritik", (München 1978). Abrams analyzes the development of poetry from mimesis to autonomy, using the antithetic metaphors mirror and lamp to show two different states of mind: "die eine vergleicht den Geist mit einem Reflektor auBerer Objekte, die andere mit einem leuchtenden Projektor, der in die von ihm wahrgenommenen Projekte etwas einbringt. Die erste war charakter ist isch für fast alle phi losophi sehen Oberlegungen von Platon bis ins 18. Jahrhundert. Die 2sweite ist typisch für die romantische Konzeption des dichterischen Geistes. (p. 10).

34) Karl Heinz Bohrer, "Die Kritik der Romantik", op.cit., p. IS.

35) Wolfgang Preisendanz, "Zur Poetik der deutschen Romantik 1: Die Abkehr vom Grundsatz der Naturnachahmung", in: Hans Steffen ed., "Die deutsche Romantik", op.cit., p. 54.

36) Friedrich Schlegel, "Kritische Schriften und Fragmente", op.cit., "Lyceums-Fragment 65", Vol. 1, p. 244.

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This sharply contradicted the classic understanding of art as paradigmatical ly stated by Friedrich Schiller. In his essay "über naive und sentimentalische Dichtung" (1796) Schiller defined the aim of art as follows: "den Begriff der Poesie, der kein andrer ist, als der Menschhei t ihren moglichst voll- standigen Ausdruck zu geben"^^\ For Schiller, then, art meant an imitation of nature, although by nature he under­stood the universality of mankind and its ideal state. Artistic production thus was expected to be in the service of humanity and freedom, taking the progress of man, the "Idee der Menschheit"^*) as its foremost concern. In contradi­stinction to Schiller’s approach, however, the Romantics insisted on the subjective perception and prophetic imagina­tion as the basis of poetic creativity. Romantic authors did not want to describe the world according to stable philoso­phical concepts, but drew instead on their individual expe­riences and their personal apprehension of human timelessness as germane to the work of art. The quest for poetic autonomy and a fundamental awareness of the subjective, contingent nature of reality represent the shift away from the dominant eighteenth century worldview to modern individualism. In the Romantic programme the vision of the outer world is trans­formed into the individual experience of the artist. As Nova- lis wrote in his typical aphoristic style:

"Wir traumen von Reisen durch das Weltall: ist denn das Weltall nicht in uns? Die Tiefen unsers Geistes kennen wir nicht. - Nach Innen geht der geheimni#- volle Weg. In uns, oder nirgends ist die Ewigkeit mit ihren Wei ten, die Vergangenhei t und Zukunf t. "

This progressive, revolutionary impulse in respect of literature and art, boosted by the political events of the French Revolution and hopes for liberalization in Germany arose from the struggle to cast off the eighteenth century

37) Friedrich Schiller, "über naive und sent imentalische Dichtung", in: Friedrich Schiller, "Werke in drei Banden", (München 1966), Vol. 2, p. 557,

38) Friedrich Schiller, "Über naive und sentimentalische Dichtung", op,cit., p, 558,

39) Novalis, "Werke, Tagebiicher und Briefe", Hans-Joachim Mahl; Richard Samuel eds,, (München 1978), Vol. 2, p, 233,

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burden of authority with its rationalist philosophy and the Neoclassical doctrine. The idealism of the early Romantics derived its aesthetic dimension from a new ethos of authentic feeling and creative spontaneity which demanded a completely different artistic response from that provided by the traditional systems. By bringing poetry to the fore and asserting the primary role of art and the productive imagina­tion Romantic writers challenged Enlightenment philosophy as an unacceptably static reduction of the multifaceted and dynamic whole. Whereas the vision of the Romantic poet was trained inward toward the mysterious, the incomprehensible, seeking to jump over boundaries into the infinite. As the French critic Maurice Blanchot observes:

"Naturellement, il ne s ’agit plus ici d ’art poétique, savoir annexe: c ’est le coeur de la poésie qui est savoir, c’est son essence d ’être recherche et recherche d ’ e 11 e-même .

According to Blanchot, the ability of the self to reflect on itself and to contemplate the substance of its being was constituted in the work of art. Poetry became an exclusive realm for the Romantic subject to experience its own creati­vity. In the aesthetic form the self referred to its own inner workings and eventually to a transparency of the self in art. Identity and self-consciousness were constituted in the aesthetic image and bound to the process of imagination. Poetry thus became a self-generating process constantly searching and creating new forms, as Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe and Jean-Luc Nancy state:

"La poesie romantique entend pénétrer l’essence de la poiesie, la chose littéraire y produit la vérité de la production en soi [...], de l’autopoisie."^^

40) Maurice Blanchot, ”L *Athenaeum”, in: ”L ’Entretien Infini”, (Paris 1969), p. 518.

41) Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe, Jean-Luc Nancy, "L’absolu littéraire. Théorie de la littérature du romantisme allemand", (Paris 1978), p. 21,

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Romanticism became a discourse of radical autonomy positing the self-manifestation of art and the autoproduction of language. A poetry, then, that defines itself as a free and autonomous self-presentation, an emergence or unfolding of a world. The Romantic world, though is characterized by discontinuities, ruptures and polarities. The Romantics experienced the exhilaration of acting as prophetic artists. This accentuated an ambiguity in the artist's position and generated a Romantic character constantly in search for something lost. In a state of longing and remembrance of the unity and harmony that were present in a distant past the subject recreates a lost whole by poetic activity. The utopian fervour and the disquiet of the Romantic mind is constantly driven to create images which evoke harmony, which suggest the infinite and unapproachable of life and hence, the openendedness of the creative process.

42) The longing for the infinite is »lso well demonstrated in Romantic paintings The works of Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) in particular show the element of the visionary. His landscapes with their evocative atmospheric effects mirror the human soul and paradigmatical1 y give an expression of the Romantic mood. Pictures such as ”Monk by the Sea'*, "Woman against the setting Sun" and "Moonrise by the Sea" depict the isolated individual in the position of a meditative observer, Friedrich sought to catch the specific moment that suggests eternity and infinity. See Wieland Schmied, "Caspar David Friedrich", (Kôln 1975),

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"Das ist eben das Wunderbare, diese Sehn- sucht nach dem Unerreichbaren, und konnte diese jemals befriedigt werden, so ware es mit der Kunst aus" (Eichendorff)

1.3. Recreating UnityRomantic Philosophy and the Artist's Quest

The enthusiasm for unity and coherence, and the subsequent crisis of the subject has been identified as a central aspect of Romant icism^^^By eliminating the transcendental subject of Enlightenment philosophy, authors of Early Romanticism shifted the notion of unity from the subject to the single work of art. Art itself was thought to represent the totality of existence and was regarded as an autonomous entity independent of outer reality. Fichte’s ego-phi1osophy and his model of self­reflection were amplified and applied to art by authors such as Friedrich Schlegel and Novalis.The unity of the subject was no longer enshrined in philoso­phic terms, but in poetic terms. Philosophy, moreover, split the subject into its segments, as Caroline Neubaur argues:

"Es gibt nicht mehr das Transzendentalsubjekt, sondern Subjekte sind Monaden, Ktigelchen, Verwei- sungszusammenhange. Das ist die Grundidee eines romantischen Kunstwerks, das nun seinerseits Subjekt ist,

43) As for example Caroline Neubaur writes: "Einige neuere Weisen, auf diese Krise zu reagieren, werden als ’neoromantisch* bezeichnet, was insofern richtig ist, als die Romantik den Widerspruch 2swischen der Realitàtsmàchtigkeit des Subjekts und seiner Geschlossenheit exponiert: der Organisâtionsbegriff wird fiir die Romantik neu- ralgisch."Caroline Neubaur, "Das neue Heilige und sein Subjekt. Romantische Tendenzen in der Literatur der Gegenwart", in: Merkur, No. 2, February 1987, p. 104.

44) For an elaborate account of Fichte and how his philosophy differed from J?omantic aesthetics see Walter Benjamin, "Der Begriff der Kunstkritik in der deutschen Roman­tik", (Frankfurt/Main 1973). See also Hannelore Link, "Zur Fichte-Rezeption in der Friihromantik", in: Deutsche Vierteljahresschrift, special edition, 1978, p. 355-368.

45) Caroline Neubaur, "Das neue Heilige", op.cit, p. 104.

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The Romantic desire for unity must be seen in relation to the philosophic notion of reflexivity and self intuition. The problem of the self discussed widely around 1800 was in­itiated by Fichte's doctrine of knowledge ("über den Begriff der Wissenschaftslehre", 1794)^®^ which, as FriedrichSchlegel contended, counted as a major movement (Tendenz) of the age, along with the French Revolution and Goethe’s "Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre".^^Fichte's idea of the self-positing "I" expressed a radical claim to totality of the subject. The development of a philosophy of the subject from Leibniz to the transcendental philosphy of Kant and from there to Fichte represents a tendency to see the subject as an absolute, reflexive entity, able to attain self-knowledge. Yet, in the wake of Kant's philosophy the notion of the self had also lost its trans­cendent certitude. Kant's critiques (1781-90) at the same time placed the subject at the centre of the conceptual and perceptual universe, and limited its access to that which is outside itself.On the other hand there is a continuous line of development represented by Pascal, Hemsterhuis, Schleiermacher and Schelling, which aims at challenging the faculties of systematic rationality by noting its limitations. These philosophers sustain ideas of the mediated nature of the subject and simultaneously point to the impact of emotions, of the heart and the subject's empathy to nature.The contradiction of these two schools of philosophy leaves its mark in early Romanticism. Silvio Vietta has described this accurately when analyzing the relation between early Romanticism and Enlightenment;

"Man kann die deutsche Friihromantik angemessen nur verstehen, wenn man sie nicht auf eine der beiden Richtungen festlegt, sondern begreift, daB in ihr

46) A first essay with the title "Über den Begriff der Wissenschaftslehre" was published in May 1794, a second revised version entitled "Grundlage der gessmten Wissenschafts­lehre" in 1794/95 and a third one "Versuch einer neuen Darstellung der Wissenschafts­lehre" in 1797,

47) Friedrich Schlegel, "Kri t ische Schr if ten und Fragmente", op,cit,. Vol. 2, "Athenaums- Fragment 216", p. 124, "Die Franzôsische Revolution, Fichtes Wissenschaftslehre, und Goethes Meister sind die groBten Tendenzen des Zeitalters,"

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selbst dieser Konflikt sich fortsetzt. Die deutsche Friihromantik trâgt den zentralen Geschichtskonflikt der Aufklarung, trâgt den Widerspruch zwischen dem Anspruch absoluter Sub jekt ivi tat und einer auf Gefiihl und Herz sich berufenden Rezeptivitat im Medium der Poetik und Poesie aus. Mithin ist die deutsche Friihromantik selbst die Darstel lung eines Wider- spruchs, deren geschichtsphilosophische Voraus- setzungen in der europaischen Aufklarung vorgezeich- net sind."" *

As we shall see, preceisely this sense of contradiction animates the prose of Thomas Bernhard. In contrast to Fichte, the Romantics insist that the unreflexive self escapes us, even as we are longing for it.**)Reflection entails irreparable non-identity. "Das Wesen der Identitat laBt sich nur in einem Scheinsatz aufstellen. Wir verlassen das Identische um es darzustellen", as Novalis wrote in his "Fichte-Studien" The self thus can neverbe fully conscious of itself, only of spatial perceptions. Friedrich Schlegel, too, emphasizes the vain attempt of the subject to reflect upon itself:

"Denn alle Bemiihung, sich selbst anzuschauen, sich in der Anschauung selbst zu ergreifen, ist ... durchaus vergebens. Das Ich verschwindet uns immer, wenn wir es fixieren wollen."^))

Inspired by the philosophy of Fichte, Schelling and Hegel, Romantic authors aspire to integrate all aspects of human

48) Silvio Vietta, "Friihromantik und Aufklarung", in: Silvio Vietta ed,, "Die literari- Bche Friihromantik", (Gottingen 1983), p. 48. Hermann Kurzke sustains the view of a clear continuity from late Enlightenment philosophy to early Romanticism, defining the idealist "Transzendentalphilosophie" as the connecting link, the "entscheidende philologisch genetische Briicke im ProzeO der Entwicklung von der Spdtaufklarung zurFriihromantik". Hermann Kurzke, "Die Wende von der Friihromantik zur Spatromantik", in:"Athenaum. Jahrbuch fiir Romantik", Ernst Behler; Jochen Horisch; Gunter Oesterle eds,. Vol. 2, (Paderborn 1992), p. 169.

49) Manfred Frank explaines the undefinable nature of identity:"Unter solchen Umstanden scheint der Begriff vom Ich ungreifbar. Es scheint zu seinem Wesen zu gehoren, daJJ, um ihn zu fassen, man sich immer schon seiner hat bedienen miissen. So entgleitet der Subjekt-Pol jederzeit seinem eigenen Zugriff und verwandelt sich von einer cartesianischen Evidenz in eine opake Entitat, die sich dem Erkennen versperrt."Manfred Frank, "’Intellektuale Anschauung \ Drei Stellungnahmen zu einem Deutungsver- such von SelbstbewuOtsein: Kant, Fichte, Holder 1 in/Novalis", in: Ernst Behler; Jochen Horisch eds., "Die Aktualitat der Friihromantik", (Paderborn 1987), p. 109.

50) Novalis, "Werke, Tagebiicher und Briefe", op.cit.. Vol. 2, p. 8.

51) Friedrich Schlegel, KA, XII, p. 333.

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experience. As Rüdiger Safranski puts it, they "fahnden nach einer Vernunft, die alle Bereiche der menschlichen Erfahrung integrieren konnte"^^\ Against the threatening disintegra­tion of the empirical world and the world of individual perception German idealist philosophers and the Romantics try to find a concept that harmonizes nature and history, inner and outer world, individual and empirical truth.The Romantics protest against the split of inner and outer reality by placing the creative, autonomous subject and the notion of a free spirit at the centre of their philosophy. Consistently, Safranski suggests:

"Der freie Geist ist e in bildender, nicht nur abbildender, e in spekulierender, nicht nur Vor- gegebenes analysierender Geist. Bin Geist, der nicht nur eine Wirklichkeit spiegelt, sondern neue Wirk- lichkeiten schafft: hier und jetzt in jedem Menschen- leben und dort und damais im Weltganzen und in der We 1 tgeschichte .

The feeling of a lost unity and of the individual being no longer part of an overall system generates not only a longing to rebuild the lost coherence but, moreover an unprecedented discourse of radical autonomy and self-creation.The identity-formation process of the Early Romantics reflects a concept in which the ego is no longer a static entity, but a process. The self was placed at the centre of a relationship of activity and receptivity, allowing it to be in a state of constant flux. This concept is an active process of creation in which the subject posites itself in the fictional congruence between self and world. By radicali­zing and modifying Fichte’s dynamic notion of subjectivity, the Romantics created a poetic subject that was able to

52) Rudiger Safranski, "Wieviel Wahrheit braucht der Mensch? über das Denkbare und das Lebbare", (München 1990), p. 123,

53) "Die mit dem Kantschen Dualismus vollzogene Spaltung des Wahrheitsbegriffes war offenbar schwer ertraglich fur das Bedurfnis nach umfassendem Sinn und Geborgenheit. Man wollte sich nicht damit abfinden, in zwei *Welten* leben zu miissen: in der Welt der wissenschaftlichen Erkenntnisse, die gegenuber ethischen Pragen gleichgûltig ist, und in der Moralitat, die sich wissenschaftlich nicht mehr hinreichend bestimmen laJSt. "Rüdiger Safranski, ibid,

54) Rüdiger Safranski, op,cit,, p, 124/125,

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mediate between self and other. Both, Novalis and Schlegel emphasized the process of hovering, "Schweben"between subjective and objective moments as the most authentic form of subjectivity. Novalis particularly attempted to overcome the Fichtean "Ich/Nicht-Ich" dichotomy, in which the object is the negation of the subject. The model that decreed that subject and object are bound to exist in a relationship of either absolute sameness or absolute opposition was replaced by a state of interpenetration (Durchdringung) between subject and object. As Novalis expressed it;

"Der Sitz der Seele ist da, wo sich Innenwelt und AuBenwelt berühren. Wo sie sich durchdringen, ist er in jedem Punkte der Durchdr ingung."

Thus, Novalis proposes the interaction between both spheres that finally constitutes the self as process and incorporates the dissolut ionary tendencies of the self into an ever- expanding subjectivity, as he states: "Eine unendlicheRealisirung des Seyns wâre die Bestimmung des Ichs"This project is most successful at the level of poetic construction and reception. The strategy of the Romantic philosophers involves the creation of fictional constructs through which the subject can identify itself and which it can recreate in its own image.

Similarly, the philosophic problem of self-cognition can be discerned in the prose works of the Romantic period. The passion for unity and the reconciling, synthetic imagination recur in Romantic novels as a vague longing for infinitude and the unknown. The dominant motif of "Sehnsucht", Romantic yearning, expresses the Romantic ambition for a reconcilia-

55) Sec Friedrich Schlegel, ”Kr it ische Schr if ten und Fragmente”, op.cit,, Vol. 2, p. 114;See also: Novalis, ”Werke”, op.cit., Vol. 2, p. 177: "Frey seyn ist die Tendenz desIch - das Vermogen frey zu seyn ist die productive Imagination - Harmonie ist dieBedingung ihrer Thatigkeit - des Schwebens. zwischen Bntgegengesetzten."

56) Novalis, "Werke", op.cit, "Vermischte Bemerkungen/Bliithenstaub, 1797/98", Vol. 2, p.233, See also p. 156: "Seyn driickt gar keine absolute Beschaffenheit aus - sondernnur eine Relation des Wesens zu einer Eigenschaft uberhaupt aus - eine Fahigkeitbestimmt zu werden. Es ist eine absolute Relation,"

57) Novalis, "Werke", op.cit, "Fichte-Studien, 1795/96", Vol. 2, p. 177.

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tion of subject and object, of man and nature, of conscious and unconscious. The vision of harmony inherent in the feeling of "Sehnsucht" is an essential component of Romanti­cism.Coupled with the notion of "Wanderlust" or "Wanderschaft" it represents the typical Romantic disposition as emblematically expressed, for instance, in the famous lines of the opening passage in Eichendorff's "Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts":

"Wem Gott will rechte Gunst erweisen. Den schickt er in die weite Welt,Dem will er seine Wunder weisen In Berg und Wald und Strom und Feld.

Die Trâgen, die zu Hause liegen, Erquicket nicht das Morgenrot,Sie wissen nur vom Kinderwiegen,Von Sorgen, Last und Not um Brot.

Consequently, the exploring of the world turns into a quest for identity of the self. A spirit of adventure and a passion for the unknown and invisible together with the will to test out his own potential combine in the Romantic hero’s search for completion. Silvio Vietta comments as follows;

"Die zentralen romantischen Motive der Wanderschaft und der Sehnsucht sind durch diese SeIbsterfahrung mangelnder Identitat und korrelativer Suche nach ihr bedingt, wie auch, paradox, zugleich durch die Flucht davor.

In contrast to this viewpoint, Hegel as the first influential critic of Romantic art disapproves of the nature of Romanti­cism as "krankhafte Schonsee1ischkeit und Sehnsüchtig- k e i t H e recognizes a fundamental negative momentum in Romantic reflection. In his opinion the Romantics reinstate the supremacy of the ego by a willed negation of the knowable

58) Joseph von Eichendorff, "Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts”, in "Werke”, Wolfdietrich Rasch ed., (München 19SS), p. 748,

59) Silvio Vietta, ”Die literarische Frühromantik”, op.cit., p. 40.

60) Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, ”Vorlesungen über die Asthetik I”, in: ”Werke”, (Frankfurt/Main 1970), Vol. 13, p. 96,

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self. Hegel takes the Romantic concept of the self as a void subjectivity that is unable to act and that finally looses primacy and integrity:

"Jenes Sehnen aber ist nur das Gefiihl der Nichtigkeit des leeren, eitlen Subjekts, dem es an Kraft ge- bricht, dieser Eitelkeit zu entrinnen und mit substantiel lem Inhalt sich erfiillen zu konnen.

However, Hegel’s interpretation of Romantic art reveals that he, like many critics throughout the nineteenth century, failed to perceive the revolutionary modernity of Romantic philosophy that locates the centre of the subject’s power in its fiction-making activity. The poetic discourse and a new linguistic shaping of what is not directly knowable represent a challenge to the viewpoint of traditional philosophy, as represented by Hegel.Furthermore, the Romantics’ critical perception of identity and their corresponding desire to overcome the limited possibilities of self-experience are often highlighted in the typical Romantic contrast between the figure of the isolated artist and ordinary society. The opposition between "Künst- ler" and "Philister" brilliantly explored in the narratives of E.T.A. Hoffmann has become one of the key expressions of Romantic thinking.The Romantic hero often appears as an artist or seeks to become one: In any case however, he is conscious of being an outsider, as Tieck declared: "Die Welt ist wirklich nicht fiir uns, so wie wir nicht fiir die Welt".®^^ Moreover, many Romantic authors criticize the mediocre bourgeois lifestyle and the ignorance of the middle-classes (Bürgertum).^^

61) O.W,F, Hegel, "Vorleeungen über die Asthetik I", ibid.. See also Otto Poggeler,"Hegels Kritik der Romantik", (Diss, Bonn 1956).

62) See for example "Die Elixiere des Teufels" (1815/1816), "Lebens-Ansichten des Eaters Murr" (1820/22); "Der goldne Topf" (1814). Compare also: Karl Ludwig Schneider "Künstlerliebe und Philistertim im Werk E.T.A, Hoffmanns", in: Hsuis Steffen ed,, "Die deutsche Romantik", op.cit,, p. 200-218. See also Joseph von Eichendorff’s poem "Die zwei Gesellen" (1818).

63) Letter from Tieck to Wackenroder dating 10.5.1792, in Wilhelm Heinrich Wackenroder,"Werke und Briefe", (Heidelberg 1967), p. 290.

64) "Die meisten Menschen werden kaum 50 Jahre alt, 30 gehen mit Schlaf, Essen undTrinken dahin, die übrigen sind ein Opfer der Langeweile und nichtswurdigerBeschaftigungen", Wackenroder, "Werke und Briefe", op.cit., p. 367.

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All the novels written during the early Romantic period and clearly many texts written later involve young men on a journey, seeking far-off shores in search of love, fulfilment or a different life as an artist. The experience of loneli­ness and disintegration, the feeling of being an outsider in a society defined by economic criteria of efficiency is closely related to a longing for harmony and a new form of communication. From Wackenroder’s "HerzensergieCungen eines kunstliebenden Klosterbruders" (1796), the first literary document of German Romanticism, Ludwig Tieck’s "Geschichte des Herrn William Lovell” (1795/96), and his "Franz Stern- balds Wanderungen" (1798) to Friedrich Schlegel’s "Lucinde" (1799) and Dorothea Schlegel’s "Florentin” (1801), Romantic novels present a hero in search of a vibrant identity, symbolized by restless and mostly open-ended journeys.

At the end of the Romantic age, romantic feelings of "Sehn­sucht" are most clearly illustrated in the rich allegoric language of Eichendorff’s poetry. The first stanza of the poem entitled "Sehnsucht" (1834) reads as follows:

"Es schienen so golden die Sterne, Am Fenster ich einsam stand Und horte aus weiter Feme Ein Posthorn im stillen Land.Das Herz mir im Leib entbrennte.Da hab ich mir heimlich gedacht: Ach, wer da mitreisen konnte In der prachtigen Sommernacht !

Eichendorff, regarded as a typical representative of German Romanticism, touches upon the spirit of Romanticism by use of a vocabulary so vital for the dominant tone of the time. Eberhard Lammert describes the typical scenario of Eichen­dorff ’s texts as follows:

"Wehmütig erfahrene Einsamkeit und gleichwohl geheime Sehnsucht nach unausgeschopften Erlebnis-moglichkei- ten, lockende Ungebundenheit vom trâgen Einerlei der Erwerbs- und Sorgepf1icht, die Fata Morgana eines ewigen Sonntags: Hier ereignen sich die geheimen

65) Joseph von Eichendorff, "Werke", op.cit,, p.30.

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Wunschtrâume des sozial Gebundenen, hier begegnet der zu geregelter Arbeit, well zu stândigem Erwerb Verpf1ichtete den ihm vom Leben nicht verstatteten Au&erordent 1 ichkei ten [...].

The perceived deficiency of the present and the feeling of incompleteness, what Vietta terms the "tiefgehende Erfahrung einer S inndef iz ienz"^^\ is the drive behind the Romantic notion of travelling where the goal usually is infinetely deferred. Eichendorff finally rescues his protagonists from society. He creates a visionary place, a "Nirgendwo au&erster Zeitferne and Raumleere"®*^ He thereby interprets Romantic longing as a dream, as an alternative to reality rather than its creative transformation. A vague feeling however is preserved in the narrative, particularly in the description of landscape and the use of space (Raum) as a projection- ground for the self, its memories and "Ahnungen".

The crisis of the subject, most concisely summarized in the term "Selbstzerrissenheit"®^\ is strikingly evident in early Romantic texts. Hegel was among the first to criticize the Romantics for their inability to objectify their Ego and their alienation from empirical reality. With the term " Z e r r i s s e n h e i t h e characterized the Romantic subject as an endangered example of disintegration. An unfavourable label that had a formative influence throughout the 19th century and survived even till the 1960s, when new approaches

66) Eberhard Làamert, "Eichendorff's Wandel unter den Deutschen" in: Hans Steffen ed,,"Die deutsche Romantik", op.cit,, p, 224,

67) Silvio Vietta, "Frühromantik und Aufklarung", op.cit,, p,S7,

68) Claus Sommerhage, "Romantische Aporien. Zur Kontinuitat des Romantischen bei Novalis, Eichendorff, Hofmannsthal und Handke", op.cit,, p. 152,

69) Silvio Vietta, "Literarische Phsuitasie: Theorie und Geschichte, Barock undAufklarung", (Stuttgart 1986), p, 247, See also Wilhelm Heinrich Wackenroder, "Dasmerkwrürdige musikalische Leben des Tonkünstlers Joseph Berglinger", which forms the last part of "HerzensergieDungen eines kunstliebenden Klosterbruders",

70) G.W.F, Hegel, "Vorlesungen über die Asthetik 1", in: "Werke”, op.cit,. Vol. 13, p, 209.

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to Romanticism and a completely new scholarly interest changed the direction of research.The feeling of "Zerrissenheit", the nervous, restless state of mind is also the central problem in Ludwig Tieck’s "Franz Sternbalds Wanderungen", as reflected in the protagonist’s desperate letter to his friend Sebastian:

"Wenn die Ruhe doch, die mich manchmal wie imVorbeifliegen kuAt, bei mir einheimisch wiirde, [...] Ich kann nicht dafiir, ich kann mich nicht im Zaume halten, und alle meine Entwiirfe, Hoffnungen, meinZutrauen zu mir geht vor neuen Erfindungen unter, und es wird leer und wüst in meiner Seele, wie in einer rauhen Landschaft, wo die Briicken von einem wilden Waldstrome zusammengerissen sind. [...] Ich weiBnicht mehr, was ich bin; mein Sinn ist ganzlich ver-wirrt. [...] Was ist es, Sebastian, warum kann ich nicht mit mir einig werden?"

The feeling of crisis, of a lack of self-knowledge, and the subsequent need to regain what is lost generates an infinite process of longing, symbolized in the restless journeys of the Romantic hero. And those journeys are full of both redemptive promises and black dispair. It is a constellation that, as we shall see, recurs obsessively in the prose of Thomas Bernhard.Novalis* novel "Heinrich von Ofterdingen", which centres upon the position of the subject, narrates the journey of Heinrich to his mother’s homeland. Yet, with every single episode and exotic story he encounters his own past or future potential, a mythical world that is not directly knowable. "The blue flower" becomes the ultimate object of desire, drawing Heinrich into the world outside his self. The flower recurs in Heinrich’s dreams as the focal point around which he

71) See Karl Heinz Bohrer, "Hegel hat sowohl die romsuttische Asthetik als auch ihre asthetisch-literarischen Werke dem Kriterium des "Wirklichkeits"-Begriffs ausgelie- fert, das fiir die Romantikkritik des ganzen 19. Jahrhunderts und ihre Nachfolger im 20, verpflichtend blieb.", in: "Die Kritik der Romantik, Der Verdacht der Philosophie gegen die literarische Moderne", op.cit,, p, 138,See also Carl Schmitt’s prominent verdict of Romanticism as "subjektivierter Occasionalismus", ("Politische Romantik", Berlin 1968, p, 23), In his influential book of 1919 he had attacked Romanticism as a dangerous phenomenon of the modern era. See also Klaus Peter’s introductory essay in: Klaus Peter ed,, "Romantikforschung seit 1945", op.cit,, p, 1-39,

72) Ludwig Tieck, "Franz Sternbalds Wanderungen, Eine altdeutsche Geschichte", in: Ludwig Tieck, "Schrif ten", (München n.d,), p, 23,

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builds his sense of himself and his sense of the world.As a symbol of the hidden core of the self the mysterious flower signifies the infinite search for self-knowledge. Authentic subjectivity remains an ultimately impenetrable quality, not to be attained but inherent in the process of longing and wandering.Georg Lucâcs in his "Theorie des Romans" has described this feeling of homelessness "Heimatlosigkeit" as "transzenden- tale(n) Obdachlos igkei t T h e paradigm shift from Greek philosophy and art to the aesthetics of the modern age is reflected in the changing understanding of the work of art:

"Es bedeutet, dal3 auch die alte Parallel itat der transzendentalen Struktur im gestaltenden Subjekt und in der herausgesetzten Welt der geleisteten Formen zerrissen ist, daJS die letzten Grundlagen des Gestaltens heimatlos geworden sind."^^^

It is this literary tradition of homelessness, "Zerrissen­heit" and "Sehnsucht" which can be traced in Thomas Bern­hard’s prose.Caroline Neubaur has argued that the modernity of Romanticism stems precisely from the inherent ambiguity of Romanticism itself. What she characterizes as "Ambiguitat einer exzentri- schen Situation, die zwischen Ursprungsnahe und absoluter Ur- sprungsferne changier t attracts contemporary authors, such as Peter Handke and Botho StrauB - to name only the most prominent examples -, to revert to a Romantic t radi t ion.

73) See John Oage, "Mood Indigo: From the blue flower to the blue rider", in: K, Hartley; H.M. Hughes et.al,, "The Romuitic Spirit in German Art 1790-1990", op.cit., pp. 122. Gage links the Blue Rider group to the Romantic tradition of colour theory, particularly their common "belief in polarity, in contrast, which informs all their thinking" (p. 128). For painters such as Kandinsky, Macke and Franz Marc like for the Romantics the colour blue had an active power of attraction. It signified depth, spirituality, mystery and a desire for the infinite and supernatural. Compare also: Wasily Kandinsky; Franz Marc eds., "Der Blaue Reiter", (München 1979),

74) Georg Lukâcs, "Die Theorie des Romans. Ein geschichtsphilosophischer Versuch über die Formen der groBen Epik", (Neuwied und Berlin 1971), p. 32.

75) Georg Lukâcs, ibid., p. 31.

76) Caroline Neubaur, "Das neue Heilige", op.cit, p. 105,

77) See Martin W. Lüdke, "Trübsal blast des ’Des Knaben Wunderhorn’. Über einige romantische Tendenzen unserer Gegenwartsliterator", in: Merkur, No. 34, 1980. Lüdke establishes parallels between contemporary and romantic authors, but he explains the current tendencies as "Antiaufklarerisch" (990) and labels them a "mythopoetische Resurrektion" (991) designed to overcome the depressing social situation, Lüdke

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This literary tradition notably insists on the independence of the artistic process from the discourse of rationality and the classicist, dogmatic idea of the work of art.Karl Heinz Bohrer has characterized this traditional as well as contemporary feature as an "asthet ische ( r ) Abweichung"^*) which marks the free and autonomous self-presentation of art. In early Romanticism, art for the first time has become a discourse of radical autonomy which attempts to emancipate imagination and the creative process from its traditional subordination to religion, philosophy and science. What Bohrer considers to be a subtle, but extremely significant shift in the nature of subjectivity at the beginning of the nineteenth century, "die seit 1800 aufbrechende entscheidende Differenz zwischen Vernunftsubjekt und 1iterarischer Sub­jekt ivi tat is still topical in contemporary literature. According to Bohrer, the former is governed by "verbindliche Denk- und Gefiihlsnormen"®°\ whereas the latter represents a radicalization of the self-referentiality that surfaced in German Idealism and Romanticism, but whose consequence has been reached in modernist and post-modernist discourses. Friedrich Schlegel was the first to formulate the new autonomy of art in the "Athenaum":

"Eine Philosophie der Poesie Uberhaupt aber wUrde mit der SeIbstandigkeit des Schonen beginnen, mit dem Satz, daB es vom Wahren und Sittlichen getrennt sei und getrennt sein sol le, und daJ3 es mit diesem gleiche Rechte habe."**^

thereby repeats the erxroneous notion of Romanticism being diametrically opposed to enlightenment philosophy (Aufklarung), Like the old critics of Romanticism Lüdke limits his viewpoint to socio-political categories, which deny the radical aesthetic impact of Romantic theory.

78) Karl Heinz Bohrer, "Der romantische Brief. Die Entstehung asthetischer Subjektivi-tàt", (München 1987), p. 7. See also Karl Heinz Bohrer, "Identitat als Selbstverlust. Zum romantischen Subjektbegriff", in: Merkur, No. 426, 1984. Bohrer also uses the term "asthetische Differenz". See "Die Kritik der Romantik, Der Verdacht der Philosophie gegen die literarische Moderne", op.cit., p. 146.

79) Karl Heinz Bohrer, "Der romantische Brief", op.cit,, p. 268.

80) Karl Heinz Bohrer, ibid., p. SO

81) Friedrich Schlegel, "Kritische Schriften und Fragmente", op.cit., "Athenaums-Fragment2S2", Vol. 2, p. 129.

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The paradigmatic Romantic feature of the wanderer embodies the twofold nature of Romanticism: the longing for coherence and knowledge, the "In-die-We1t-hinaus" and its subsequent disillusion, the existential "Heimatlosigkeit".

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"Poesie, well wir auf vernunftige Weise von der Realitât distanziert sind." (Thomas Bernhard)

1.4. The Evolution of the Aesthetic Subject

The reformulation of the notion of the subject and the aspiration towards the infinite were central categories of Romanticism that spoke to later literary generations. Both evolved into the formal ideas of the fragmentary, the concept of irony and, above all the incompleteness of a genuine work of art that Friedrich Schlegel saw as a key feature of Romantic poetry. The Romantic insight into the genesis of aesthetic ideas, particularly a highly sophisticated examina­tion of the creative process, characterized by "liberté d ’esprit" and "fantaisie intellectuelles"^^ have marked the inherent modernism of Romanticism;^^

"La littérature (j’entends l’ensemble des formes d ’expression, c’est-à-dire aussi forces de dissolu­tion) prend tout à coup conscience d ’elle-même, se manifeste et, dans cette manifestation, n ’a pas d ’autre tâche ni d ’autre trait que de se declarer. En somme, la littérature annonce qu’elle prend le pouvoir. "

Strongly influenced by the philosophy of German Idealism, the early Romantics redefined the notion of the subject. Fichte’s concept of the ego’s function as the exclusive determinant of itself and of the world evolved into the idea that the individual was the creator of its own world. For the Roman­tics Fichte opened the way toward a new self-gratification. At the same time in their view old concepts which guaranteed

1) Maurice Blanchot, ’ Athenaeum", op.cit., p. 516.

2) Charles Baudelaire grasped very early the modernism of Romantic art. In the salon of1846 he wrote: "To say the Rometntic is to say modem art - that is, intimacy, spirituality, colur, aspiration towards the infinite, expressed by every means available to the arts.", cited in Lorenz Eitner ed., "Neoclassicism and Romanticism 1750 - 1850" (New York 1970), p. 315.

3) Maurice Blanchot, "L* Athenaeum", op.cit., p. 520.

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the legitimation of the subject lost their relevance.*) Neither nature-philosophy nor history could preserve the unity of the I.Social developments ran parallel to and fostered the concep­tual transformation in philosophy. The identity-formation process in the late eighteenth century became more permeable as professional function became more crucial for social iden­tity than class standing.®) The individual acquired an increased social mobility at the expense of an automatic sense of identification with a particular class. Many of the Romantics were unattached intellectuals, "freischwebende(n) Intel lektuel le(n)''^\ as Karl Mannheim called them, who threw off middle-class ideals and formulated a progressive notion of the subject. German, more than English or French Romanti­cism, was characterized by an intelligentsia which had loosened its class ties and was particularly apt to create a literature remote from social concerns. The project of defining the subject most successfully was developed at the level of poetic construction and reception.Romantic artists responded to the crisis in philosophy by stressing the position of the individual, of spirituality and

4) In a communicative approach inspired by Niklas Luhmann*s "Systemtheorie" Peter Fuchs talks about the '^Ausfall légitimer Beobachtungsinstanzen" (p, 204) and an increasing contingency of communication in the early Romantic period due to a plural ity of information and the "Explosion kommunikativer AnschluOmog I ichkei ten” (p. 203), As he concludes: "Weder Oott noch Natur (und nicht Vernunft) konnen garantieren, daOkommunikative Anschlüsse ’rahmenfest’ ervartbar sind und nicht durch abweichende Beobachtungen durchkreuzt werden,” (p, 204) Peter Fuchs, "Die Form romantischer Kommunikation", in: "Athenaum, Jahrbuch fiir Romantik", Ernst Behler; Jochen Horisch; Giinter Oesterle eds,, (Paderborn 1993), Vol, 3, p, 203/204,

5) Bohrer gives an interesting analysis of this significant development :"Die nicht mehr anerkannte gottliche Natur beglaubigt keine historische Teleologie mehr, Und die desavouierte Geschichtsphilosophie laOt keinen Naturbegriff zur Hintertiir wieder ein, Wenn ein solcher Naturbegriff zur Zeit als 1 iterarisches Symbol Oder als kulturkritisch-politisches Projekt gehandelt wird, so bedeutet dies immer nur eine dezisionistische Reaktion des Subjekts ohne objektive Begrûndungsfahigkeit, Somit konzentriert sich die Frage nach den Bestanden der Modernitàt auf die Kategorie, die alle anderen offenbar uberlebt hat: Subjektivitat,"Karl Heinz Bohrer, "Nach der Natur, Ansicht einer Uoderne jenseits der Utopie", in: Merkur, No, 8, August 1987, p, 639,

6) See Horst Mol 1er, "Vom aufgeklarten Absolutismes zu den Reformen des 19, Jahrhun­derts", in: Horst Albert Glaser ed,, "Deutsche Literatur, Eine Sozialgeschichte", Vol, 5, "Zwischen Revolution und Restauration", op,cit,. Mailer’s conclusion reads as follows: "Nicht nur die Beziehung von Individuum und Staat, auch die Stellung des Individuums in der GeselIschaft wurde zunehmend dynamisiert. Die mit dem Aufstieg der Biirgerl ichen einsetzende al Imahl iche Aushôhlung der iiberkommenen standisch- hierarchischen Struktur, in der der einzelne seinen festen und im Prinzip nicht zu verandernden sozialen Platz hatte, homogenisierte die GeselIschaft nicht, sondern setzte ihre Anatagonismen frei," (p, 43/44),

7) Karl Mannheim, "Konservatismus”, op,cit,, p, 144,

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individual experience that evolved into the semantic concept of an aesthetic subject. As Bohrer suggests:

"Subjektivitat meint vor allem das Widerspruchspoten- tial gegenuber dem offiziellen Diskurs in alien semantischen Ausdifferenzierungen, weil das Subjekt um 1800 zunachst immer bei sich selbst ist."*^

The expressive ideas of the poet and the individual subject became the centre of a new theory that transcended all rational enquiry. Against ordinary reality and social concerns the poet’s imagination became the key feature of a subject that found its true expression only in the hitherto suppressed forces of its creative power. Consequently, Karl Heinz Bohrer analyzes a new ’truth* of the subject discerni­ble in the aesthetic function:

"Die ’Wahrheit’ des Subjekts ware dann an dieser asthetischen Funktion zu erkennen, namlich wie konsequent das jeweilige Theorem fiir den Ichbegriff arbeitet. Dieses akute Asthetischwerden, d.h. die Prioritat semantischer Expressivitât von emotional- kognitiven Zustanden vor jedem Diskurs ("Ideen") ist nach dem frühromant ischen Ansatz eng verkniipft mit dem Erscheinen moderner Subjektivitat nach 1800."®^

In the view of the Romantics art and poetry in particular were seen as a knowledge of the deepest reality. In the active process of creation the claim was that subjective perception and objective existence were brought into harmony. Romanticism was characterized by a feeling of crisis and the parallel effort to overcome the opposition of subject and ob­ject, of man and nature, language and reality in an indivi­dual experience. Art was conceived as an intuition of cosmic unity, a vision of harmony to be communicated only by the artist. The Romantics’ ambition of representing the infinite in finite terms could only be preserved in an endless process of production. In the notion of the infinite the subject liberated itself from all functional claims in favour of

8) Karl Heinz Bohrer, "Nach der Natur", op,ci t., p. 639.

9) Karl Heinz Bohrer, ibid.

