Você está na página 1de 19

Analysis and Construction: The Aesthetics of Carl Einstein Author(s): Neil Donahue Reviewed work(s): Source: The German

Quarterly, Vol. 61, No. 3 (Summer, 1988), pp. 419-436 Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of the American Association of Teachers of German Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/406442 . Accessed: 27/06/2012 01:55
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Blackwell Publishing and American Association of Teachers of German are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The German Quarterly.

http://www.jstor.org

NEIL DONAHUE

Columbia University

Analysis and Construction: The Aesthetics of Carl Einstein


of German At the approach troopsin 1940 CarlEinsteinwas released in France.Unableto flee throughSpain southern froma detentioncamp in the because of his participation SpanishCivilWaragainstFranco,'and to immediate unable escape prosecution by Germanforces as a Jew and borderby his own life near Pauat the Spanish Einstein took Communist,2 his with a stone tied around into the Gave d'Oloron river himself throwing writerssuch as Walter neck. Einsteinbelongsto those German Benjamin, Walter Hasenclever andErnstWeiB who, unableto escape into safe exile, Nazitroops.3 suicide rather thanto riskcapture committed byapproaching and and his career as a critic of painting literature, as a writerof During as one of the most Carl Einstein had a reputation fictions, experimental acute criticalmindsof the Expressionist generation,thoughthe cryptic his of works he seems Rather, complexity prevented anypopular reputation.4 in to havepreferred a postureas an uncomprising he thinker; says a letter that "ich fanatisch und liebe (1923) zuruckgehalteAnonymitit kompliziertes nes Uberlegen."To Einsteinthe act of thinking consistsin the disruption of facilemodes of perception. The purposeful of his writing,its difficulty resistance to slowed the idiosyncratic easy comprehension, recoveryof his him after the but also secured for serious admirers war, writings among artistsandcritics.Afterthe warEinstein's workwasknown butunaccounted for in literaryhistory,and unavailable. in 1966could HelmutHeil3enbuttel stillcallhim,paradoxically, an"6ffentlich Since Vergessener."6 then,however, his workhas receivedincreasing attention not onlyin its ownright,butalso forits influence onotherwriters,mostnotably themGottfried Benn.7 among Now CarlEinsteinhas begunto receivemorewidespread attention and to findhis deservedplacein accountsof German In an essay Modernism. entitled"TheRebirth andDemiseof Mythin Modernism: The Caseof Carl 419

420

TiIE GERMANQUARTERLY

Summer 1988

careerfrom JochenSchulte-Sasse exploresthe shiftin Einstein's Einstein,"'8 to In Criticism" "Leftist Radicalism." his of the discussion "Epistemological latter half of Einstein's him Schulte-Sasse in a career, places prominent theorists of relationsbetween art and positionamonghis contemporary to the development of "a society and attemptsto define his contribution radicalcritiqueof social modernity." Given the theoretical natureof his discussionand his concentration career upon the latter half of Einstein's afterhis turnawayfromart andliterature to politics,Schulte-Sasse necesof Einstein's theoretical andactual sarilylimitshis discussion positions practice as criticandexperimental writer. prose The following Einstein's essay definesthose earlypositions by examining ownartcriticism in severalstagesinrelation to Wilhelm contemWorringer's aesthetictheorieson primitive andabstract art. By defining his early porary positionsin reverse chronological order,this essay telescopes Einstein's aestheticsfromhis art criticism into a readingof his experimental fiction oder die Dilettanten des Wunders and (1912) Bebuquin therebyprovidesa basisin Einstein's ownartisticandcritical of practiceforourunderstanding his laterturnto socialtheoryandpolitical practice,as discussedby SchulteSasse. Further, the relation of CarlEinsteinto Wilhelm Worby examining aesthetics ringer,this essay definesin German literary historyaninfluential of spatial formon threelevelsof aesthetictheory,practical art criticism and narrative practice. As an art critic,EinsteinmorethanlikelyknewWorringer's Abstraktion und Einfiihlung which had editions from its first many appearance (1907),9 on intothe Twenties.Einstein's workas art criticbearsstrongresemblance to Worringer's in terms of his critical andconception of art, temperament in fact to suggest that Einstein's silence aboutWorenoughresemblance workis indirect, tacitacknowledgement ofadirect influence. Einstein ringer's seems to haveabsorbed thesis inAbstraktion undEinfiihlung Worringer's andcontinued further intopractical criticism of contemporary art- exactly what Worringer work as an art critic omits in his book. Thus Einstein's complements Worringer's theoryof art. Yet Einsteingoes beyondsimplyincorporating thesis on Worringer's abstractart into his practical criticismof art. Worringer's theory,derived fromthe visualarts, carriesimplications for all the arts, but thatdoes not concernWorringer. to extrapolate Einstein,however, expresslyundertakes fromthe visualarts principles of formal forparallel composition application to literature.In reverse chronological order of Einstein's most important inhabithis art works, we can see how ideas he shares with Worringer his theoryandcriticism of literature, andhis own fiction. criticism, Einstein's resemblance to Worringer is strongest inhisNegerplastik (1915), a brief but dense expositionof Africansculpturewith 116 illustrations.'1
Einstein introducedAfricanart to a Europeanaudience for the first time for its serious aesthetic value,1 a development prepared for by Worringer's