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something imaginary and undefinable. The subject thus manifested itself in the work of art:

"On sait que, pour la garder intacte, le romantisme lui donnera cette réponse: la parole est sujet. Ils ’ensuivra d ’étranges découvertes, des oeuvres merveilleuses et des difficultés destructrices. [...] Puis celle-ci: si la vraie parole est sujet, pure de toute particularité objective, cela signifie qu’elle n ’est telle que dans l’existence du poète, là où le pur sujet s’affirme en disant ’je’. Le ’je’ du poète, voilà donc ce qui finalement importerait seul, non plus l’oeuvre poétique, mais l’activité, toujours supérieure à l’ouvrage réel, et seulement créatrice lorsqu’elle se sait capable à la fois d ’évoquer et de révoquer l’oeuvre dans le jeu souverain de 1*iro­nie,

According to Blanchot, the Romantic subject is all-important; it is the self that both posits and retracts the work of art. At the beginning of the nineteenth century a paradigmatic change from the subject of rationality to a subject of imagination can be observed in Romantic poetry. Subjectivity was located in the narrative activity and posited an in­creased contingency of the modern world. Poetic discourse became the reality of subjectivity and of the world, as Novalis formulated in one of his fragments:

"Die Poesie ist das acht absolut Reel le. Dies ist der Kern meiner Philosophie. Je poetischer, je wahrer ".

The utopian concept of Romantic poetry as exemplified in Schlegel’s "Rede über die Mythologie" is a linguistic and aesthetic shaping of the excluded and unknowable, of those elements which remained "namenlos und formlos"^^^". A new mythology at the core of Romantic poetry was thought to produce the truest form of art which necessarily was "das

10) Maurice Blanchot, "i’ Athenaeum", op.cit,, p. 524,

11) Novalis, "Werke", op.cit., "Vorarbeiten zu verschiedenen Fragmentsammlungen", Vol, 2, p, 420.

12) Friedrich Schlegel, "Kritische Schriften und Fragmente", op.cit., "Gesprach über die Poesie", Vol. 2, p. 201.

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künstlichste aller Kunstwerke"^^^ as it not only encompassed all other works of art, but set an endless self-generative process of the human spirit in motion. In the "Gesprach fiber die Poesie" Schlegel poeticised the forms of the spirit and viewed the different literary styles not in terms of their historic condition but in respect to their tranformatory power. Bohrer explains this process of "Asthetischwerden" of the discourse as follows:

"Trotz der erkennbaren Bindungen des sprechenden Subjekts an vorgegebene Diskurse ist ein ’unendli- ches’ Element, das Imaginare, das, wie wir sahen, die friihromant ische Moderne erfand, abspaltbar geworden. Und in diesem Imaginaren ist das sprechende Subjekt aufgehoben, nicht erreichbar mehr von pragmatischen Anspriichen: Es ist zum asthet ischen Subjekt gewor- den."“*>

Early Romantic theory thus overcame the dogmatism inherent in the rationalistic aesthetics of the eighteenth century. Art became an autonomous figure based on a theory of art and criticism that rendered freedom from extraneous aesthetic doctrines. The quest for poetic autonomy is reflected in Schlegel’s formulation of the mission of Romanticism, for the poetic possibilities are endless and the whim of the poet is subject to no external law. Therefore, only the "romantische Dichtart" is infinite and unrestricted:

"Sie allein ist unendlich, wie sie allein frei ist, und das als ihr erstes Gesetz anerkennt, daB die Willkiir des Dichters kein Gesetz fiber sich leide."^^^

The theory of Romantic fiction acknowledges the ultimately impenetrable quality of the objects of reality. It establis­hes the independence from notions such as truth and human perfectibility. Novalis programmatically states the new principle of romanticizing:

13) Friedrich Schlegel, ibid.

14) Karl Heinz Bohrer, "Nach der Natur", op.cit., p. 643.

15) Friedrich Schlegel, "Kritische Schrif ten und Fragmente", op.cit., "Athenaums-Fragment 116", Vol. 2, p. l i s .

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"Die Welt mul3 romantisirt werden. So findet man den ursprünglichen Sinn wieder. Romantisiren ist nichts als eine qualitative Potenzirung. [...] Diese Opera­tion ist noch ganz unbekannt. Indem ich dem Gemeinen einen hohen Sinn, dem Gewohnlichen ein geheimni&vol- les Ansehn, dem Bekannten die Wiirde des Unbekannten, dem Endlichen einen unendlichen Schein gebe so romantisire ich es."^®^

Novalis* esoteric principle proclaims the existence of a knowledge that is discontinuous with the ordinary under­standing of the traditional discourse. This assumption is intimately connected with a new perception of time. Time is no longer measured in historical, universal categories and as a continuous advancement of mankind but centred upon the individual experience of the subject. Teleological models are replaced by categories of the moment and of inner experience of the individual. For Novalis being is a process of perma­nent and constant activity:

"Seyn driickt eine Permanenz des Setzens, des Wech- sels, der Thatigkeit, der producirenden Handlung aus - und ist ein bloBer sbegr if f . "

16) Novalis, "Werke", op.cit,, "Vorarbeiten zu verschiedenen Fragmentssumlungen" (1798), Vol. 2, p. 334.

17) Novalis, "Werke", op.cit., "Fichte-Studien" (1795/96), Vol. 2, p. 157.

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1.5. Romantic Forms of Expression1.5.1. The Infinite Process of Art

As we have seen, the most authentic form of the subject is a process of hovering between contingent moments. Early Romantic writing illustrates the theoretical insight that the multiple self cannot be reconstituted seamlessly, for the self’s temporal depiction creates its fragmentation. The self is inescapably subordinated to temporality, to successivemanifestations of consciousness. There is, however, no point in time where understanding of the self coincides with the being that it is attempting to comprehend. Accordingly, for the Romantics objective time is reduced to the moment ofcreative imagination of the subject. The notion of the privileged moment in the poetry of Novalis, the "Augen- bl icksutopie"^®^ as Hans Joachim Mahl called it, is a transformation of outer life into subjective consciousness and a reduction of the utopian vision to the inferiority ofthe poet Novalis writes;

"Aus diesem Lichtpunct des Schwebens stromt alle Realitât aus - in ihm ist allés enthalten - Object und Subject sind durch ihn, nicht er durch sie. Ichheit Oder productive Imaginâtionskraft, das Schweben - bestimmt, produciert die Extreme, das wozwischen geschwebt wird."^°^

Novalis’ understanding of imagination incorporates an exaltation of natural process and flow, an awareness of the irregularity and disorder which underlies creation. Thus it is the highest task of the poet to bring everything into flow in order to create new forms.

18) Hiuis-Josichim Mahl, ”Der poetische Staat. Utopie und Utopiereflexion bei den Friihromantikern", in: Wilhelm VoOkamp ed,, "Interdisziplinâre Studien zur neuzeitli­chen Utopie”, (Stuttgart 1982), Vol. 3, p. 273.

19) See also the recursive structure of "Heinrich von Ofterdingen”, which suggests a spiral in which each circular motion reinforces and iterates the text. The spiraling of time is reflected in such symbols as the book which Heinrich discovers in the hermit*s cave, that tells the story of his own life,

20) Novalis, "Werke”, op.cit,, "Fichte-Studien”, Vol, 2, p, 177.

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For Novalis human consciousness represents a finitely-bounded infinity, to be revealed in the divinatory anticipation of the work of art. This inherent paradoxical aspiration of Romantic theory - the claim to grasp the infinite in finite terms - is expressed by the creation of radically new forms. The recognition of the contingency of the individual existen­ce leads to the creation of a continuously progressing movement generating incessantly new forms. Continuous reflection transcends the finite form of the work of art and carries with it the possibility that it will be dissolved in the universal idea of art.The progressivity of Romantic thought is reflected in essence in the new forms of the work of art. The unique work of the Romantics is incomplete, unquiet and intrinsically heteroge­nous. Its peculiar quality is something to which Schlegel applied the term "intéressant" in order to indicate its dynamic, emotional character in contrast to the timeless beauty of the classical work of art.Where other kinds of poetry are finished. Romantic poetry is infinite and in a constant "state of becoming", which is in fact its real nature, as Friedrich Schlegel describes in the famous "Athenaums-Fragment 116":

"Andre Dichtarten sind fertig, und konnen nun voll- standig zergliedert werden. Die romantische Dichtart ist noch im Werden; ja das ist ihr eigentliches Wesen, da/3 sie ewig nur werden, nie vollendet sein kann. Sie kann durch keine Theorie erschopft werden, und nur eine divinatorische Kritik dürfte es wagen, ihr Ideal charakterisieren zu wollen."^^^

21) Claus Sommerhage elaborated on this aesthetic dilemma:''Eine Konsequenz fiir die Weise der progredierenden Bewegung des Romantischen als Form besteht dann darin, daf) in ihr Methode und Intention, Weg und Ziel nicht voneinander zu trennen sind, Der Weg ist das Ziel, insofern sich unter der Bedingung der Unend- lichkeitsorientierung des Romantisierens Jedes Ziel als Ziel selbst aufhebt - es kann ja nicht das erstrebte unendliche sein, denn Jede Feme, die zur Nahe geworden ist, weist in neue, unabsehbare Fernen, Diese Selbsttranszendierung des Romantischen ist ein prinzipiell unabschlieObarer ProzeO;"Claus Sommerhage, "Romantische Aporien, Zur Kontinuitat des Romantischen bei Novalis, Eichendorff, Hofmannsthal und Handke", (Paderborn 1993), p, IS,

22) Friedrich Schlegel, "Kritische Schriften und Fragmente", op,cit,, "Über das Studium der Griechischen Poesie" (1795-1797), Vol, 1, p, 63, Schlegel identifies as a major criteria of modern poetry the notion of the interesting: "Sie macht nicht einmal Anspriiche auf Objektivitat, welches doch die erste Bedingung des reinen und unbedingten asthetischen Werts ist, und ihr Ideal ist das Intéressante d.h, subjektive asthetische Kraft," See also "Über Goethes Meister" (1798), Vol, 2, pp, 157.

23) Friedrich Schlegel, "Kritische Schriften und Fragmente", op.cit,, "Athenaums-Fragment 116", Vol. 2, p. 115.

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1,5.2. The Fragment as Aesthetic Form

The "state of becoming" of Romantic poetry, its ideality is situated in the creative freedom of its producer. The autonomy of the artist’s imaginative power is to guarantee the infinity of Romantic art. It is a project forever in need of completion which promises fulfilment in the future through the self-transcendence of the artist. The crucial point in this conception of art is its deliberate fragmentariness. The semantic openness of poetry is reflected in the destruction of a hermetic and complete form. The fragment can only allegorically give an idea of the whole, which is unattaina­ble in a single work of art. In the fragment the Romantics articulate an underlying paradox, as fragments are a self- contained work in themselves and simultaneously must be conceivable as part of a whole:

"Das Fragment ist das Organon, in welchem das zu­gleich antisystematische wie systembezogene Denken der Romantiker seinen Ausdruck gefunden hat: eineForm der Verbindung von entfaltetem System und reiner Intuition"^^

The illusion of a totality to be represented in art is deliberately destroyed, but generates an infinite process of approximating truth. Romantic poetry thus is in a permanent state of pre-existence, or, in other words, the "subjektive Keim eines werdenden O b j e k t s " I r o n y and wit are according to Schlegel’s theory ''échappées de vue ins Unendl iche" Eberhard Ostermann emphasizes that the fragment should not simply be considered as something incomplete, lacking a certain unity but rather understood as a form expressing the underlying possibility of poetic creativity in process:

24) Ralf Schnell, "Die verkehrte Welt. Literarische Ironie im 19, Jahrhundert", (Stuttgart 1989), p. 1.

25) Friedrich Schlegel, "Kritische Schrif ten und Fragmente", op.cit., "Athenaums-Fragment 22", Vol. 2, p. 106.

26) Friedrich Schlegel, ibid., p. 125.

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"Das Fragmentarische der Poesie ist mithin nicht ihr defizitarer Status, sondern die negative Erschei- nungsform ihres Ermoglichungsgrundes, der sich als abwesender und dennoch realer manifestiert."^^*

Insofar as Romantic literature is a fragment, the philoso­phical idea of art is present in the work itself. The ideal presents itself in the real through the particular incom­pleteness, for the fragment in the view of the Romantics is a synthesis of the concrete and the ideal. The fragment unites the single work of art and the philosophy of the work and makes it a transcendental poetry, as exemplified in the following passage:

"Das Wesentliche ist die Fâhigkeit, Gegenstande unmittelbar zugleich zu ideal isieren, und zu reali- sieren, zu erganzen, und teilweise in sich auszufüh- ren. Da nun transzendental eben das ist, was auf die Verbindung oder Trennung des Idealen und des Realen Bezug hat; so konnte man sagen, der Sinn für Fragmen­te und Projekte sei der transzendentale Bestandteil des historischen Geistes."^*^

27) Ebcrhard Osterm&nn, "Der Bcgriff des Fragments als Leitmetapher der asthetischen Moderne", in: E, Behler; A, von Bormann; J, Horisch; G, Oesterle eds,, "Athenaum, Jahrbuch für Romaniik", Vol. 1, 1991, p. 194,

28) Friedrich Schlegel, "Kritische Schriften und Fragmente", op.cit., Vol. 2, "Athenaums- Fragment 22", p. 107.

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1.5.3. Irony and Literary Critique

The joining or separating of the ideal and the real which characterizes fragments also indicates the interdependence of literature and its critique, of inspiration and criticism. Irony is defined as the key property of the literary fragment and as a medium through which literature and life interweave. Ingrid Strohschneider-Kohrs sees Romantic irony as a model of art theory that can be used to confront and to interpret the dialectic of theory and execution within the individual work. For her the exemplary significance resides in the form of irony;

"Der Kiinstler und das Kunstwerk sollen in der Ironie das freie BewuGtsein gewinnen, das um die Grenzen des Bedingten weiiB und sie in immer neuer Bewegung tiberschreitet. - Hier ist nicht von Inhalten, vondarste 1Ibaren einzelnen Themen der Kunst die Rede, sondern stets von einem künst1erischen Prinzip: die Ironie soil das Schaffen des Künstlers und soil die 'Construction*, die Struktur des Werks im Ganzen bestimmen. Sie gibt ihnen die Môglichkeit der Selbst- reflexion; sie zeigt ihnen ihre Grenzen und verlangt, dariiber sich zu erheben, da ihr Wissen von Unbeding- tem an keiner einzigen Erscheinung Geniige findet. Im Spiegel der poetischen SeIbstreflexion kann die Ironie auch im einzelnen Kunstwerk dieses Gefühl vom unauflos1ichen Widerstreit zur Sprache bringen."^*)

This form of poetic self-reflexivity enables the poet to reflect ironically and parodistically the problem of the text on the formal level. Consequently, the ideal work of art is a fusion of language and the inherent process of verbaliza­tion inasmuch as it critically portrays the underlying mode of production. As Schlegel claims Romantic poetry should "in jeder ihrer Darste 1lungen sich selbst mit darstellen, und überall zugleich Poesie und Poesie der Poesie sein"^°\ Fur­thermore, the use of irony gives evidence of the linguistic

29) Ingrid Strohschneider-Kohrs, "Zur Poetik der deutschen Romantik II: Die romsuitische Ironie"; in: Hans Steffen ed., "Die deutsche Romantik", op.cit., p. 86.

30) Friedrich Schlegel, "Kritische Schrif ten und Fragmente", op. cit., "Athenaums-Fragment 238", Vol. 2, p. 127, Novalis declares similar views of transcendental poetry. In the "Logologische Fragmente" he writes: "Zur achten Kritik gehort die Fahigkeit das zu kritisirende Produkt selbst hervorzubringen.", "Werke", op.cit.. Vol. 2, p. 323.

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consciousness of the Romantic author. As stylistic device it directly reacts to the gap between infinite meaning and finite nature of language, and the ultimately inexhaustible potential of the human mind and subsequently its knowledge of this state;

"Ironie ist klares Bewu&tsein der ewigen Agilitat, des unendlich vollen Chaos

For the Romantics, language is a voluntary act and the work of art as a preliminary state that approximates to what it presents but never coincides with it. Irony asserts itself as a tendency that ought to be fulfilled. It progresses in a permanent reflection upon itself, whereas the expectation for truth or understanding is constantly irritated. Irony is precisely the power of artistic production that offers a glimpse of totality in the breakdown of artistic representa­tion. "Unverstand 1ichkeit" is another term in Schlegel’s theory of art used to express the ultimate incomprehensi­bility of human consciousness and the chaos of the spirit. Only by critically and ironically referring to itself does the work of art affirm its true nature. Schlegel*s concept of literature is thus a self-generative process of destruction and production, of dissolution and re-combination without ever fully realizing itself.Artistic self-creation becomes a mode of balancing between unity and separation in a constant "Wechsel von Selbst- schopfung und Se Ibst verni chtung" Yet, as art is in the process of becoming, the synthesis at which it aims, belongs to the future. For Friedrich Schlegel critique is the author’s freedom to elevate himself above any feelings and destroy in reflection the object of interest:

31) Friedrich Schlegel, "Kritische Schriften und Fragmente", op.cit.. Vol. 2, "Ideen", p. 227.

32) Friedrich Schlegel, "Kritische Schrif ten und Fragmente", op. cit., Vol. 2, "Athenaums- Fragment SI", p. 109.

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"Wir müssen uns über unsre eigne Liebe erheben, und was wir anbeten, in Gedanken vernichten kônnen.

Schlegel’s theory reflects the Incommensurability of art. It belongs to the essence of art that its appearance is necessa­rily incomplete and preliminary. The work of art, like the self, is caught up in the flow of temporality and is in a constant change of state. The desire for wholeness and completeness is bound to remain unfulfilled, as the work of art must remain unfinished and unauthoritative. It is a fragment defying closure, comparable to a dispersed seed, or "Blüthenstaub"Schlegel's art simultaneously is and insists that it is not, as the work of art dissolves in its self-positing. It is the supreme characteristic of Romantic art that it exists only in the self-cancelling revelation of its own appearance.This is, as we shall see, a notion which will recur in the poetics of Thomas Bernhard. It is particularly the linguistic scepticism discernible in the fragmentary texts of Romantic authors and in the contemporary texts of Thomas Bernhard that accounts for the limitations of language as a vehicle to knowledge (Erkenntnis). The fragment, irony, wit or the arabesque, all these forms of expression envisage language as a textual game which establishes the work of art as a process and language as fundamentally impenetrable and "unverstand- lich", as a "t ranszendentale Buf foner ie" ^ in Romantic terminology or as Jacques Derrida argues;

33) Friedrich Schlegel, "Kritische Schriften und Fragmente", op,cit., Vol, 2, "überGoethes Meister" (1798), p, 160,

34) Novalis, "Werke", op.cit,, Vol, 2, The title "Vermischte Bemerkungen/Blûthenstaub"(1797/98) is used for a collection of fragments and aphorisms, pp, 223,See also Bberhard Ostermann, "Der Begriff des Fragments als Leitmetapher derasthetischen Moderne", op.cit,, p. 202:"Von da aus gesehen liegt das Fragmentarische der Kunst nicht mehr darin begriindet, daO es ihr nicht oder nur teilweise gelingt, sich als Ganzheit zu realisieren, sondern daO sie immer schon die Zerstücklung einer umfassenden asthetischen Produktivitat voraussetzen muD, wenn sie sich als Einheit oder Werk behaupten will. Das Fragmentarische und das Ganze fallen somit zusammen, da jede Ganzheit zugleich als Bruchstûck Jenes Weltspiels gedacht wird, das sich als das schlechthin Andere niemals ganz und unmittelbar, sondern nur durch seine eigene Fragmentierung manifestiert, "

35) Friedrich Schlegel, "Kritische Schriften und Fragmente", op.cit,, "Lyceums-Fragment42", Vol, 1, p. 242.

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"Le fragment n ’est pas un style ou un échec détermi­nés, c ’est la forme de l’écrit.

Irony is the formative principle to express the dialectic of the artistic process and for Schlegel a means to stress the immanent logic of a text, its ambiguity and indecisiveness as well as its law and regularity;

"Sie enthalt und erregt ein Gefühl von dem unauflos- lichen Widerstreit des Unbedingten und des Bedingten, der Unmoglichkeit und Notwendigkeit einer vollstandi- gen Mitteilung. Sie ist die freieste aller Lizenzen, denn durch sie setzt man sich über sich selbst weg; und doch auch die geset zt 1 ichste, denn sie ist unbedingt notwendig." ^

The work of art results, then, from a necessary self-con­straint, due to the ironic consciousness of the Romantic author. Schlegel’s concept of irony and the fragmentary nature of art raises the question as to the possibility of knowledge and understanding as well as to the truth of language. As Franz Norbert Mennemeier points out:

"Ironisches BewuBtsein ist, von hier betrachtet, nichts anderes als Reflexion auf die Tatsache, daJ3, was dem Normalverstand als unwandeIbares Sprachmedium erscheint, nur mehr Augenblick in einem unendlichen Froze# empirischer Setzungen ist, daJ3 im Hinblick auf die unmoglichen oder noch nicht erreichten voll- endeten Begriffe Sprache sich als bloB vorlaufiger, seiner eigenen Überholbarkeit nicht bewuBter Sprach- zustand erweist. Ironische Sprache als produktive Reaktion auf diese Einsicht bleibt zwar ihrerseits an das Schicksal aller Sprache als einer jeweils fixen geschichtlichen GroBe gebunden; doch sucht sie in der Fixierung zugleich die Antizipation auf ihre eigene Negation und selbst die Negation dieser Negation zu bewerkste 1 ligen.

36) Ja-cqucs Derrida., "L’Écriture et la Différence", (Paris 1967), p. 108.

37) Friedrich Schlegel, "Kritische Schriften und Fragmente", op.cit., "Lyceums-Fragment 108", Vol. 1, p. 248.

38) Franz Norbert Mennemeier, "Fragment und Ironie beim jungen Friedrich Schlegel. Versuch der Konstruktion einer nicht geschriebenen Théorie", in: Klaus Peter ed., "Romantikforschung seit 194S", op.cit., p. 237.

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The fragment and the irony as well as the self-ref lexivity of the artistic process are basic parameters for the inherent modernity of Romanticism. All three elements basicallydeveloped in the "Athenaum” are constitutive for otherRomantic texts, such as Ludwig Tieck’s "William Lovell" (1796), "Der gestiefelte Kater" (1797) and E.T.A. Hoffmann’s "Lebens-Ansichten des Katers Murr" (1822). In these novels the narrative mode reflects itself and plays ironically with the problems and paradigms of fictionality and story-telling by multiplying the point of view. The ironic discourse mirrors the contradictions of the modern consciousnessinsofar as the unresolved problems of reality lead to an aesthetic openness in which the work of art as its truestform can adopt a "Form der Uneigent 1 i c h k e i t " T h e search for a new form, the work of art as an unceasing act of artistic creation and literary criticism is the most revolu­tionary element of Romanticism and its legacy to modernism. The contradictions and discontinuities of Romantic theory and art are ultimately its most vital elements as they turn literature into a form that no longer provides answers but asks new questions.

As we shall see, Thomas Bernhard’s art is in multiple ways reminiscent of the theoretical and poetic achievements of Romanticism. His notion of the subject as well as the stylistic forms of irony and self-reflexivity bear strong similarities with Romantic theory, as will be shown. Like the Surrealists Bernhard continues a Romantic tradition by explicitly stressing the imaginative, fantastic and thus purely aesthetic form of art.In much of Bernhard’s work, that purely aesthetic form has crucial affinities with music - and this is another key point where his creative project overlaps with that of the early Romantic generation. As is well known, Novalis and Schlegel reflected on the ’musicalization’ of language. The musician constantly recurs as the protagonist of romantic texts. It is important to stress that, in spite of his catastrophic

39) Ralf Schnell, "Die verkehrte Welt. Literarische Ironie im 19, J&hrhundert", op.cit., p. 37.

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subject matter, Bernhard manages to assuage - perhaps even to redeem - that catastrophe by the sheer musicality of his proseConstantly, Bernhard manages to establish musical structures. Words are not used as referents or signifiers, but as an abstract set of sounds, carrying no functional message. The evocative qualities of the musical composition transcend the pure descriptiveness of the text. Language thus encourages us to look at the rhythm and the variation of its form as a correlative expression of thought. "Die Sprache vollzieht eine musikalische Nachahmung geistiger Bezugsverhaltnis- se"' \ as Jurgensen explains. Many of Bernhard's novels and plays are constructed according to principles of musical composition and he has often stressed the importance of music for his work;

"Wie ich meine Bûcher schreibe? Es ist eine Frage des Rhythmus und hat viel mit Musik zu tun. Ja, was ich schreibe, kann man nur verstehen, wenn man sich klarmacht, daB zuallererst die musikalische Kom- ponente zahlt und daB erst an zweiter Stelle das kommt, was ich erzahle. Wenn das erste einmal da ist, kann ich anfangen, Dinge und Ereignisse zu beschrei- ben. Das Problem liegt im Wie. Leider haben die Kritiker in Deutschland kein Ohr für die Musik, die für den Schriftste11er so wesentlich ist. Mir ver- schafft das musikalische Element eine ebenso groBe Befriedigung, wie wenn ich Cello spiele, ja eine noch groBere, da zum Vergnügen an der Musik noch das an dem Gedanken hinzukommt, den man ausdrücken will.

As thinking cannot be understood, "Verstandlichmachen ist unmoglich, das gibt es nicht" (Ital., 80), language at most can be an approximation. It has to aspire to the status of music to formally reproduce the infinite process of thin-

40) Compare also chapter 3,6,3,

41) Manfred Jurgensen, "Die Sprachpartituren Thomas Bernhards", op,cit,, p, 107.

42) Thomas Bernhard, interview with "Le Monde" by Jean-Louis de Rambures (1983), quotedafter: Thomas Bernhard, "Der Schein trUgt", Programmbuch No, 52, SchauspielhausBochum 1984, p, 106, See also Bernhard’s interview "Drei Tage: "Das sind die Satze, Worter, die man aufbaut, Im Grunde ist es wie ein Spielzeug, man setzt es über- einander, es ist ein musikalischer Vorgang," (p, 80)

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king/^^ Language seen in structural analogy to music embo­dies no semantic clarity, but is an expression of the otherwise inexplicable, of the incompleteness and essential imperfection of any work of art:

"So hat es immer nur ein Angenahertes gegeben, ein Beinahe, allés andere ist Unsinn." (A, 155)

43) Compare "Frost”: "Die Musik, hôren Sie [»••] die Sprache kommt auf die Musik zu, die Sprache hat keine Kraft mehr, die Musik zu hintergehen, sie muD gerade auf die Musik zugehen, die Sprache ist eine einzige Schwache (p, 189)

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"Wir sind Osterreicher, wir sind apathisch; wir sind das Leben als das gemeine Desinteresse aa Leben, wir sind in dem ProzeO der Natur der CrôOenwahn-8inn als Zukunft. [•••] Was wir denken, ist nachgedacht, was wir empfinden ist chaotisch, was wir sind, ist unklar. Wir brauchen uns nicht zu schamen, aber wir sind auch nichts und wir verdienen nichts als das Chaos." (Thomas Bernhard)

2. Thomas Bernhard and Austria. Extinction of the Past?

In my summary of Romantic aesthetics I have been concerned to draw particular attention to notions of irony,playfulness, spiritual agility. At first sight it would seem that the work of Thomas Bernhard is anything but playful: rather, that it is deperate, hate-filled, embittered,obsessive. Clearly there are elements of truth to this (and much of the ferocity of Bernhard's reception in his native country has derived from the fact that his readers have had no doubt that he means to denigrate Austria). I therefore propose initially to consider this strand of Bernhard's work - if for no other reason than that it forms a prelude to the two later texts which concern me in this thesis, texts in which, as I shall seek to show by detailed analysis, Bernhard's negativism is less in evidence and the ironicproject so reminiscent of Romantic aesthetic thinking comesto the fore.In thematic terms the fictional world built up by Bernhard is largely a static scenario of stupidity, illness, bleakness and morbidity, which encompasses the characters as well as nature, in particular the Austrian landscape, as the following extract from "Verstorung" (1967) illustrates:

"Er komme, sagte mein Vater, tagtaglich beinahe nur zu widerwartigen Menschen, gehe, wenn er in diese Hauser hineingehe, in die Brutalitât hinein, in die Gewal11âtigkeit, im Grunde mit seiner Arzttasche immer nur in einer Verbrecherwe 11 bin und her. Und die Menschen unter der Gleinalpe und unter der Koralpe und im Kainach- und Grobnitztal seien Musterbeispie1e für eine von den Jahrmillio- nen und Jahrtausenden auf die ordinarsten Korper- exzesse hin konstruierte Steiermark." (Verst, 16)

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Even the minor characters in Bernhard’s texts are diseased, deformed and mentally deranged, living in a land that is in a general process of disintegration and collapse. The atmosphere of brutal destruction and violent dissolution includes nature as well as society.By the end of the 1970s, critics had begun to accuse Bernhard of a limitation and an obsessiveness of thematic range and a lack of differentiation. His prose had, it was felt, become predictable in its obsessive repetition of formulaic themes in the same stereotyped manner.The suggestion that Bernhard purveys unaltered negativity and repeated litanies of hate is misleading. Clearly it is not his aim to entertain his readers with appealing settings, plots and characters. But the foremost concern of Bernhard’s critics with theme and character for a long time prevented the subtlety of narrative innovation and the philosophical meaning of Bernhard’s prose from being recognized.The characters in both the novels and the plays seem to suffer from their Austrian background, their family history and the present socio-political situation. Even if they seek refuge in places they consider to be more worldly, open- minded and intellectual, such as Madrid ("Der Untergeher"), London ( " V e r s t o r u n g " ) o r the USA and Cambridge ("Ungenach") they are unable to free themselves from their burden of national and private history, the open wound of their "Herkunf t skompl ex", as it is labelled in the novel "Ausloschung. Ein Zerfall" (A, 201).The disintegration and sickness of Austria as a country is often symbolized in the recurrent theme of the breaking-up or falling apart of houses and estates which belonged for generations to one family.Bernhard’s own tirades against various sections of the Austrian nation have become a sort of trademark, but they

1) Bernhard often writes about the English-speaking world in contrast to thedestructive influence of his own country: "London [•••] ist die einzige Stadt, in der ich auf Lebenszeit leben mochte [•••]• In London habe ich die glücklichste Zeit meines Lebens verbracht. Paris fUrchte ich. Paris irritiert mich, London beruhigt mich In Rom bin ich gern. In Warschau. Aber lange, langste Zeit leben mochteich nur in London. Ich bin ein durchaus für London geschaffener Mensch, der in Hochgobernitz eingekerkert worden ist.” (Verst, 161)

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cannot simply be dismissed as an idiosyncratic neurosis, or as a "Marotte eines Storenfrieds"^\ It is noticeable that the criticism of Austria and the focus on negative and horrifying aspects of life is also prevalent in the works of other contemporary Austrian writers. Gert Jonke’s "Geometrischer Heimatroman" (1969), Franz Innerhofer’s ironic title "Schône Tage" (1974), Elfriede Jelinek's narrative "Die Liebhaberinnen" (1975) as well as Handke's "Wunschloses Unglûck" (1972) all try to destroy the myth of Austria as an idyllic place and expose the artificiality of the touristic and fairy-tale image of Austria.Bernhard’s profound and "vollig invariabler antipolitischer und antisozialer Affekt"^^ as W.G. Sebald called it, is also a disgust at power and authority which has a long tradition in Austrian literature from Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Karl Kraus, Robert Musil to Peter Handke.** At the beginning of the 20th century political power (Herrschaft) and its abuse were regarded by many intellectuals as complementary elements^, as Sebald suggests:

"[...] es ist eben dieses Mode 1 1 einer symbiotischen Verquicktheit von Gewalt, Ordnung, Form und Konservatismus einerseits und von Ohnmacht, Désintégration und potentiellem Aufruhr andererse its, an das auch Thomas Bernhard anschl ielJt.

The anger about Austrian National Socialist history since 1938 and the complicity of a great number of people, who sought to cover up the part they themselves played during the

2) Anton Krâttli, "Wolfsegg Busloschen”, in: Schweizcr Uonatshefte, Vol. 67, No. 3, 1987, p. 238.

3) W.O. Sebald, "Die Beschreibung des Unglûcks. Zur Osterreichischen Literatur von Stifter bis Handke", (Salzburg und Wien 1985), p. 103.

4) See for example Peter Handke, "Die Oeborgenheit unter der Schadeldecke": "Seit ich mich erinnern kann, ekle ich mich vor der Macht, und dieser Ekel ist nichts moralisches, er ist kreatûrlich, eine Eigenschaft jeder einzelnen Kôrperzelle. " in: "Als das Wünschen noch geholfen hat", (Frankfurt/Main 1974), p. 74.

5) See for example Christian Enzensberger, "OroOerer Versuch über den Schmutz", (München 1970),

6) W.G. Sebald, "Die Beschreibung des Unglücks", op.cit., p. 104,

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historical period in question, is a strong impulse for Bernhard’s creativity:

"Die Wut aufs Vertuschen und HinwegschwindeIn der Vergangenheit und der Verantwortlichkeit lost bei Bernhard Kaskaden von Schimpfreden aus: als bloBes Ornament wird man sie nicht bezeichnen kônnen.

In his writings Bernhard constantly tries to thwart attempts to gloss over the Nazi past and attacks the myth of Austria’s innocence in the years following the AnschluB in 1938. In his notorious "WiIdganspreisrede" of 1968 he called the stereotyped, mendacious image of Austria as a beautiful country into question:

"Man begreift: ein ahnungsloses Volk, ein schônes Land - es sind tote oder gewissenhaft gewissenlose Vâter, Menschen mit der Einfachheit und der Niedertracht, mit der Armut ihrer Bedürfnisse ... Es ist ailes eine zuhochst philosophische und unertrag 1iche Vorgeschichte. Die Zeitalter sind schwachsinnig , das Dâmonische in uns ein immerwahrender vaterlandischer Kerker, in dem die Elemente der Dummheit und der Riicksichtslosigkeit zur tagtaglichen Notdurft geworden sind.

Almost twenty years later, the accusation is repeated by the protagonist Franz-Josef Murau in the novel "Ausloschung":

"Ich ziehe Osterreich andauernd in den Schmutz, sagen diese Leute, die Heimat mache ich auf die unverschamteste Weise herunter, ich unterstelle den Osterreichern eine gemeine und niedertrachtige katholisch-nationalsozialistische Gesinnung wann und wo ich nur konne, wo es in Wahrheit diese gemeine und niedertracht ige katholisch- nat ionalsozial ist ische Gesinnung in Osterreich gar nicht gâbe, wie diese Leute schreiben. ôsterreich sei nicht gemein und es sei nicht niedertrachtig, es sei immer nur schon gewesen, schreiben diese Leute, und das osterreichische Volk sei ein ehrbares [...]." (A, 19/20)

7) Anton Kr&ttli, "Wolfsegg ausloschen", op, cit, p. 238.

8) Thornss Bernhard, "Rede", in: Anneliese Botond ed,, "Über Thomas Bernhard", op.cit, p. 7,

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Read in conjunction with other works, particularly the autobiographical writings, "Ausloschung" is a continuation of Bernhard’s lifelong endeavour radically to unmask any attempt to palliate or even erase the past by a mere change in outward appearances. A passage from "Die Ursache. Eine Andeutung" (1977) illustrates Bernhard’s attitude towards Salzburg which stands as a metonym for Austria as a whole:

"Der junge, in jedem Falle immer einsam in dieser Stadt und in dieser Landschaft aufwachsende Mensch wird in nichts als in eine katholisch- nat ionalsozial ist ische Atmosphare hineingeboren. und er wachst, ob er es wahrhaben will oder nicht, ob er es weiB oder nicht, in dieser kathol isch- nat ionalsozial ist ischen Atmosphare auf. Wohin wir schauen, wir sehen hier nichts anderes als den Katholizismus oder den Nationalsozialismus und fast in allem in dieser Stadt und Gegend einen geistesstorenden und geistesverrottenden und geistestotenden katholisch-nationalsozial isti- schen, menschenumbringenden Zustand. Selbst auf die Gefahr hin, sich damit vor alien diesen Scheuklappenbewohnern im ureigensten Sinne des Wortes unmoglich und schon wieder einmal zum Narren gemacht zu haben, ist zu sagen, daB diese Stadt eine in Jahrhunderten vom Katholizismus gemein abgedroschene und in Jahrzehnten vom Nationalsozialismus brutal vergewalt igte ist, die ihre Wirkung tut." (Urs, 72/73)

Bernhard misses no opportunity to show his disapproval of the provincial and corrupt Austrian mind. Although he often touches on the most sensitive topics, he never argues politically. All his invective lacks precise political and sociological description and remains vague in terminology. The constant lamentation becomes a ritual, not interested in giving any particular and substantial insights into the Austrian reality, but showing the world in a universal condition of depravity. The notion of Austria is extrapolated from personal experiences which for their part are the catalysts for an artistic expression. Austria thus gains an almost mythical dimension. It has to be an object of extreme and obsessive emotions on which Bernhard depends for his artistic impulse. Consequently, he remains bound, if not ad­dicted, to the subject he despises most, emphatically

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producing ambiguous, grotesque and ludicrous images of Austria - and of the inability of the isolated subject to get away from it. As Bernhard Sorg argues in his biography:

"Im Rückblick auf sein Leben in und mit Osterreich will scheinen, daB seine Unfahigkeit, die Ursachen der Misere zu designieren, dem Oeuvre entschieden zugutegekommen ist: Vor dem Hintergrund einerdiffusen Katastrophe heben sich die Gestalten der Geistesmenschen, hebt sich die Gestalt des Autors und Geistesmenschen Thomas Bernhard leuchtend ab. Das mag nicht die Absicht gewesen sein, aber es ist die Konstel lat ion, aus der heraus die Texte ihre Suggest ivkraf t gewinnen.

The negative appearance of Austrian locations and the aggressive diatribes against anything that is connected with its history mostly serve as a textual strategy. The motifs of death and decline inextricably bound to the Austrian mind can be read as a continuing indebtedness to the Baroque tradition, its musicality and melancholy mood, its emphasis on language and theatre as central themes and its fascination with decay and death.The obsession with Austria as an issue thus is a function of the rhetorical figure "locus terribilis", which has had a long tradition in Austrian literature since the Baroque.^) As August Obermayer convincingly argues:

"Der Schauplatz ist in fast alien Bernhardschen Prosawerken nicht als ein Ort zu begreifen, wo Geschehen statthat, der etwa von dem tatsachlich existierenden Ort gleichen Namens Atmosphare borgt und daher die Lesererwartung in bestimmter Weise man i pu 1i er t und vom Leser die Einbringung bestimmter Kenntnisse und Erfahrungen fordert, vielmehr handelt es sich bei Bernhard immer um einen Un-Ort, gleichsam um eine Umkehrung des Topos vom locus amoenus in einen locus terribilis, der in dialektischer Wechselwirkung sowohl vom

9) Bernhard Sorg, "Thoaas Bernhard", (München 1992), p, 147.

10) See for example Wendelin Schmidt-Dengler, "Europaische Nationalliteraturen I: "Osterreich - *Pathos der Inaobilitat’", in: Frankfurter Hefte, Vol. 34, No, 10, October 1979 and Viktor Suchy, "Kontinuitat und Traditionsbruch in der osterreichischen Dichtung der Gegenwart", in "Dauer im Wandel", ed, W, Strolz, (Wien 1975),

11) See: August Obermayer, "Der Locus terribilis in Thomas Bernhards Prosa", in: Manfred Jurgensen ed,, "Thomas Bernhard, Annaherungen", (Bern 1981),

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Menschen geprâgt, seinerseits aber wieder Menschen prâgt, immer aber zum Kerker und zur grausigen Folterkammer für die in ihm existierenden Protagonisten, und in vielen Fallen zu deren Todesort wird.

Places and figures named in Bernhard’s writings are often interchangeable, underlining their significance as an artistic device often concealed by the seemingly unambiguous textual surface. The author’s excessive use of another rhetorical figure, insult, also works as a sophisticated technique, a stimulus beneath the narrative surface, that should alert the reader when approaching Bernhard’s texts. Thus the love-hate relationship, so dominant in all of his texts, cannot be taken as an insult against any particular place or person, but rather as a strategy to express a general condition of the world and eventually of the state of mind of the protagonist. Obermayer points out:

"Dadurch werden die Schauplatze aber zu Zeichen stilisiert, zu Zeichen der repressiven, ja absolut todlichen Umwelt und nehmen beispie1haften Charakter an. Der genannte Ort hat demnach vor- wiegend kontextuelle Bedeutung und verweist nicht direkt auf den real existierenden Or t gleichen Namens, enthalt aus diesem Grunde auch keine direkte und objektiv gegen diesen Ort gerichtete Kritik.""'

Against the background of this antagonistic relationship with Austria and the suffering from historical reality Bernhard develops his central artistic ideas which counterbalance not only his own past experiences but, moreover, generate a radically new, enigmatic and disturbing form of literature. The notion of the opposite direction, the "entgegengesetzte Richtung" (Ke, 8) characterizes the intention of his writings, as Bernhard remarks in an interview with André MÜ11er:

12) Ibid. , p. 215,

13) August Obermayer, "Der Locus terribilis in Thomas Bernhards Prosa", op.cit, p. 217.

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"Man mul3 den ausgef al lenen Weg gehen mit allen exzentrischen, brutalen, scheufilichen, verklemm- ten, verqueren Dingen, die in einem [...] drin sind.""'

Oppositon, perversity and obstinacy thus mark the indispen­sable material which stimulates his intellect, as he explains in the early fiIm-interview "Drei Tage":

"Widerstand ist Material. Das Gehirn braucht Widerstande. Indem es Widerstânde ansammelt, hat es Material, Widerstand? [...] Und wahrscheinlich ... warum bin ich eigentlich zum Schreiben gekom- men, warum schreibe ich Bûcher? Aus Opposition gegen mich selbst plotz1ich, und gegen diesen Zustand - weil mir Widerstande, wie ich schon einmal gesagt habe, allés bedeuten ... Ich wollte eben diesen ungeheuren Widerstand, und dadurch schreibe ich Prosa." (Ital, 81; 85)

For Bernhard, writing is a search for the origins of his personal disaster, as described in his autobiographical works, and at the same time it can be regarded as a form of therapy, an attempt to maintain equilibrium in the face of despair.All five volumes of memoirs^®^ published between 1975 and 1982 give evidence of the absurd elements and events of Bernhard's personal history. They are not written in chronological order, but document disparate, mostly catastrophic moments of his life, which only gain coherence through the language in which they are rendered. The subject, the "Ich" in the autobiography thus is an artistic creation intended to portray development as an accumulation of crises

14) André Müller, ”BnthlôOwngen, Interviews”, (München 1979), p. 91,

15) See for example, Urs Bugmann, ”Bewaltigungsversuch, Thomas Bernhardsautobiographische Schriften”, (Bern 1981).In the short-story ”Die Mütze” the protagonist explicitly starts writing to avoid going mad: ”Ich fürchtete mich vor mir selber, und nur um mich nicht mehr in dieser todl ichen Weise, wie sie die meinige ist, zutode fürchten zu müssen, habe ich mich hingesetzt und diese paar Seiten geschrieben ... Wahrend ich mich wieder einmal,wenn auch sehr geschickt, so doch entsetzlich meiner Krankheit und Krankhaftixkeitauslieferte, dachte ich, was ich jetzt mit mir anfangen werde, und ich setzte michhin und ich fing an zu schreiben,” (in: ”Brzâhlungen”, p, 80)

16) ”Die Ursache, Bine Andeutung”, Salzburg 1975;"Der Keller. Bine Bntziehung”, Salzburg 1976;”Der Atem, Bine Bntscheidung”, Salzburg 1978;"Die Kalte. Bine Isolation”, Salzburg 1981;"Bin Kind”, Salzburg 1982;

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and an intensified reflection. W. Martin Lüdke has pointed out the "Kunst-Charakter" of Bernhard's memoirs;

"Bernhard schreibt aus der Distanz - einer Reflexion, die ihren Gegenstand selbst erzeugt, indem sie die Evidenz des Erlebens bricht, das Geschehen in seiner Erfahrung auf hebt.

The texts do not ultimately speak of Thomas Bernhard as person or as a writer, but rather of the subject and maker of these literary texts. This distinction is also highlighted in Bernhard's novel "Das Kalkwerk" (1970):

"[...] die Person des Schriftstellers bedeute nichts, wie ja überhaupt niemals und in keinem Falle also die Person oder das Personliche eines Schriftstellers etwas bedeute, seine Arbeit sei allés, der Schriftstel1er selbst sei nichts, nur glaubten die Leute in ihrer Geistesniedertracht immer. Person und Arbeit eines Schriftstellers vermischen zu kônnen, die Leute getrauten sich aus lauter mit den Vorgangen der ersten Halfte des Jahrhunderts zusammenhangender impertinenter Schamlosigkeit, liberal 1, Geschriebenes mit der Person des Schreibers vermischen zu müssen und so in jedem Fall immer eine grauenhafte VerstUmme1ung der Arbeit des Schreibers mit der Person des Schreibers herstellen zu müssen, [...]" (Kw, 175)

From a distanced viewpoint Bernhard presents his remi­niscences as a general experience of absurdity, oscillating between forms of tragedy and comedy. The connection between each episode of disaster, misfortune, suffering and pain is a negative and disintegrating one, a process of constant and hopeless failure.In contrast to developments in the "Bi Idungsroman" or the classic autobiography of the 18th and 19th century^*\ where the hero self-confidently establishes himself in society against all odds, the common denominator of the experiences of Bernhard's subject is catastrophe. With his autobiographical texts Bernhard continues the tradition of

17) W, Martin Lüdke, "Bin ’Ich* in der Bewegung: stillgestellt. Wegmarken der Bernhardschen Autobiographie", in: Merkur, No, 11, 1981, p. 1178,

18) See for example Rolf Selbmann, "Der deutsche BiIdungsroman", (Stuttgart 1984); see also Lionell Trilling, "Das Ende der Aufrichtigkeit", (Uünchen 1981),

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"Gegenmode1 le" to the typical "BiIdungsroman", for which Goethe's "Wilhelm Meister" serves as a role model. Novalis attacked Goethe's novel, describing it as a "Wallfahrt nach dem Ade 1 sdiplom"^^^ and labelled it a "Candide, gegen die Poesie gerichtet He particularly criticized it for alack of poetic spirit, the mysterious aspect and thereby depicted the essential criterion for the hero, the rational, prosaic process of becoming an ordinary and useful member of society: "Wilhelm soil oeconomisch werden durch dieoeconomische Familie, in die er kommt. His own frag­mentary novel "Heinrich von Ofterdingen" (1802), Jean Paul's "Titan" (1800/1803), "Eichendorff's "Ahnung und Gegenwart" (1815) and particularly E.T.A. Hoffmann's "Lebensansichten des Kater Murr" (1819/21)^^^ represent an alternative project to the educational process in a "BiIdungsroman".The protagonists of these novels are sceptical of bourgeois-

aesthetic ideas of education and consequently fail to adapt to social and historical conditions. The romantic anti-model destroys the process of integration and linear biographical development and shows a poetic-utopian, and thus non- real ist ic solution. Or, as in the case of Hoffmann, a seemingly typical educational process is turned into parody, as the main character is a cat being eager to improve its mind. Hoffmann trivializes the notion of the educational process and juxtaposes it with the figure of the eccentric "Kapellmeister" Kreisler, a symbol of the Romantic genius. As

19) NovaHs, ”Werke, TagcbUcher und Bricfc”, op.cit,, Vol, 2, ^Fragmente und Studien1799/1800", p, 807,

20) Ibid,

21) Op.cit,, p, 801,

22) The complete title is "Lebens-Ansichten des Katers Murr nebst fragmentarischerBiographie des Kapellmeisters Johannes Kreisler in zufalligen Uakulaturblattern"

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his name indicates, Kreisler^^^ is trapped in the circularity of his identity-finding process, as Jochen Schmidt explains:

"Der Enthusiasmus, das idealistische Streben, das Leiden an der Realitât, kurz das Unbedingte und Exzentrische der Kiinstlerexistenz ist für Hoffmann das Gegenprinzip jenes pedantisch sich selbst bespiegeInden Ordnungssinnes, der sich zur Fiktion einer autobiographischen Kontinuitât versteigt. Bei Kreisler ist allés Zerrissenheit und Diskont inui tat.

In Bernhard’s autobiographical texts, as in many of his fictional works, the subject, having experienced misfortunes and failures, proves unable to adapt to the demands of society. As in the romantic novel the protagonists reject an ordinary existence and alternatively try to become artists. The texts are an ironic reversal of an autobiography, as they deny the existence of an authentic subject. As Martin Lüdke concludes, language, style and the aesthetic form take the place of a subject that proves unable to attain to his truth:

"Für die Authentizitat dieser Lebensgeschichte steht nicht mehr das Subjekt selbst ein (im Verweis auf das gelebte Leben), sondern die Sprache: die Sprache, mit der ein Subjekt seineZerstorung beschreibt. Diese Sprache ist ’naturgemaB’ - kompromiBlos und apodikt isch.

The initial intention of the autobiographical texts conse­quently exposes the artificiality of any self-discovery and leaves fiction and reality indistinguishable. In "Der Keller. Eine Entziehung" (1976) Bernhard ironically reminds us of this ambiguity:

23) With reference to his name Kreisler says: "Sie kônnen nicht wegkommen von dem Worte Kreis, und der Himmel gehe, daH Sie denn gleich an die wunderbaren Kreise denken mogen, in denen sich unser ganzes Sein bewegt, und aus denen wir nicht herauskommen kônnen, wir môgen es anstellen wie wir wollen. In diesen Kreisen kreiselt sich der Kreisler", "Lebens-Ansichten des Katers Murr", In E.T.A. Hoffmann, "Werke in zwei Bânden", (München 1966), p. 352. Kreisler as a metonym for romantic creativity has lost any sense of reality and his genius turns into madness. See also Jochen Schmidt, "Die Geschichte des Genie-Gedankens in der deutschen Literatur, Philosophie und Politik 1750-1945", (Darmstadt 1988), Vol. 2, pp.3.

24) Jochen Schmidt, "Die Geschichte des Genie-Gedankens", op.cit, p. 6.

25) W. Martin Lüdke, "Ein ’Ich* in der Bewegung: stillgestellt.", op.cit., p. 1182.

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"Hat te ich, was ailes zusammen heute meine Existenz ist, nicht tatsachlich durchgemacht, ich hâtte es wahrscheinlich für mich erfunden und wâre zu demselben Ergebnis gekommen. [...] Ich bin mir heute ziemlich sicher, auch wenn ich weil3, da/3 allés das Unsicherste ist, da/3 ich nichts in der Hand habe, da/3 allés nur eine wenn auch immer wieder und allerdings ununterbrochene Faszination als verbliebene Existenz ist, und es ist mir heute ziemlich allés gleichgültig, insoferne habe ich tatsachlich in dem immer verlorenen Spiel auf jeden Fall meine letzte Partie gewonnen." (Ke, 1 1 0)

Inasmuch as language functions as a means to construct a self, the autobiographical texts express a less ambiguous notion than the fictional texts, in which the subject is shown more radically in the process of self-obliteration.

Although Bernhard clearly writes in an Austrian tradition and is significantly influenced by the cultural environment and the history of his country, an analysis of his political criticism cannot convincingly explain his poetics and would limit the usefulness of such interpretations.In the following I shall focus on his works not in the context of his anti-idyllic portrayals of Austria, but in the light of his affinities to Romanticism. Not the destruction and decay of a society, but the disintegration and assertion of the subject is the focus of my analysis, of which the catastrophic, morbid atmosphere described in the texts is only a reflection of the state of mind and which gives an intensified picture of the state the subject is seen to be in. The question to be asked is whether Bernhard tries dialectically to reconstitute the idea of the subject by showing its resistance to destruction and disintegration.

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"Zur Welt suchen wir den Entwurf - dieser Bntwurf sind wir selbst." (Novalis)

3. "Ausloschung”Extinction or Re-creation of the Subject?

3.1. The Narrative

The novel "Ausloschung. Ein Zerfall", published in 1986 is the last and major prose work of Thomas Bernhard. It can be regarded as a continuation as well as a resumé of his previous texts. All central themes, such as the eccentric individual, his disgust with the social world, the struggle for expression and the subsequent inevitable failure, to name but a few, can be found in this last work. A complex network of citations, allusions and references to various authors, philosophers, composers and other artists including Bernhard himself is built up in the course of the novel.

Bernhard openly plays with tradition and ironically refers to his own development as a writer, with a reputation now ranking with the best in Europe. As in a reading list for students, which usually lists classic authors, Franz-Josef Murau suggests alternative reading material for the talented Italian student Gambetti and, so does Bernhard for his readers :

"Ich hatte Gambetti fünf Bûcher gegeben, von we 1 chen ich iiberzeugt gewesen bin, daB sie ihm für die nachsten Wochen nützlich und notwendig sein werden, und ihm aufgetragen, diese fünf Bûcher auf das aufmerksams te und mit der in seinem Fall gebotenen Langsamkeit zu studieren; Siebenkas von Jean Paul, Der Proze/3 von Franz Kafka, Amras von Thomas Bernhard, Die Portugiesin von Musil, Esch Oder die Anarchie von Broch [...]" (A, 7/8)

Although Bernhard establishes no direct link between the authors and titles he suggests and the narrative development

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in "Auslôschung", the selection of these five texts actually gives an intense impression of the subliminal, satirical tone of the nove l.The monumental thematic abundance, verbal wit and the subtlety and dexterity of language and composition immediately led the critics to categorize the novel as Bern­hard’s ’’opus magnum” and the ’’wesent 1 ichste(n) osterreichi- sche(n) Prosaband der achtziger Jahre”^\ Rolf Michael is, a critic in ’’Die Zeit” labelled it as an intricate "Kunst der Fuge” and as "Eine - auch im monumentalen Umfang - Summe des 1iterarischen Werkes von Thomas Bernhard"Previously con­flicting voices have united into a harmonic chorus of praise, universally acknowledging the artistic value of Bernhard’s last book as world literature, a "bedingungsloses Geschenk an die Welt literatur".

Only a few commentators renewed their determined attacks, which usually referred more to Bernhard as a person than to the aesthetic value of the book in question. Sigrid Lôffler, a well-known critic in Vienna®^ and notorious for her hostile reviews of Bernhard, delivered a polemic against "Auslô­schung" :

"Jedenfalls soil te man, wenn man Bernhard schon liest, hinter all dem Gefasel, Geschwatz und

1) Wendelin Schmidt-Dengler holds that in ^Ausloschung” Bernhard did not seriously intend any intertextual relations: "Dieser Held, der stets mit Namen um sich wirft, seinem Schuler Oamhetti eine Leseliste vorsetzt [>••], der begeistert von den Gedichten der Maria, von der Philosophie eines Descartes, eines Schopenhauer und Sartre spricht, aber diese Namen nie mit Inhalt fullt, der diese Namen gewichtig auf den Tisch legt, ohne daD klar wiirde, welche Inhalte dies rechtfertigen wvrden." ("Satze über Thomas Bernhards ^Ausloschung’", unpublished manuscript, 1987, p. 9)

2) Heinz F. Schafroth, "Hauptwerk - oder doch nicht? Thomas Bernhards weitereInszenierung des Untergangs des Abendlandes: Ausloschung. in: "FrankfurterRundschau", 4, October 1986,

3) Ulrich Weinzierl, "Bernhard als Erzieher. Thomas Bernhards ‘Ausloschung’", in: Paul Michael Lutzeler, ed., "Spatmoderne und Postmoderne. Beitrage zur deutschsprachigen Gegenirartsliteratur", (Frankfurt/Main 1991).

4) Rolf Michael is, "Vernichtungsjubel. Thomas Bernhards monumentales Prosawerk’Ausloschung - Ein Zerfall’. Politisches Pamphlet und Roman der Trauer", in: "Die Zeit", 3. October 1986.

5) Franz Josef Gortz, "Wer ohne Scham ist, werfe den ersten Stein. Thomas Bernhards bedingungs loses Geschenk an die Welti iteratur: sein Roman ’Ausloschung’", in: "Frankfurter AlIgemeine Zeitung", 30. September 1986.

6) Lôffler was the most prominent literature critic of "profil", but left after public debates with the editor and is now writing for the "Sûddeutsche Zeitung".

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Gefuchtel nach dem wahren Thomas Bernhard suchen - und das ist ein vor Selbstekel und Selbstmitleid heulender, ganz kleinlauter Wicht, der mitten im Buch hockt, dort, wo allé Aufplusterungen nichts mehr helfen.”^

Although "Ausloschung”, like previous Bernhard texts, gives a penetrating and satirical glimpse into contemporary Austrian society as well as a sampling of his provocative prose, the book displays a sovereign indifference to social and historical problems. Thomas Bernhard draws close attention to the philosophical and psychological state of the subject, the role of language and the creative process itself. No solid plot structure is developed, following Bernhard’s own dictum as "Geschichtenzerstbrer"*) and a concentration on the process of writing becomes the focal point of the novel, as Wendelin Schmidt-Dengler emphasizes:

"So laBt sich ohne Krampf fast das gesamte bis jetzt vorliegende epische Werk Bernhards dem Komplex der Polemik gegen das Erzahlen zuordnen.

The protagonist of the novel, Franz-Josef Murau, is an exemplary eccentric figure in Bernhard’s fictional cosmos. He represents the typically arrogant and reclusive individual who is overwhelmed by the demands and ultimate futility of life and his train of thoughts. Murau lives the life of a solipsistic intellectual and philosopher, a "Privatge- 1e h r t e r t e a c h i n g German literature to his only student, the rich Italian Gambetti. Trying to flee the narrowness of his provincial family background, Murau has settled in Rome,

T) Sigrid Lôffler, ”Armer Wicht", in: "profil". No. 41, 6, October 1986, p. 92.

8) "Ich bin ein Oeschichtenzerstorer. ich bin der troische Geschichtenzerstorer. In meiner Arbeit, wenn sich irgendwo Anzeichen einer Geschichte bilden, oder wenn ich nur in der F e m e irgendwo hinter einem Prosahvgel die Andeutung einer Geschichte auftauchen sehe, schieOe ich sie ab." Filminterview "Drei Tage" with Ferry Radax (summer 1970), in: "Der Italiener" (1971), p. 83/84.

9) Wendelin Schmidt-Dengler, "Von der Schwierigkeit Thomas Bernhard zu lesen. Zu Thomas Bernhards ’Gehen’", in: Manfred Jurgensen ed., "Thoaas Bernhard. Annaherungen", (Bern 1981), p. 130.

10) Johann Lachinger, "Paradoxer Anti-BiIdungsroman", in: Hans Holler; IreneHeidelberger-Leonard eds., "Antiautobiografie. Zu Thomas Bernhards ’Ausloschung’", (Frankfurt/Main 1995), p. 93.

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"der Stadt für den Kopf" (A, 207), where he has established himself luxuriously in a Renaissance palace facing onto the Piazza Minerva.Murau, like many protagonists of earlier texts, lives in exile. Similar to figures such as the painter Strauch in "Frost", Konrad in "Das Kalkwerk", the nameless young man in "Ungenach" or even the Fiirst Saurau in "Verstorung", he tries to isolate himself from his surroundings, trying to construct his own spiritual world. But, this sort of "Geistesleben" (A, 206) usually turns out to be a "Denkkerker" (A, 310).Rome is a symbol of culture, freedom of thought and a sophisticated lifestyle, a "Zentrum des Chaos" and "Mittel- punkt der Welt" (A, 109). As such it is a counterpart to his rural hometown and the family-estate Wolfsegg, which for Murau is a mere "Hort des Stumpfsinns" (A, 17). The wealth of the family, symbolized by the prodigious country-manor with the surrounding houses and estates is sharply contrasted by the ignorance and stupidity of the family-members and their crass materialism. For Murau, who is a classical "Geistesexistenz" (A, 37), life with his family has become completely unbearable;

"Es ist mir unmogl ich geworden. Allés ist Luge dort, G a m b e t t i , habe ich gesagt, eine uner tragi iche Kiinst 1 ichkei t herrscht dort, die Sie sich nicht vorstellen kônnen, Gambetti. Diese Menschen sind für ailes taub, das mir soviel bedeutet, für Natur, Kunst, für ailes Wesentliche. Sie lesen keine Bûcher, sie horen keine Musik, sie reden den ganzen Tag nur das überflüssigste, das Banalste. Es ist mit ihnen nicht die geringste nützliche Unterhaltung moglich, nur die deprimie- rendste." (A, 108/109)

The novel is divided into two main parts of equal length, "Das Telegramm", which is set in Rome and "Das Testament", which takes place in Wolfsegg. Like all of Bernhard’s texts the novel is devoid of action and traditional story-telling is mostly abandoned. Instead the novel focuses on the precarious conditions of individual subjects. There are no substantial differences between both parts, which are inter­related through the stringent and tight narrative per­

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spective. Franz-Josef Murau is the narrator and the poetic "I” of the text. The thoughts and ideas he is communicating are the constituent element of the fictional composition.

The course of the action starts with a telegram Murau receives in his Italian flat, informing him about the sudden death of his parents and his older brother Johannes, who have died in horrible and somewhat macabre circumstances in a car- crash. Murau, who has just returned from Wolfsegg, where the wedding of his sister Caecilia had taken place, immediately realises the consequences of this fatal event. The sudden death of his parents and Johannes makes him the sole heir to the family estate and all the family riches, which now drastically bind him to the place he longed to be separated from. In an endless flow of memories and associations Murau reflects upon his family background and his own life in relation to Wolfsegg, while examining a series of family photographs. In contrast to his earlier decision to cut off all ties with his past he decides to go back to Wolfsegg. Yet the calm determination of his decision points to the inherent danger for his personal identity and also raises the tension and the reader's expectations, as the last sentence of the first part indicates:

"Meine Finger zitterten nicht, mein Kôrper bebte nicht. Ich hatte einen ganz klaren Kopf. Was das Telegram bedeutete, wu&te ich." (A, 310)

The second part of the novel is set against the preparations for the funeral and the arrival of friends and family members. It contains various descriptions of people whom Murau particularly despises, such as his sisters Caecilia and Amalia, "die dummen Landpomeranzen" (A, 60) and his clumsy brother-in-law, a simple, but financially well-off Catholic bourgeois, to whom he only refers as the "Weinf laschen- stopselfabrikant" (A, 131). Yet, there are also a few des­criptions of people Murau loves and admires.

His uncle Georg, who, like Murau himself, had distanced himself completely from family life and gone to Cannes, was

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the person who introduced him to literature and philosophy. He is the counterpart to Murau’s parents and made him aware of values different from those dominant in the "infame(n) Provinzholle" (A, 295), Wolfsegg. Uncle Georg also functions as an analogy to Bernhard’s grandfather, the writer Johannes Freumbichler, in the autobiographical w o r k s , w h o was the most influential person during Bernhard’s childhood and responsible for his progress as an artist:

"Mein Onkel Georg hat mir den Weg geebnet, ihn mir ermoglicht. Mich zuerst auf die Idee, dann auf den tatsachlichen Weg gebracht, auf den Gegenweg, hatte ich zu Gambetti gesagt." (A, 147)

Uncle Georg like his cousin Alexander "der von mir geliebte Phantast" (A, 519), both idealistic and romantic, served as teachers and as models for Murau’s own development. His few friends in Rome, the "philosophierende(n) Eigenbrot1er" (A, 231) Zacchi, Eisenberg and the poet Maria are of great importance to him, particularly for discussions about subjects of German philosophy.

Maria, an energetic homage to the Austrian writer Ingeborg Bachmann, is portrayed as an eccentric, although exceptionally intelligent and admirable, poet, "Maria, so ich zu Gambetti, meine schon damais grôBte Dichterin" (A, 215 ) \ Maria expatiates not only on subjects of great

11) Bernhard's grandfather was the most influential person during his childhood andresponsible for an independent intellectual education. See '’Bin Kind”: ”DieGroJJvater sind die Lehrer, die eigentlichen Philosophen jedes Menschen, sie reiffen immer den Vorhang auf, den die andern fortwahrend zuziehen, [.•.] Mein GroOvater, miitterlicherseits, errettete mich aus der Stumpfheit und aus dem oden Gestank der Erdtragodie, in welcher schon Milliarden und Abermi 11 iarden erstickt sind, Er zog mich, friihgenug, nicht ohne schmerzhaften ZuchtigungsprozeO, aus dem Allgemeinsumpf heraus, glûcklicherweise den Kopf zuerst, dann das übrige. Er machte mich, früh genug, aber tatsachlich als einziger, darauf aufmerksam, daû der Mensch einen Kopf hat und was das bedeutet. DaO zur Gehfàhigkeit auch die Denkfahigkeit so bald als moglich einzusetzen habe,” (Ki, 23/24)

12) Many biographical parallels to Ingeborg Bachmann are found throughout the text, Maria is said to come from the same provincial town where Musil was born, that is Klagenfurt, (A, 232) Murau also praises her for poems among which the bohemian one is the most famous, ”besonders das sogenannte bôhmische. das inzwischen weltberühmt geworden ist, und sicher eines der besten, gleichzeitig schonsten unserer Literatur ist” (A, 511), The remark contains an allusion to Bachmann's poem "Bôhmen liegt am Meer” which also reflects on themes as extinction and death, decay, passing and rebirth. The passage reads as follows: ”Ich will nichts mehr fur mich, Ich will zugrunde gehn,/ Zugrund - das heiOt zum Meer, dort find ich Bôhmen wieder,/ Zugrund gerichtet wach ich ruhig auf,/ Von Grund auf weiO ich jetzt, und ich bin unverloren,” (Ingeborg Bachmann, ”Werke”, Koschel, Christine; Weidenbaum, Inge v,;

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importance for Bernhard himself, she also functions as a critical reader of Murau’s own manuscripts, and as such usually throws them into the fireplace; an ironic variation on the theme of extinction and decay:

"Maria ist die Unbestechliche, die mit meinen Manuskripten so verfahrt, wie sie es verdienen, dachte ich. Habe ich das von ihr geprixfte Manuskript weggeworfen, bin ich erleichtert, dachte ich. Dann umarme ich sie und wir sehen beide zu, wie das Manuskript in ihrem Ofen verbrennt. Das ist mit Maria zusammen immer ein Hohepunkt, ein Glückszustand, dachte ich. Kein Mensch auBer Maria ist imstande, mir klar zu machen, daiS meine Manuskripte nichts wert sind und ins Feuer geworfen gehoren." (A, 541/542)

Passages about the papal nuncio, Spadolini, show Murau’s ambiguous feelings. Spadolini’s affair with Murau’s mother which lasted for more than twenty years can be read as an analogue to the bigoted Catholicism predominant in Austria. On the other hand, Murau is also fascinated by Spadolini’s beauty, his perfect manners and his artistic way of performing his role as a representative of the Vatican like an actor on stage, as well as by his immense knowledge:

"Spadolini, dieser intelligente Kopf, dieser hervorragende Wissenschaf11er , Verfasser so ausgezeichneter Schriften, das Genie der Rede- wie der Schweigekunst, von welchem fur mich immer eine ganz groBe Faszination ausgegangen ist. [...] Ein Mann von solcher Schonheit, muB ich sagen, von solchen Manieren, von solcher Natiir 1 ichkeit wie kein zweiter, ebenso Künst1ichkeit, wie kein zweiter. Ich hatte mich, das ist die Wahrheit, sogleich in Spadolini verliebt gehabt." (A, 282)

Hence, Murau finds himself in an ambiguous position "zwischen der verlogenen Mutter und dem heuchelnden Kirchenmann" (A, 287). The relation between the simplicity of Murau’s mother and the sophisticated, worldly-wise attitude of Spadolini reproduces the contrast between Rome and Wolfsegg on the level of characters. In turn, this antagonism is an antonym

Münster, Clemens, eds,, (München 1978), Vol, 1, p, 167,

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for Murau’s personal disposition inasfar as it marks him as an individual torn between the desire to live a philosophic existence, according to his " geist ige (n) Leidenschaf ten ' (A, 500), but his inescapable embeddedness in his origins:

"Ich bin schon zu lange Zeit in Rom, iiberhaupt im Ausland, ich bin ein Auslander geworden, es ist mir unertraglich, auch nur eine Stunde ohne Widerwillen in Wolfsegg zu sein. Ich konne mir nicht vorstellen, jemals wieder auf langere Zeit in Wolfsegg zu sein. Ich habe keine Beziehung mehr zu Wolfsegg. Ich verabscheue allés, das mit Wolfsegg zusammenhangt. Die Geschichte von Wolfsegg belastet mich in einer vernichtenden Weise, der ich mich nicht mehr aussetzen werde. Und jetzt muB ich augenblicklich nach Wolfsegg zu- rück." (A, 108)

The rhetorical force of this statement is clear. But the insistent repetition of the hated name ’Wolfsegg* says a great deal. However hard Murau may try, Wolfsegg is cognitively (and linguistically) ineradicable.

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"Was wir verof f ent 1 ichen, ist nicht id e n ti s ch mit d e m , was ist, die Erschiitterung ist eine andere, die Bxistenz ist eine andere, wir sind anders, das Unertragliche anders, es ist nicht die Krankheit, es ist nicht der Tod, es sind gemz andere Verhaitnisse, es sind ganz andere Zustande (Thomas Bernhard,Büchner-Preis Rede 1970)

3.2 The Destruction of Identity in "Ausloschung"

The predominant activity taking place on the 651 pages of "Ausloschung” is the recollection of memories and reflections by the protagonist Franz-Josef Murau. This situation exposes the simultaneous process of Murau’s rendering account of himself and in doing so becoming self-conscious about his conditions of being and his existence in general. The question Murau asks himself "Was aber ist eigent1ich meine Situation?" (A, 364) suddenly interrupts his deliberations and illuminates the underlying theme of the novel, which is the fragile state of Murau’s identity and of the condition of the subject.Looking at the photographs of his family outwardly initiates a process of coming to terms with his family background. It also points to the central problem of the novel, the incommensurability of reality and its perception, and, moreover, it points to the reproduction of reality in art be it as a photograph or as language. A contrast which is revealed in the following passage:

"Ich betrachtete eindringlich die Fotografie, auf welcher meine Eltern gerade auf dem Vic­tor i abahnhof in London den Zug nach Dover besteigen. Ich hatte die Fotografie von ihnen gemacht, ohne ihr Wissen.Die Fotografie zeigt nur den grotesken und den komischen Augenblick, dachte ich, sie zeigt nicht den Menschen, wie er allés in allem zeitlebens gewesen ist, die Fotografie ist eine heimtiickische perverse Falschung, jede Fotografie, gleich von wem sie fotografiert ist, gleich, wen sie dar- stellt, sie ist eine absolute Verletzung der Menschenwürde, eine ungeheuer1iche Naturverfal- schung, eine gemeine U n m e n s c h l i c h k e i t . Andererseits empfand ich die beiden Fotos als

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geradezu ungeheuer charakteristisch fur die darauf Festgehaltenen. [...] Das sind sie, sagte ich mir, wie sie wirklich sind, das waren sie, wie sie wirklich waren." (A, 21/27)

The passage elucidates the antagonism betweeen reality and aesthetic reproduction, between object and the subjective perception of it, between acceptance of the picture and the denial of any similarity to the real objects, in which any point of reference gets blurred.Finally, the vacillating position of the narrator Murau marks the general tone of the book and its method which circulates around the objects under scrutiny without gaining any final evidence. Each statement constantly raises an objection, every fact is immediately called into question. Murau’s judgement which seemed to be based on objective facts is at once contested by himself and regarded as inaccurate by none other than Murau. Whatever facts or values are asserted seem to become problematic almost immediately. There is a constant spirit of contradiction, part playful, part deeply serious. The photos like the language Murau is using are considered to be false, a "Naturverfalschung", but simultaneously regarded as characteristic and therefore true. The description of the photos acts as the opening image in a chain of memories and as it unwinds with great complexity demonstrates how memory is set forth in writing.

Murau’s eventual plan to write a book entitled "Ausloschung" is thus the paradoxical attempt to portray his life, to write an autobiographical book, although knowing from the outset about the inherent paradox of such an idea;

"Gleich darauf aber wieder: wir glauben, wirkonnen ein solches Vorhaben anfangen und sind doch nicht imstande dazu, allés ist immer gegen uns und gegen ein solches Vorhaben, so zogern wir es immer

1) The problem of representation has been in fact the paramount topic in discussingsubjectivity from early Romanticism to postmodern literary and linguistic theories. A comprehensive account of the development of this tradition is given by Manfred Frank, "Was ist Neostrukturalismus”, (Frankfurt/Main 1984), pp. 243.See also Gabriele Schwab, "Entgrenzungen und Entgrenzungsmythen. Zur Subjektivitat im modernen Roman; Daniel Defoe, Herman Melville, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, Thomas Pynchon”, (Stuttgart 1987).

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hinaus und kommen niemals dazu, so warden so viele Geistesarbeiten, die geschrieben warden miiJ3ten, n i c h t g e s c h r i e b e n , b l e i b e n so v i e l e Niederschriften, die wir die ganz e Zeit, jahrelang, jahrzehntelang in unserem Kopf haben, in unserem Kopf." (A, 200)

Being quite aware of his monumental task, Murau acts in the typical situation of a "double-bind".^ His drive to achieve precise recollection of the past is coupled with anxiety at what he might find and, additionally, with the fear of not being able to fulfill the task he has set himself:

"In Rom werde ich den Versuch machen, die Ausloschung zu schreiben, aber sie wird mich ein Jahr in Anspruch nehmen und ich weiB nicht, ob ich die Kraft habe, mich ein Jahr nur fUr diese Ausloschung parat zu halten, dachte ich. Mich darauf zu konzentrieren." (A, 542)

Hence, Murau wants to write a book in which he will not only come to terms with his own past in Wolfsegg but which will be his creation, his attempt to counter the threatened destruction of his personality. Murau knows that the most difficult part of his project will be the beginning:

"Die Schwier igke i t ist ja immer nur, wie einen solchen Bericht anfangen, wo einen tatsachlich b r a u c h b a r e n e rs te n Satz einer s ol c h e n Aufschreibung hernehmen, einen solchen allerersten Satz." (A, 198)

Yet, the exposition of this problem only uncovers the under­lying threat Murau has to face, that he will not be able to give an authentic picture of things he observes. Murau is confronted with the same discrepancy between reality and re­production as analyzed in connection with the family photo­graphs. Nevertheless, he explicitly aims at reporting au­thentic impressions:

2) See John H. Weaklemd, " ’Double-Bind’-Hypothese und Dreierbeziehung", in: GregoryBateson et al., ’’Schizophrénie und Familie”, (Frankfurt/Main 1969), pp. 224,See also Ronald D, Laing, ”Phanomenologie der Erfahrung”, (Frankfurt/Main 1969) pp. 91.

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"Nur das absolut Authentische, und ist es noch so grotesk, moglicherweise widerwartig." (A, 27)^

In order to achieve this, Murau subjects all his ideas and thoughts to radical scrutiny in his attempt to convey a true and complete account of his life. In attacking Wolfsegg and his parents he hopes to make them reveal their hidden truths. He identifies items of clothing in the photos whose purpose he believes is to mask the real nature, the provincial, unsophisticated nature of his family.Status symbols, such as the expensive Burberry raincoats and umbrellas bought by his parents in London and Johannes’ model sailing boat, illustrate an ostentatious lifestyle. Physical illness and deformity however are only insufficiently concealed by clothes, as Murau observes:

"Der Mann auf dem Foto ist ein verbitterter Mensch, den das Alleinsein mit seinen Eltern ruiniert hat. Die sport 1iche Kleidung verdeckt nur miihselig die Krankheiten, die ihn bereits vollkommen in Besitz genommen haben." (A, 24)

The Dirnd1-dresses his sisters had been forced to wear since they were four are also indicative of the oppressive influence of the parents to which Caecilia and Amalia submit with helpless, desperate mockery:

"Diese spottischen Gesichter waren ihre einzige Waffe, gegen ihre Umwelt, gegen ihre Eltern, denen sie nicht entkommen konnten, vor welcher aber auch d i e M a n n e r , d i e si e h a b e n w o l l t e n , zuriickgeschreckt sind." (A, 60)

The treatment of the photographs simultaneously reveals the inadequacy of the medium as analogous of reality and their seemingly denotative quality. Whatever the method of

3) InBtead of forma.1 or intellectual standards Murau uses the criterion of authenticityfor his treatise which is typical for modern autobiographical writings which drastically expose the most private experiences in form of aesthetic subjectivity. See for example Michel Leiris: ”[,••] aber ich traumte vor allem davon, jenes Projekt, - soweit es sich tun lieBe - auf meine Rechnung fortzufiihren, zu welchem sich Baudelaire durch eine Stelle in den Marginalien von Poe hatte anregen lassen: sein Herz bloBzulegen, dieses Buch iiber sich selbst zu schreiben und darin die Bemiihung um Aufrichtigkeit so weit zu treiben, daO unter den Sàtzen des Verfassers ’das Papier sich krauseln und aufflammen miiOte bei jedem Strich der F e u e r f e d e r , Michel Leiris, "Mannesalter”, (Frankfurt/Main 1975), pp, 13,

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representing reality, it will always remain artificial, an illusion and consequently a falsity. But despite the insuperable truth Murau cannot help trying to render his recollection of the past and present by revolving around the same topic again and again to catch a glimpse of authenticity even against his better judgement.

In addition, the photos are loaded with connotations retroactively projected into the photo by Murau, further distorting reality. The people shown in the photos appear ridiculous and grotesque, as their natural behaviour is frozen into an unnatural pose. Nature, thus, is turned into a travesty by the photographer:

"Der Erfinder der fotografischen Kunst ist der Erfinder der menschenfeindlichsten aller Künste. Ihm verdanken wir die endgültige Verzerrung der Natur und des in ihr exist ierenden Menschen zu ihrer und seiner perversen Fratze." (A, 29)

Murau’s attempt to come to terms with reality and to authentically describe it is frustrated when he concludes that "Fotografie an sich ist die groBte Verhohnung, die es gibt, sozusagen die allergroBte We 11verhohnung" (A, 252).Nevertheless, Murau prefers the grotesque image to other pictures of his family, where they appear more "serios" (A, 28), for those photos are not in accordance with his individual perception, "sie entsprechen nicht dem Bild, das ich mir von meinen Eltern zeitlebens gemacht habe." (A, 28). Murau finally insists on the ambiguous nature of the photograph which does not mediate between literal reality and the image the viewer has already formed in his mind and projects onto the objects he sees. The essence or the truth of his family in the photographs depends on the perception the individual already possesses.

The function of this long reflection therefore is not primarily to expose the truth about Austria’s past, as Kathleen Thorpe argues. The Wolfsegg family might be taken as a metonym for Austria as a whole, yet, it is not an "externa­

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lized myth concealing ignorance and parochialism"^\ The portrayal of the family by describing and reflecting on photographs thematizes the subjectivity of the author’s point of view. Murau must strive to anchor his imagination in the concrete particulars of reality in order to show his state of awareness about the distortions of perception. The foregrounded standpoint of the protagonist expounds the inherent falseness and incompleteness of everything that is reported. Murau on occasion talks explicitly about the members of his family as he perceives them, which is at variance with his former statement to report in the most dispassionate way:

"[...] sie zeigen, je langer ich sie betrachte, hinter der Perversitat und Verzerrung doch die Wahrheit und Wirklichkeit dieser sozusagen Abfotografierten, weil ich mich nicht um die Fotos kiimmere und die darauf Dargeste 11 ten nicht, wie sie das Foto in seiner gemeinen Verzerrung und Perversitat zeigt, sehe, sondern, wie ich sie sehe." (A, 30)

"Ausloschung” as text represents a specific and extremely individual position of a subject and can be regarded as a "Mitteilung einer einzigartigen, subjekt-zentrierten We 11 auf f as sung"The contradictory aspects of Murau’s position reflect the difficulty of mediating between inner and outer reality, between the object and its representation, the physical world and spirituality of consciousness. The same paradox is expressed in Murau’s ambivalent attitude towards his own project and his attempt to write a genuine study on Wolfsegg as well as eventually on himself:

"Das ist die Tragodie dessen, der e t was aufschreiben will, dal3 er immer wieder die Verhinderer seines Aufschreibens anruft, hatte ich zu Gambetti gesagt, die Tragodie, die gleichzeitig eine perfide Komodie ist. Es mü&te doch moglich

4) Kathleen Thorpe, "Reading the photographe in Thomas Bernard’s novel ’Ausloschung’”, in: Modern Austrian Literature, Vol, 21, Nos. 3/4, 1988, p. 49,

5) Robert H, Vellusig, "Thomas Bernhard und Wittgensteins Neffe: Die Bewegung des Hinundher", in: Modern Austrian Literature, Vol, 23, Nos, 3/4, 1990, p, 40,

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sein, eine wenn schon nicht vollkommene, so doch gültige Schrift über Wolfsegg abzufassen, über jenes Wolfsegg, über welches ich ihnen schon so viel gesagt habe, Gambetti, und das mir immer so vieles bedeutet hat und das fur mich wahr- scheinlich wichtiger ist in meinem Leben, als ailes andere." (A, 200/201)

Thus, the study Murau wants to write at any cost is his desperate endeavour to create identity. In describing Wolfsegg and his family Murau consequently delineates his own existential situation, oscillating between tragedy and comedy. The attacks on Wolfsegg, his family and other public issues show an awakening awareness of himself. Through his accumulated contradictions Murau draws together his identity in time and memory. While putting together segments of his life and organizing them as a report, he seeks to recreate a lost continuity and coherence in his work of art. He thus locates the subject’s identity-forming power in its creative ability and its narrative activity, - while at the same time recognizing the difficulty of the whole enterprise. Murau’s idea to write a study on "Ausiôschung" is one of the utopian, though frenetic projects to create self-knowledge and identity, which frequently occur in Thomas Bernhard’s novels.

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"Existenz ist Irrtum." (Thomas Bernhard)

3.3. Identity as FailureThe Fragmentation of the Subject

The "Zerfall”, the disintegration of the subject Murau is intensified by the complex intertwining of the two characters Murau and Gambetti.Their relation is described as a "absolute(s) Vertrauensverhaltnis" (A, 135). Both appear as separate individuals but stand in close, somewhat mysterious relationship to one another:

"Unser Verbaltnis ist das ideale, denn einmal bin ich der Lehrer Gambettis und er ist mein Schiller, dann wieder ist Gambetti mein Lehrer und ich bin sein Schiller, und sehr oft ist es der Fall, daB wir beide nicht wissen, ist jetzt Gambetti der Schiller und bin ich der Lehrer oder umgekehrt. Dann ist unser Ideal- zustand eingetreten." (A, 10)

Murau, Gambetti and the unnamed narrator can be viewed on one level as different parts of the same identity. In the des­cription of Gambetti we find numerous hints to substantiate this assertion. In general, Gambetti repeats the same educational process as Murau, "also ich mache mit Gambetti jetzt das, das ich mit mir langst gemacht habe" ((A, 208). Not only does Franz-Josef Murau educate Gambetti in German literature and philosophy, but he also uses him as a foil for his own ideas and as a means to render account of himself: "Gambettis Kopf hat schon viel aus meinem Kopf aufgenommen, dachte ich, bald wird mehr aus meinem Kopf in Gambettis Kopf sein, als von ihm" (A, 209). At the end it becomes increa-

1) Compare the similar multi perspective structure of Tieck’s "William Lovell", All minor characters in the novel complement and explain the protagonist: "Es ist im iibrigen nicht zu übersehen, daO die Gesamtheit allés dessen, was Lovell ist und werden kann und was er nicht ist und nicht wird, nicht nur an ihm selber, sondem auch an einer groBen Zahl an Nebenfiguren sichtbar wird. Fast alle diese Figuren stehen zu Lovell in irgendeiner Weise im Verbaltnis der Spiegelung oder des Kontrastes und beleuchten ihn daher selbst [,,,}" Lothar Pikulik, "Die Friihromantik in Deutschland als Ende und Anfang, über Tiecks ’William Lovell’ und Friedrich Schlegels ’Fragmente’, in: Silvio Vietta ed, , "Die literarische Friihromantik", op,cit,, p, 114,

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singly unclear whether Gambetti is the pupil of Murau or whether he is used as Murau’s ideal conception of himself:

"Gambetti, der immer allés wissen will auf dem Weg über die deutsche Literatur, die er aber immer nur vorschiebt, um allés andere zu erfahren, Gambetti, der Anarchist, der durch mich erst richtig zum Anarchisten geworden ist, den ich moglicherweise zum Anarchisten erzogen habe gegen seine Eltern, gegen seine Umwelt, gegen sich selbst, dachte ich, und der gleichzeitig mein anarchistisches Element angetrieben hat, [...]. Gambetti, der am liebsten allés in die Luft sprengen will, aber gleichzeitig, nur mit einem roten Pullover bekleidet, mit den BUchern von Jean Paul und Kleist und Wittgenstein unter dem Arm durch Rom lauft, stundenlang, von dem Indieluftsprengen und Zersagen der Welt besessen." (A, 512/13)

The character of Gambetti, who never appears to be speaking himself, he is "zum Zuhoren erzogen" (A, 164), is not fully developed. His function in the novel is to enlarge and to double Murau’s perspective, as such his importance is one of a "Hilfs-Ich Funktion"^^ for the protagonist. Yet, Murau as character remains somewhat opaque himself, as his remarks are not reliable and he tends to hide his existence behind dramatized monologues A further hint to his lack of identity lies in the fact that he avoids a name-plate on his door. A fact his mother irritates when visiting him in Rome:

"DaB ich kein Schild mit Namen daran angebracht hatte, war eine Irritation fur sie. Kein Schild, hatte sie gesagt, da weiB ja nicht einmal der Brief- trâger, daB du hier wohnst. Du hast es immer geliebt, anonym zu sein, hatte sie gesagt [...]." (A, 275)^^

2) Christian Klug, ’’Intersection und Identitat, Zum Motiv der Willensschwàche in ThomasBernhards ’Ausloschung’”, in: Modern Austrian Literature, Vol. 23, Nos, 3/4, 1990, p, 35,

3) See also the definition of a clstssic dramatic monologue that subsumes that onecharsccter speaks to another, silent character, Joseph Shipley, "Dictionary of WorldLiterature”, (New York 1960), pp, 273, Bachtin refers to the dramatic monologue as ’’the phenomenon of hidden dialogicality”, Mikhail Bakhtin, "Problems of Dostoevsky’s Poetics", (Ann Arbor, 1973), p, 163,

4) See also the neglecting of a name and accordingly of any social role in the lettersof Brentano: ’’[,,,] so habe ich keine Begierde mehr, einen Neunen zu haben, [,,,],Ich, das heiOt ich wie ich eine Person in der Welt bin, befinde mich sehr iibel, man begehrt allerlei von mir, man sagt mir, um sich selbst durch Reden die Zeit zu vertreiben, ich sei geistvoll, witzig, ich hatte Talent, ich sollte doch schreiben, und man denkt gar nicht daran, daO ich dadurch in die groQte Angst gerate," (Letter to Sophie Mereau dating 9 September 1803, in: Heinz Amelung ed,, "Briefwechsel zwischen Clemens Brentano und Sophie Mereau", (Potsdam 1939) , p, 125,

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"Der doppelte Blick, die Attitude des Mimen"^^ as Bernhard Sorg calls it, enables Murau to present Gambetti as a theatrical self-portrait, who complements and contradicts himself. The fragmentation of the main character is portrayed in the external multiplicity of the self. Friedrich Kittler has interpreted this split of the subject in the context of E.T.A. Hoffmann's writings as a "Verdopplung des Subjekts in eine produktive und eine rezeptive Sei te"^\ So far as Murau’s dialogues with his student, which are nothing else than monologues, become a self-exposure, Gambetti is seen as an integral part of his own personality and carries all those traits opposed to the average, bourgeois existence, as the following passage illustrates:

"Gambetti, an den ich mich anklammere genauso, wie er sich an mich. Gambetti, dachte ich, auf dem Sessel sitzend, der Inbegriff des forschenden Kopfes genauso wie der kalt kalkulierenden Gefühle, Gambetti, der junge Umwe1tverzauberer, dachte ich." (A, 513)

The breaking up of a personality is a technique often used by Bernhard and in various novels symbolized in two opposing figures. In "Araras" he uses the image of two brothers personifying the antagonistic principles of natural science and music, "die sogenannte erhabene Kunst und die hohe Wissenschaft" (Amr, 20). By the fate of their family and a rare illness, "Tiroler Epilepsie" (Amr, 13) the brothers are mysteriously bound together in a "doppeIgehirnigen Einsam- keit" (Amr, 15). The contrast between Walter and his unnamed brother also symbolizes the force of contradictory elements within one person, not to be balanced and finally leading to madness and destruction of the personality.

"Nur der Physik unterworfen, nicht selbst Harmonie, waren wir unser Unglück ... In Walter ging dieser

5) Bernhard Sorg, "Thomas Bernhard", op.ci t., p. 124,

6) Friedrich A. Kittler, "Das Phantom unseres Ichs und die Literaturpsychologie. E.T.A. Hoffmann - Freud - Lacan", in: Klaus Peter ed., "Romantikforschung seit 1945, op. ci t., p. 337.

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Proze/3 noch tiefer vor sich ... Wir waren in Gegen- satzen, zum Beispiel: war ich mit meiner Naturwissen- schaft beschaftigt, war Walter von seiner Musik beherrschtf unterkiihlt, überhitzt ... Fur Walter war allés aus ihm^ für mich aber war nicht das aller- geringste aus mir ... [...] Wir haben zeitlebens zwischen uns beiden vermittelt ... Durch Walters Krankheit war unsere Abneigung (zueinander) Zuneigung (gegeneinander) geworden ..." (Amr, 42/43)

Thomas Bernhard uses the image of two characters in order to make the inner conflict and the split of the personality transparent in the text. The fragmentary nature of the text and the fragile and crumbling language underline the inherent problem of identity-formation as a linguistic question.In many of his texts Bernhard breaks up the character into the relation between the narrator-figure and an increasingly mad protagonist. The split of the personality and the doubling of the perspective underscores the impossibility of authentic identification and shows Bernhard's concept of the subject in close relation to the Romantic "Duplizitât"^^ of imagination and reality that constitutes the "Ich".*^ If the dualism between inner and outer world is destroyed it leads to madness or death. In Bernhard’s texts it is only highly sensitive artists, "Geistesexistenzen" in general who are in danger of loosing the ability to mediate between both sphe­res . *) Similarly, Hoffmann’s "serapiontische(s) Prinzip"^°\ deals with the lack of the transformation of imagination, of

7) E.T.A. Hoffmann, ''Die Scrap ionB-Brûdcr, Gesammelte Erzahlungen und Marchen", (München1966), p. 54. See also Ute Spath, "Gebrochene Identitat. Stilistische Untersuchungen zum Parallelismus in E.T.A. Hoffmanns Lebensanschauung", (Goppingen 1970). One of the most substantial works on Hoffmann is Wulf Segebrecht, "Autobiographie und Dichtung, Eine Studie zum Werk E.T.A. Hoffmanns", (Stuttgart 1967).

8) See also Michail Bachtin, "Literatur und Karneval. Zur Romantheorie und Lachkultur",(München 1969). Bachtin regards the fictional doubling of the personality, the"Doppelung von Szenen und Gestalten, die sich gegenseitig spiegeln oder eine durch die andere durchschimmern" as "tiefere AuDerung des karnevalistischen Weltea^fin- dens". (p. 64)

9) Hoffmann’s understanding of madness is very similar to Bernhard’s. Both authors hold the view that only highly sensitive artists, creative people, are in danger to get mad. As the narrator states in "Die Scrapions-Brüder": "Ich verehre Serapions Wahn- sinn deshalb, weil nur der Geist des vortrefflichsten oder vielmehr des wahren Dich- ters von ihm ergriffen werden kann" (E.T.A. Hoffmann, "Die Scrapions-Brüder" op.cit., p. 53.)

10) Walter-Müller Seidel, epilogue to "Die Serapions-Brüder", op.cit., p. 1002. See also Rüdiger Safranski, "E.T.A. Hoffmann. Das Leben eines skeptischen Phantasten", (Mün­chen 1984).

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a spiritual being into the real world, as shown in the "Sera­pions-Brüder" :

"Armer Serapion, worin bestand dein Wahnsinn anders, als dal3 irgendein feindlicher Stern dir die Erkennt- nis der Duplizitat geraubt hatte, von der eigent1ich allein unser irdisches Sein bedingt ist. Es gibt eine innere Welt, und die geistige Kraft, sie in voiler Klarheit, in dem vollendetsten Glanze des regesten Lebens zu schauen, aber es ist unser irdisches Erbteil, daJ3 eben die AuBenwelt, in der wir einge- schachtet, als der Hebei wirkt, der jene Kraft in Bewegung setzt.

The priest and poet Serapion equipped with "feuriger Fan tasie" goes mad as he lacks the ultimate capacity to esta­blish a connection with the outer world:

"Aber du, o mein Einsiedler! statuiertest keine AuBenwelt, du sahst den versteckten Hebei nicht, die auf dein Inneres einwirkende Kraft; und wenn du mit grauenhaftem Scharfsinn behauptetest, daB es nur der Geist sei, der sehe, hore, fühle, der Tat und Bege- benheit fasse, und daB also auch sich wirklich das begeben was er dafür anerkenne, so vergaBest du, daB die AuBenwelt den in den Korper gebannten Geist zu jenen Funktionen der Wahrnehmung zwingt nach Will-kür"^2)

The missing connection with reality generates an introspec­tive sickness of many of the Romantic characters as well as of Bernhard’s. The solipsistic individual which turns in on itself creates the outer world out of its own imagination. Like Novalis who turns inward to comprehend the universal conditions of existence^^\ Bernhard stresses the importance of individual imagination as the exclusive means to under­standing: "was ich finde, finde ich in mir, das ist oberstes Gebot". (IdH, 114) Accordingly, identity is not predominantly

11) E.T.A, Hoffmann, "Die Serapions-Brüder", op,cit., p. 54.

12) Ibid., p. 54/55.

13) See Novalis: "Nach Innen geht der geheimniOvolle Weg. In uns, oder nirgends ist dieEwigkeit mit ihren Welten, die Vergangenheit und Zukunft", in: "Werke", op,cit.,"Vermischte Bemerkungen/Blüthenstaub", Vol. 2, p. 233. Compare also chapter 1.2 of this thesis.

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considered a philosophic question, but moreover an aesthetic category.In Bernhard’s texts the problem is presented from the outset as a confrontation of a mad individual with an outer world that only occurs as a reflex of the mind, Bernhard develops his stories from the viewpoint of the insane egocentric individual. Madness is no longer the inability to find a balance between the inner and outer world, but the outer world is an integral part of the mind. After all, the crisis of identity as in Romantic literature first and foremost unfolds as a problem of literary form:

"Die Moderne als BewuBtseinsform entfaltet sich auf der Identitatskrise des Subjekts. Erst die Vielheit des Ich, die Ich-Spaltung in einen real-erlebenden und einen fiktiv-schreibenden Teil kann die Roman- form, ja alle 1iterarischen Formen der Moderne hervorbringen."^^

In Romantic texts the notion of the identity-crisis is often presented in the motif of the "Doppelganger", as, for instance in Jean Pauls’s novel "Siebenkâs"^^^ and it recurs in the splitting-up of the personality in "Flege1jahre” ( 1803) and "Ti tan" ( 1800/1803 ) Jean Paul uses the doubled image of a character to show the interaction between inner and outer reality. His foremost idea however is to reveal the autonomy of the subject as illusionary, as a "Symbol einer vom Ich inszenierten, imaginâren Einheit, hinter der sich in Wirklichkeit eine Duplizitat verbirgt" . Jean Paul themati­zes the polarity of the individual and the fictional nature

14) Ruth&rd Stàblein, "Zwischen Auflosung und Erlosung des Ich. Zur Wiederkehr einer romantisch-modernen BewuOtseinskrise bei Clemens Brentano und Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Mit einem methodischen Vorspann nach Walter Benjamin", in: Cornelia Klinger; Ruthard Stàblein eds,, "Identitatskrise und Surrogatidentitàten: Zur Wiederkehr einerromantischen Konstellation", (Frankfurt/Main 1989), p. 47.

15) The complete titel is "Blumen-, Frucht- und Dornenstücke oder Ehestand, Tod und Hochzeit des Armenadvokaten F. St. Siebenkas". See also: Bernhard Bôschenstein, "Leibgeber und die Metapher der Hiille", in : Text + Kritik, special edition "Jean Paul", (München 1983).

16) In "Flegeljahre" the protagonist is split into the twin-brothers Walt and Vult; in "Titan" the main figure is contstituted of the two characters Titan and Albano. Compare also Burkhardt Lindner, "Jean Paul. Scheiternde Aufklarung und Autorrolle, (Darmstadt 1976).

17) Waltraud Wietholter, "Jean Paul: Flegeljahre" (1804/1805), in: Paul Michael Lutzeler ed., "Romane und Erzahlungen der deutschen Romantik", (Stuttgart 1981), p. 176.

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of the ego trying to maintain its integrity. The grounding of the subject in a rational system leads to the poetic breaking up of identity and a humoristic game with the representation of identity. Accordingly, the characters in many of his novels lack a centre, a core. In search of a viable identity they only multiply their outer selves as a mirror-image, as shown in "Siebenkas":

"’Fast sol It’ ich mich doppelt sehen, wenn nicht dreifach - sagt’ er einer von mir muB gestorben sein, der drinnen oder der drauBen. Wer ist hier in der Stube denn eigent1ich gestorben und erscheint nachher dem andern? Oder erscheinen wir bloB uns selber? - He, ihr meine drei Ich, was sagt ihr zum vierten? [...] ’Ich kann in der groBten Einsamkeit immer zudritt sein, das All nicht einmal gerechnet - antwortete Leibgeber, [...] und trat vor den Spiegel und drückte mit dem Zeigefinger den Augapfel seit- warts, so daB er in jenem sein Bild zweimal sehen muBt e"**)

Friedrich Kittler explains the phenomenon in psychoanalytical terms, identifying the doubling of the personality as a lack of reflexive self-representation:

"Poetologie und Psychologie sind solidarisch. Sie bestimmen das Subjekt als eine Doppelung, die in den Wahnsinn führt, wenn es sie nicht noch einmal re- flexiv verdoppeln und vermitteln kann. "

The dualistic structure typical of Romantic texts is taken up again in many of Bernhard’s texts and he himself has often expressed the lack of self-knowledge and truth:

18) Jean Paul, "Siebenkas", op,cit,, p, 317, Schlegel *s dictum of art that endlessly multiplies reflection is characterized by Jean Paul as a negative subjectivity, containing multiple layers without substance, (Friedrich Schlegel, "Kritische Schriften und Fragmente", op,cit,, Vol, 2, p, 114), See also the nihilistic Romantic perspective in: August Klingemann, "Nachtwachen von Bonaventura" (Frankfurt/Main 1974), The same image of the subject as an empty shell recurs in the "Zehnte Nachtwache": "steht kein Ich im Spiegel wenn ich davor trete - bin ich nur der Gedanke eines Gedanken, der Traum eines Traumes - konnt ihr mir nicht zu meinem Leibe verhelfen, und schûttelt ihr nur immer Bure Schellen, wenn ich denke es sind die meinigen? - Hu! Das ist ja schrecklich einsam hier im Ich, wenn ich euch zuhalte ihr Masken, und ich mich selbst anschauen will - allés verhallender Schall ohne den verschwundenen Ton - nirgends Gegenstand, und ich sehe doch — das ist wohl das Nichts das ich sehe! - Weg, weg vom Ich - tanzt nur wieder fort ihr Larven!" (p, 130/131)

19) Friedrich A, Kittler, "Das Phantom unseres Ichs und die Literaturpsychologie", op,cit,, p, 337.

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"Ich bin immer wieder selbst iiberrascht, wie viele Leben man als das eigene ansieht, die zwar alle miteinander Ahnlichkeit haben, aber eigent1ich doch nur Figuren sind, die mit einem selbst genausoviel und sowenig zu tun haben, wie irgendwelche andere Leben. Es stimmt ja immer zugleich allés und nichts,

The destruction of the personality and the decentering of character recur as the central theme in "Ausloschung". The breaking up of identity and the eventual projection onto different characters is underlined by Murau’s continuous back and forth between Wolfsegg and Rome. His personality is torn between the two places where he lives almost two diffe­rent, unrelated lives. Murau describes how he struggles with these tensions. His emotions and his entire state of being changes when he goes from one place to the other;

"Aber in Rom bin ich ganz anders, sagte ich, da bin ich nicht so aufgeregt, nicht so unbeherrscht, auch nicht so unberechenbar. Rom beruhigt mich, Wolfsegg bringt mich auf." (A, 533)

Murau’s identity and the integrity of his personality are highly endangered. Like a chamaleon he changes his personali­ty according to his surroundings, without knowing who he really is. Particularly his alter ego Gambetti observes clearly the changes in Murau’s personality when he is returning from his Austrian hometown:

"Gambetti sagte oft, ich sei, wenn ich aus Wolfsegg zuriickkomme, nicht wieder zuerkennen, mit einem solchen Menschen, wie dem, der ich sei, wenn ich aus Wolfsegg nach Rom zurückkomme, hâtte er sich niemals anfreunden konnen, sagte er, denn aus Wolfsegg zurückgekommen sei ich ein vollkommen anderer, ein

20) Interview with André Miiller, "Gesprach mit Thomas Bernhard", in: Progrsunmbuch des Schauspielhauses Bochum zur Uraufführung von Thomas Bernhard*s "Der Weltverbesserer", Vol. 16, 1980/81, p. ISO.

21) Bernhard himself was reported to shuttle constantly between Vienna, Ohlsdorf and other places. The contradictory need for isolation and company is a central dilemmma for most of his protagonists as for himself. See also "Wittgensteins Neffe": "So habe ich auch alle diese Jahre, die meine Freundschaft zum Paul gedauert hat, mir meinen lebensnotwendigen Rhytmus des Wechsels zwischen Stadt und Land angewohnt und ich gedenke diesen Rhytmus bis an mein Lebensende beizubehalten, alle vierzehn Tage mindestens nach Wien, alle vierzehn Tage mindestens auf das Land" (WN, 124).

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dem sozusagen romischen entgegengesetzter. Er konne tatsachlich nur mit dem romischen zusammensein, nicht mit dem aus Wolfsegg." (A, 534)

Hans Mayer has analyzed this double identity as a "Zwei- teilung der Wirklichkeit als Dualitat gegensatz1icher Raum- und Zeitvorstellungen"^') which also extends to Bernhard’s novel "Ausloschung”. Moreover, the constant travelling between two or more places and the lack of a definite destination of his endless journeys show that it is the movement itself which is important for Murau. The tone of the language, the endless, hustling clause-constructions and the interminable flow of words demonstrate the unsteady rhythm of Murau’s life. Language almost mimetically mirrors the movement of the character in the novel and increasingly dominates any real action:

"Die Eigendynamik der Gedankenbewegung und des sprachlichen Ausdrucks verschlieBen die thematisier- t en Sachgehalte immer wieder gegeniiber qual if izierter Gel tungsprüfung. " 3)

Bernhard talks explicitly about his two identities in his autobiography:

"Ich darf nicht leugnen, daB ich auch immer zwei Existenzen geführt habe, eine, die der Wahrheit am nachsten kommt und die als Wirklichkeit zu bezeichnen ich tatsachlich ein Recht habe, und eine gespielte, beide zusammen haben mit der Zeit eine mich am Leben erhaltende Existenz ergeben, wechselweise ist einmal die eine, einmal die andere beherrschend, aber ich existiere wohlgemerkt beide immer." (Ke, 110)

Murau like the Romantic authors wants to escape the threat of discontinuity and strives to preserve the authenticity of his experience in the aesthetic construct and accordingly in language.

22) Hans Mayer, "Das ungliickliche BewuOtsein, Zur deutschen Literaturgeschichte von Lessing bis Heine”, (Frankfurt/Main 1986), p. 474.

23) Robert H, Vellusig, "Thomas Bernhard und Wittxensteins Neffe: Die Bewegung des Hinundher", op.cit., p. 46.

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The poetic construct however gains independent autonomy, the words have nothing in common with the objects described. The extinction of the narrative "I" at the end of "Ausloschung” seperates emphatically the aesthetic construct from the sphere of experience and reality. Bernhard thus has freed language from mimetic and realistic contexts. Peter Buchka has observed rightly that Bernhard has "die Sprache von der Realitât, auf die sie reagiert, bef re it".Thomas Bernhard tries to construct a new poetic system beyond rational systems of knowledge (rationale Rege1 système) and in the true sense of an aesthetic theory shows the incommen­surability of art. As in early Romantic texts a critique of exaggerated faith in the ability of reason and the com­prehension of existence is inherent in his idea of art. Thus he compares art and philosophy to the air we can breathe but not hold:

"Wir atmen es fortwahrend und lebenslanglich ein und wieder aus und konnen es nicht festhalten, nicht den entseheidenden Augenblick langer, nicht den Augen­bl ick lânger, auf den es ankâme. Ach Gambetti, hatte ich zu diesem gesagt, wir wollen allés angreifen und begreifen und an uns ziehen und es ist uns nicht im geringsten moglich. Wir verbringen ein Leben damit, uns selbst zu begreifen und es gelingt uns nicht, wie konnen wir glauben, etwas, das nicht einmal wir sind, begreifen zu konnen." (A, 161/162)

Bernhard exposes the illusory nature of all attempts at completely understanding the notion of the subject. His protagonist Franz-Josef Murau, like most of his predecessors, is engaged in a hopeless quest for identity. Yet, the claim is an endless process. In this processuality language might produce a transitory new truth, but none that is determinable by categories of logic.Bernhard’s writings and his idea of subjectivity is a purely aesthetic concept, as exemplified by the "Gedankenpoesie" (Fr, 253) of the painter Strauch in "Frost":

24) Peter Buchka, "Die Schreibweise des Schweigens, Ein Strukturvergleich romantischer und zeitgenossischer deutschsprachiger Literatur", (München 1974), p. 129,

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"Meine Poesie 1st nicht meine Poesie. Aber wenn sie meine Poesie meinen, so mufî ich gestehen, dai3 ich sie nicht erklâren kann. Sehen Sie, meine Poesie, die die einzige Poesie ist und also folglich auch das einzige Wahre, genauso das einzige Wahre wie das einzige wahre Wissen, das ich der Luft zugestehe, das ich aus der Luft fühle, das die Luft ist, diese meine Poesie ist immer nur in der Mitte ihres einzigen Gedankens, der ganz ihr gehôrt, erfunden, diese Poesie ist augenblicklich. Und also ist sie nicht." (Fr, 253)

The narrative trick Bernhard employs in "Ausloschung" under­scores his view of the subject which can only insufflently be described in a literary text and is only partially intel­ligible and apprehensible. Bernhard's aesthetic construct is one of indeterminable approximation. The subject, like the work of art is seen as a process, a mode of becoming, in the Romantic sense of the word. The fragmentation of subjectivity and its alienation from the object world is reflected in Bernhard’s poetic concept of failure as the only viable form of art;

"Aber wir mUssen das Scheitern immer in Betracht ziehen, sonst enden wir abrupt in der Untatigkeit, dachte ich, wie wir auBerhalb unseres Kopfes gegen nichts mit einer groBeren Entschiedenheit vorzugehen haben, wie gegen unsere Untatigkeit, [...]. Wir müssen uns das Denken erlauben, uns getrauen auch auf die Gefahr hin, daB wir schon bald scheitern, weil es uns plôtzlich unmôglich ist, unsere Gedanken zu ordnen, weil wir, wenn wir denken, immer alle Gedan­ken, die es gibt, die môglich sind, in Betracht zu ziehen haben, scheitern wir immer naturgemâB;" (A, 370)

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"Und jedes nicht zur Schrift gewordene Denken sei letztenendes vollkommen wertlos, weil es wenn überhaupt, nur seinen Erfinder allein bewegt und nicht Geschichte gemacht habe ..." (Thomas Bernhard)

3.4. Towards an Imposition of Order on Chaos Bernhard’s Paranoic Projects

In his prose works and plays Thomas Bernhard exclusively portrays individuals who clearly stand outside society. A fact underscored by the remote places to which most figures withdraw. Most novels take place in solitary locations, "Einsamkeitszellen"^, such as the 1ime-works ("Das Kalk- werk"), the tower in "Amras", the "Hollersche Dachkammer" ("Korrektur" ) or faraway valleys and villages such as "Stilfs" ("Midland in Stiffs") or "Weng" in "Frost". The frequency with which solipsistic and monologic figures appear in his texts already shows a similarity with Romantic novels as a model. Many of Bernhard’s protagonists are independent intellectuals and artists, (or rather would-be artists) who on the one hand isolate and distance themselves from others as well as displaying a painful sensitivity or even hypersensitivity to all that is unknown and lurks in the darkness. On the other hand they attempt to overcome their self-destructive isolation and gain acknowledgement by society to avoid the dangerous effects of radical detachment from social contacts, as described in the narrative "Ja" (1978):

"Einerseits ist die Notwendigkeit, sich abzuschlieBen seiner wissenschaft1ichen Arbeit zuliebe die allererste aller Notwendigkeiten eines Geistesmenschen, andererseits ist aber auch die Gefahr die groBte, daB dieses AbschlieBen in einer viel zu radikalen Weise geschieht, die letztenendes sich nicht mehr fordernd, wie beabsichtigt, sondern hemmend, ja gar vernichtend

1) Jens Tismar, "Thomas Bernhards Erzahlerfiguren", in Anneliese Botond ed, , "UberThomas Bernhard", op.ci t., p. 68,

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auf diese Geistesarbeit auswirkt und von einem b e s t i mm ten Zeitpunkt an hatte sich mein Abschl iel3en gegenüber der Umwelt meiner naturwissenschaf t 1 ichen Arbeit (iiber die Antikorper) zuliebe gerade auf diese meine natur­wissenschaf tl iche Arbeit vernichtend ausgewirkt." (Ja, 16/17)

The paradoxical tension between desire for isolation and need for communication remains unresolved and in many cases intensifies the identity crises of Bernhard’s protagonists, who get increasingly engaged in a torturing self-analysis. In most texts a continuous contemplation and intense intellec­tual labour produce the profound isolation and despair that afflict Bernhard’s characters. The characteristic motif of the mind as a machine, of a "Gehirnautomatismus" (Kw, 53) strikingly illustrates the ambiguous state most of Bernhard’s protagonists are in, which results in a restless search for the ultimately incomprehensible nature of subjectivity.This heightened perception, in addition, displays qualities of paranoia or schizophrenia and as such is a trope reminiscent of the Romantic discourse of m a d n e s s . A s in Romantic novels, madness in Bernhard’s texts is a state of creative production and imagination. Bernhard’s figures are not only highly sensitive, but in constant danger of going insane, they are "in einer auBerst nervosen und also gefahrlichen Verfassung" (Bi, 110). The hypertrophy and psychic circularity of the protagonists result in helpless efforts to prove their creative potential. The intention of the figure however exposes the process of a mind no longer in

2) See also "Frost": "Wie das Gehirn plôtzlich nur mehr Maschine ist, wie es nocheinmal allés exakt herunterhammert, , ]", (p. 290), In this context Manfred Mixnertalks about "Erklarungsmechanismen, die sich automat isieren, die sinnlich wahrnehmbare Wirkl ichkeit wird iiberzogen mit einem Netz von Kausalzusammenhangen, das immer engmaschiger wird, je geschlossener die Regelsysteme wirken. Das menschliche Gehirn wird zu einer Reproduktionsmaschine dieser Kausalzusammenhange und zerlegt die sinnlich wahrgenommene Wirklichkeit in immer kleiner werdende Funktionseinheiten," According to Mixner Bernhard demonstrates "die Reproduktionsmaschine Gehirn im Zustand des aus der Alltags-Pragmatik Gekippt-Seins und ihr Leerlaufen in einer langst um alle Transzendenz gebrachten Irrationalitat" ("’Wie das Gehirn plôtzlich nurmehr Maschine ist,,. * Der Roman Frost von Thomas Bernhard", in: Kurt Bartsch; Dietmar Goldschnigg; Gerhard Melzer eds,, "In Sachen Thomas Bernhard", op,cit., p. 45/46).

3) The most typical examples for the figure of the mad artist are to be found in thenovels of E,T.A. Hoffmann, See also Jochen Schmidt, "Die Geschichte des Genie- Gedankens in der deutschen Literatur, Philosophie und Politik 1750 - 1945", Vol, 2, "Von der Romantik bis zum Ende des Dritten Reichs", (Darmstadt 1988),

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control of its own momentum. Accordingly, most of Bernhard’s protagonists are obsessed with completing an artistic project or a grand intellectual or scientific treatise.^This theme occurs for the first time in "In der Hohe. Rettungsversuch, Unsinn", a very early text that was only published shortly before Bernhard’s death in 1989. The following passage illustrates that Bernhard himself from his own literary beginnings was fascinated by the idea of producing a unique monumental work of art:

"[...] einen einzigen groBen Gedanken herstellen, zeitentsprechend: aus alien diesen Gedanken1aufen, die sich ü bere i n a n d e r t ü r m e n und ihren schwachsinnigen Erzeuger langsam aber sicher erdriicken, abtoten, [...]" (IdH, 122)

Set the task of finishing or, in most cases, starting their monumental works, most characters are pushed to the verge of mental collapse. In the end the characters in most cases lack "Furchtlosigkeit vor Real isierung, vor Verwirklichung" (Kw, 270). None of the projects are ever properly started, and prove the inabiltiy of a person to engage in a creative process. Instead, Thomas Bernhard portrays the distraction which is caused by the intense effort of the characters.The main figure, Konrad, in "Das Kalkwerk" is preoccupied with his efforts to produce the ultimate dissertation on the sense of hearing (Studie iiber das Gehor). With his study, that is a "ungeheuer schwierige, alle Augenblicke vollkommen zerbrechliche medizinisch-musikalisch-philosophisch- mathematische Arbeit". (Kw, 62) Konrad seeks to create an opus which would seem to include and unify all domains of human knowledge.

4) In "Die Billigesser" (1980) the protagonist Koller wants to write a "Schrift überdie Physiognomik" (Bi, 11); the narrator in "Ja" intends a study on "Antikorper"; in "Beton" the goal is a book on Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Konrad in "Das Kalkwerk" desperately seeks to start a treatise on "Das Gehor" and in "Der Untergeher" (1983) it is the perfect play of the "Goldbergvariationen" and an intended study of the protagonist Wertheimer entitled "Der Untergeher" (Unt, 79), In the play "Die Macht der Gewohnheit" (1974) the circus director Garibaldi tries to rehearse for twenty two years Schubert s "Forellenquintett". The problem, however, is exposed in an ironic and parodostic way: "Garibaldi : Wenn es nur einmal/ nur ein einziges Mai gelange/ das Forellenquintett/ zu Ende zu bringen/ ein einziges Mai eine perfekte Musik/ Eine so hohe Literatur/mussen Sie wissen/ In diesen zweiundzwanzigJahren/ ist es nicht ein einziges Mai gelungen/ das Forel lenquintett/ fehlerfrei/ geschweige denn als ein Kunstwerk/ zu Ende zu bringen/ Immer ist einer darunter/ der allés zerstôrt/ durch eine Unachtsamkeit/ oder eine Gemeinheit", (MdG, 263/264)

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The "Zusammenhangsneurose"^^ identified by Wolfgang Meier, which is underlined by the frequent use of compound words, is a typical feature of Bernhard’s characters. The creation or reproduction of a perfect work of art or a scientific essay demonstrates the will to reproduce a unity in art that the protagonists find impossible to gain in their lives. Roithamer, the main character in the novel "Korrektur” is also obsessed with writing an exhaustive treatise on his native village Altensam, which he is constantly revising to the point of extinction. The ordering and editing of Roithamer’s papers, "dieses Sehriftmaterial zu sichten und zu ordnen" (Ko, 7) for example, is a characteristic, manic task for the unknown narrator after the death of the protagonist.*) Yet, Roithamers’s wish to build the perfect domicile for his sister, a "Wohnkegel" (Ko, 18) in the middle of the wood, to create something which provides harmony and peace is doomed to fail. Taking this as a major theme of Bernhard’s poetry, "Korrektur" thematizes the same failure as all the other seemingly Promethean projects which aimed at preventing the "Existenzzerbroselung" (Wat, 47). Much of Bernhard’s fiction revolves around questions of artistic and intellectual creation and the final impossibilty of achieving perfection by rational means.Franz-Josef Murau in "Ausloschung" also displays the characteristics of many Romantic heroes. In search of identity Murau is caught in a nervous, unstable state, continually moving and searching. "Das fortwahrend Aufgebrachte in mir," as he analyzes his own state of mind, "wie entkomme ich ihm?" (A, 539). His project to report about Wolfsegg represents the attempt to get control over himself and also to free himself from his paralyzing self-reflection.

5) Wolfg&ng Uaier, ”Die Abstraktion vor ihrem Hintergrund gesehen", in: Anneliese Botond ed,, "Über Thomas Bernhard", op,ci t., p, 21,

6) The theme of inspecting and ordering posthumous works frequently occurs in Bernhard’s texts. In the narrative "Watten" (1969), for example the narrator seemingly systematizes his papers, but, in fact creates an increasing chaos, "Scheinbar ordne ich meine Papiere, in Wirkl ichkeit aber bringe ich eine immer noch groBere Unordnung in die Papiere," (Wat, 12) Any attempt at ordering the chaotic conditions of life are exposed as signs of a complex "Geistesverkrampfung" (Wat,17).

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Like so many Romantic figures, he finds himself in total opposition to his social environment and background. His family represents an archetypical philistine attitude. His parents are ignorant of everything concerned with art, which they regard at most in terms of social prestige, as shown by their libraries. These are used merely as a means of demonstrating their social status, instead of being places for actually reading books. In addition, parts of the five libraries are kept locked up, as the insinuating influence of some literature is feared by Murau's parents:

"In unseren Bibliotheken batten sie, man denke, hatte ich zu Gambetti gesagt, sozusagen die welt lichen Bûcher, zum Unterschied von den katholischen, abgesperrt gehabt, die Kasten mit den Biichern waren Jahrzehnte, wenn nicht Jahrhun- derte zugesperrt gewesen, hatte ich zu Gambetti gesagt, die katholischen allein waren frei zuganglich, die weltlichen abge s chlessen, unzuganglich, sie soli ten nicht gelesen werden, eingesperrt bleiben, so als batten sie den freien Geist in diesen Biicherkasten eingesperrt, [...]" (A, 147)

When Murau’s uncle Georg insists on opening all the locked up books and ideas, the whole family is shocked and threatened by a total reversal of the dominant philistine order:

"[...] als man sie eines Tages, weil mein Onkel darauf bestanden hatte, offnete, war es den Meinigen gewesen, als hatte mein Onkel Georg einen jahrhundertealten Behai ter geoffnet, dem im Moment der ôffnung ein fiirchter 1 iches Gift entstromte, vor welchem sie augenblicklich die Flucht er- griffen, weil sie tatsachlich glaubten, es sei ein todliches." (A, 147)

However, the libraries are closed again when uncle Georg leaves Wolfsegg and "sie batten dabei die Schliissel nicht nur einmal, sondern gleich zwei- und dreimal umgedreht" (A, 148). Consequently, Murau decides to set up his own alternative collection of books, "eine Bibliothek sozusagen des bosen Geistes" (A, 149). Besides Montaigne, Descartes and theindispensib1e Schopenhauer the very first book to be obtained is Novalis’ "Heinrich von Ofterdingen" (A, 150). The choice

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of books encompasses such diverse texts as Pavese’s "Handwerk des Lebens" and Kafka as well as Kropotkin, Bakunin, Dosto- jewski, Tolstoi and Lermontow among the Russian authors.The list, far from being complete, indicates a reading interest that is opposed to the canon of pedagogical or religous literature and any sort of useful knowledge and as such, is a subversive infiltration of the traditional paradigm of education (Bildung). Setting names such as Wittgenstein and Novalis, Holder 1 in, Kleist and Kafka in contrast to the Wolfsegg attitude and the classical literary tradition reinstates the Romantic antagonism of artist and philistine.^Philosophy and imagination are thus substituted for an educa­tion according to the values of the upper middle classes, an education "die, wie gesagt, nichts anderes gewesen ist, als eine Zerstorung" (A, 141). For Murau the myth of reading, the expeditions into the "weiten, zu einem GroBteil noch unentdeckten Erdteile meiner Phantasie" (At, 119) juxtaposes the life of his family characterized by a "primi t iven Geschaftsgeist" (A, 32) and "al1taglicher Stumpfsinnigkeit" (A, 263) with his own "groJ3enwahnsinnige Selbstandigkeit" (A, 12) and "riicksichtslose Freiheit^* (A, 12). Bernhard takes up the antagonistic historical positions of a rational discourse embodied by his family and an individualistic discourse, that revolts against the existing values in the name of individual imagination. Names such as Holder 1 in, Novalis and Kleist personify this tradition in contrast to the bourgeois lifestyle of Goethe, the "groBenwahnsinnige GroBbiirger auf dem Frauenplan" (A, 577). As Murau explains in one of hisconversations with Gambetti;

"Goethe ist der Totengraber des deutschen Geistes, habe ich zu Gambetti gesagt. Wenn wir ihm Voltaire, Descartes, Pascal entgegensetzen zum Beispiel, habe ich zu Gambetti gesagt, Kant, aber

7) The contrast between artist and philistine is also well illustrated in the narrative"Wittgensteins Neffe". Paul Wittgenstein is an eccentric who’s life is characterized by total opposition to the world and the family tradition, an attitude he has in common with his uncle, Ludwig Wittgenstein, the "MultimiHionar als Dorfschul 1 ehrer" (WN, 103), Paul is constantly questioning himself and the world: "Er war einUnruhevoller, ein fortwahrend Nervoser, ununterbrochen Unbeherrschter, Er war ein Grübler und ein ununterbrochen Philosophierender und ein ununterbrochener Bezichtiger", (WN, 98)

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natürlich auch Shakespeare, ist Goethe erschrek- kend klein. D i c h t e r f ü r s t , was für ein lâcherlicher, dazu aber grunddeutscher Begriff, hatte ich zu Gambetti gesagt. Holder lin ist der groBe Lyriker, hatte ich zu Gambetti gesagt, Musil ist der groBe Prosaschreiber und Kleist ist der groBe Dramatiker, Goethe ist es dreimal nicht." (A, 577)®>

Reading and the world of literature are not considered by Murau as simple means of education, but perceived as "Gegenwe1ten"®^ and utopian projects, as Murau articulates; "Literatur als das Paradies ohne Ende" (A, 34).Murau is driven to leave Wolfsegg, a place so hostile to his intellectual needs, and travels first to Vienna, then to Paris and Lisbon before finally settling in Rome, a place where he longed to be: "Meine Sehnsucht nach Rom war groBer als allés andere." (A, 543). As in many novels and particu­larly in Bernhard’s plays, the protagonist has a continual longing to travel and to change the places where he lives, in "Vor dem Ruhestand" ( 1979) it is emphasized that "das wichtigste ist der Ortswechsel" (VdR, 46). Names such as Rome, or the repeated hammering phrase "Morgen in Augsburg" in the play "Die Macht der Gewohnheit", ( 1974) form an utopian point of reference. The words act as a glimpse of hope and offer at least the idea to escape the present depraving situation.

8) The insults against Goethe are rather frequent and, although exaggerated, ratherinstructive, as they uncover the German’s often uncritical admiration for Goethe: ”Auf Goethe, den Geistesnumerierer, den Sterndeuter, den philosophischen Daumen- lutscher der Deutschen, der ihre See lenmarme lade abgefüllt hat in ihre Haushaltsglaser fiir alle Falle und alle Zwecke. Auf Goethe, der den Deutschen die Binsenwahrheiten gebûndelt und als allerhochstes Geistesgut durch Cotta hat verkaufen und durch die Oberlehrer in ihre Ohren hat schmieren lassen, bis zur endgultigen Verstopfung, [> • •] sie, die Deutschen nehmen Goethe ein wie eine Medizin und glauben an ihre Wirkung, an ihre Heilkraft; Goethe ist im Grunde nichts anderes, als der HeiIpraktiker der Deutschen, hatte ich zu Gambetti gesagt, der erste deutsche Geisteshomoopath, Sie nehmen sozusagen Goethe ein und sind gesund. Das ganze deutsche Volk nimmt Goethe ein und fiihlt sich gesund," (A, S7S/S76)

9) The "Siebenkas"- scene underscores this assertion, Murau after reading for hours inthe library was accused by his mother of his "abwegige(n) Gedanken" (A, 267) and not allowed to leave his room for several days. Later it turned out that Murau’s mother believed he had mocked her by inventing the title "Siebenkas": "Was ist eigentlich Siebenkas. kannst du mir das sagen? Und ich hatte ihr gesagt, daO Siebenkas eine Erf indung von Jean Paul sei. Da sie aber auch nicht wuOte, was Jean Paul ist, hatte ich ihr gleich auch zu sagen gehabt, daJ3 Jean Paul ein Dichter war, jener Dichter, der den Siebenkas geschrieben habe, Ach, hatte sie darauf gesagt, wenn ich das gewuDt hatte! Ich hatte geglaubt, Siebenkas sei eine Erfindung von dir gegen mich, eine gemeine Finte." (A, 271)

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As such the longing also expresses the Romantic hope of a coming Golden age, a new organic synthesis^*) and anaesthetically understood "Reich Gottes", which mystically anticipated a new age dominated by the harmonizing principle of p o e t r y . R o m a n t i c messianism, "roman ti sc he(n ) Mess ianismus"^^\ as Walter Benjamin called it, is thedriving principle behind Murau’s quest for meaning and his programmatic intention to write "Ausloschung".Murau who regards his flat in Rome as a prison, a "Denkkerker" (A, 310) seeks contact to people opposing the principles and values embodied by his family. The people he admires and loves, Maria, his student Gambetti, his friends Zacchi and Eisenberg, as well as his cousin Alexander, are artists, philosophers, or writers. They are all in revolt against the existing order in one way or the other and represent an alternative, sophisticated or artistic lifestyle. In addition, all of his friends have left their homes and, in the pursuit of their artistic ideas, can be regarded as Romantic travellers, constantly heading towards the "entgegengesetzte Richtung" (Minetti, 206). Yet, like the Romantic artist all of them are threatened by society, Maria, who was forced to leave Austria,^) Alexander, who was notallowed to stay at Wolfsegg and Georg, who fled to SouthernFrance, feared by all family-members. All of them are eccen­tric personalities, who explore new territories, but they are

10) See Hans-Joachim Heiner, ”Das Koldene Zeitalter in der deutschen Romantik, Zursozialpsychologischen Funktion eines Topos”, in Klaus Peter ed., ”Roma.ntikforschung seit 1945”, op. cit., p. 280-303, See also the comprehensive study by Hans-Joachim Màhl, "Die Idee des goldenen Zeitalters im Werk des Novalis, Studien zur Wesensbestimmung der friihromantischen Utopie und zu ihren ideengeschichtlichen Voraussetzungen”, (Heidelberg 1965),

11) See Friedrich Schlegel; "Der revolutionare Wunsch, das Reich Gottes zu realisieren,ist der elastische Punkt der progressiven Bildung, und der Anfang der modernen Geschichte, Was in gar keiner Beziehung auts Reich Gottes steht, ist in ihr nur Nebensache," ("Kritische Schriften und Fragmente", op,cit.. Vol, 2, p, 125,)See also "Das alteste Systemprogramm des deutschen Idealismus", in Friedrich Holderlin, "Sàmtliche Werke und Briefe", Vol. 1, (München 1970), p, 917-919, The notion of poetry serves in both texts as a social and philosophical utopie. See Manfred Frank, "Der kommende Gott, Vorlesungen uber die neue Mythologie", (Frankfurt/Main 1982),

12) Walter Benjamin, "Der Begriff der Kunstkritik in der deutschen Romantik", op,cit.,p, 8,

13) "Maria ist es gelungen, zuerst nach Deutschland, dann nach Paris, dann nach Romauszubrechen, ihren Dichtungen entsprechend, dachte ich," (A, 234) In a description of Maria Murau depicts the antagonistic feelings towards Heimat which resemble his own position: "Sie war durch ihren Verstand gezwungen, in Rom zu sein, in Wahrheit Wien zu lieben, aber in Rom zu sein, dachte ich," (A, 235)

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in a constant battle to avoid a crisis. Their lives illustrate the dilemma of the creative subject, which must strive to consolidate the self and, at the same time, doubts the congruence between subjective and objective reality. As Mark Kipperman has put it, the subject has to "navigate between debilitating self-enchantment with [its] own fictions and a desperate fear that the world is inherently incapable of responding to the questions of the human voice.The unstable, nervous condition typical of the creative personality which is comparable to the potentially dangerous subjectivity of the Romantic mind is shared by Murau. He is conscious of his own state and that he will be judged insane by society:

"Natürlich ist der, der so denkt krank, sagte ich mir, und ich war mir augenbl ickl ich der Gefahrlichkeit meiner Stimmung bewuJ3t" (A, 306).

14) Hark Kipperman, "Beyond Enchantment: German Idealism and English Romantic poetry", Philadelphia 1986, quoted from Gail Newman, "The status of the subject in Novalis’s Heinrich von Ofterdinxen and Kleist's Die Marquise von 0, ". in: The GermanQuarterly, No. 62, 1989, p. 59,

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"Ein Roman ist ein Leben, als Buch" (Novalis)

3.5. The Self as Fictional Construct

For Franz-Josef Murau as well as for many Romantic artists the wish to create, to write, paint or compose is an attempt to find unity, harmony and perfection within the work of art. Murau’s book "Ausloschung" is the desperate effort to give a complete portray of his life and to create his own identity through the fictional product. Murau’s education can be interpreted as a never ending act of artistic creation and poetic criticism, one that finally reduces life to fiction only to recreate it as a more truthful expression of the inaccessible human spirit.One of the foremost tasks for Murau consists in the ordering of his circular chain of thoughts. He needs to give his chaotic disposition a form that enables him to reach an understanding of himself. To write a book about Wolfsegg on the one hand means to come to terms with his origins and his past, on the other hand it involves an adequate form of language to report critically about himself.In this critical account of his life, in "Ausloschung", Franz-Josef Murau deconstructs the subject in question in order to come to terms with it, a principle Murau admires in Gambetti, "der den Zweifel sich zum Prinzip gemacht hat und dessen Zweifel angefangen hat, die ganze Welt zu zersagen, urn sie tatsachlich studieren zu konnen" (A, 513)Murau’s wish to reconstitute a lost coherence and to overcome the "zerrissene Harmonien" (Fr, 43) leads to the complete obliteration of everything he wants to reproduce in fiction:

"Das einzige, das ich schon endgültig im Kopf habe, ist der Titel Ausloschung, denn mein Bericht ist nur dazu da, das in ihm Beschriebene auszuloschen, allés auszuloschen, das ich unter Wolfsegg verstehe, und allés, das Wolfsegg ist, allés, Gambetti, verstehen sie mich, wirklich und tatsachlich allés. Nach diesem Bericht muB allés, das Wolfsegg ist, ausgeloscht sein. Mein Bericht ist nichts anderes als eine

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Ausloschung, hatte ich zu Gambetti gesagt. Mein Bericht loscht Wolfsegg ganz einfach aus." (A, 199)

The chaos of Murau’s own existence and his thoughts, never­theless, is a creative potential.^ As in early Romantic theory chaos is the necessary precondition for the emergence of the "Utopie Kuns twerk"^^ to use Karl Heinz Bohrer’s words .3)According to Friedrich Schlegel’s understanding in his "Rede uber die Mythologie"^, chaos produces dynamic paradoxes, sudden flashes of inspiration leading to a synthesis on a higher leve1.For Franz-Josef Murau too, chaos provides the necessary pre­condition for the writing of his treatise, as it breaks up the static order of Wolfsegg and of history in general, and it gives rise to a new and dynamic order;

"Nach und nach miissen wir allés ablehnen, habe ich zu Gambetti auf dem Pincio gesagt, nach und nach gegen allés sein, um ganz einfach an der allgemeinen Vernichtung, die wir im Auge haben, mitzuwirken, das Alte auflosen, um es am Ende ganz und gar ausloschen zu konnen für das Neue. Das Alte muB aufgegeben werden, vernichtet werden, so schmerzhaft dieser Froze# auch ist, um das Neue zu ermogl ichen, wenn wir auch nicht wissen konnen, was denn das Neue sei, aber da# es sein muB, wissen wir, Gambetti, habe ich zu diesem gesagt, es gibt kein Zurück." (A, 212)

1) Chaos in Bernhard's writings always takes a positive connotation, as it is an expression of creativity and an intellectual potential that is opposed to the normality of life, as also embodied by the contradictory characters of his grandfather and his mother: "Uein GroOvater liebte das Chaos, er war Anarchist, wenn auch nur im Geiste, meine Mutter dagegen versuchte zeitlebens in einer burgerlichen, wenigstens in einer kleinburger lichen Veit FuO zu fassen, was ihr natürlich niemals gelingen konnte. Mein GroOvater liebte das AuOergewohnliche und das AuOerordentliche, das Entgegengesetzte, das Revolutionare, er lebte auf im Widerspruch, er existierte ganz aus dem Gegensatz, meine Mutter suchte, um sich behaupten zu konnen. Halt in der Normalitat." (Ki, 43)

2) Karl Heinz Bohrer, "Friedrich Schlegel *s Rede uber die Mythologie", in: Karl Heinz Bohrer ed,, "Mythos und Moderne, Begriff und Bild einer Rekonstrukt ion", op, cit., p, 52,

3) See also Joyce S, Walker’s interesting approach: "Romantic Chaos: The DynamicParadigm in Novalis’s Heinrich von Ofterdingen Buid Contemporary Science", The German Quarterly, No, 66, Winter 1993, p, 43-57,

4) The passage of the "Mythologie-Rede" reads as follows: "Denn das ist der Anfang aller Poesie, den Gang und die Gesetze der vernunftig denkenden Vernunft aufzuheben und uns wieder in die schone Verwirrung der Fantasie, in das ursprüngliche Chaos der menschlichen Natur zu versetzen, für das ich kein schoneres Symbol bis jetzt kenne, als das bunte Gewimmel der alten Gotter", in: Friedrich Sschlegel, "Kritische Schriften und Fragmente", op,cit., Vol, 2, p, 204,

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The will to destruction here is manifest; to an extent and with a ferocity that exceeds anything in Romantic aesthetics. Bernhard’s prose sets out not just to cancel out but to destroy the textures of resistant reality.Murau’s book-project is a complete extinction of the old order on all levels of experience and it gives rise to the new, which in Murau’s idea is the individual struggle for knowledge and synthesis. Moreover, the outcome might be a more truthful system of language and thought that subsitutes traditional, dogmatic value systems.Murau’s book is not only a subversive protest against the dominant discourse of rationality and the prevailing tradi­tional authorities, but an act of self-assertion and survival through the means of literature. In the words of W.G. Sebald it is a "Versuch des schreibenden Subjekts, in der unermüdli- chen Verfolgung der Gedanken letzten Endes Ruhe und Antwort zu finden".^^In the context of Romantic eschatological hopes Thomas Bernhard tries to reinstate a subject in the work of art, which is his starting point and the creative impulse behind all his texts. The project thus is a metaphysical experiment aiming at a new transcendence of the subject, but as Peter Pfaff and Gerhard vom Hofe show, demonstrates the ever thwarted Romantic attempt to create the ’absolute work’:

"Wie kein anderer versucht Bernhard, das Unendliche fiir das Asthetische kommensurabe 1 zu machen und es ins Werk zu zwingen als Widerlegung der erfahrenen Leere der Transzendenz. Gelange ihm das ’absolute Werk’, ware ein Zweifaches geleistet, der ewige Rechtfert igungsgrund fiir das experiment ierende Subjekt ware gefunden; die Kunst als ein wiederge- wonnenes, schon langst nicht mehr geglaubtes Offenba- rungsmedium ware doch noch erwiesen und die Ver- geblichkeit romantischer Hoffnungen noch einmal widerruf en.

5) W,G, Sebald, "Fo die Dunkelheit den Strick zuzieht”, in: W,G, Sebald, "Die Be- schreibung des Unglücks. Zur osterreichischen Literatur von Stifter bis Handke", (Salzburg und Wien 1985), p. 110.

6) Gerhard vom Hofe; Peter Pfaff, "Das Elend des Polyphem", op.cit,, p. 32,

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Although this disposition allows us to call Bernhard a modern Romantic, his experiment in the end differs from Romantic concepts of the self. Not only Murau but most other protago­nists in Bernhard’s novels aim with their various monumental works at metaphysical knowledge. The main problem for all of them consists in the difficulty in communicating their ideas. Whatever might be expressed by them remains incomplete and false which eventually paralyzes all efforts from the outset. It is the dilemma of Bernhard’s characters that their thought is existentially bound to the necessity of speech and language, since "unausgesprochene Gedanken sind nichts" (Erz, 178). As an utopian image the idea of perfect expression in Bernhard’s prose is reminiscent of the intuitive poetic knowledge of the Romantics.Nonetheless, any totality intended by the protagonists is finally repudiated by Bernhard.

"Und negiert werden endlich genialische Konzeptionen, die mit Bestimmungen wie Intuition, Augenblick. Sprung u.a. die Loslosung von aller Bedingtheit und d.h. letzte Einsichten postulieren. Widersprochen wird zumindest der Moglichkeit von Fixierung und Kommunikation genialischer Er1euchtung.

Consequently, the image the reader perceives of Murau in the course of the narrative is one that disperses in the act of reading. The supposedly coherent personality splits into various unrelated elements and impressions. Although, Murau tries to convey a picture of a coherent personality, he only manages to recall situations which remain unrelated. He notes and reports an infinite series of moments and incidents, but he apparently finds himself unable to secure the coherence of the narrative. Bernhard’s protagonist has difficulty in completing his philosophic study for the very reason that he is attempting to create an absolute concept, an al1-encompas-

7) Sec also the building of a perfectly constructed cone in ”Korrektur” as ’’Auedruck einer Utopie der vollkommenen Kommunikat ion", Josef Konig, "’Nichts als ein Totenmaskenbal 1, ’ Studien zum Verstandnis der asthet ischen Intent ionen im Werk Ihomas Bernhards", (Frankfurt/Main; Bern 1983), p, 137, See also Uargarete Kohlenbach, "Das Ende der VolIkommenheit, Zum Verstandnis von Thomas Bernhards ’Korrektur*", (Tubingen 1986), Kohlenbach interprets the cone as a symbol of the ideal novel, (p, 199)

8) Heinrich Lindenmayr, "Totalitat und Beschrankung. Eine Untersuchung zu Ihomas Bernhards Roman ’Das Kalkwerk’", (Konigstein/Taunus 1982), p, 116,

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sing system. The energy expended in order to ascertain a level of perfect performance depletes those resources which could create the perfect study. Thereupon, Murau constantly loses himself in details, obsessive definitions and endless observations. His original attempt to assert himself against the inevitable destruction of his personality lays bare a subject in crisis.

The exploratory nature of the narrative, delving into the stuff of memory intensifies the atmosphere of ambivalence and leads to tortuous disquisitions. Murau’s verbal reconstruc­tion of a new organic synthesis inevitably reveals the split of his identity, the breaking-up of his self in an autobio­graphical and a fictional "I". "Ausloschung” thus means the disintegration of the character Murau in a narrating and a narrated subject, as the subtitle "Ein Zerfall" indicates. The fragmentation of identity, of a supposedly coherent personality as well as the dissolving of a stringent narrati­ve perspective marks the difference between the aesthetic construct and the autobiographical facts of Murau’s life. In the novel the protagonist Murau is split into a poetic- fictional subject, which is identical with the image Murau gives of himself and an autobiographical "I", to be identi­fied by the personal dates of Murau, given on the first and the last page of the novel. Only with these details, "schreibt Murau, Franz-Josef" (A, 7) at the beginning and"schreibt Murau (geboren 1934 in Wolfsegg, gestorben 1983 in Rom)" (A, 651) on the last page of the novel is the reader able to identify a meta-narrator.Furthermore, the novel written throughout as a first person narrative all of a sudden reveals itself as a report of an unknown third person with an omniscent point of view. The supposed authenticity of a first hand report turns out to be retold by a distant narrator-figure. The narrative structure calls the exlusiveness of Murau’s experience into question, as the fictionality of the autobiographical report is brought to the reader’s attention by changing the perspective from a first person to a third person story-teller.

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The subtitle "Ein Zerfall" is no invention of a new literary g e n r e , b u t is closely related to the central theme of the book: The breaking-up of identity into an aesthetic subject and a biographical, social subject.The difference between a subject defined by reason and logic and one that invents itself in the act of writing marks the "asthet ische ( r ) Abweichung"^®^ that seperates aesthetic subjectivity from all categories of knowlwedge and social experience. Karl Heinz Bohrer analyzed this topos as a cardinal Romantic problem that emerged in the second genera­tion of German Romanticism, "die seit 1800 aufbrechende entscheidende asthetische Differenz zwischen Vernunftsubjekt und 1iterarischer Subjektivitat"Bohrer convincingly shows that in the writings and particu­larly in the letters of Brentano, Kleist and Caroline von Giinderrode a notion of self-referential subjectivity is established that is radically opposed to any form of psycho­logical or philosophical legitimation of the subject:

"Die asthetische Subjektivitat aber, die - wie ich zeigen werde - im romantischen Brief des ersten Jahrzehnts des 19. Jahrhunderts entstand und in Prosa und Tagebuch des friihen 20. Jahrhunderts zum endgul­tigen - modernen - Programm erhoben wurde, kann weder uber das Authent izi tatssyndrom noch uber die Kate- gorie der Se lbsterhaltung angemessen verstanden werden. In beiden Fallen verstellt die soziale Kategorie 'Subjekt* und die daran geknüpften, noch immer teleologisch funktionierenden Begriffe der ’Autonomie’ und der ’Vernunft’ den Blick auf die in asthetischen Konstrukten erscheinende Form von selbstreferentieller Subjekt ivi tat.

The authors in question, the younger brothers and sisters of Jena Romanticism are no longer aiming at a kind of "Selbst- erhaltung". Their entire existence is bound to the question

9) See also the significant subtitles of the autobiography: "Die Ursache, EineAndeutung"; "Der Keller. Bine Entziehung"; "Der A tern, Eine Entscheidung"; "Die Kalte. Eine Isolation",

10) Karl Heinz Bohrer, "Der romantische Brief. Die Entstehung romantischer Subjektivi- tat", op.cit., p. 7.

11) Karl Heinz Bohrer, ibid., p. 268.

12) Karl Heinz Bohrer, ibid., p. 12.

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of aesthetic expression. Outside language, outside the work of art, their self is extinguished. This in reverse means that their texts do not document social identity or a social development. The aesthetic subject is radically cut-off from the social sphere and particularly from the functionalconcept of bourgeois subjectivity that emerged in the nineteenth century and became the decisive criterion for modernism.The semantic edification of the self is to be understoodsymbolically. It refers neither to psychological nor philoso­phic identity, but can be read as a process of fiction.Brentano indicated the dissolving of his self into poetry when he talked about his "Empfindung in einer leeren, langweiligen Zeit, sich selbst parforce in Gedichte auflosenzu miissen"^^\ Brentano makes clear that he denies any socialrole and does not exist but in his imagination and hiscreative potential. His state of mind is more extensivelyexplained in a letter to his wife Sophie Mereau:

" I ch ftihle tagl ich deutl icher, daJ3 ich nur im fan- tastischsten, romantischsten Leben Ruhe finden kann, Du muBt mir dazu helfen, Du muBt mir dies Leben erfinden helfen, sonst muB ich s t erben.

Against the shock of discontinuity and contingency, Murau like the Romantic author Brentano seeks to fix his identity in an aesthetic composition, in language. The text shows a process of edification of the self through writing. However, there is no identity between the aesthetic subject and the social subject, that is Murau as a member of Wolfsegg and as a historical figure. The very moment he has finished his book is simultaneously the moment of his death. The disappearance of the narrator-figure Murau underlines the impossibility of a synthesis of the absolute and the real in the project

13) See the volume by Hans Ebeling ed, "Subjektivitat und Selbsterhaltung. Beitrage zurDiagnose der Moderne", (Fremkfurt/Main 1976), Rudolf zur Lippe, "Bürgerliche Sub­jekt ivitàt, Autonomie als Selbstzerstôrung", (Frankfurt/Main 197S),

14) Heinz Amelung ed,, "Briefwechsel zwischen Clemens Brentano und Sophie Mereau",op.cit,, letter dating 9 September 1803, p, 178,

15) Heinz Amelung ed,, "Briefwechsel zwischen Clemens Brentano und Sophie Mereau",op.cit, letter dating 3 September 1803, p. 125,

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"Ausloschung". In a self-referential analysis Bernhard shows the inevitable failure of such an attempt by the extinction of the main character. With "Ausloschung" as an exemplary project "vollzieht er versuchsweise die Unendlichkeits- bewegung in der Erwartung der ’Offenbarung’ des Absoluten im Augenblick der Niederschrift."^^ With the completion of Murau’s book the synthesis of the infinite and the finite would have been realized. Gernot Wei/3 indicates the close relationship of Murau’s enterprise to the philosophy of Kierkegaard.

"Die Verwirklichung der Studie dagegen ware, vor dem Hintergrund Kierkegaardscher Philosophie, die Ein- holung des von sich selbst abstrahierenden Selbst durch sich selbst. Die Unendlichkeit, die im Mogli- chen liegt, trâte ein in die Endlichkeit des Wirkli- chen. Der Augenblick, in dem solches geschahe, ware so der Beriihrungspunkt zwischen Endlichem und Un­end 1 i chem.

Such a moment - were it ever achievable - could be called the ’Kairos’, the coincidence of all opposing ideas, the moment of total fulfillment. But the utopian possibility does not come about. Instead, Murau’s constant reflection upon himself has led to a static impasse, which inevitably results in madness or d e a t h . T h e ongoing reflexivity paradoxically destroys the object it trys to fathom, as expressed for instance by Clemens Brentano: "Wer mich zu mir selbst weist, totet mich"^^\ The idea is repeated in striking coincidence with Romantic theory in "Verstorung". "Die Analogien sind todl ich" (Verst, 103) as gloomily stated by Fiirst Saurau, the

16) Gerhard vom Hofe; Peter Pfaff, ' Das Elend des Polyphem", op.cit,, p. 46,

17) Gernot WeiO, "Ausloschung der Philosophie, Philosophiekritik bei Thomas Bernhard", (Würzburg 1993), p, SO,

18) See also the narrative "Gehen": "Zweifellos, sagt Oehler, ist Karrer auf demHohepunkt seines Denkens verruckt geworden, Diese Beobachtung kônne die Wissenschaft immer wieder an solchen Menschen wie Karrer machen, daO sie plôtzlich auf dem Hohepunkt ihres Denkens und also auf dem Hohepunkt ihrer Geistesleistungsfahigkeit verruckt werden," (p. 23)

19) Clemens Brentano, letter to Achim von Arnim dated 8 September 1802, in: Ernst Beutler ed,, "Briefe aus dem Brentanokreis", in: Jahrbuch des Freien Deutschen Hochstifts, 1934/35, p. 392,

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main character of the narrat ive. The analogies the Fiirst has got in mind are similar to the convergence of the real and the ideal in one unique moment. Thereupon, thinking for Saurau is a futile activity, almost a contradiction in terms, as by way of logical reasoning we can only reflect upon death and our own mortal i ty. The moment of absolute fulfillment, of total consciousness, inevitably causes Saurau's madness. The dissolution of his mind generates a theatrical, though tragic flow of speech:

"[...] einen solchen Gedanken, eine solche Gedanken- stromung wenigstens auf eine ungewohn1iche Weise zu erforschen un zu beherrschen, zu durchschauen, erscheint mir fatal gegeniiber dem Zustand der ab­soluten Fatalitat, [...] denn was mich betrifft, bin ich in Wahrheit da angelangt, wo die Grenzenlosigkeit zur Gewi&heit geworden ist, in dem Dauerverstorungs- grade des hoheren Alters, in der mehr und mehr philo­sophischen, philosophistischen Vereinsamung des Geistes, in welcher einem fortwahrend allés bewu&t ist, wodurch das Gehirn als solches gar nicht mehr exist iert ... Die Wahrheit ist, dal3 ich mehr und mehr glaube, allés zu sein, weil ich in Wirklichkeit gar nichts mehr bin [...]." (Verst, 117)

For the individual it is impossible to fix the endless and infinite process of thought in the finite work of art, which is subject to a different time structure. Still, the con­gruence between the ideal and the real invariably means the

20) Ses a-lso ^'Korrektur”: "Denn allerhochstes Oliick ist nur im Tod, so Roithamer" (Ko, 346). Roithamer’s sister dies the very moment he has finished the perfect cone for her to live in. Realization, perfection (Verwirklichung) and death are intertwined, "denn dariiber bestehe kein Zweifel, daJ3 die Schwester Roithamers an der Ver­wirkl ichung und Vollendung des Kegels fiir sie zugrundegegangen sei [>..]" (Ko, 120). Novalis who is quoted several times in "Verstorung" has developed a similar idea. For him any coincidence of word and form is impossible to reach, as every word falsifies the original philosophic thought, "Der achte philosophische Act ist Selbsttodtung", in: Novalis, "Werke", op.cit., "Philosophische Studien 1797", Vol. 2, p. 223.

21) Death is the key feature of life in Bernhard’s prose: "Ich spreche, woriiber ich auch spreche, selbst wenn ich uber das Leben spreche, Uber den Tod ... Allés wird immer iiber den Tod gesprochen . .. Der Tod ist mein Thema, wie auch Ihr Thema der Tod ist .., also rede ich Uber das Leben, deute ihn an, den Gegenwartsstumpfsinn zum Beispiel, [...]. Das allés hat, ob Sie es glauben oder nicht, ob Sie es wahrhaben wollen oder nicht, mit dem Tode zu tun, ob ich Sie oder mich meine, in die Irre treibe, es ist der Tod, wir werden vom Tod getrieben ... ob ich etwas gegen die Regierenden habe oder gegen die UnterdrUckten, gegen Schwarz oder WeiO, gegen diese Regierung zum Beispiel, die, wie jede Regierung, die schlechteste Regierung ist, die man sich vorstellen kann, gegen unsere Parlamentarier, gegen unsere Bundeskanzler, gegen unsere Hochschul 1 ehrer und gegen unsere KUnstler, gegen Heine und andere, gegen alle diese Herren etwas habe, es ist der Tod, es ist die Irreparabi1itàt ... es ist die Katastrophe ,,, es ist allés etwas Vnmogliches, Unerhortes ...", in: "Der Wahheit und dem Tod auf der Spur", speech on the occasion of the presentation of the "Wildgans" award, 1968. (Quoted in: Karl Konrad Polheim ed. , "Literatur aus Osterreich. Osterreichische Literatur", (Bonn 1981) p. 149/150.

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death of the ideal. As Schlegel formulated; "Das Spiel der Mitteilung und der Annaherung ist das Geschaft und die Kraft des Lebens, absolute Vollendung ist nur im Tod"^^\Murau, the more he gets embroiled in his literary and philosophical project, loses touch with his own autobiogra­phical self. The intense thinking makes it even more diffi­cult to preserve the unity of the self:

"[...] wie ich iiber mich selbst nur im Gro&enwahn sagen kann, ich hatte mich begriffen, wo ich mich tatsachlich selbst niemals begriffen habe bis zum heutigen Tag, je mehr ich mich mit mir beschaftige, desto weiter entferne ich mich von meinem Tatsach- lichen, desto mehr verfinstert sich allés, was mich betrifft, [...]." (A, 153/4)

The physical world is continually being undercut by the presence of literary images and elaborate philosophic commentaries. The process of narrating destroys and extin­guishes the relation to reality and replaces it by a progres­sive poetic discourse of language. Instead of generating a new identity and a self-awareness the novel has extinguished the idea of an utopian totality and accordingly the notion of a metaphysical subject.The identity of material and form, of "Begriff" and "Ding", turns out to be an illusion, the constructs of consciousness and imagination remain separate from physical reality. At this point Thomas Bernhard differs completely from authors such as Peter Handke, who in his writings seems to achieve a sense of connection and coincidence in the transcendent act of reading or writing. As Handke notes in his journal "Das Gewicht der Welt": "Die Beschreibbarkeit der Welt: ein Gefiihl verbindet sich, endlich mit einem Gegenstand". For Handke, art and especially story-telling is an activity of the transcendent Romantic imagination that produces existential coherence, the union of material and form.

22) Friedrich Schlegel, "Kritische Schriften und Fragmente", op.cit., "Gesprach iiber diePoesie", Vol. 2, p, 187. Accordingly, Oehler, one of the protagonists in "Gehen" gives the advice: "Die Kunst des Nachdenkens besteht in der Kunst, sagt Oehler, dasDenken genau vor dem todl ichen Augenblick abzubrechen." (Ge, 26)

23) Peter Handke, "Das Gewicht der Welt. Ein Journal November 1975 - Marz 1977", (Frankfurt/Main 1979), p. 88.

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For Bernhard, in contrast, any positing of meaning in the act of literary composition is inextricably bound to the extinc­tion of the material world it represents, according to Novalis’ theory of identity; "Das Wesen der Identitat laBt sich nur in einem Scheinsatz aufstellen. Wir verlassen das Identische^ um es darzuste 1 len.

The final constitution of the subject, its representation in the text is the moment of death. The first person narrator, the subject of the novel has to be extinguished and conse­quently transferred into a narrated, fictional subject to negate the possibility of an absolute work of art and of any transcendental hopes:

"[...] bleibt die hier ausgesprochene Wahrheit, daB die kraft einer Geistes-Operation geleistete Synthèse des Unendlichen und des Endlichen im Augenblick der Niederschrift der Studie das Subjekt vernichten müBte [...]. Damit wird nicht nur die intellektuelle Vermessenheit, die Transzendenz ins Werk zwingen zu wollen, als ein hybrides experimentum suae medietatis in ihre Grenzen verwiesen; es wird auch die Hoffnung auf den Kairos des absoluten Werks als leerer Wahn desi1 lusioniert und das Scheitern des subjektiven Heilswerks besiegeIt,"

On the last page the reader learns that Murau is already dead and his story is being reported by a third person, though, up to this point, the reader believes that he or she has been directly following the painful exposure of the protagonist. The "I" of the narrator-f igure is extinguished and the seemingly direct speech accordingly turns into an indirect report of a third person narrator. The tension between self- realization in the work of art and death can be seen as a "Dialektik des quaiitativen Augenblicks", as analyzed by Peter Pfaff and Gerhard vom Hofe:

"Der Augenblick als ’Ursache’, Ausgangspunkt und 1 ebensrettender Zielpunkt einer Offenbarung der Transzendenz im endlichen Werk einerseits und der das

24) Novalis, "Werke", op,cit., "Fichte-Studien", Vol. 2, p. 8.

25) Peter Pfaff; Gerhard vom Hofe, "Das Elend des Polyphem", op.cit., p. 48.

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Subjekt verzehrende, vernichtende und todliche Augenblick andererseits begrenzen das SpannungsfeId, innerhalb dessen die Figuren Bernhards mit beharr- 1icher Konsequenz ’Opérâtionen’ einer SeIbstbegrün- dung des Subjekts als einer kranken ’Geist-Existenz ’ ans tellen."^ )

Bernhard intensifies the aporetic situation of the Romantic subject as he demonstrates the assertion of identity and the transformation of the self into language (Schriftlichkeit) as well as the subsequent dissemination and breaking-up of identity within one text.

26) Peter Pfaff; Gerhard vom Hofe, "Das Elend des Polyphem", op.cit., p. 32.

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"Im Grunde ist allés, was gesagt wird, zitiert," (Thomas Bernhard)

3.6. Structural Principles in "Ausloschung”3.6.1. The Text as Quotation

The destruction of unity and coherence in "Ausloschung" is also reproduced on a formal level. The narrative perspective and the sceptical use of language underline the fragmentation of the subject as analyzed in the previous chapters. "Ausloschung" takes the form of an endless monologue, in which the narrator reflects upon his childhood, his family, literature, politics and every issue that comes to his mind. The flow of ideas, impressions and associations is accom­panied by sharp reflections and often harsh judgements in which the line between inner and outer reality often gets blurred. The transformation of a story into language and the obsessive idea to write the "Ausloschung" underline Schmidt- Dengler’s theory that Bernhard does not report about events, but is exclusively interested in language. The contents and the plot of the novel interest Bernhard "weniger als Sach- verhalte denn als Sprachverhalte"The monomaniac soliloquies are to a large extend archaeo­logical digs in the psychological landscape of Murau himself. The endless thoughts and enumerations of past events are an obsessive repetition of formulaic themes and in effect revolve around the central problem of Murau’s identity. The syntactic structure, the frequent use of repetitions and exaggerations as well as the constant driving of language into the superlative give a relentlessness to the style that mirrors the state of mind of the speaking subject:

"Es sind Zustande existentiel 1er Einsamkeit wie fundamentaler Unsicherheit, die in der sich selbst reproduzierenden Mechanik der Sprache vor allem

1) Wendelin Schmidt-Dengler, "Von der Schwierigkeit, Thomas Bernhard zu lesen, Zu Thomas Berhards ’Gehen*", in: Manfred Jurgensen ed,, "Thomas Bernhard. Annaherungen", op.cit., p. 133.

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deutlich werden. Die endlosen Wiederholungen hôhlen die Inhalte aus und produzieren nur mehr Leere. Das verzweife1t-vereinze1te Individuum hâlt seinenZustand dabei nicht nur aufrecht, weiter denkend und weiter sprechend verschârft es ihn noch. Wirklichkeit spiegelt sich in Bernhards Büchern nicht unmittelbar mimetisch, sondern erscheint in den abnormen Sprach- zustânden der Redef iguren .

As in most prose texts of Bernhard, the monologue turns into a dialogue the protagonist remembers and reports or he quotes one of his own earlier monologues. The discourse structure of "Ausloschung” is a quoted dialogue, whose assumption is that someone has transcribed the speech of the main character. The protagonists in Bernhard’s novels mostly disappear in favour of a third person narrator who reports about the protagonist in reported speech. Characteristically, Bernhard shows a first-person story-teller who reports about another figure, who in fact is the main character.This setting presupposes the death or the failure of the main character which then is reflected in the report of the narrator. Willi Huntemann has termed this formal exposition a "memoria mortis":

"Stets jedoch ist das Intéressé des Ich-Erzâh1ers auf einen ihm befreundeten Protagoni s ten (die Kiinst- lerfigur) gerichtet, dessen Tod den Erzah1vorgang, als ’memoria passionis’, genauer: ’memoria mortis’,motiviert. Der Ich-Erzahler reagiert schreibend auf den gescheiterten Versuch des Protagonisten, schrei­bend bzw. in einem anderen Kunstmedium seine Existenz zu bewaltigen."*)

The narrator mostly functions as a stenographer or resear­cher, but, unlike in a traditional novel, is himself not in the centre of the narrative and has only a limited point of

2) Andreas Herzog, ’’Thomas Bernhards Poetik der prosaischen Musik”, in: ’’Zeitschrift fiir Germanistik”, Vol, 1, 1994, p. 39.

3) In ’’Frost” a student of medicine surveys the mad painter Strauch and reports about him to his brother working at a hospital. In ”Das Kalkwerk” the agent of an insurance company gives evidence about Konrad, the main character, said in ’’Verstorung” the son of a village doctor notes meticulously everything he observes on their visit to ill people. In ’’Gehen” an unnamed narrator recites Oehler’s version why the main character, Karrer, got mad and hsuJ to be brought to Steinhof, the lunatic asylum.

4) Willi Huntemann, ’’Artistik und Rollenspiel. Das System Thomas Bernhard”, (Würzburg 1990), p. 65. See also Pfaff/vom Hofe, "Das Elend des Polyphem”, op.cit. who use the term ’memoria passionis’ in connection with the narrative ”Ja” to stress the religious, Christian connotation of the word.

Ill

view. This composition generates an openness of the narrative structure :

"Mit der Wahl dieser Erzahlform erreicht Bernhard auf doppelte Weise eine Offenheit des Erzahlens; zum einen verzichtet er auf den *objektiven’, Ordnung stiftenden Er-Erzahler mit seiner überlegenheit, zum anderen verzichtet er auf die Kompetenz, über die der herkommliche Ich-Erzahler verfUgt."^^

Thus, in most texts, and in "Ausloschung" in somewhat amplified form, we have the typical situation of a character quoting somebody else. The tendency to report by indirect discourse statements sometimes three or four times removed from the original speaker underscores the general process of disintegration and collapse. It also constantly raises doubts about the truth and authenticity of everything reported in a seemingly precise manner. Manfred Jurgensen has described this narrative technique as "konjunktivisches Erzahlen":

"Durch vielfache Brechungen wird der Erzahlbericht zum SpannungsfeId zwischen Artistik und Aussage. Bei der konstruierten Wiedergabe indirekter Rede kommt es zu einem charakteristischen Widerspruch zwischen hypothet isch Projiziertem und authent isch Be 1 egbarem. Gerade im konjunktivischen Erzahlen bedient sich Bernhard eines Zitationsverfahrens, das sich wesens- gemaB widerspr icht.

The frequent use of dialogue tags such as "dachte ich", "sagte ich" and "sagte ich zu Gambetti" or "sagte ich mir" illustrate the narrative technique of paraphrase and cita­tion. These suggest a distant, seemingly neutral and objecti­ve viewpoint of the narrator, albeit, the transformation from the modality of oral to that of written speech causes further disparity between the main character’s point of view and his projected role as narrator. The reader thus becomes suspicio-

5) Jürgen H, Petersen, "Beschreibung einer sinnentleerten Welt, Erzabltechnik und Erzahlverfahren in Thomas Bernhards Romanen", in: Manfred Jurgensen ed. , "Thomas Bernhard. Annaherungen", op.cit., p. 161.

6) Manfred Jurgensen, "Kon junkt ivisches Erzahlen: Das fiktionale Ich auf der Flucht vor sich selbst", in: Manfred Jurgensen, "Erzahlformen des fiktionalen Ich: Beitrage zum deutschen Gegenwartsroman", (Bern 1980), p. 29.

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us of the narrator’s sincerity or competence to tell the true version of events and of his own story. Only at the end of the novel does the reader learn that the whole monologue of Murau is embedded in a third-person narration of an unknown narrator figure. The existence and viewpoint of this unnamed figure is woven into the autobiographical report of the first-person story-teller. This multi-layered, telescopic narrative perspective already raises doubts and uncertainty about the character of the autobiographical notes and the true identity of Franz-Josef Murau. The reader exclusively relies on language which might only be an imperfect medium for communication and for the imparting of truth.Murau’s experiences are set against the abstract conceptual nature of words which in Bernhard’s opinion distort and falsify any experience:

"Die Sprache ist unbrauchbar, wenn es darum geht, die Wahrheit zu sagen, Mitteilung zu machen, sie laJ3t dem Schreibenden nur die Annaherung, immer nur die verzweifelte und dadurch auch nur zweifelhafte Annaherung an den Gegenstand, die Sprache gibt nur ein gefalschtes Authentisches wieder, das erschrek- kend Verzerrte, sosehr sich der Schreibende auch bemüht, die Wôrter drücken ailes zu Boden und ver- riicken allés und machen die totale Wahrheit auf dem Papier zur Luge." (Kâ, 89)

This lack of confidence in language as a mimetic instrument is a major Romantic inheritance.^^ Bernhard actualizes the language scepticism and linguistic consciousness of Romantic authors such as Kleist, Schlegel and especially Novalis, who formulated astonishingly modern insights into language:

7) There is also a strong tradition of language scepticism and criticism in Austrian literature from Nestroy and Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Karl Kraus, Elias Canetti, Odon von Horvath, Wittgenstein to Ingeborg Bachmann, Peter Handke and Thomas Bernhard, The crisis has a we 11-documented history in the "fin de siècle" literature, most notably in Hofmannsthal : "Mein Fall ist, in Kiirze, dieser: es ist mir vollig die Fahigkeit abhanden gekommen, Uber irgend etwas zussamenhangend zu denken oder zu sprechen, Zuerst wurde es mir allmahlich unmoglich, ein hoheres und allgemeineres Thema zu besprechen und dabei jene Worte in den Mund zu nehmen, deren sich doch alle Menschen ohne Bedenken gelaufig zu bedienen pflegen, ... Es zerfiel mir allés in Teile, die Teile wieder in Teile, und nichts mehr lieO sich mit einem Begriff umspannen." ("Ein Brief", in: Hugo von Hofmannsthal, "Gesammelte Werke", Prosa II, Herbert Steiner ed., (Frankfurt/Main 1959), p. 11. What is more, a lot of Austrian writers concentrate on theater and music and show an intense fascination with decay and death among Austrian writers.

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"Es ist eigentlich um das Sprechen und Schreiben eine nârrische Sache; das rechte Gesprâch ist ein blo&es Wortspiel. Der lâcherliche Irrthum ist nur zu bewun- dern, dal3 die Leute meinen - sie sprâchen um der Dinge willen. Gerade das Eigenthümliche der Sprache, das sie sich blos um sich selbst bekümmert, wei# keiner. Darum ist sie ein so wunderbares und frucht- bares GeheimniG, - daG wenn einer blos spricht um zu sprechen, er gerade die herr1ichsten, originelIsten Wahrheiten ausspricht."*)

As a modern representative of this tradition Thomas Bernhard entertains no false illusions about the search for truth in language. He quickly exposes the illusory nature of all such attempts and in its temporality makes a mockery of all claims to permanence. This form of language scepticism is not merely the problem of a character engaging in a critical reflection on language, showing disillusionment with the nature of words or with the relation between language and reality, word and referent. Bernhard’s characters get completely absorbed in the discourse and become almost identical with their respec­tive language and show the often purely rhetoric function of speech. Bernhard’s work therefore represents a critique and embodiment of nineteenth century models. He transforms and plays with historic and modern literary discourses. His prose seems to circle obsessively around the same clusters of themes and problems. Questions of language and form come to attain a special significance within the text, as Bernhard ironically stages the failure of any narrative. It seems consistent that Bernhard exposes the flaws in his narrator’s belief and enacts a constant rupture of continuity and identity. Language thus is based on quotations and repeti­tions, to show the artificiality of anything constructed of words. The artificial and therefore false order, expressed most often in repetitious speech and actions, simultaneously

8) Novalis, "IFerite", op.cit., "Monolog", Vol. 2, p. 438. Compare also Heinrich von Kleist: "Wenn alle Menschen statt der Augen griine Glaser hatten, so wUrden sieurteilen miissen, die Gegenstande, we Iche sie dadurch erblicken, sind griin - und nie wiirden sie entscheiden konnen, ob ihr Auge ihnen die Dinge zeigt, wie sie sind, oder ob es nicht etwas zu ihnen hinzutut, was nicht ihnen, sondern dem Auge gehort. So ist es mit dem Verstande. Wir konnen nicht entscheiden, ob das, was wir Wahrheit nennen, wahrhaft Wahrheit ist, oder ob es uns nur so scheint. " Letter to Wilhelmine von Zenge dated 22 March 1801, in: Heinrich von Kleist, "Samtliche Werke und Briefe", Helmut Sembdner ed., (München 1977), Vol. 2, p. 634.

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appears to be necessary for survival and the justifiable target of attack and destruction.*^ Bernhard often stated that completeness, harmony of the work of art and conclusive endings are lies. In one of his rare interviews "Drei Tage" he made his point particularly clear:

"Es darf nichts Ganzes geben, man muB es zerhauen. Etwas Gelungenes, Schones wird immer mehr verdachtig. Man muB ja auch einen Weg moglichst an einer unvor- hergesehenen Stelle abbrechen ... So ist es auch falsch, ein sogenanntes Kapitel in einem Buch wirk­lich zu Ende zu schreiben. Und so ist es falsch, iiberhaupt ein Buch zu Ende zu schreiben. Und der groJSte Fehler ist, wenn ein Autor ein Buch zu Ende schreibt." (Ital, 87/88)

With the death of Murau as fictional character and the ex­tinction of the first person narrator Bernhard dramatizes the plight of Murau as narrator of his own autobiography. The speaking subject has disappeared at the end of the novel and leaves an autonomous text behind, which cannot guarantee the authenticity of the narrator’s report:

"Der Geist des ursprüngl ich Redenden wird nur noch vertreten, er ist selbst nicht mehr anwesend. Spre­chen bUBt daher an Authentizitat ein. Nur noch oberf1achlich, wird Sprechen zur Parodie der Rede, die es nachzusprechen vermeint. "

The final condition of Murau is extremely paradoxical and confused by the effects produced by language. Writing and ultimately finishing "Ausloschung", Murau is at the same time creator and murderer of the aesthetic form he wished to produce. The poetic discourse and with it the notion of the subject have only survived as quotation, as a pure but abstract set of statements, not adequately to be transcribed in any other direct form of communication. Although it seems illogical to explain, in language, the inadequacy of language

9) See also Arthur Schnitzler, W e r Weg ins Freie'\ (Berlin 1928), In this novel one can read a similar idea: "Wir versuchen wohl, Ordnung in uns zu schaffen, so gut es geht, aber diese Ordnung ist doch nur etwas Kiinstliches. Das Natiirliche [,,,] ist das Chaos," (p, 453)

10) Gernot WeiO, "Ausloschung der Philosophie", op,cit,, p, 68,

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as a means of expression, Bernhard brings this tension to the surface by exaggerated and constantly occurring extremes of expression. The remoteness of the narrator, reinforced by the use of reported speech and subjunctive, shows the underlying mechanism operative in the text. It actualizes Friedrich Schlegel’s claim of a transcendental poetry as it at the same time shows the capacity of self-creation and self-destruc­tion. It is precisely in this tension between "Selbstschop- fung und Selbstvernichtung"^^^ where Bernhard constitutes his idea of a subject.

11) Friedrich Schlegel, ^Kritische Schriften und Fragmente'*, op.cit. , "Athenaums-Fragment 51", Vol. 2, p. 109.

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3.6.2. The Use of Paradox

To make the fragmentary nature of all his works obvious Bernhard frequently uses the figure of paradox and contra­dictions. Inasmuch as Murau’s insertions such as "dachte ich" are used to increase the credibility and authenticity of his own remarks on the formal level, he himself contradicts them by sudden statements of the opposite meaning. Bernhard’s technique to generalize and to exaggerate, and his frequent rendering of opposites constantly irritates the reader and trys to avoid any notion of a coherent and precise reality.

"Es darf keine eindeutige Wirklichkeit geben, denn die vie 1schichtig instrumentierte Realitat, an der sich der wissenschaft1iche Erzahler orientiert, bedarf einer standigen Umkehrung, einer andauernden Negation, einer fortwahrenden Zerstorung. Genau so liest sich auch der St il Thomas Bernhards; sein Aufbau besteht aus einer standigen Destrukt ion ;

Statements are either qualified beyond recognition, con­tradicted outright or reversed and turned upon themselves. As it seems, the narrator wants to keep opposites alive in his head and his prose all at once. The painter Strauch in "Frost" serves as a prototypical example for a character who has completely reversed the logic and meaning of normal thought. In a converstion with the narrator, the "Famulant" he remarks: "Das miissen sie sich allés ganz unwirklichvorstellen, so wie die tiefste Wirklichkeit^ wissen sie." (Fr, 230). In Strauch’s mind no reality is maintained as a locus of judgement. Words insufficiently denoting the objects of the outside world, develop a meaning of their own. The perception produces momentary instantaneous pictures in which the original sense of the word is turned round and loses its significance in a convoluted syntax of the sentence:

"Der Anfang sei das Ende, von diesem Satz gehe ihm allés aus, und: ’ein Tisch ist auch ein Fenster, und ein Fenster ist auch die Frau, die am Fenster steht.

12) Manfred Jurgensen, "Konjunktivisches Erzahlen", op.cit., p. 32.

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e in Bachbett zugleich das Gebirge, das sich im Bachbett spiegelt, eine Stadt auch die Luft über dieser Stadt.’ So in sich selber verschlungen, sei ’der Mensch verloren ... Ausgange?’ Keine Antwort. [...] Es ist ja doch nur der SchluBstrich unter eine gewaltige Szenerie von Gedanken, den ich mache [...]". (Fr, 217)

Franz-Josef Murau too becomes entangled in the medium of language. No statement can rest without being checked or modified, so that Murau’s reflections finally lead to deliberate and increasingly complex observations. He ironi­cally puts some of his statements in relative terms, as the following passage illustrates:

"Ich sage zu Gambetti, Gambetti, das Hochste ist das Al leinsein, weil ich mich als sein Philosoph auf- spiele, aber ich weiB ganz genau, dai3 Al leinsein die fiirchter 1 ichste aller Strafen ist. Nur ein Verriickter propagiert das Alleinsein und vollkommen allein sein heiBt ja am Ende nichts anderes als vollkommen verrückt sein, dachte ich und ging wieder in die umgekehrte Richtung." (A, 309)

This movement, the restless to and fro of Murau parallels the nervous activity of the mind yearning and searching for what is inexplicable and never finding anything else than a fleeting peace. By reason of that, the pace of language is as unsettling as life itself and never comes to rest.^^ The complex syntax, the pattern of self-contradiction and the resulting atmosphere of characteristic ambivalence in the novel denote the incongruous lack of insight of the narrator figure into what he says.The uncertainty about knowledge (Erkenntnis), the doubts about the possibility of knowing and expressing anything for certain is expressed perhaps most clearly by the extensive use of paradox, as shown in "Das Kalkwerk":

13) Compare the parallel of walking and thinking in the narrative "Gehen”: "Gehen und Denken stehen in einem ununterbrochenen Vertrauensverhal tnis zueinander, sagt Oehler. [• • • ] Wir dur fen uns aber nicht se lbs t fragen, wie wir gehen, denn dann gehen wir anders, als wir in Wirklichkeit gehen und unser Gehen ist iiberhaupt nicht zu beurteilen, wie wir uns nicht fragen dürfen, wie wir denken, denn dann konnen wir, weil es nicht mehr unser Denken ist, nicht mehr beurteilen, wie wir denken.” (Ge, 86/87)

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"Aber ailes se i doch viel komp 1 i z i er t er , weil im Grande einfacher, als man glaube, dadurch kônne man im Grande nichts klarmachen. Und die sogenante Annâherang in der Sache führe za nichts. Man kônne sich aber nicht mitteilen, aa&er darch das totale Geistesprodakt." (Kw, 62)

Bernhard’s recognition of the paradoxical natare of trath and of writing are symbolized in the protagonist’s endless straggles to prodace a work of art or a scientific treatise as an attempt at preserving meaning. Even as an expression of a "Willen zam Scheitern" (Ja, 44) writing is a creative and life-affirming impalse that negates the nihilistic impetas often assamed in Bernhard’s writings.

"Indem wir wenigstens den Willen zam Scheitern haben, kommen wir vorwarts and wir massen in jeder Sache and in allem and jedem immer wieder wenigstens den Willen zam Scheitern haben, wenn wir nicht schon sehr frah zagrandegehen wollen, was tatsachlich nicht die Absicht sein kann, mit welcher wir da sind." (Ja, 44)

Nevertheless, Bernhard does not allow as the illasion of finding logic, certainty or finality where none exists. Therefore, the constracted fictional "I", Maraa as narrator of the novel "Ausloschung", mast finally be extingaished. Se 1fcons tract ion as artistic creation is an illasory, incom­plete act of establishing certainty. The death of the narrator and the fictional self at the end of the novel can be seen as the elasive conseqaence of an inability to actaalize intersabjective anderstanding. What remains is "der Wahrheitswi11e(n ) des Beschreibenden" (Ke, 32), resalting always in a lie, becaase "Die Wahrheit, die wir kennen, ist logisch die Liige, die, indem wir am sie nicht heramkommen, die Wahrheit ist." (Ke, 33). In "Der Keller" Bernhard almost wistfally repeats the idea:

"Die Karten werden aafgeschlagen, nach and nach. Die Idee ist gewesen, der Existenz aaf die Spar za kommen, der eigenen wie den andern. [...] Wir haben von Aafrichtigkeit and von Klarheit getrâamt, aber es ist beim Trâamen geblieben. Wir haben oft aafgegeben and wieder angefangen, and wir werden noch oft aafgeben and wieder anfangen." (Ke, 119)

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"Schriften sind ja im Grunde nur dazu da, vernichtet zu werden” (Thomas Bernhard)

3.7. Conclusion: Failure as Creative Potential

In his novel "Ausloschung” Thomas Bernhard explores the conditions and consequences of modern subjectivity and thereby creates a fragile balance between extinction and re­creation of the subject. The central character, Franz-Josef Murau, fails in his attempt to regain a sense of self- identity. His death is the elusive consequence of an inabili­ty to actualize thought through writing, and it is an apparent result of an inherent constitutive failure of literary communication. The novel becomes a self-reflection on the narrative as such and on narrative understanding as a product of intensified indeterminacy, thus drawing on Schlegel’s notion of "Unverstand 1ichkeit" . Reading "Aus- loschung" as a story means one gets increasingly entangled in a web of incomprehensibility. On the textual level under­standing is constantly undermined by spiraling repetitive sentences. At the same time this structure disrupts the narrative continuum by means of extended monologues and the exhaustive use of exaggeration and contradiction. The rhetorical power only insufficiently conceals the disinte­gration of the narrator-figure. With the final extinction of Murau the notion of Romantic subjectivity is exposed as an ultimately self-destructive idea. Romantic theory of artistic production and self-representation cannot hold, as it inevitably leads to a loss of identity, madness and death. The power of Bernhard’s prose gains its impetus from the failure of the subject’s struggle to create meaning and understanding. With the deliberate indeterminacy of the narration and the destabilization of the actual discourse, Bernhard repudiates universal validity claims and emphasizes the futility of any hermeneutics to ensure understanding. His programmatic claim that every struggle for knowledge is a method of death is to be taken seriously: "...jedes Erkennt-

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nisstreben ist eine Todesmethode . . . Invention and crea­tion in the novel are contradicted by death and "AusIoschung" on the textual level.However, Murau’s failure is the creative impulse of the unknown narrator-figure to write and reproduce the narrative "Ausloschung", an attempt which in the final analysis has to be considered successful.Furthermore, the novel generates a friction between the different levels of the narrative. The language of the novel, the composition of character and action and the overall narrative strategy embody both a continuation and a critique of early nineteenth century models of artistic representa­tion. Bernhard takes up, transforms and ironically plays with Romantic form. He reflects upon central categories of Romantic discourse and actualizes them in analogy to the expressive creation of subjectivity which, in Bernhard’s contemporary writing, is reduced to the tormenting, destruc­tive mechanisms of any discourse.The confrontation with the impossibility of writing is not only the central issue of most of his novels, but, moreover reflects the limits within which Bernhard is operating. His indebtedness to Romantic forms cannot be denied, yet he does not artificially preserve the Romantic longing for coherence and a universal system. All his characters who are seeking refuge in a world of music, literature or science must fail. For them no perfection or harmony will ever be achieved. Aesthetic or intellectual solutions are exposed as vain projects, and Bernhard distructs any idea of artistic perfection. In "Ausloschung" the poetic discourse has replaced the reality of Murau’s existence, and the auto- productive work of art progressively develops the idea of an autonomous subject which observes itself as it is coming into existence by its own creative potential.

1) Thomas Bernhard, "Der Wahrheit und dem Tod auf der Spur", in: Neues Forum, 1968, p. 347,

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"Jeder hat noch in den Alten gefunden, was er brauchte oder wünschte, vorzüg- lich sich selbst" (Friedrich Schlegel)

4. "Alte Meister” - A Comedy of Art

4.1. "Alte Meister" - The Novel in the Context of Bernhard’s Literary Development

Among the prose works of Thomas Bernhard the novel "Alte Meister" (1985) stands out in many different ways. The text consistently embodies the aesthetic form which Bernhard reflects upon in his theoretical considerations. Not only is "Alte Meister" a literary fragment, it also explicitly propagates the ideal incompleteness of any work of art. Hence, fragmentation is the underlying concept of the novel and, as will be shown in this chapter, can be seen as central to Bernhard’s whole poetic project."Alte Meister" differs from other prose works in as much as it is openly self-ironic and funny. It is significant that Bernhard added the subtitle "Comedy", a literary term normally applied to drama and which, in the strict meaning of the word, seems strangely out of place when applied to fiction and prose.^ But, as Bernhard himself indicated in an interview with the "Spiegel", there is often little diffe­rence between the plays written for the stage and his narrative works:

"Im Grunde ist es immer die eine gleiche Prosa und die eine Art, für die Bixhne zu schre iben.

In both literary genres Bernhard employs the same dramatic personae, dispersed and often decentered characters. The reader is usually confronted with a play or a novel which is

1) See Wolfgang Trautwein, "Komodientheorie und Komodie. Bin OrdnungsverBuch", in: Jahrbuch der Deutschen Schillergesellschaft, No, 27, 1983, p, 86-123,

2) "Ich konnte auf dem Papier jemand umbringen", Der Schriftstel 1er Thomas Bernhard über Wirkung und Offentlichkeit seiner Texte, Interview with Hellmuth Karasek and Erich Bohme, In: "Der Spiegel", 23. June 1980,

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typically devoid of action and has a radically reduced plot. The striking structural correspondence between plays ind proseworks is largely due to the same dramaturgical concept operating in all works. The stage, imaginary or real, becomes a dominant factor in giving shape to and in dramatising the inner thought processes of the protagonists. Novels and plays alike are dramatic stagings of thoughts, reflections and fictional episodes in which any real action is reduced to a functional frame. The stage as "Guckkasten des eigeren Kopfes" (Ke, 113) highlights the theatrical effect of language in contrast to language as merely the vehicle of information. The artificial nature of theatre becones instrumental in conveying Bernhard’s aesthetic programme:

"In meinen Biichern ist allés künst 1 ich, das heiBt, alle Figuren, Ereignisse, Vorkommnisse spielen sich auf einer Bühne ab, und der Biihnenraum ist total fin- ster. Auftretende Figuren auf einem Bühnenraum, in einem BUhnenviereck, sind durch ihre Konturen deutli- cher zu erkennen, als wenn sie in der natiirlichen Be- leuchtung erscheinen wie in der iiblichen uns be- kannten Prosa." (Ital, 82)

The story, both in the novels and the plays, develops almost exclusively in the minds of the protagonists and is predomi­nantly presented as a drama of words and speech. Language is the essential protagonist of all Bernhard works:

"Na, meiner Meinung nach ist Dramatik doch etwas, was in erster Linie mit Sprache zu tun hat. Es gibt natiirlich auch ein Theater der Purzelbaume, wo die Leute sich übersch1agen, ununterbrochen Türen auf- und zugehen, alle Augenblicke Schicksale sich voll- enden und das dann vielleicht alle fünf Minuten fad ist. Be i meinen StUcken ist das anders: man muJ3hinhoren. Aus der Sprache, langsam entwickelt sich me in Drama. "

Accordingly, tension arises out of the repetitions, quota­tions and contradictions on which the text is based. The notion of a play which is centred less on action than on language itself and on the idea of theatre provides Bernhard

3) Thomas Bernhard, Letter to the editor, "Salzburger Nachrichten", 30 January 1981.

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with a general theoretical basis for his aesthetics and philosophy. Furthermore, it provides him with a perspective on himself as a writer and as a spectator of himself.The so-called comedy "Alte Meister” forms part of a "Skandal- Trilogie"'^^ which comprises the prose text "Holzfallen. Eine Erregung”, (1984), the play "Der Theatermacher" written in the same year and "Alte Meister" (1985). All three works created a major public scandal in Austria, and particularly in Vienna, as they contained sharp criticism of Austrian society, the state and the country’s past. The publication of "Holzfallen" eventually led to the confiscation of the first edition as Gerhard Lampersberg, the Austrian composer and a former friend of Thomas Bernhard found himself disparaged in the portrait of the main character Auersberger. The other two works also provoked intense and fierce discussion which grew more violent when, in 1988, Bernhard announced the publica­tion of his play "HeIdenplatz" and its subsequent staging by Claus Peymann at the Burgtheater in Vienna."Alte Meister" is the comedy of the tragic and comic genius Reger, which puts tradition, symbolized in the motif of the Old Masters, at the centre of Bernhard’s scrutiny. Although "Alte Meister" cannot be regarded as one of the principal works of Thomas Bernhard it is important because, like the autobiographical works, it is a very personal book; and it touches on the motif of love in a particular way.^

4) Herwig Walitsch, "Thomas Bernhard und das Komische. Versuch über den Komikbegriff Thomas Bernhards anhand der Texte ’Alte Meister’ und ’Die Macht der Gewohnheit , (Erlangen 1992), p. 25,

5) Hysterical reactions took place even before the complete text was made known to the public:"Piefke! Falls das Stuck ’Heldenplatz ’ im Burgtheater aufgefuhrt wird, garantieren wir eine offentliche Watschenorgie auf offener Bühne für die Herren Peymann und Bernhard,", letter to the Burgtheater, 14,10,1988, signed: "Eine kràftige 6-Mânner- runde aus Ottakring","Protest/gegen das Dreckstück/’Heldenplatz’/Die Bernhardiner sind ein (sic) aussterbende Art/Drecksudeleien in Rot,/Faschismus: Pfui", anonymous letter to the Burgtheater, 23,10,1988, (Quoted in Herwig Walitsch, "Thomas Bernhard und das Komische", op,cit,, p, 14/15,)

6) Although Bernhard has portrayed his friendship with Paul Wittgenstein in "Wittgen­steins Neffe" and made a few allusions to other close friends such as Ingeborg Bachmann, love for another person almost never appeared as a topic in his books. Instead, admiration for certain authors, philosophers or composers is a frequently recurring trope. See for example "Beton" (1982): "An eine Freundin und an Geistesam- bitionen ist nicht zu denken! Entweder ich habe eine Freundin, oder ich habe Geistesambitionen, beides zusammen ist unmoglich, Und ich habe mich schon sehr früh für die Geistesambitionen entschieden und gegen die Freundin, Einen Freund hatte ich niemals haben wollen von dem Zeitpunkt an, in welchem ich zwanzig und damit auf einmal ein selbstandiger Denker gewesen bin. Die einzigen Freunde, die ich habe, sind

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In "Alte Meister" the reader, who has become acquainted with crippled relationships, disastrous marriages and the psycho­pathic behaviour between men and women, is suddenly con­fronted with a very rare scene, in which the main character, Reger, passionately laments the death of his wife. Wendelin Schmidt-Dengler stresses the "subjektive Betroffenheit" in the novel, which he sees in sharp contrast to the early works, "die dem früheren Werk Bernhards fremd zu sein schien".^^ However, Schmidt-Dengler*s characterization of Reger as a "Schmerzensmann, der aber aus dem Leid zuriick- schlagt und dabei auch das Werk seines Schopfers gefâhrdet overlooks the intricate tension in the text between comedy and tragedy as well as Reger’s position which oscillates between that of a serious artist and that of a jester. Reger is not only the suffering hero, but he also plays the buffo, counteracting the serious and fateful behaviour of the hero, and thereby creating an incalculable and boundless play between tragedy and comedy. Reger’s statements, even those commenting on his personal life, cannot be taken wholly seriously, as the ironic form of the text as a whole under­mines the authority of any single aspect or episode."Alte Meister" stands in direct opposition to the picture of marriage as martyrdom in "Das Kalkwerk". In this earlier work the protagonist, Konrad, constantly tortures his wife with his experimental scientific method, the "urbantschitsche Methode" (Kw, 52), which, in fact, is an unrelenting form of violence;

"Sein ganzer Umgang mit ihr ware nur ein einziges Experimentieren gewesen, soli Konrad zu Fro gesagt haben. Zum Baurat: auf der urbantschitschen Methode beruhend, experimentiere ich sie (seine Frau) zu Tode." (Kw, 91)

die Toten, die mir ihre Literatur hinterlassen haben, ich habe keine anderen, Und es trar immer schon schwierig gewesen, iiberhavpt einen Menschen zu haben, da denke ich gar nicht an ein von alien miObrauchtes und unappetitliches Wort wie das Wort Freundschaft." (p. 41/42)

7) Wendelin Schmidt-Deng 1er, "Der Übertreibungskünstler, Zu Thomas Bernhard", (Wien 1989), p. 91.

8) Ibid.

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Not only does he utilize her to obtain the data for his study on hearing, he terrorizes his wife by reading unceasingly from Kropotkin’s book "A change for the better", although Konrad knows that his wife only likes Novalis.^ In an act of total paranoia Konrad finally kills his wife as a consequence of his inability to write his great work. The murder not only exposes self-identity and creativity as nihilistic acts of self-destruction but cynically equates knowledge and death, hermeneutics and violence.For Thomas Bernhard death often has a positive connotation and, comparable to Romantic philosophy, offers the possibi­lity of release. In "Alte Meister", however, the death of the protagonist’s wife appears as a tragedy for Reger and leads to a completely new and astonishing evaluation of the status of art. As in the volume of autobiography, "Der Atem. Eine Entscheidung", where Bernhard reports on the death of his grandfather, the novel takes as its point of departure the death of a loved person. The sometimes emotional tone in "Alte Meister" uncovers the author’s involvement as he tries to overcome his personal experiences with the help of literature.^") In one of his rare interviews he spoke of the loss of his friend Hedwig Stavianicek and characterizes her

9) As a punishment for not concentrating during the experiments Konrad invents a system of torture for his wife who is helplessly sitting in a wheelchair: "Fur Unauf-merksamkeiten wahrend des Experiment ierens mit der urbant schi tschen Methode oder iiberhaupt für jede Art von Unaufmerksamkeit oder jede Art von Aufmucken, strafe er sie für Vorlesen aus dem Kropotkin, [,,,] In letzter Zeit soil sie sich aber nicht mehr getraut haben, wahrend der Vorlesung aus dem Kropotkin unaufmerksam zu sein, sie habe Angst vor seinen Drohungen gehabt, die er immer mehr wahr gemacht habe, Essenssperre, Verlangerung der Urbanitschübungen, lângeres Verweigern der Zimmer- entlüftung, plotzliches Durchlüften ihres Zimmers, wobei sie sich vor der eiskalten Luft nicht schützen habe konnen, Verdoppelung der Vorlesung aus dem Kropotkin et cetera." (Kw, 84/85)

10) Although Bernhard very rarely talked about his relationships with women in public, the death of his friend Hedwig Stavianicek is probably the authentic event which recurs in the fictional text as the death of Reger’s wife, Hedwig Stavianicek with whom Bernhard shared a flat in Vienna was his most important intellectual mentor after the death of his grandfather and lived together with her till her death in the eighties, See Hans Holler, ’’Thomas Bernhard” (Reinbek bei Hamburg 1993, p, 48), See also Krista Fleischmann ed, , ”Thomas Bernhard - Eine Erinnerung, Interviews zur Person”, (Wien 1992), ’’Aber ich mochte sagen, daO seine ernsteste und tiefste menschliche Beziehung die sogenannte Tante war, die Ja keine Tante war, sondern eine Dame, die er in der Lungenheilanstalt kennengelernt hat, die 35 Jahre alter war als er, die auOerordentlich energisch war, klug, gebildet und sehr gut erzogen. Und die wurde ihm wirklich zu einer ganz, ganz wegweisenden Lebensgefahrtin, Und sie hat auch dafür gesorgt, daO er so diszipliniert wurde und dal3 er nicht nur irgendwie mal was geschrieben hat, sondern daO er sein ganzes Werk in eine Form gebracht hat, daO er ganz hart und diszipliniert gearbeitet hat. Das ist ein ganz groOer Verdienst dieser Frau, Und als sie starb, da war er so vollkommen verzweifelt und so elend, daO ich personlich nicht umhin kann zu glauben, daO er diesen Verlust eigentlich nie recht überwunden hat,” (p, 34-37),

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together with his grandfather as the most important person in his life and the one he entirely depended on for his artistic career :

"Das war eine Verbindung, die über 35 Jahre gedauert hat. Das war der Mensch, auf den allés, was mich betrifft, bezogen war, von dem ich allés gelernt habe. Mit dem Tod dieses Menschen war dann auch allés wieder weg. Dann steht man allein. Zuerst mochte man mitsterben. Dann sucht man. [...] Man steht auf dem Friedhof. Das Grab wird zugeschüttet. Allés ist weg, was einem irgend etwas bedeutet hat. Dann wacht man jeden Tag in der Früh mit einem Alptraum auf. Es ist nicht so, daB man unbedingt weiterleben will. Man will sich aber auch nicht erschieiSen oder aufhangen. Das kommt einem gemein vor und unappetitlich. Dann hat man nur noch Bûcher. Die stürzen sich auf einen drauf mit allen Fürchter1ichkeiten, die man hinein- schreiben kann. Aber man spielt das Leben nach auBen weiter, als wenn nichts geschehen ware, weil man ja sonst aufgefressen würde von der Umgebung."^^

Thomas Bernhard makes various allusions to this very personal experience in "Alte Meister" and Reger, the protagonist of the fictional text, finds himself in the same disastrous state as described earlier by Thomas Bernhard. Although the book deals with a tragic event, which triggers the writing of the story, it still functions as a comedy. Most comic effects arise out of the discrepancy between Reger who, in the beginning, is portrayed as a serious and honourable character and the ironic discourse of the text as a whole. The entire action and the unceasing monologues counteract the narrative structure and the prevailing norms implied by the text, which is consistent with Walitsch’s basic idea of the "prinzipiel le Vorstellung des Komischen als VerstoB gegen eine im Text vorgestellte herrschende Norm"^^\

11) Interview with Asta. Scheib, "Von einer Katastrophe in die andere, Ansichten des Dichters Thomas Bernhard, in: "Siiddeutsche Zeitvng", 17/18 January 1987,

12) Herwig Walitsch, "Thomas Bernhard und das Komische", op.cit,, p, 22.

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4.1.1. The Setting

At first glance Reger, the ingenious music critic with the same name as the composer^^\ appears to be one of the typi­cal "Gehi rnarbe i t er " (Kw, 113) we are familiar with from Bernhard’s novels and plays. An extremely well educated and gifted person, he appears to be an expert, not only on the vast field of music, but also on visual art, philosophy and literature and, of course, politics. Having studied music in Leipzig and Vienna Reger has also gained fame by writing music-reviews, in fact "musikphilosophische(n) Aufsatze", (AM, 19) for the London "Times" over the last thirty years. According to the report of the narrator-figure he is a quite exceptional expert and in no way comparable to other critics, to the "musikfeui1letonistischen Schwatzern" (AM, 19) who write for Austrian and German daily papers. Reger is "kein gewohnlicher Schreiber, sagte ich, kein Schwatzer, ein Musikwissenschaft1er im eigent1ichsten Sinne des Wortes und mit dem ganzen Ernst einer groBen Person 1ichkeit" (AM, 19). Like the other artists or scientists in Bernhard’s works he has a misanthropic view of the rest of the world which makes him suffer from the banal claims of everyday-life. Yet, Reger is not one of the endangered, paranoic protagonists aiming obsessively at perfection and truth. His monologues are sharp and full of acerbic wit, but his tone stops short of being destructive and desperate. Reger appears more in the role of an actor who plays out his various moods and irritations as well as his misanthropy.The structure of the novel is determined by Reger’s adoption from the outset of the position of observer. For more than

13) The identity with the German composer Max Reger (1873-1916) might be by chance» Bernhard has not used any particular biographical elements of Reger’s life in his novel, a technique he employed for example in "Korrektur", which is based on biographical details of Ludwig Wittgenstein’s life. However, as an expert on music and as a former music student at the Mozarteum in Salzburg it is unlikely that Bernhard chose the name arbitrarily. He definitely knew the composer, as his name is mentioned by the protagonist in "Beton”, who is working on an essay on Mendelssohn- Bartholdy: "Ich stiirzte mich auf Schonberg, um mich zu rechtfertigen, auf Reger, auf Joachim, ja sogar auf Bach, nur um mich zu recht fertigen, ,, ," (Beton, p. 70). As Max Reger probably adored the so-called Old Masters, Bernhard might have depicted Reger as a caricature who strove for perfection but never gained real fame himself, although his compositions can be regarded as highly original and outstanding. As a bizarre and unusual artist he might have served as a model for the music-critic in the fictional text. (See also Helmut Wirth, "Reger", Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1973).

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thirty-six years the music critic spends every second day, except for Mondays, in the Bordone-Saal of the Kunsthistori- sches Museum in Vienna. It has become a habit of Reger’s to visit the museum at fixed times and to go to the same hotel- restaurant afterwards, characterizing the museum as his "Geistesproduktionsstatte" (AM, 25), whereas the more secure and relaxing atmosphere in the hotel serves as a "Gedanken- aufbereitungsmaschine" (AM, 26);

"Den Vormittag verbringt Reger im Kunsthistorischen Museum, den Nachmittag im Ambassador, gegen halb elf geht er ins Kunsthistorische Museum, gegen halb drei ins Ambassador. Bis zu Mittag ist ihm die Achtzehn- gradtemperatur im Kunsthistorischen Museum die ange- nehme, am Nachmittag fühlt er sich wohler im warmen Ambassador, in welchem es immer eine Temperatur von dreiundzwanzig Grad hat." (AM, 25)

In the art gallery he always sits on the same velvet bench contemplating Tintoretto’s painting "Portrait of a Man with a White Beard": "Es bedurfte nur einer ganz kleinen Beste-

chungssumme, um mir die Sitzbank im Bordone-Saal fur immer zu sichern, so Reger einmal vor Jahren" (AM, 10). If Reger wants to remain undisturbed by other visitors to the museum, Irrsigler, the attendant and now close friend, even prohibits entry to the Bordone-Saal:

"Reger ist mit Irrsigler ein Verbaltnis eingegangen, das den beiden schon seit über dreiBig Jahren zur Gewohnheit geworden ist. Will Reger, was nicht selten der Fall ist, in der Betrachtung des "WeiBbartigen Mannes" von Tintoretto allein sein, so sperrt Irrsig­ler ganz einfach den Bordone-Saal für Besucher, er stellt sich dann ganz einfach in den Eingang und laBt keinen passieren." (AM, 10)

Over the last decades, Irrsigler, the "Saaldiener" (AM, 10), has become Reger’s confidant, and he regularly invites the whole Irrsigler-family either into the Prater or a restau­rant, and he has also lent Irrsigler large sums of money which he has never had to return. Moreover, Reger has exercised such a strong influence on the simple, largely uneducated man that Irrsigler has become an echo of Reger and his erratic opinions:

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"Irrsigler 1st das Sprachrohr Regers, fast allés, das Irrsigler sagt, hat Reger gesagt, seit über drei&ig Jahren redet Irrsigler das, was Reger gesagt hat. Wenn ich genau hinhore, hore ich Reger durch Irrsig­ler sprechen." (AM, 12/13).

Irrsigler enables Reger to think aloud and is used by Bernhard as a narrative technique to communicate what Reger is saying to himself without having to develop a genuine dialogue in the novel. Furthermore, the figure of the mostly silent listener highlights the difference between the peculiar "Privatphilosoph" (AM, 20), the eccentric intellec­tual the main character represents, and an average, not particularly well educated person acting as a subordinate servant. In the figure of the museum-attendant Bernhard also offers a portrait of the stupid and dull Austrian, a recur­ring type in Bernhard’s oeuvre. Although Irrsigler is an honest, uncomplicated and helpful person, he is the ar­chetypical representative of the lower-classes and the rural areas.In his first novel "Frost" Thomas Bernhard portrays the insane and mendacious rural people of Weng ^ \ whereas in "Alte Meister" the people from the Burgenland are the targets of his vicious attacks. Irrsigler is lucky to escape his hometown in the Burgenland, which he compares to a prison: "Die Burgenlander sind Straflinge, sagt Irrsigler, ihr Heimatland ist eine Strafanstalt." (AM, 13). Accordingly it is said to be the greatest wish of people from the Burgenland to become policemen in Vienna. Bernhard makes fun of the plain and naive behaviour symbolized by Irrsigler, who himself was rejected by the police due to his physical weakness. He goes to the museum instead, a job that, accord-

14) "Weng ist der diisterste Ort, den ich jemals gesehen habe, [,,,] tatsachlich erschreckt mich diese Gegend, noch mehr die Ortschaft, die von ganz kleinen, ausgewachsenen Menschen bevolkert ist, die man ruhig schwachsinnig nennen kann. Nicht groOer als ein Meter vierzig im Durchschnitt, torkeln sie zwischen Mauerritzen und Gangen, im Rausch erzeugt. Sie scheinen typisch zu sein für das Tal, Weng liegt hoch oben, aber noch immer vie tief unten in einer Schlucht. Über die Felsvande zu kommen, ist unmoglich, Allein die Bahn unten schafft einen Ausweg, Es ist eine Landschaft, die, veil von solcher Hàülichkeit, Charakter hat, mehr als schône Landschaften, die keinen Charakter haben, Alle haben sie da versoffene, bis zum hohen C hinaufge- schliffene Kinderstimmen, mit denen sie, venn man an ihnen vorbeigeht, in einen hineinstechen, Zustechen, Aus Schatten zustechen, mu/3 ich sagen, denn in Wahrheit habe ich bis jetzt nur Schatten von Menschen gesehen, Menschenschatten, in Armlichkeit und in wie tobsüchtig zitternder Schwüle," (Frost, 10/11)

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ing to Irrsigler requires even more intelligence, "für den Museumsdienst sei ja eine gewisse Inte1ligenz unbedingt erforder Iich" (AM, 18). In contrast to the dim-witted people Irrsigler represents, Thomas Bernhard also exposes the dull and dishonest mentality of the townspeople of Vienna who seem to have a mindless admiration for the rural landscape, "denn die Wiener sind in den burgen1ândischen Schmutz und in den burgenlandischen Stumpfsinn, weil sie diesen burgenlandischen Schmutz und diesen burgenlandischen Stumpfsinn als romantisch empfinden, weil sie auf ihre wienerische Weise pervers sind, verliebt." (AM, 14). Irrsigler remains a minor character who for the most part lacks the intellectual capacity fully to comprehend Reger’s habitual elaborations, but who functions as a contrast to Reger, the elitist and solitary artist and intellectual. The confrontation of two totally different characters reinforces the Romantic notion of the reclusive artist who is out of touch with society and everyday life.

Even more important for the frame of action is Atzbacher, the first-person narrator, who reproduces a whole set of monolo­gues - even those he could not possibly have heard himself. In contrast to Irrsigler, he does not report Reger’s ideas uncritically, although also strongly influenced by the old man whom he calls his "Gedankenvater" (AM, 25). In certain aspects the relationship between Atzbacher and Reger is comparable to the relationship between Franz-Josef Murau and his pupil Gambetti in the novel "Ausloschung". In both texts a teacher, a self-chosen "Privatphi1osoph" (AM, 20) with a bizarre "Geistesexistenz" (A, 37), has a counterpart to whom all thoughts and ideas are communicated. This person remains vague as an independent character but serves a necessary function in the novel, making the eccentric monologues of the protagonist known to an audience. Yet, Atzbacher, himself a "philosophische(r) Schriftstel1er" (AM, 191) is pictured as being more independent than Gambetti in "Ausloschung" and he is eager to stress the differences between Reger’s and his own habits to underline his autonomous position:

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"[...] denn zum Unterschied von Reger, der tatsach­lich jeden zweiten Tag ins Kunsthistorische Museum geht und das seit Jahrzehnten, gehe ich nicht jeden zweiten Tag ins Kunsthistorische Museum, sondern nur, wenn ich Lust und Laune habe." (AM, 24)

The tension in the text arises principally from a change in Reger’s habitual behaviour. Breaking with the rhythm he has been used to over the last decades, he asks Atzbacher to come and meet him in the museum on a Saturday, which means he will visit the museum on two consecutive days. The reason for this unexpected change of rhythm is only revealed on the last pages of the novel and creates tension which produces at the end a satiric and comic effect. Reger, who naturally hates the theatre and the "Burgtheater" in particular, has asked Atzbacher to accompany him to a performance of Kleist’s "Der zerbrochene Krug" for which he has already bought two tickets. The ponderous and roundabout invitation to the famous German comedy, "schiieBlich ist der Zerbrochene Krug das beste deutsche Lustspiel" (AM, 310), is the pointe of the novel which ironically mirrors Bernhard’s own classification of "Alte Meister" as a comedy:

"Vor dem vulgaren Maria-Theresia-Denkmal blieb er stehen und sagte, da/3 ich wahrschein 1 ich doch sehr verwundert sei über die Tatsache, da/3 er mir bis jetzt noch immer nicht den eigent1ichen Grund gesagt habe, warum er mich schon heute wieder im Kunst­histor ischen Museum zu treffen wünschte. Ich glaubte, meinen Ohren nicht zu trauen, als er sagte, er habe zwei Eintri t tskarten, ausgezeichnete Parkettplatze für den Zerbrochenen Krug im Burgtheater gekauft und der eigentliche Grund, warum er mich heute schon wieder ins Kunsthistorische Museum gebeten habe, sei der, mir den Vorschlag zu machen, mit ihm zusammen den Zerbrochenen Krug im Burgtheater anzuschauen." (AM, 309)

Atzbacher, making use of the unusual event, comes an hour before the fixed meeting-time in order to watch Reger undisturbed from the neighbouring room, "mu/3te ich im sogenannten Sebast iano-Saal Aufstellung nehmen; ich mu/3te also ganz gegen meinen Geschmack Tizian in Kauf nehmen, um Reger vor dem We iBbart igen Mann von Tintoretto beobachten zu konnen [...]" (AM, 7). The actual narrative time comprises

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only one hour, the time between 10,30 and 11,30 in the morning. The largest part of the text is constructed as a report of Reger’s monologues which Atzbacher remembers and reproduces during this one hour. At precisely 11,30 Atzbacher appears in the Bordone-Saal and Reger continues his flow of speech with his friend and pupil as interlocutor in a direct dialogue,Through Reger’s continual and loquacious monologue the book highlights the paradoxical tension between life and art, between the desire for knowledge and the inevitable failure of any such quest. The existential hopelessness which seems to be inherent in Reger’s development is gradually trans­formed into the grotesque and ridiculous obsession which dominates the life of a person who is introduced to thereader as a genius. For the author, Thomas Bernhard, thedevelopment of the novel has become an aesthetic game tomirror the universal dilemma of art and creativity. The comicand often grotesque effects in "Alte Meister" mainly arise out of the language, which has slightly changed in comparison with the early narratives and novels:

"Die Ausweg1 osigkeit der frühen Prosawerke wird transformiert in eine Konste 1 lat ion, die auch für Selbst ironie und Alltagl ichkeit Raum laJ3t, und in eine Sprache, die vom Leidensdruck nicht mehr nur zusammengepreBt wird, sondern Platz schafft für eine latente und nicht selten manifeste Komi k , "

Finally, humour and comic effects as organizing principles of the text are predominantly bound to the ironic self-reflec­tions and the eccentric monologues of the protagonist, Reger, As in the plays, the narrative centres upon one particular figure, a "wissenschaft1iche(s ) Genie" (AM, 21) who typically dominates the scene with his incessant verbal outpourings of paradoxes and contradictions, a narrative technique which has been described as "Proposition und Zurücknahme"^^\ Herwig Walitsch specified this as a form of "thetisch-antithetischen Umgangs mit Information - kein Sachverhalt, der nicht

15) Bernhard Sorg, "Thomas Bernhard", op.cit., p. 111.

16) Herwig Walitsch, "Thomas Bernhard und das Komische", op.cit., p. 31.

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innerhalb des Textes auf sein eigenes Gegenteil stôJ3t, keine Vorgabe, die nicht schon ihre eigene Zurücknahme in sich t râgt The result is the fragmentary character of thetext as a whole which is also largely responsible for its comic effects. At the same time "Alte Meister" represents an allegory of the problematic of artistic existence which will be the subject of the following chapter.

17} Herwig Walitsch, "Thomas Bernhard und das Komische", op.cit,, p.31,

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"Zur âchten Kritik gehôrt die Fâhigkeit das zu kritisirende Produkt selbst her- vorzubringen" (Novalis)

4.2. Reger - The Universal Romantic Artist

Reger is not simply an art-loving music critic and a pensio­ner who spends most of his time in a museum. He confesses to being a creative artist, writing "Kunststiicke" (AM, 107) for the London ’’Times" and describes himself as a "kri t ischer Künstler" (AM, 107):

"Schon in meiner Kindheit war ich kritischer Kiinst- ler, sagte er, die Umstande meiner Kindheit haben mich auf ganz natiirliche Weise zum kr it ischen Künst- 1 er gemacht. Ich empfinde mich ja durchaus als Kiinstler, eben als kritischer Kiinstler und als kritischer Kiinstler bin ich naturgema# auch ein schopf er i scher, das ist klar, also ausiibender und schopferisober kritischer Kiinstler, sagte er." (AM, 107)

The notion of the constant interplay of critic and artistexpresses the Romantic idea of "Kuns tkr i t ik" and of theartist who produces the self-reflexive, critical work of a r t F o r the Jena Romantics every true work of art had totranscend its own limits and being at one and the same timeboth self-explanatory and inexhaustible, not delimited or explained by any theory. As exemplified particularly in the early works of Walter Benjamin, who attempted to revive the Romantic conception of criticism, the critical act is not the

1) See Walter Benjamin, "Der Begriff der Kunstkritik in der deutschen Romantik", op.cit,, pp. 81.

2) Reger’s affinity to Romanticism is also stressed by his excessive reading of Novalisand his unchanged love for the Romantic poet: "Novalis habe ich von Anfang angeliebt, sagte er, nachdem er das Buch mit den Novalis-Satzen wieder zugeklappt hatte nach einer Stunde, und ich Hebe ihn noch heute. Novalis ist der Dichter, den ich zeitlebens immer gleich und immer gleich-instandig geliebt habe, wie keinen andern. Alle sind sie mir mit der Zeit immer mehr oder weniger auf die Nerven gegangen, haben mich zutiefst enttauscht, haben sich als unsinnig oder als zwecklos oder eben wie so oft als letzten Endes unerheblich und unbrauchbar herausgestellt, Novalis allés das nicht. Ich habe nie geglaubt, daJ3 ich einen Dichter, der zugleich auch ein Phi losoph ist, lieben kann, Novalis Hebe ich, ich Hebte ihn immer und allezeit und werde ihn auch in Zukunft mit derselben Innigkeit lieben, mit der ich ihn immer geliebt habe, so Reger damais. Alle Philosophen altern mit der Zeit, Novalis nicht, so Reger damais." (AM, 262/263).

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mere assessment of an artwork, but a way of completing and thereby extending its inherent meaning;

"So referiert Benjamin die romantische theorie der kritik, beschreibt dabei auch teilweise die seiner eigenen kommentare und kritiken. Es ist klar: für die Romantiker ist Kritik viel weniger die Beurteilung eines Werkes als die Methode seiner Vollendung, [. . . ] Kritik wird geleistet in Begriffen [22, s.407], und wie diese im traktat die elemente aus den phanomenen losen und unter sich versammeln, ohne dabei die phanomene zu vernichten, geht auch wahre Kritik [...] nicht wider ihr en Gegenstand: sie ist wie ein chemi- scher Stoff, der einen andern nur in dem Sinne angrei f t f daJ3 er ihn zerlegend dessen innre Natur enthüllt, nicht ihn zerstort,"^^

Benjamin maintains that criticism dissolves the finite and empirical form of the single work of art. This form is the objective expression of multiple reflectivity, which is the essence of the work of art. As the particular work is seen in relation to the "idea of art", which refers to the universal and infinite continuity of artistic forms, it is essential, for Benjamin, that the individual work can be dissolved through the negation of its finite form into the infinite "Idee der Kunst". The task of criticism is the critical dissolution in terms of an exponentialisation:

"Ihre Aufgabe erfiillt die Kritik, indem sie, je geschlossener die Reflexion, je strenger die Form des Werkes ist, desto vielfacher und intensiver diese aus sich heraustreibt, die ursprüng1iche Reflexion in einer hoheren auflost und so fortfahrt. In dieser Arbeit beruht sie auf den Keimzellen der Reflexion, den positiv formalen Momenten des Werkes, die sie zu universal formalen auflost. So stellt sie die Bezie­hung des einzelnen Werkes auf die Idee der Kunst und damit die Idee des einzelnen Werkes selbst dar.

Criticism, then, takes up the work’s own reflection and is oriented towards the divinatory anticipation of the develop­ment of art.

3) Dietrich Thierkopf, "Nàhe und Feme, Kommentare zu Benjamins Denkverfahren", in: "Text und Kritik", No. 31/32, 1979, "Walter Benjamin", p. 13.

4) Walter Benjamin, "Der Begriff der Kunstkritik in der deutschen Romantik", op.cit., 68.

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For the Romantic artists, Goethe’s "Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjah­re" served as an ideal model, and as such was considered an exceptional book, "eins von den Biichern, welche sich selbst beurteilen, und den Kunstrichter sonach aller Mühe überheben. Es beurteilt sich nicht nur selbst, es stellt sich auch selbst dar . "In particular it was Friedrich Schlegel who created the genre of art criticism as well as the image of the creative, universal critic who, by writing about literature or pain­tings in a critical essay, produces a completely new piece of art.®^ It was the natural scientist Georg Forster, who also wrote on Greek poetry and art, history and English literatu­re, who personified Schlegel’s ideal of the universal artist. Unlike the majority of German critics, Forster did not write in a style Schlegel disparagingly termed "mikrologische Kritik"^\ Forster, by contrast, was marked by a "universelle Empfanglichkeit und AusbiIdung"*^ which made him, in Fried­rich Schlegel’s view, simultaneously a scientist, artist and philosopher. As a consequence of the elaborate "Vielseitig- keit seines Geistes"®^ he combined immense knowledge with the abstract ”Blick ins Ganze"^^^ and a "gewaltige SeIbstandig- keit der schopferischen Kraft, ohne die es unmoglich ist, ein groBes wissenschaft1iches, kunstlerisches oder geschicht- liches Werk zu vollenden."^)

5) Friedrich Schlegel, "Kritische Schriften und Fragmente'^ op.cit,, "Über Goethes Meister", Vol. 2, p. 162,

6) With the idea of poetic criticism Friedrich Schlegel also established the basis ofa modern theory of literature. See Hans Bichner, "Friedrich Schlegels Theorie der Literaturkritik", in: Zeitschrift für Deutsche Philologie, Vol. 88, 1969: "Er hat als erster auf den hermeneutischen Zirkel hingewiesen, der vom Wort zum Satz, vom Satz zum Gesamtwerk und wieder zurück führt, und er hat schon 1797 sorgfaltig zwischen der ’historischen’ Frage nach dem ’wirklichen individuellen Sinn eines Autors’ und der ’logischen und grammatischen’ Frage nach dem moglichen Sinn eines Textes unter-schieden, also zwischen dem vom Autor beabsichtigten Sinn und dem, den der Kritikeraus dem bloBen Text erschlieffen kann." (p. 18)

7) Friedrich Schlegel, "Kritische Schriften und Fragmente", op.cit., "Georg Forster"(1797), Vol. 1, p. 200.

8) Ibid., p. 202.

9) Ibid. , p. 199.

10) Ibid. , p. 205,

11) Ibid., p. 206.

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Schlegel’s criticism, which he occasionally refers to as "theory", aims at the interdependence of literature and its critique, of practice and theory. In the critical journal "Athenaum" he explicitly states that Romantic poetry should fuse inspiration and criticism: "Sie will, und soil auchPoesie und Prosa, Genialitât und Kritik, Kunstpoesie und Naturpoesie bald mischen, bald verschme 1 zen, [...]. " ^ Itis crucial to Schlegel’s conception of art that only a form of divinatory criticism would be suitable and dare try to characterize the Romantic poetic ideal: "Sie kann durch keine Theorie erschopft werden und nur eine divinatorische Kritik diirfte es wagen, ihr Ideal charakterisieren zu wollen. This notion of theory or criticism acknowledges the power of artistic production as a form of visionary creation of truth. Schlegel’s understanding of critique raises the question as to the possibility of talking ’about’ something, as indicated in many essay titles^^\ without already being beyond the subject, talking ’über’ in the sense of above and ultimately re-writing or re-creating the original work of art:

"Jene poet ische Kritik will gar nicht wie eine bloJSe Inschrift nur sagen, was die Sache eigentlich sei, wo sie in der Welt stehe und stehn sol le: dazu bedarf es nur eines vol1stândigen ungeteilten Menschen, der das Werk so lange als notig ist, zum Mittelpunkt seiner Tâtigkeit mache; wenn ein solcher mündliche oder sehriftliche Mitteilung liebt, kann es ihm Vergnügen gewahren, eine Wahrnehmung, die im Grunde nur eine

12) Friedrich Schlegel, "Kritische Schriften und Fragmente", op.cit,, Vol, 2, "Athenaums- Fragment 116", p, 114, See also Novalis, who expressed the same idea more extensive­ly: "Man sollte plastische Kunstwercke nie ohne Musik sehn - musikalische Kunstwercke hingegen nur in schon dekorirten Salen hôren. Poetische Kunstwercke aber nie ohne beydes zugleich genieOen, Daher wirckt Poesie im schonen Schauspielhause so auOerordentlich. In jeder guten GeselIschaft sollte Pausenweise Musik gehôrt werden. Die gefiihlte Nothwendigkeit der plastischen Decorationen zur âchten Gesel 1 igkeit hat die Visitenzimmer hervorgebracht, Das bessre Essen, die GeselIschaftsspiele, der zierlichere Anzug, der Tanz, und selbst das gewahltere, freyere, alIgemeinereGesprach entstanden durch dieses Gefiihl des hohern Lebens in Gesel Ischaft und der dadurch erfolgenden Mischung allés Schonen und Belebenden zu mannichfaltigen Gesammtwirckungen. "; ("Vorarbeiten zu verschiedenen Fragmentsammlungen", in: "Werke", op.cit,, Vol, 2, p, 326/327)

13) Friedrich Schlegel, "Kritische Schriften und Fragmente", op.cit,, Vol, 2, p, 115,

14) See "Über Goethes Meister" (1798), "Über die Philosophie" (1799), "Über dieUnverstandiichkeit" (1800), "Gesprach über die Poesie" (1800), "Über die weiblichen Charaktere in den Griechischen Dichtern" (1794), "Über Condorcet" (1795), "Über das Studium der Griechischen Poesie" (1795-1797), "Über Lessing" (1797), It is interesting to note that after 1801/ 1802 the term ’über’ no longer occurs in essay titles, which coincides with the end of the "Athenaum" and the subsequent breaking up of the Jena Romantic circle, an event which culminated in Schlegel’s departure to Berlin in April 1802,

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und unteilbar ist, weitlaufig zu entwickeln, und so entsteht eine eigentliche Charakteristik. Der Dichter und Kiinstler hingegen wird die Darstellung von neuem darstellen, das schon Gebildete noch einmal bilden wollen; Er wird das Werk erganzen, verjiingern, neu gestalten. "

This understanding of criticism necessarily requires a critic who is universally educated and who tries to discern in every single work the idea of art in general. Although the critic has to explain in detail the constitutive elements of the artwork, it is indispensable to abstract from those details, to grasp the work as a whole and finally to reach a general concept of creativity, art and intellectual intuition:

"Durch umfassendes Studium also verwandelt der Kritiker den subjektiven, impressionistischen Ein- druck in den objektiven und absoluten und erwirbt sich das recht zum Kunsturteil. Dieser absolute Eindruck mul3 dann aber wirklich nicht bio# mitge- teilt, sondern dargestellt werden, und die Charak- teristik, oder wie wir heute sagen wiirden, die Interpretation, wird durch diese Darstellung selbst zum Kunstwerk.

The critic, thus, needs an imaginative projection to allow the artist’s spirit and ideas to unfold and present themsel­ves as a progressive project or process to be fulfilled self- conscious 1 y .

The modern music critic, Reger, has precisely that synthesi­zing view which is expressed in Romantic art theory. As an "ausiibender und schopf er i scher krit ischer Kiinst 1er" (AM, 107) he ideally represents the universal Romantic artist Friedrich Schlegel envisaged in his response to "Wilhelm Meister" and also in the figure of Georg Forster. Romantic criticism does not aim at explaining the separate elements of art, but at the totality of forms which gradually reveal the underlying or inherent idea of art in general. The critic’s task is to perceive those hidden aspects and make connections between

15) Friedrich Schlegel, "Kritische Schriften und Fragmente", op.cit., "Über Goethes Meister", Vol. 2, p. 166.

16) Hans Eichner, "Friedrich Schlegels Theorie der Literaturkritik", op.cit., p. 14,

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the most remote elements. However, the critique is not meant to have a pedagogical or informative focus, nor does it present a single opinion or view. Instead, it forms anew what has already been formed, adding to the work another dimen­sion, which does not imitate but alters and renews the originary, creative moment of representation. As such, the critique is a work of art in itself and independent. In his influential study on Romanticism, Walter Benjamin stresses this point :

"Ebensowenig ist die Kritik, wie erwiesen wurde, essentiel 1 eine MeinungsauBerung über ein Werk. Sie ist vielmehr ein Gebilde, das zwar in seinem Ent- stehen vom Werk veranlaBt, in seinem Bestehen jedoch unabhangig von ihm ist. Als ein solches kann sie vom Kunstwerk nicht prinzipiel 1 unterschieden werden.

The artist-critic raises the original work to a higher level and multiplies it: ’’Durch jede VerfolgsArbei t werden dievorigen Arbeiten kritisirt und erhoht - (und vermannich- facht.)”. * Finally, the single critique is part of a philosophical criticism which has to be seen within a whole system of interrelated texts, all motivated by the original piece of art, ’’Kritik der Kritik”, or ’’Vervo 11 kommnung einer Krit[ik] d[urch] d[ie] Andre” The aesthetic multiplica­tion of art by its criticism is also inherent in Schlegel’s own system of interrelated, hermeneutic critiques which he wrote between 1795 and 1801.^°^ Novalis espoused the same idea in his poetic vision of a scientific republic:

Innigste Gemeinschaf t aller Kenntnisse - Scient if i- sche Republik ist der hohe Zweck der Ge 1 ehrten”^^

17) Walter Benjamin, "Der Begriff der Kunstkritik in der deutschen Romantik", op.cit.,p. 102.

18) Novalis, "Werke", op.cit., "Das Allgemeine Brouillon", Vol. 2, p, 630.

19) Novalis, "Werke", op.cit., "Das Allgemeine Brouillon", Vol. 2, p. 596.

20) See Willy Michel, "DaO die Kritiken wie 1 iterarische Werke ein quasi-poet ischesVerweisungs- und Beziehungsgeflecht enthalten, entspricht dem Grundzug der asthetischen Potenzierung der originaren Werke.", "Der * innere Plural ' in der Hermeneutik und Rollentheorie des Novalis", in: Ernst Behler; Jochen Horisch eds., "Die Aktualitat der Frühromantik", op.cit., p. 38.

21) Novalis, "Werke", op.cit., "Vermischte Bemerkungen/Bliithenstaub", Vol. 2, p. 266.

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Considering the interdependence of the arts and of art and criticism, the music critic, Reger, characterizes his critiques for the "Times" significantly as "Kunststücke" (AM, 107). Following Friedrich Schlegel’s theories which ack­nowledge no sharp boundaries between poetry and criticism, Reger eliminates all barriers between art and criticism and, in a further step, boldly proclaims his universal knowledge by dismantling the differences between the arts:

"Das ist mein hochster Genu/5, zu wissen, da/5 ich alsVerfasser dieser Kunststücke an die Times, Maler undMusiker und Schriftstel1er in einem bin, das ist meinHochgenuR,{AM, 107)

Reger alludes to the Romantic idea of "Gattungsmischung" which mixes and fuses music, literature, visual art and the sciences in order to reach a general theory of creativity. In the desire for knowledge, the Romantics take the whole of human activities into account to follow the "Weg v[om] Einzelnen aufs Ganze - vom Schein auf die Wahrhe it" Accordingly, Novalis does not differentiate between artist and critic, scientist or historian, as they are united by their common zeal for knowledge: "Der Physiker, der Histori- ker, der Artist, der Kritiker etc. gehoren alle in dieselbe Klasse."^^^ They are characterized by the use of the same method which can be seen as an intuitive or, to remain in Romantic terminology, a divinatory understanding, which anticipates the meaning and the connections between the

22) The Romantic painter Philipp Otto Runge also prefigured a union of the arts, the "Gesamtkunstwerk", that was later to he deplored by Richard Wagner. In his cycle of four copper engravings, "The Times of Day" (1805), a phantasmagorical combination of different motifs and pictorial traditions Runge combined mystical imagery, mathematical symmetry, floral forms, Christian motifs and alchemical wisdom to link the natural process with poetic imagination, Runge imagined the monumental pictures to be set up in a specially designed building, its forms modeled on those of plants and flowers and to be accompanied by music and the reading of poetry. The result was to be a total artwork or a synthesis of all arts, uniting the forms of nature and art. The idea of the "Times of the Day" involves the infinite process of becoming. It archetypically represents the Romantic tradition of images of longing and in a constant process of regeneration brings about the interaction of the arts and a form of synaesthesia,

23) Novalis, "Werke", op.cit,, "Teplitzer Fragmente", Vol, 2, p, 387,

24) Ibid,, It is also interesting to note that Novalis, who as a poet sought toromanticize the world through his creative faculties, was, in his professional life,a mining engineer concerned with precise scientific analysis and industrial as wellas technological development.

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objects of the outer world. The "Divinationskunst” or "geistige Reisekunst"^) describes a philological and finally poetic method of finding a scheme which articulates a continuous mental process.Friedrich Schlegel’s idea is similar to the thinking of Novalis with whom he discussed the idea of a "Synkritische Politik der Inte11igenz” ®\ Schlegel’s own concept of "Symphilosophie" or "Sympoesie"involved dialogue and the idea of more than a single critic or artist creating the work of art. Furthermore, he demanded that the author should possess a "Geis t der Universal i tat in order to produce a true literary work which in itself contains a multiplicity of new works.The Romantic form of syncritical understanding and production is expessed again in Reger’s description of his own profes­sion :

"Ich bin also nicht, wie die Maler, nur Maler und ich bin nicht, wie die Musiker, nur Musiker und ich bin nicht, wie die Schriftstel1er, nur Schriftstel1er, miissen sie wissen, ich bin Maler und Musiker und Sehriftstel1er in einem. Das empfinde ich doch als das hochste Gluck, sagte er, ein Kiinstler in alien Kiinsten und doch in einer zu sein." (AM, 107/108)

Consequently, the Romantic critique, like the single work of art, is in a permanent state of transformation as the reflec­tion or assessment alters and finally annihilates the original text, linking it up to a larger process, which is embodied in Schlegel’s notion of criticism. The object of criticism is contained in the disruptive and synthetising movement of that criticism, which is never complete. Thus, the critic, finally, is only concerned with the development and advancement of poetic criticism in general. Following

25) Ibid.

26) Novalis, "Werke”, op.cit., "Das Allgemeine Brouillon", Vol. 2, p. 673.

27) Friedrich Schlegel, "Kritische Schriften und Fragmente", op.cit., "A thenaums-Fragment 125", Vol. 2, p. 116: "Viel leicht würde eine ganz neue Epoche der Wi ssenschaf ten und Künste beginnen, wenn die Symphi losophie und Sympoesie so al Igemein und so innig würde, daJ3 es nichts Se lines mehr ware, wenn mehre sich gegenseitig erganzende Naturen gemeinschaftliche Werke bildeten."

28) Ibid., Athenaums-Fragment 220, p. 124. Compare also Athenaums-Fragment 139, p. 117.

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this line of interpretation, the multi-talented critical and creative artist Reger continually exercises his single art in all arts ;

"Mdgl icherweise, sagte er, ist der kritische Kiinstler der, der in alien Künsten seine einzige betreibt und sich dessen bewu&t ist, ganz und gar bewuGt. In diesem BewuGtsein bin ich gliicklich." (AM, 108)

Therefore, poetic criticism strives for the representation or re-creation of the moment of inspiration, the primordial moment of conversion in which art and criticism, creation and contemplation fuse. Criticism can be regarded as the force, at once creative and reflexive, which carries the primary work of art above itself as critical detachment and anticipa­tes the hermeneutic task of the critic, as described by Novali s ;

"Formeln fur Kunstindividuen finden, durch die sie im eigent 1ichsten Sinn erst verstanden werden, macht das Geschaft des artistischen Kritikers aus, dessen Arbeiten die Geschichte der Kunst vorbereiten."^*)

The image of the critical artist Reger also alludes to the elitist position of the inspired, autonomous artist and intellectual as established in the Romantic period. The solitary and isolated artist was a recurring preoccupation of many Romantic novels and poems.In several paintings of Caspar David Friedrich, the lone protagonist appears demonstrably as a self-portrait of the painter. German Romantic art produced and manifested a picture of the artist who was endowed with rare gifts and was able to communicate hidden meanings and ideas. The type of a creative genius, however, stresses the ambiguities of the artist’s position. The Romantic genius experiences both the exhilaration of inner inspiration and of acting as a prophet as well as the depression of coming to terms with everyday experiences.

29) Noval is, "Werke", op.cit,, "Vermischte Bemerkungen/BIüthenstaub*', Vol. 2, p. 249.

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Reger, in accordance with Romantic positions, postulates his autonomy as artist and critic, and at the same time, intensi­fies the conflict between art and life. He represents a particular type of Romantic protagonist, "einen entschieden inte1lektualisierten Typus"^°\ as portrayed in the novels of Jean Paul. Reger is presented as a genius who is no longer marked by the inner inspiration and unbound creativity typical of the classical notion of genius, but by the "Autonomie der sich vom Leben abhebenden Reflexion".^) Reger has already assumed a position that critically reflects his self-image as an elitist intellectual and dismantles himself as one of the "Pseudo-Genies"^^ with the help of humour and satire.

30) Jochen Schmidt, ’’Die Geschichte des Genie-Gedankens", op.cit.. Vol. 1, p. 438. Also Walter Benjamin himself represents the intellectual and solitary type of the Romantic artist.

31) Ibid. p. 439.

32) Ibid.

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4.2.1. The Romantic Image of the Solitary Artist

As artist and critic Reger is also a tragi-comical allegory of the lonely and eternally misunderstood Romantic artist. Being an eccentric and apparently disappointed person who scornfully attacks the museum in which he spends most of his time, for its mediocre collection of paintings, the music critic is not acknowledged in his home country. In contrast to the judgement of the narrator and the reception abroad, where Reger seemed to have reached considerable fame, the Austrian public is not even aware of his existence:

"Reger ist eine in der ganzen musikwissenschaftlichen Welt hochgeachtete Person 1ichkeit, sagte ich zu Irrsigler gestern, nur hier, in seinem Heimatland, will niemand etwas davon wissen, im Gegenteil, hier, wo er zu Hause ist, wird Reger, der doch alle andern in seinem Fach weit hinter sich gelassen hat, diese ganze widerwartige provinzielle Stümperhaftigkeit, gehaBt, nichts weniger als gehaBt wird Reger in seiner Heimat ôsterreich, sagte ich zu Irrsigler ohne Riicksicht darauf, daB Irrsigler gar nicht verstanden hatte, was ich damit meinte, indem ich zu ihm gesagt habe, ein Genie wie Reger wird hier gehaBt und ohne Riicksicht darauf, ob es tatsachlich richtig ist, von Reger als von einem Genie zu sprechen, ein wissen- schaf11iches Genie, ja sogar ein menschliches Genie, dachte ich, ist Reger sicher." (AM, 20/21)

Reger is not only neglected by the Austrian public, but, moreover, he remains an extremely lonely and solitary person, particularly after the death of his wife, who, quite in contrast to him, symbolized healthiness and ongoing life. Further, she was the link with a normal life and freed him from the isolation of his intellectual existence:

"[...] sie war die Gesunde, ich war der Kranke, so, in dieser Meinung und in diesem Glauben lebten wir immer, sagte er. Kein Mensch ist je so gesund gewe- sen, wie meine Frau, sie lebte ein Leben in Gesund- heit, wahrend ich immer eine Existenz in Krankheit, ja eine Existenz in Todeskrankhei t gefiihrt habe, sagte er. Sie war die Gesunde, sie war die Zukunft,

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ich war immer der Kranke, ich war die Vergangenheit, sagte er." (AM, 27) ^

The motifs of health and the future refer to the ordinary and commonplace, to conformity to certain norms, including the rational and the healthy, whereas the Romantic is the sick, the strange, the non-conformist and endangered character. Although the latter characteristics also incorporate the undiscovered, the wonderful and the extraordinary, Romanti­cism nevertheless implies the danger of a dissolution of normality. The term Romantic develops a mysterious identity with the infinite, the past and the u n k n o w n . Reger’sthinking is also directed towards the infinite and incom­plete, but all his energy as well as his entire being is focused on his wife, who guaranteed the ongoing activity of his intellectual work, "so, als hatte sie ein ewiges Leben, habe ich sie betrachtet, nie an ihren Tod gedacht, sagte er, als lebte sie tatsachlich mit meinem Wissen in die Unendlich- keit hinein als Unend 1ichkeit, so er." (AM, 29). Furthermore, Reger, in analogy to the Romantic characterbreaks with normality and the conventions of a regular life. He lives exclusively according to principles of aesthetic and intellectual qualities, feeling at home only in the realm of art, "ich bin nicht einen einzigen Augenblick in der Natur zu Hause, aber immer in der Welt der Kunst, am geborgensten in der Welt der Musik." (AM, 47) As artist and critic he createshis own world and lives a life of intense and seriousreflection of art, that has more or less replaced all other activities and is a free creative capacity opening to infinity. The profound sense of inwardness and individuality is one of the major features of the Romantic spirit, found in the most prominent novels and also, in concentrated form, in the portraits of the Romantics. These depict the lonely wanderer, the contemplative individual in a visionary landscape or archetypal forms and relationships which

33) Compare also Goethe’s dictum with reference to Kleist, "Klassisch ist das Gesunde, romantisch das Kranke", in: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, "Werke, Kommentare undRegister", Hamburger Ausgabe in 14 Bànden, Erich Trunz ed,, (München 1978), "Maximen und Reflexionen", Vol. 12, p. 487,

34) Compare chapter 1,3, of this thesis.

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allegorically express an existential loneliness and the individual’s longing for boundlessness.^*) In a metaphoric function this idea is present in "Alte Meister” and is stressed by Reger’s statement that he lives exclusively in the past:

"Ich gehore nicht zu den Leuten, die die Gegenwart genieJSen, das ist es, ich gehore zu diesen Ungliick- lichen, die die Vergangenheit genieGen, das ist die Wahrheit, die die Gegenwart immer nur als Beleidigung empfinden, das ist die Wahrheit, sagte Reger, ich empfinde die Gegenwart als Beleidigung und als Zumutung, das ist mein Ungliick." (AM, 270/271 )

The lack of a sense of reality and the openly confessed inability to live in the present is another obvious allusion to the Romantic image of the artist and even seems to play with the general conception of Romanticism and its fondness for unaccommodated f i g u r e s . T h e spirit of creativity, it seems, is as unhoused in the present as it was in the past. The reflective - poetic existence of Reger is but one side of his personality. Like the Romantic character, who is often unable to engage effectively with the material of reality, Reger is ill-equipped to deal with the intractable claims of everyday life. On the one hand he appears to give excellent lectures on the most difficult academic topics, on the other hand it is strikingly evident how little of reality filters through to his consciousness. That other people seem to take Reger for mad, is refuted by Irrsigler and by Atzbacher, who both take him for a genius. Yet, Reger himself admits that, by standards of ordinary people, he may well be regarded as insane :

"Die Leute sind ja gleich dabei, einen Menschen wie mich ins Irrenhaus zu schicken, also nach Steinhof zu schicken, wenn sie erfahren, daB dieser Mensch seit

35) As examples may serve Ludwig Tieck’s ''Franz Sternbald"; Wilhelm Heinrich Wackenro- der’s artloving monk in "HerzensergieOungen eines kunst1iebenden Klosterbruders", Friedrich the protagonist of Eichendorff’s "Ahnung und Gegenwart" as well as his figure of the "Taugenichts"; Christian in "Der Runenberg" by Tieck, as well as "Der blonde Eckbert"; Dorothea Schlegel's "Florentin" and Chamisso's "Peter Schlemihl, The paintings by Caspar David Friedrich and Carl Gustav Carus also represent significant examples of this image,

36) See chapter 1,3, of this thesis.

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dreil3ig Jahren jeden zweiten Tag ins Kunsthistorische Museum geht, urn auf der Bordone-Saal-Sitzbank Platz zu nehmen. [...] Fiir die psychatrischen Arzte ware ich ein Fressen und eine Fundgrube, wie gesagt wird, aber die psychatrischen Arzte bekommen nicht die Gelegenheit, mich zu ihrem Fressen und zu ihrer Fundgrube zu machen, sagte Reger." (AM, 206/207)

Reger, in fact, is extremely reclusive and self-absorbed, a fact stressed by the extreme concentration with which he has regularly looked at a single picture over more than three decades. The intense viewing of one picture in one particular hall of the museum is another form of self-imposed seclusion, also implicit in the Romantic theme of the hermit or the eccentric recluse. Solitude is not only a tragic destiny but a necessary precondition of Romantic creativity as well as being a result of the sovereign autonomy of the exemplary great artist. Solitude and the freedom from the norms of the community also mirror the ethos of authentic feeling and the desire to meditate undisturbed, far from civilization and to find individual forms of artistic expressions.However, this is another layer of ambivalence at work in the text. Although Reger visits the Old Masters every other day he mocks the "Ver logenheitsenthusiasten" (AM, 64) and the "Staatsauftragskunst" (AM, 62) they represent. Reger polemi- cizes against commissioned art as well as against writers and philosophers such as Heidegger and Stifter, the latter being, in Reger’s view, a "verkrampft lebender Phi lister und ein ebenso verkrampft schreibender muffiger Kleinbiirger als Schulmann, der nicht einmal den geringsten Anforderungen an die Sprache entsprochen hat, geschweige denn darüber hinaus befâhigt gewesen ware, Kunstwerke hervorzubringen, sagte Reger." (AM, 75) In front of the paintings of the Old Masters in the "Kunsthistorische Museum" his disgust is particularly intense, as these "We 1 tausschmiickungsmaler" (AM, 65) had only served the taste of a patron in search of fame and monetary gain and had painted a world in which they themselves did not truly be 1i eve :

"Die Maler, alle diese Alten Meister, vor welchen es mich die meiste Zeit wie vor nichts ekelt und schon immer gegraust hat, sagte er, haben immer nur einem

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Herren gedient, nieitials sich und also der Menscheit selber. Sie mal ten doch immer eine von ihnen von innen heraus geheuchelte Welt, fiir die sie sich Geld und Ruhm erhofften; alle haben sie nur in dieser Hinsicht gemalt, aus Geldsucht und aus Ruhmsucht, nicht, we il sie Maler hatten sein wo 11 en, (AM,65)

Reger accuses the Old Masters of opportunistic behaviour and judges even the most ingenious brushstroke to be a lie and the artists, no matter how good they were, as "re 1igionsver- logene Dekorationsgehi1fen der europaischen katholischen Herrschaften" (AM, 65/66). As a critical artist, Reger refutes the discourse of the Old Masters while striving to develop his own individual creative a p p r o a c h . I n order to free himself from the burden of tradition, he has to turn the objects of art into ridiculous, dishonest and false artistic attempts. With the help of his "Vergrausungsmethode" (AM, 69) Reger forces himself not to explore the artwork in detail, as every art becomes a caricature once its meaning can be exhausted :

"Die Alten Meister, wie sie jetzt schon seit Jahrhun- derten genannt werden, halten nur der oberf1achlichen Betrachtung stand, betrachten wir sie eingehend, verlieren sie nach und nach und am Ende, wenn wir sie wirklich und wahrhaftig und das heiBt, so gründlich wie moglich die langste Zeit studiert haben, losen sie sich auf, sind sie uns zerbrockelt und lassen nur einen faden, ja meistens ganz iiblen Geschmack in unserem Kopf zuriick. [...] ganz gleich, was es ist, Sie brauchen es nur ofter als norma 1erweise lesen, es wird unweigerlich lâcher 1ich und selbst das geschei- teste ist am Ende eine Dummheit." (AM, 67/68)

The process of artistic individuation is repeated on a psychological level by Reger’s surprising statement that his parents had to die before he could live, "sie muBten endgiil- tig tot sein, tatsachlich fiir immer, wissen Sie, um aus dem Kindheitsloch herauszukommen" (AM, 109). The psychological metaphor of freeing himself from the strains of tradition and

37) Wendelin Schmidt-Dengler offers a different reading. He stresses the process of refutation of art as a means of regaining life, Schmidt-Dengler, "Der fibertreibungs- kiinstler, Zu Thomas Bernhard", op.cit.: "Um die Einvernahme von Kunst durch andere zu verhindern, um sich selbst aber auch vor der Kunst zu schiitzen, setzt er seine Vernichtungshermeneutik, sein falsifizierendes Verfahren in Gang." p. 90.

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the dominant discourse of the master, personified by the most prominent examples of German culture, stresses the necessity of the creative mind to neglect and refute the influence of the so-called Old Masters in order to be able to endure the present condi t ion Thus, Reger develops his method of intense observation and the search for one particular mistake that, in his opinion, can be found in every artwork. Even if he concedes that the Old Masters keep him alive, the text, in a double coding, exhibits the refutation of the art of the past, of any dominant influence at all. All artists, Reger claims, have to be tested again and again to finally disprove the idea of perfection:

"Wir dürfen überhaupt nicht sagen, dieser oder jener ist es und ist es dann fiir alle Zeit, wir miissen alle Kiinstler immer wieder auf die Probe stellen, denn wir entwickeln ja unsere Kunstwissenschaft und unseren Kunstgeschmack, das ist auGer Zweifel." (AM, 82)

Thus, Reger’s paradoxical approach to art, his ambivalent statements such as "Die Kunst ist das Hochste und Widerwar- tigste gleichzeitig" (AM, 79) do not bespeak the madness of the critic, but the revival of the Romantic notion of art as a mode of becoming and the fragmentary expression of the ideal incompleteness of any work of art. In his permanent fragmentation of art Reger, like the Romantics, aims at exposing the absence of a singular fundament of truth, but in his unceasing occupation with art, he puts the process rather than the product in the centre of his conception of art.

38) Karl Heinz Bohrer has identified the figure of the master as an archetypical petty-bourgeois image contrasting sharply with the idea of a revolutionary mentality.According to Bohrer the master figure has become a strong suid seemingly harmless, butin fact inhuman figure of identification for the Germans which is also evident as a literary topos: "Mochte man diese gegenrevolutiondre Mentalitat in einem literar- ischen Motiv fassen, dann ist es die Lieblingsvorstellung des kleinbürgerlichen Deutschland: die Vorstellung vom ’Meister', Von Schillers Glocke bis Richard Wagners Oper ist es die ideologische Gegenfigur zum vom offentlichen Selbstverstandnis getragenen Citoyen der Revolution, und Celans diisterer Vers Der Tod ist ein Meister aus Deutschland wirft die notwendige moderne Perspektive auf die in fachlicher Kompetenz und Ordnung sich scheinbar harmlos beschrankende Identifikationsfigur der Deutschen," Karl Heinz Bohrer, "Das absolute Prasens, Die Semantik asthetischer Zeit", (Frankfurt/Main 1994), p, 11.

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"Nur das Unvollstandige kann begriffen werden - kann uns we iter führen. Das Vollstandige wird nur genossen"

(Novalis)

4.3. Art as Fragment

For Reger the concept of fragmentation has become a means of survival as a person and as an artist. The habit of looking for the decisive failure, the imperfection inherent in every artist is the coldly rational method by which the intel­lectual endures both the opposition of art and life and the burden of tradition. The fanatical and tormenting search for imperfection generates the mechanism of distortion and deconstruction which both defends the seriousness of art and also prevents the spectator from being simply the passive, reverent recipient:

"Unser Zeitalter ist als Ganzes ja schon lange Zeit nicht mehr auszuhalten, sagte er, nur da, wo wir das Fragment sehen, ist es uns ertrâglich. Das Ganze und das Vollkommene ist uns unertraglich, sagte er. So sind mir im Grunde auch alle diese Bilder hier im Kunsthistorischen Museum unertraglich, wenn ich ehrlich bin, sind sie mi r fiirchter 1 ich. Um sie ertragen zu konnen, suche ich in jedem einzelnen einen sogenannten gravierenden Fehler, eine Vorgangs- weise, die bis jetzt immer zum Ziel geftihrt hat, namlich aus jedem dieser sogenannten vollendeten Kunstwerke ein Fragment zu machen, sagte er." (AM, 41/42)^

By destroying the belief in the possible perfection or whole­ness of an artwork, Reger is able to pursue his own art and furthermore, to secure his survival as a self-conscious individual :

1) See also Wertheimer, one of the main figures in ’Wer Untergeher" (1983), who continiousljr writes aphorisms: "Er war ein Anhorismenschreiher. unzahlige Aphorismen gibt es von ihm, dachte ich, es ist anzunehmen, da/3 er sie vernichtet hat, ich schreibe Anhorismen. hat er immer wieder gesagt, dachte ich, das ist eine minderwer- tige Kunst der geistigen Kurzatmigkeit, von welcher gewisse Leute vor allem in Frankreich gelebt haben und leben von mir, sogenannte Halbphilosophen fur den Krankenschwesternachttisch, ich konnte auch sagen, Kalenderphilosophen fur alle und jeden, deren Sprüche wir mit der Zeit von alien arztlichen Wartezimmerwanden herunterlesen;[.,,J " (Ug, 93/94)

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’’Erst wenn wir immer wieder darauf gekommen sind, dal3 es das Ganze und das Vollkommene nicht gibt, haben wir die Moglichkeit des Weiter1ebens. Wir halten das Ganze und das Vollkommene nicht aus.” (AM, 42/43)

Reger does not hate the Old Masters, but the misleading idea of perfection they represent. The assumption that a work of art might be finished would terminate any creative potential and finally would bring the history of art to an end. Therefore, Reger’s monologues contain no detailed judgements of artists, writers or composers, but they are a gesture which refutes any secure knowledge about them. In a constant flow of reflection, Reger attempts to make contradictory statements which finally cancel each other out and leave the reader or listener only with temporary insights which, in their turn, will be systematically relativized.^^ The tech­nique of presenting the reader with antinomic terms and statements accounts for the strength of the language and the vigour of the text. The dynamism produced by contradictory statements and paradoxes is an aesthetic expression of Bernhard’s own dialectical world-view and dominant in all of his works. The antithetical utterances are not resolved or clarified in the course of the narration. The impetus to look and to search for the underlying meaning is ridiculed by the deliberate irritation the text produces.^The antipodal nature of the text makes the reader suspicious of Reger, the so-called ’’genius", whilst exemplifying Bern­hard’s aesthetic theory of art as fragment and his belief in

2) Statements such as "Was ich denke, ist aufreibend, zugrunderichtend, sagte er,andererseits reibt es mich schon so lange auf, richtet es mich schon so lange zugrunde, daJ3 ich davor keine Angst mehr zu haben brauche, " (AM, 189) or "Zuwider ist mir allés, das sie gemalt haben und das hier aufgehangt ist, denke ich oft, sagte er gestern, und ich komme doch seit Jahrzehnten nicht davon ab, es zu studieren." (AM, 67) do not clarify the intended meaning, but form part of a systematic dissolution of sense,

3) The play with identity and true meaning is reproduced in the scene with theEnglishman from Wales, the "Englander aus Wales" (AM, 144), who one day boldly had placed himself on Reger’s bench in the "Bordone-Saal" staring at Tintoretto’s portrait of the "Man with a White Beard", It turned out that the Welshman owned exactly the same painting, "ein und dasse1 be Gemalde" (AM, 157) which hangs in his bedroom in Wales, The question of original and duplicate remains unresolved, as it might be that Tintoretto had painted the same picture twice: "Nur einem so groBen Kiinstler wie Tintoretto mag es, so der Englander gelungen sein, ein zweites Gemalde nicht als ein volIkommen zleiches. sondern als vo7Iknmmen dasselbe zu malen. Das ware dann immerhin eine Sensation. [,,,]•" (AM, 160) In this episode Bernhard comments onhis own mode of production, as he, like Tintoretto, repeats the same narrativestructure again and again in his novels and plays. The duplicate becomes an original and vice versa: "Jedes Original ist Ja an sich schon eine Falschung," (AM, 118)

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art as an inadequate means of approximating to the truth. The fragment as artistic form exemplified in Romantic theory is an expression of a temporary and transitory glimpse of under­standing, but it is opposed to the idea of systematic knowledge and continuity. The French Germanist, Alfred Schlagdenhauffen, has identified the eruptive, discontinuous character as a major trait of the "Athenaums-Fragmente" whose authors considered it to be an exemplary form to mirror thought ;

"Die Fragmente dienen zur Erfassung der einzelnen Gedankenb1itze, der explosiven Momente, in denen sich die Wahrheit kundtut. Das Fragment ist die einzig mogliche, als die dem Denken gemâ&e Form, da der Gedankenstrom sich jedweder Systematisierung ent- zieht . "4)

Reger’s ideal aesthetic form, accordingly, is the fragment as it ensures the process and the infinity of art and expresses the inexhaustibility of the artist’s imagination:

"Die hochste Lust haben wir an den Fragmenten, wie wir am Leben ja auch dann die hochste Lust empfinden, wenn wir es als Fragment betrachten, und wie grauen- haft ist uns das Ganze und ist uns im Grunde das fertige Vollkommene. Erst wenn wir das Gluck haben, ein Ganzes, ein Fertiges, ja ein Vollendetes zum Fragment zu machen, wenn wir daran gehen, es zu lesen, haben wir den Hoch- ja unter Umstanden den HochstgenuE daran." (AM, 41)

Reger’s theoretical position is clearly reminiscent of the Romantic concept of the fragment, which belongs to the core of Romantic literature and theory. The destruction of a complete and hermetic form reflects a sceptical position towards knowledge as well as the belief in the progressive nature of art. According to Schlegel’s dictum of Romantic poetry as a permanent state of becoming, the single work of art has to be incomplete and infinite in its m e a n i n g . A s the fragment only allegorically points to the idea of a

4) Alfred Schlagdenhauffen, "Die Grundziige des Athenàum", in: "Zeitschrift fiir Deutsche Philologie", Vol. 88, 1969, p. 31.

5) See chapter 1.5.2 of this thesis.

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whole, the single work of art itself is inexhaustible and forever in need of completion. Romantic poetry, as we have seen, can neither be perfected nor be fully analyzed or ex­hausted by any theory:

"[...] und doch gibt es noch keine Form, die so dazu gemacht ware, den Geist des Autors vollstandig auszudriicken [...]. Die romantische Dichtart ist noch im Werden; ja das ist ihr eigentl iches Wesen, da/3 sie ewig nur werden, nie vollendet sein kann. Sie kann durch keine Theorie erschopft werden [...].

It is also significant for the critic Reger that the ideal art-historian is one who does not fully explain a painting, but one who leaves the interpretation to the individual perception of the observer "der dem Betrachter das Kunstwerk of fen 1 a/3t " (AM, 35). The form of criticism Reger adopts involves, in accordance with Romantic principles, a search for perfection which only reaches its goal in the process of creation. Characterizing himself as a "schopferischer Kiinstler", he embodies the artistic method of fragmenting any work of art while keeping up the creative process as a form of infinite "Erschopfungsmethode''^^:

"Der Kopf hat ein suchender Kopf zu sein, ein nach den Fehlern, nach den Menschheitsfeh 1ern suchender Kopf, ein das Scheitern suchender Kopf zu sein. Der menschliche Kopf ist nur dann tatsachlich ein mensch- licher Kopf, wenn er nach den Menschheitsfehlern sucht. [...] Ein guter Kopf ist ein nach den Mensch- heitsfehlern suchender Kopf, und ein auBerordentli- cher Kopf ist ein Kopf, der diese Menschheitsfeh 1er findet, und ein genialer Kopf ist ein Kopf, der auf diese aufgefundenen Fehler, nachdem er sie gefunden hat, hinweist und und mit allem ihm zur Verfiigung stehenden Mitteln auf diese Fehler zeigt." (AM, 44/45)

The narrative method disappoints the reader’s expectation in respect of a complete text. "Alte Meister", as fictional construct, remains incomplete and raises questions as to

6) Friedrich Schlegel, "Kri t ische Schr if ten und Fragmente", op. ci t. , "Athenaums-Fragment 116", Vol. 2, p. 115. See also chapter 1.5.1. of this thesis.

7) Novalis, "Werke", op.cit., "Das Allgemeine Brouillon", Vol. 2, p. 669.

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whether the contents, Reger’s viewing of Tintoretto’s "Man with a White Beard", has any particular meaning at all. The act of seeing and observing which is incorporated into the act of writing is more than a formal innovation, as it aims at a synthesis of visual art and literature. However, Thomas Bernhard also goes beyond the limits of the literary text by multiplying its dimension and pointing to a meaning not to be expressed or even explored by language. Bernhard pushes his narrative towards a non-verbal artistic expression by incorporating in the written text a way of seeing, dominant in the perception of visual art, which extends the field of textual signification.In this context the setting of the novel in the "Kunst­historische Museum" is decisive for the reading of the whole text. The adoption of the position of an observer by the main figure is intensified by the figure of Atzbacher who, in an almost clandestine manner observes Reger sitting on his bench and looking at Tintoretto’s painting. The calm and concen­trated act of seeing forcefully counterbalances the hectic language of Reger’s monologues and incorporates into the act of reading an act of seeing, and thus a different form of reception. In addition, the reader identifies with the obser­ver’s position while imagining the scene in his mind during the act of reading.A distanced, but static position as observer was already taken by the protagonist in "Holzfallen" ( 1984). From the secure distance of an old fashioned arm-chair, the first- person narrator watches, with increasing disgust, the guests of a so-called "kiinst lerische (s) Abendessen" (Hf, 7). Like Reger, the narrator exposes the false and pretentious appearance of art and accuses its vain supporters of sacrifi­cing their independence for material rewards: "und sindnichts als kleine gefinkelte St aat spf riinder innen, die die Literatur und die Kunst überhaupt verraten haben und fur ein paar lâcher 1iche Preise und eine zugesicherte Rente und die sich dem Staat und seinem Kulturbeamtengesinde1 gemein und die sich in der Zwischenzeit ihren epigonalen Kitsch mit der gleichen Infamie zur Gewohnheit gemacht haben, wie das

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Treppensteigen in den subventionsgebenden Ministerien." (Hf, 256) .Moreover, by ensuring an infinite, incomplete process of reception, Bernhard’s text fulfills Reger’s claim for books which are not complete, which are open to discoveries and interprétât ion :

"Nur die Bûcher lieben wir in Wahrheit, die kein Ganzes, die chaotisch, die hilflos sind." (AM, 43)

The notion of chaos again points to the Romantic rejection of any systematic and finite whole. Chaos in this sense does not imply confusion and the lack of order, but the expansion and delimitation of all human faculties to create progressively new systems, as intended by Schlegel’s philosophy: "Nurdiejenige Verwor r enhe i t ist ein Chaos, aus der eine Welt entspr ingen kann" .Accordingly, Reger never really finishes a book. Calling his way of reading one of a "hochgradig talentierten Umblatte- rers" (AM, 39), he prefers to read ten or twelve lines with utmost intensity instead of reading the whole book, because "Wer allés liest, hat nichts begriffen, [...]" (AM, 40).The protagonists of Bernhard’s earlier works still personi­fied a traditional concept of art, aiming at metaphysical knowledge. The essays, studies and projects of those figures all contained a utopian vision of perfection and absolute meaning, which is probably best symbolized by the building of the cone in "Korrektur". In the middle of the 1980s Bern­hard’s position changed and the notion of an idealist art production and the ideal of the creative genius is called into question. The protagonists, who dedicated themselves to the pursuit of scientific, philosophic or aesthetic absolutes have been followed by those protagonists who observe others and who, like Reger, write about art and who, from the outset, express their sceptical view of the classical notion

8) Friedrich Schlegel, "Kritische Schriften Und Fragmente", op,cit,, Vol, 2, "Ideen", p, 228. See also Kvrt Hofmann, "Avs Gesprachen mit Thomas Bernhard, (Wien 1988): "Das Chans beruhigt Ja, Mich halt, Und in der Zeitung ist ja allés chaotisch, Nur ist es sehr anstrengend, weil man das allés umsetzen muO, Man muO es zuerst übersetzen, in Phantasie." p. 30,

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of perfection. Significantly, the music critic Reger adopts a position already propagated by Bernhard himself in the early fiIm-interview "Orel Tage”:

"Es darf nichts Ganzes geben, man muJ3 es zerhauen. Etwas Gelungenes, Schones wird immer mehr verdachtig. Man muB ja auch einen Weg moglichst an einer un- vorhergesehenen Stelle abbrechen ... So ist es auch falsch, ein sogenanntes Kapitel in einem Buch wirk­lich zu Ende zu schreiben. Und so ist es falsch, überhaupt ein Buch zu Ende zu schreiben. Und der groBte Fehler ist, wenn der Autor ein Buch zu Ende schreibt." (Ital, 87/88)

Bernhard’s own role as isolated observer characterizes his posture toward the public and is also the stance assumed by the narrators of the late texts toward their surrounding. The misanthropic, negativist pose serves him as a prophylactic against the claims of ordinary life and the defects it might cause. It is the "Überlegenheit des Beobachterblicks"*) that is characteristic for Bernhard as author as well as for the protagonists in the late novels and plays. In "Alte Meister" Bernhard’s own conception of art is thus most clearly reproduced ;

"Alte Meister holt damit thematisch ein, was schon immer poeto1ogischer Kern von Bernhards Schreibform gewesen war,

In contrast to an art which aims at perfection and com­pleteness but in fact blocks the early protagonists in their creative potential, the ideal expressed in "Alte Meister" is one of a critical meta-art. In contrast to all those figures who proved unable to produce what they already had in their minds, Reger is characterized by an excessive need to publish and is also keen to know what people think about his essays. This is in contrast to Atzbacher, who, according to Reger,

9) Bernhard Sorg, "Thomas Bernhard", op.cit., p. 112.

10) Willi Huntemann, "Artistik und Rollenspiel", op.cit., p. 57. Wendelin Schmidt-Dengler even observes a radical change in Bernhard’s aesthetic concept since "Alte Meister": "Nicht um das Scheitern Ml der Kunst, sondern um das Scheitern der Kunst geht es: Das ist die radikale Umkehr in der asthetischen Konzeption Bernhards.", W. Schmidt- Dengler, "Der Obertreibungskiinstler. Zu Thomas Bernhard", op.cit., p. 89.

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suffers from a ”Nichtveroffent1ichungszwang" (AM, 177). Reger, however, is driven to publish and to communicate, despite knowing about the artificiality of most statements. He puts the truth of his own essays for the Times in relative terms when explaining "daJ3 allés heute Unsinn ist, was ich gestern über die Sturmsonate gesagt habe, so wie ja allés Unsinn ist, was gesagt wird, aber wir sagen diesen Unsinn doch Uberzeugend, sagte Reger." (AM, 186/187).The constantly changing nature and infinitely displaced truth of works of art and life can only be reproduced in fragments. The infinite and universal meaning cannot be fixed in a finite and seemingly complete work of art. Any artistic attempt implies the failure of the artist, who cannot but continously strive for transcendence. As a true critical and creative artist, Reger rejects a superficial rationality and empiricism and has to accept the idea of failure as an existential law and as part of his artistic method:

"Ich gehe davon aus, dal3 es das Vollkommene, das Ganze, gar nicht gibt und jedesmal, wenn ich aus einem solchen hier an der Wand hângenden sogenannten vollkommenen Kunstwerk ein Fragment gemacht habe, indem ich so lange an und in diesem Kunstwerk nach einem gravierenden Fehler, nach dem entscheidenden Punkt des Scheiterns des Kunstlers, der das Kunstwerk gemacht hat, gesucht habe, bis ich ihn gefunden habe, komme ich einen Schritt weiter." (AM, 42)

Irony for Reger becomes a true means of self-reflection, putting his criticism on art in relative terms. His ex­aggerated, and mostly neurotic attacks on the Old Masters demonstrate the absurdities that serious assessments of art might generate. Reger’s ironic stance enables him to continue talking but he entertains no false illusions about the potential success of any artistic effort. By calling his critiques "KunststUcke", he stresses the level of artistic play, of humour and comedy operating in the text.

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4.4. Comedy and Irony

One of the most dominant features of "Alte Meister" generated by the excessive production of paradoxes and contradictions is the discursive vagueness. The self-consciously rhetorical gestures of the protagonist in the course of the narrative modulate into parody and lead to a gradual transformation of Reger, the genius into a tragic and comical hero, a "Ver- rückten mit besonderer staat1ich erlaubter Narrenfreiheit" (AM, 38). Yet, the question whether Reger is a tragic or comic figure remains deliberately unresolved, and constantly calls into question any knowledge that Reger pretends to have :

"Was denken und was reden wir nicht allés und glauben wir sind kompetent und sind es doch nicht, das ist die Komodie, und wenn wir fragen, wie soil es weiter- gehn? ist es die Tragodie, mein lieber Atzbacher." (AM, 308)^^)

The fragmentary character of the text is accompanied by the ironic consciousness of the protagonist who ironically and self-critical ly comments on his own style. On the one hand Reger thematizes the problem of communication through language, while at the same time, he meticulously undermines understanding by the use of pleonasms, paradoxes and overt contradictions. In a sustained and systematic way the author, Thomas Bernhard, questions the functional and intentional character of language. His ironic discourse and the symbolic meaning of theatre and comedy throughout all of his texts are comparable to the early Romantic understanding of language

11) The question "1st es eine Komodie? 1st es eine Tragodie?" also is used as a title of a short-story dealing with the relation between real madness and theatre: "mehr und mehr war ich vom Theater beherrscht, immer weniger von der Pathologie, gescheitert in dem Versuch, das Theater zu ignorieren, die Pathologie zu forcieren," (Brz, 81). The main figure, a student aiming at writing a study on theatre, can not make up his mind whether to go to the performance that night, although he has already got a ticket. Running indecisevely around in the public park he meets a man with female shoes and clothes. It turns out, that the clothes belong to the woman he has murdered twenty-two years ago, but the subtle irony of the story, reminiscent of the old topos of the theatrum mundi, is that in the theatre a comedy is given that night: "Und heute abend, das sage ich ihnen, wird in dem Theater da driiben, ob Sie es glauben Oder nicht, eine Komodie gespielt. Tatsachlich eine Komodie." (Erz, 89)

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that semantically or metaphorically might reveal its truth only in contingent moments:

"Anders gesagt: dal3 eine Wahrheit überhaupt nichtauiSerhalb der Sprache exist iert, daJ3 eine solche absolut sprachinterne Wahrheit folglich immer nur nach dem jeweils hochst Zufalligen des semantisch- metaphor ischen Ausdrucksvermogens hervortr i 11.

Thomas Bernhard’s presumption of a self-referential, semanti­cally autonomous language is reminiscent of Schlegel’s notion of "Unverstandlichkeit " , which refers to the universal belief of Early Romanticism, that beyond language, beyond the actual speech-act, no truth exists. Thus, it is fundamental for Friedrich Schlegel repeatedly to express everything anew and, if possible, with even more contradictions and paradoxes:

"Alle hochsten Wahrheiten jeder Art sind durchaus trivial und eben darum ist nichts notwendiger als sie immer neu, und womoglich immer paradoxer auszudrük- ken, damit es nicht vergessen wird, da/3 sie noch da sind, und da/3 sie nie eigentl ich ganz ausgesprochen werden konnen.

The ironic reversal of every seemingly self-conscious statement in "Alte Meister" undermines the overt seriousness of the novel and exposes the calculated ambiguity of the work as a whole. The thematic interrelatedness of Bernhard’s novels and plays also shows his strong affinity for images of the theatre as synonyms for life. His critical account of human existence and of art not only bring an artistic brilliance to the fore, but underline the fundamental irony operating in many of his texts. Reger’s presentation of himself as a critical artist is congruent with the aesthetic shape of the text as a comedy and with a dominant ironic discourse which does not resolve the ambiguities, paradoxes and ruptures produced by the language:

12) Karl Heinz Bohrer, "Sprachen der Ironie - Sprachen des Ernstes", in: Merkur, No, 8, August 1993, p. 653.

13) Friedrich Schlegel, "Kritische Schriften und Fragmente", op.cit., "Über die Unverstandlichkeit", Vol. 2, p. 237.

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"Aus Gründen, die mit dem Wesen neuerer Poesie seit deren Konst i tut ion in der Friihromantik zusammenhangen wie mit den gese11schaft1ichen und geistigen Voraus- setzungen eines modernen Zeitalters im Zeichen des ’Verlustes der klassischen Metaphysik’, hat dabei jene ’kritische’, ’transzendentale’ Reflexion Bern­hards die asthetische Gestalt einer fundamentalen Ironie, das heil3t unter anderem: einer schopferi-schen, posit iven Zwe ideut igke i t angenommen.

Reger’s elaborate lectures on Western art, music and litera­ture are ambivalent in their prophetic speech and incom­prehensibility, emotiveness and irony. In fact, every single statement is cancelled out by the governing structure of the text, is shown to be limited to the particular moment of its utterance, and consequently to lack lasting validity. Reger’s thoughts do not represent an idea, they have a purely aesthetic value and remain incommensurable with any theory. They demonstrate the eruptive power of sudden reflections and elucidate the idea of comedy as the only possible expression of the ambiguity of life and existence which is represented in art.Reger experiences the aporetic situation of a modern artist who, isolated from the rest of the society, continuously produces his reviews and artworks. As a critical artist, Reger, in the end launches out into an elaborate discourse on the power of caricature. He employs the mechanisms of distortion as existential defense and thereby tries to escape the paralysis which the Old Masters might exert on the human inte 1 lect:

"Sie leben in einer durch und durch lâcher lichen und in Wirklichkeit verkommenen Welt, sagte er. Sie haben die ganze Welt auf einmal zur Karikatur zu machen. Sie haben die Kraft, die Welt zur Karikatur zu machen, sagte er, die Hochstkraft des Geistes, sagte er, die dazu notwendig ist, diese einzige Überlebens- kraft, sagte er. Nur was wir am Ende lâcher 1 ich finden, beherrschen wir auch, nur wenn wir die Welt und das Leben auf ihr lâcher 1ich finden, kommen wir weiter, es gibt keine andere, keine bessere Methode, sagte er." (AM, 121/122)

14) Franz Norbert Mennemeier, "Poetische Reflexion und Ironie, Zu Thomas Bernhards Prosawerk ’Die Bi11igesser’", in: Kurt Bartsch; Dietmar Goldschnigg; Gerhard Melzer eds., "In Sachen Thomas Bernhard", op.cit,, p, 158,

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The seemingly catastrophic world view and the verbal attacks against the greatest minds of Western culture inadequately conceal the projected distortions of the textual structure. At the end one might hear the triumphant laughter that issues from the totality of the text. With this laughter Reger seems to hold the absurdities of the world in abeyance, at least for the duration of his monologue.Jean Starobinski points to the core of Bernhard’s writings when identifying the theatrical, yet ironic play with art as self-interpretation and as a self-critical assertion of his own art :

"Das ironische Spiel ist als Selbstinterprétât ion bedeutsam - es ist eine spottische Epiphanie der Kunst und des Kunstlers. Zur Kritik der burger lichen Rechtschaffenheit kommt eine Selbstkritik hinzu, die sich gegen die asthetische Berufung selber wendet. Wir konnen darin, über einen Zeitraum von mehr als hundert Jahren, einen typischen Wesenszug der "Moder- nitât" erkennen."^*)

However, the refuge from the disease and strains of life in art proves to be an illusion. Reger characterizes his obsession with art as a wish to escape from the world he hates and despises:

"Ich bin in die Kunst hineingeschlüpft, um dem Leben zu entkommen, so konnte ich es ja auch sagen, sagte er. Ich habe mich in die Kunst davongesch 1 i chen, sagte er. [...] Diese Leute, die so wie ich im Grunde tatsachlich Welthassende sind, schleichen sich von einem Augenblick auf den andern aus der gehaBten Welt davon in die Kunst, die ja ganz und gar auBerhalb dieser gehaBten Welt ist." (AM, 190)

Art, however, reproduces the same ambiguities and short­comings of life and finally, even the greatest art proves to be a "wenn auch noch so geniale dürftige Über1ebenskunst" (AM, 301). For the music critic, Reger, this means the accep­tance of the universal imperfection of every artwork and the inevitable failure of every artist. To express in finite

15) Jean Starobinski, "Portrat des Künstlers als Gaukler, Drei Essays", (Frankfurt/Main 1985), p. 11. The French original was not avallable.

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terms that which has an infinite meaning, Reger adopts, as a method, caricature, that ironically reflects its own failure and which is most suitably expressed by the Romantic notion of "transzendentale Buf fonerie’’ ®\ A term, which captures the inherent paradox in language, that the progressive idea escapes fixation in a precise word. The combination of contradictory statements spontaneously expressed is a phenomenon of style which constantly mocks itself.Friedrich Schlegel was among the first philosophers to ack­nowledge the paradoxical nature of language, the "Unmoglich- keit und Notwendigkeit einer volIstandigen Mitteilung" Schlegel’s advocacy of a universal poetics depicts irony as a means of communication despite the arbitrariness of language. The inadequacy of language is still one of the basic concerns of contemporary literature and philosophy. As Bernhard, in a remark reminiscent of Friedrich Schlegel, said in an interview: "Verstandlichmachen ist unmoglich, das gibt es nicht." (It, 80) In his writings, Thomas Bernhard employs the same concept of irony and uncovers the search for truth and lasting values in life as permanent failure, demonstrated by the Old Masters:

"Alle diese sogenannten Alten Meister sind ja Ge- scheiterte, ohne Ausnahme sind sie alle zum Schei tern verurtei1t gewesen und in jeder Einzelheit ihrer Arbeiten kann der Betrachter dieses Scheitern fest- stellen, in jedem PinseIstrich, so Reger, in dem kleinsten und allerkleinsten Detail." (AM, 303)

Reger arrives at a sceptical understanding of art as necessa­ry failure and as an illusion pretending to be perfect. The protagonist, for large sections of his monologues, appears as a misanthropic, even tragic, figure. Yet, as he is not able to explain himself fully, he generates the comic elements by

16) Friedrich Schlegel, "Kritische Schriften und Fragmente", op.cit., "Lyceums- Fragmente", No. 42, Vol. 1, p. 242. The ironic self-reflection is also a dominant feature in the narrative "Die Bi11igesser" (1980), where a strong language scepticism and the permanent failure of communication is ironically staged as a negative continuum that is permanently pushed to its limits by the author, as expressed in the text: "Die Sprache belaste das festzuhaltende Denken in unglücklichster Weise und reduziere es in jedem Falle auf einen fortwahrenden Schwachezustand des Geistes, mit welchem sich der Denkende aber abzufinden habe, Denken sei noch niemals in seiner VolIkommenheit und Unendlichkeit wiedergegeben worden (Bi, 133)

17) Ibid., "Lyceums-Fragmente", No, 108, p. 248,

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dismantling himself as genius. In the end he manifests his position as ironist by inviting Atzbacher into the Burg- theater, the theatre he naturally despises most:

"Sie wissen, ich bin Jahrzehnte nicht mehr im Burg- theater gewesen und ich hasse nichts mehr, als das Burgtheater, tatsachlich nichts mehr, als die drama- tische Kunst überhaupt, sagte er, aber ich dachte gestern, ich gehe morgen ins Burgtheater und schaue mir den Zerbrochenen Krug an." (AM, 309/310)

The invitation to Kleist's play is not only the end of the narrative, but a play within a play that marks "Alte Meister" as a comedy itself. Reger appears no longer as a grotesque person, but as someone who understands life as comedy and who asks Atzbacher to take part in this "Vergniigen dieser perversen Verrücktheit" (AM, 311). Moreover, Reger, appears to be unpredictable, for the narrator shows the consistent behaviour of the ironist, as defined by Ralf Schnell:

"Der Gestus des Ironikers ist die Frageste 11ung, die - virtuel 1 - ailes in Frage stellt. Dieser Gestus bleibt, auch in der Form rhetorischer Technik, wesentlich unrhetorisch. Dieser Umstand laBt den Ironiker fiirchterlich erscheinen: unkalkul ierbar . Was er im Scherz sagt, ist nicht ernst gemeint. Aber er macht Ernst mit dem, was er im Scherz sagt. Diese Leerstelle bildet den wunden Punkt derer, die, ver- gebens, auf Ausfiillung hoffen. Der Gestus des Ironi­kers wirkt verletzend, weil er Unsicherheit erzeugt. Dabei setzt er stets nur aufs Nach-Denken. In diesem Sinne war der Ironiker immer schon ein desillusio- nierter Auf k 1 ârer . "

Consequently, the tragic and comic elements which are fused in the character of the music critic, Reger, appear to a large extent identical with the position of the author, Thomas Bernhard. Bernhard’s love of the figure of the artist and of tragic clowns and comedians not only serves as an autobiographical role-model, facilitating the self-reflexion of the author, it is also a specific form of self-portrayal

18) Ralf Schnell, "Die verkehrte Welt, Literarische Ironie im 19. Jahrhundert ", op.cit,, p. 176/177.

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employed by the modern artist since the 19th. century as Jean Starobinski points out:

"Dai3 der Clown zum (Eben-)Bild erkoren wird, bedeutet in der Tat die Wahl nicht nur eines bildnerischen Oder poetischen Motivs, sondern auch eines verdeckten und parodistischen Idioms, um nach der Sache der Kunst zu fragen. Seit der Romantik [...] sind der Narr, der Gaukler und der Clown die hyperbol ischen und mit Absicht verzerrenden Bilder, die von sich selbst und von den Bedingungen der Kunst zu geben den Kunstlern gefallen hat. Es handelt sich dabei um ein verkleidetes SeIbstbiIdnis, dessen Zeichenhaftigkeit die einer sarkastischen oder schmerz1ichen Karikatur übertr if f t .

19) Jean Starobinski, ^'Portrat des Künstlers als Gaukler", op.cit., p. 11.

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"Weil die Wahrheit uns nur ein frommer Wunsch ist" (Th. Bernhard)

"Finally, it must be clear that it is our business not to supply reality but to invent allusions to the con­ceivable which cannot be presented."

(Jean-François Lyotard)

CONCLUSION

How Romantic is the Postmodern?

The reading of Thomas Bernhard’s novels, narratives and plays is exciting and remarkably irritating at the same time. This ability to unsettle the reader derives from the essentially paradoxical nature of his works and his stylistic radicalism on the one hand. Bernhard seems to affirm certain qualities and characteristics; but on the other he tends constantly to to question those affirmations and to contradict former statements, thereby weakening the very thrust of his creative enterpr ise.The push toward some ultimate synthesis is a prominent feature of Bernhard’s works. Yet, it is paralleled by a recurring scepticism and a progressive nihilism which calls the logic and the coherence of both the story and the text into question. Bernhard’s writing is based on an under­standing of experience that presupposes a constant change of perception and of emotions, and accordingly destabilizes the boundaries of traditional story-telling.As the analysis of the two novels "Ausloschung” and "Alte Meister" has shown, Bernhard employs ideas of completion, perfection and identity as prescriptive models by means of which he presents the creeping failure of meaning and sense. Bernhard’s concept of subjectivity and his notions of language and imagination are vitally complicit in the creation of aesthetic identity and the theory of self­reflexive art; and I have linked them to Romantic aesthetics and philosophy, namely the works of Friedrich Schlegel and

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Novalis. In early Romanticism the notion of the subject radically dissociated itself from the dominant discourse of rationality and claimed aesthetic autonomy. The questions raised around 1800 for the first time in literary history are still relevant in contemporary discussions, not only in the field of philosophy and literary criticism. The turn towards an aesthetic discourse in contrast to a socio-political discourse of rationality, the so-called "Asthetischwerden des Diskurses"^^ , according to some commentators, is a long-term project that started with the first generation of Romantics and now has gained widespread attention in the context of discussions of the modern and the postmodern. The first decade of the 19th century witnessed a repudiation of systematic, discursively stable philosophies as approaches to phenomena of art and to questions of identity and self- knowledge. In early Romanticism and most explicitly in the writings of Friedrich Schlegel, art instead of philosophy became the major site of cognitive interest and finally was declared independent of universal historical and philosophi­cal systems. Romantic theory denies the comparability of philosophy and of aesthetic theory which was still upheld by authors such as Hegel and Scheiling. In contrast, Schlegel fostered the transformation from a philosophy of art to an aesthetic theory and separated it from notions of truth and of moral principles:

"Eine Philosophie der Poesie überhaupt aber, wUrde mit der SeIbstandigkeit des Schonen beginnen, mit dem Satz, dai3 es vom Wahren und Si tt lichen getrennt sei und getrennt sein sol le, und dal3 es mit diesem gleiche Rechte habe ;

Thus Schlegel created a radically new and modern under­standing of art and imagination as he transforms "eine

1) Karl Heinz Bohrer, "Die Asthetik am Ausgang ihrer Unmündigkeit", in: Merkur, No, 10/11, Oktober/November 1990, p, 852.

2) Friedrich Schlegel, "Kritische Schriften und Fragmente", op.cit., "Athenaums-Fragment 252", Vol. 2, p. 129.

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teleologische Zielmarkierung in eine Charakterisierung seIbstreferentiel1er, poetisch intensiver Gestimmtheit"^. The notion of the fragment, of self-referential poetry, the aphoristic language and the creation of a purely aestheti­cally defined subject as well as metaphors of contingency in contrast to a teleological philosophy are theoretically laid out in Schlegel’s works and differ dramatically from all previous understandings of literature and poetry as they deliberately stress the primacy of imagination and the incommensurability and irreducibi1ity of art:

"Was in der Poesie geschieht, geschieht nie, oder immer. Sonst ist es keine rechte Poesie. Man darf nicht glauben sollen, dal3 es jetzt wirklich ge- schehe. "

Thomas Bernhard draws on central aspects of Romantic aes­thetics. For him identity is a result of imagination and fiction. Only in the process of writing and self-creation can the subject assure itself of its autonomous ability to establish identity; and it does so at the price of forfeiting all notions of authentic selfhood. In opposition to the longing for identity and truth Bernhard shows the fragmenta­tion of the subject as irreversible. If we fix our thoughts on trying to grasp the essence of being and identity it splits into even more fragments. Accordingly, reflection is an infinite process which in exponential incompletion finally generates an artistic play that self-ironically thematizes its vain efforts. Bernhard’s art of approximation, which accepts imperfection and failure as necessary elements of human nature, bears strong similarities to the progressive universal poetry of the Jena Romantics. Schlegel’s notion of poetry as a constant state of becoming, together with his concept of irony and humour as well as the paradigm of an aesthetically self-constituting subject recur, albeit in more radical terms, in the works of Thomas Bernhard.

3) Karl Heinz Bohrer, "Die Asthetik am Ausgang ihrer Unmiindigkeit", op. cit., p. 857.

4) Friedrich Schlegel, "Kritische Schrif ten und Fragmente", op.cit., "Athenaums-Fragment 101", Vol. 2, p. 113.

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Some key concepts of Bernhard’s prose which I have shown to be rooted in Romantic aesthetics could also be analyzed in terms of postmodern theory. The radical aesthetic discourse of early Romanticism stands in close relationship to the central issues in the debate of American and French theo­rists, who predominantly deal with questions of aesthetics.^) The dominance of the aesthetic over the discourse of rationa­lity is, for example, stressed by Richard Rorty. The "liberal utopia" he envisages is "to be achieved not by inquiry but by imagination [...]" ) and involves "a general turn against theory and toward narrative".^) Rorty shares the Romantic’s view of art as a process of artistic self-creation and of truth as a property of language:

"What the Romantics expressed as the claim that imagination, rather than reason, is the central human faculty was the realization that a talent for spea­king differently, rather than for arguing well, is the chief instrument of cultural change."^

Rorty, like many contemporary French philosophers, rejects the remnants of a totalizing philosophical tradition and criticizes the old cognitive and epistemological scientific world-view. As "ironist" he is not interested in searching universal moral principles but in "continual redescription"*)

5) See Wolfgang Welsch, "Asthetisches Denken", (Stuttgart 1990), pp. 79.

6) Richard Rorty, "Contingency. Irony and Solidarity", (Cambridge 1989), p. xv; xvi.In contrast, Jürgen Habermas as representative of a logo-centric Hegelian tradition in Germany strongly objects to this position and warns of an elimination of the categorical difference between philosophy and literature ets "falsche Pratention, den Gattungsunterschied zwischen Philosophie und Literatur aufzuheben" (p. 246). "Das philosophische Denken wird, wenn es gema/3 Derridas Empfehlungen von der Pflicht, Problème zu losen, entbunden und 1 iteraturkritisch umfunktioniert wird, nicht nur seines Ernstes, sondern seiner Produktivitat und Leistungsfahigkeit beraubt. Vmgekehrt büOt auch die 1iteraturkritische UrteiIskraft ihre Potenz ein, wenn sie, wie es Derridas Gefolgschaft in den literary departments vorschwebt, von der Aneignung asthetischer Erfahrungsgehalte auf Metaphysikkritik umgestelIt wird. Die falsche Assimilation der einen Unternehmung an die andere raubt beiden ihre Substanz." (p. 246), Jurgen Habermas, "Der philosophische Diskurs der Moderne",(Frankfurt/Main 1985).

7) Richard Rorty, ibid.

8) Ibid. , p. 7.

9) Ibid., p. 80.

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of the world and the self, thereby trying to turn philosophy into a "literary genre". Rorty argues:

"For the liberal ironist, skill at imaginative identification does the work which the liberal metaphysician would like to have done by a specifi­cally moral motivation - rationality, or the love of God, or the love of truth.

The paradigmatic change from homogenous, static and totali­zing systems to discontinuous, incomplete and fragmented conceptions of thought is the common denominator of the diverse viewpoints of postmodern theory:

"Der Augenblick der Postmoderne ist eine Art Ex­plosion der modernen episteme, bei der die Vernunft und ihr Subjekt - als Platzhalter der ’Einheit’ und des ’Ganzen’ - in Stiicke fliegen."^^^

Any position stated in the debate of postmodernism involves a dramatic shift from the notion of the Cartesian subject to models of de-centred subjectivity by putting new emphasis on the structure of language and the incommensurability of language games. The last few years have been marked by a positive conception of criteria such as imagination and poetic language. Most authors ascribe a particular signifi­cance to the text itself, as its infinite productivity records the perpetual flight of the subject and, perhaps, its ultimate disappearance. The illusion of the coherent, self­knowing subject or ego is pitted against a dynamic, ex­plicitly literary notion of subjectivity that is constituted in the creative process.

10) Ibid, . p. 79.

11) Richard Rorty, "Contingency, Irony and Solidarity", op.cit., p. 93.See also p. 101: "Ironist theory must be narrative in form because the ironist’s nominal ism and historicism will not permit him to think of his work as establishing a relation to real essence; he can only establish a relation to the past. [...] It is a relation not to a miscellaneous collection of contingent actualities but to the realm of possibility

12) Albrecht Wellmer, "Zur Dialektik von Moderne und Postmoderne" (Frankfurt/Main 1985), p. SO, Compare also Lytord’s appeal at the end of his essay "Answering the question: What is Postmodernism?": "Let us wage a war on totality; let us be witnesses to the unpresentable; let us activate the differences and save the honor of the name. ", in: Jean-Francois Lyotard, "The postmodern condition: A report on knowlwedge", (Manchester 1986), p. 82,

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Jean François Lyotard, one of the most prominent advocates of postmodernism, explains the theory in relation to modernism as a cyclical moment or as a constant state of becoming, which strongly reminds of Schlegel’s theory of art:

"Postmodernism thus understood is not modernism at its end but in the nascent state, and this state is constant.

As was the case with the early Romantics, Lyotard and his followers understand the lack of coherent value systems as a positive chance for promoting variety and diversity in cultural and aesthetic realms. The current crisis of repre­sentation has led to a destabilization of cognitive ap­proaches which conceive representation as realistic re­production in terms of truth, objectivity and consensus. Instead of abstract logic, an essentially aesthetic, narrati­ve view of truth becomes the focus of analysis. Yet, even a deconstructive model, that continuously transforms the existing order in a dynamic process, ultimately aims, in spite of itself, at a form of representation and, at least, demonstrates a "nostalgia for the unattainable":

"The postmodern would be that which, in the modern, puts forward the unpresentable in presentation itself; that which denies itself the solace of good forms, the consensus of a taste which would make it possible to share collectively the nostalgia for the unattainable; that which searches for new presenta­tions, not in order to enjoy them but in order to impart a stronger sense of the unpresentable. A postmodern artist or writer is in the position of a philosopher: the text he writes, the work he produces are not in principle governed by preestablished rules, and they cannot be judged according to a determining judgement, by applying familiar catego­ries to the text or to the work. Those rules and categories are what the work of art itself is looking for

13) Jean-Fr&ncois Lyotard, "Answering the question: What is Postmodernisin?", in: Lyotard, "The postmodern condition" op.cit,, p. 79,

14) Ibid., p. 81.

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Compare Lyotard’s statement to Schlegel’s aphoristic dictum as given in Athenaums-Fragment 116:

"Die romantische Dichtart [...] kann durch keine Theorie erschopft werden, und nur eine divinatorische Kritik diirfte es wagen, ihr Ideal charakt er i s i eren zu wollen. Sie allein ist unendlich, wie sie allein frei ist, und das als ihr erstes Gesetz anerkennt, da/3 die Willkiir des Dichters kein Gesetz über sich leide."^^^

Apart from this evident similaritiy, Romantic art, too, defines self-identity in terms of poetics and linguistics, not limited by any theory or contemplative concept. Language however has a semantic autonomy, a self-referential connota­tion that marks the difference between the speaking subject and language or the written text. Jacques Derrida posits the disappearance of the authentic in an infinite chain of supplements. Trying to avoid the rational-irrational distinction, Derrida rejects any idea of authentic represen­tation, which leads to an open system of signs and signi- fiers, extinguishing any authentic representation:

"Le signe muet signifie l’esclavage lorsque la médiateté re-présentative a envahi tout le système de la signification: alors à travers la circulation et les renvois infinis, de signe en signe et de repré­sentant en représentant, le propre de la présence n ’a plus lieu: personne n ’est là pour personne, pas même pour soi; on ne peut plus disposer du sens, on ne peut plus l’arrêter, il est emporté dans un mouvement sans fin de signification .

Language, the text (Schrift) is essentially a gesture of destruction and extinction of the authentic, yet the absence of it still gives an idea of what is not presentable in language and speech. Following this idea, Bernhard’s novel "Ausloschung" could be read as a critique of traditional

15) Friedrich Schlegel, "Kritische Schriften und Fragmente", op.cit.. Vol. 2, p. 115.

16) Jacques Derrida, "De la Greunmatologie", (Paris 1967), p. 332.Compare the English translation: "The mute sign signifies slavery when re-presentati- ve mediacy has invaded the entire system of signification: then, through infinite circulation and references, from sign to sign and from representer to representer, the selfsameness [propre] of presense has no longer a place: no one is there foranyone, not even for himself; one can no longer dispose of meaning; one can no longerstop it, it is carried into an endless movement of signification." (Jacques Derrida, "Of Grammatology", Baltimore 1976, p, 233/234.)

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philosophy and as a text that shows the deconstruction of subjectivity and the subsequent reconstruction of fragmentary signs which cannot fully reconstitute the authentic/biogra­phical subject.Both the Romantic and the postmodern approach present the notion of the subject as a dynamic process. Whether as "sujet en procès" (Julia Kristeva), as game of signifiers, or as a schizophrenic productivity, the subject of postmodern culture is "ein gnostisches, sich selbst konstituierendes Subjekt, dessen Entgrenzung unter der doppelten Perspektive von Kontinuitat und Diskontinuitat erscheint. Es laBt sich unter dem Aspekt einer prozessualen Subjektivitat fassen, die sich gerade auch im Willen zur Dekonst rukt ion konst i tuiert Despite stylistic differences and other distinctive preoccu­pations, this notion can be regarded as the essence of Romantic aesthetics. The subject as a self-creating linguis­tic or poetic state, not legitimized by any teleological or metaphysical goal. It does not necessarily imply the dis­appearance or dissemination of the subject in the text. As readers we are, at one level, interested in the text, because we presuppose a speaking subject, however fragmented and self-displacing. The discrepancy between the reader’s expectations and the dramatic destruction of the subject and its aesthetic effect produces the interest we take in reading.It would seem, then, that the Postmodern shares more than a few similarities with the Romantic. Their common link is an understanding of poetics as a self-creative, dynamic process of creation and destruction, the "Wechsel von Se lbstschopfung und Selbstvernichtung" and as such the constant nascent state as Lyotard put it. And, perhaps more than any other modern writer, Thomas Bernhard has radically enacted the all- important dialectic of positing the self and destroying the self. And yet with an all-important difference. There is something playful, almost sovereign about the theory and practice of Romantic irony. And much of this playfulness can be heard in postmodern theory. Yet in Bernhard’s oeuvre, the

17} Gabriele Schwab, "Entgrenzungen und Entgrenzungsmythen", op.cit., p. 21.

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playfulness is always checked by a negativistic awareness of pain, deprivation, attrition, by a sense of the brutally present socio-political world, by the perception of that world’s ability to damage the creative self. In Bernhard’s texts, the self seems both infinitely sovereign and infinite­ly vulnerable. And precisely this dialectic accounts for the undeniable authority of his work, an authority that in many ways distinguishes it from the postmodern (or Romantic) text. As we have seen, Bernhard’s narratives are frequently monomanic. They assert a speaking self with a stridency and abundance that is well-nigh unequalled. Yet, at the same time, the sheer stylistic excess, the immense foregrounding of the rhetorical performance of the se 1f-in-the-text serves to undermine that self, to make it merely a part of speech. We have the sense that the self does not, as it were, antedate the text; it is only there because of the text. In the extraordinary, livid, lurid, at once litanesque and manically funny and pained energy of his prose, Bernhard engages with and interrogates impulses of the postmodern - and (as I have sought to show) of early German Romanticism as well.

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