DONAHUE:Aesthetics of Carl Einstein

421

defense of primitive art in Abstraktionund Einfiihlung. Like Worringer, Einstein adopts a pejorative tone as antagonist to complacentprejudicesin art appreciation: in seinenUrteilen Der Europ~ier fiberdieNebeansprucht die einer unbedingten, ger eine Voraussetzung, nlimlich geradezu phantastischen Oberlegenheit.De facto enteinem des Negers lediglich sprichtunsere Nichtachtung Nichtwissenfiber ihn, das ihn nur zu Unrechtbelastet. (p. 245). Einstein'ssharp tone deflates such presumptionsin order to present in their stead "eine bedeutsame afrikanischeKultur"(p. 246). Almost a decade after Worringer'sbook Einstein is now able to refer to "Probleme der neueren Kunst" (p. 246), with recent French Cubist and German Expressionist paintingsin mind, and to discuss primitiveart in the context of contemporarydevelopments in Europeanart. Both Einstein and Worringerassert the importanceof primitiveart for understandingmodern abstraction and, for both authors, art scholarship and art criticism have become prescriptive as vehicles for the promotionof avant-gardeart. Their books appear as disguised manifestos for the art of the day. For both authors the presentation of primitive art contains an implicit comparison with modern abstraction which is, however, not executed in detail. The grounds for comparison are strictly formal. In both cases the formal approachattempts to establish the serious aesthetic value of nonor only naturalisticobjects too readily dismissed at the time as "primitive," viewed condescendingly as ethnographic artifacts. Einstein dismisses circumstantialinformationabout African sculpture as "im ganzen gering und unbestimmt"(p. 246). In any case, historicalor ethnographiccommentary distracts from the critic'sreal task of formalanalysis:"Umgebungsassoziationen ausschalten und diese Bildungen als Gebilde analysieren" (p. 247). Einstein warns against the substitutionfor analysis of preconceivedpatterns or of subjectiveimpresof historicaldevelopment ("bequemerEvolutionen") sions ("seelische Vorglinge").In contrast to such methods of circumscribing the art work, Einstein presents his criticalmethod: in demunmitDie Analyseder Formen verbleibt hingegen Formen telbaren dennnurirgendwelche sind Gegebenen; vorauszusetzen; jedochdienendiese eher einemErfassen als einzelne Dinge,dasie alsFormen zugleich fiberSehweisen und Gesetze der Anschauung aussagen,also gerade zu einer Erkenntnis die in der Sphdire des hinzwingen, verharrt. Gegebenen (p. 248) The analysis of form assumes here the existence of conceptual forms that help us to understand the aesthetic objects as "einzelne Dinge"; ideal, conceptual forms correspond to the metaphysical dimension of the given object and allow us to perceive in the formal contours of an object ("in der

422

THE GERMANQUARTERLY

1988 Summer

In otherwords,conceptual a formof knowledge. Sphire des Gegebenen") the and illuminate which to measure forms providethe standard against circumstanthe for its without artworkinits formal abandoning object aspects methodsmight do. The metatial context, as descriptive,nonanalytical workof art:the two in the material of form is immanent dimension physical Geradedie wesentliche zueinander. sich beide dualistisch "verhalten Uibermachen eben undderRealisierung derallgemeinen Anschauung einstimmung dimension or conceptual aus" (p. 248). The metaphysical das Kunstwerk work fromthe particular aboutformto be drawn allowsgeneralconclusions of art. to a that Einsteinrefutes correspond The methodsof art "criticism" Einstein In a short like attacks. of art that he, survey, Worringer, conception in the historyof art and of "empathy" condensesWorringer's description distinction betweenaffectiveand absoluteart, though followsWorringer's elementsrender andplastic,whereby he uses the termspainterly painterly afterthe affectsandplasticelementsgive form.The progressof naturalism der Plastik" led to "einerv611igen Renaissance 249) through Niederlage (p. des "einegainzliche of genre distinctions, the blurring Vermischung Maleriandpainting becomes schen undPlastischen" 249). painterly Sculpture (p. of formin space Art degeneratesfromthe objectivity becomessculptural. to what is art corresponds to belabored titillation; patternsof emotional of symandnatural and representsto Einsteinmerelya collusion familiar form: pathiesbetweenthe artistandviewer,whichbetraysobjective Leiter dasWerk zerrann immer mehr zueinem psycholowaren eher BegischerErregung;... Diese Plastiken alsobjektivierende eher Genetik kenntnisse einer Formen, .... (p. 249) zweierIndividuen blitzartige Beriihrung Konversationsstoff zweierMenschen... Umschreibung .... (p. 250) des Effektes as definedby Einsteingives here a good short description of "empathy" of naturalistic art. as the dominant Worringer principle In supportof his thesis Einsteindistinguishes of betweenthe portrayal of the art workwithinits medium. The refinement space andthe spatiality of perspectival had the converse effect of space since the Renaissance ourperception of the spatiality of the art work:"Selbst impairing perspektivische Versuchebeeintrichtigen das plastischeSehen"(p. 249). Einstein a naturaland that perspective,by reproducing notes, as did Worringer, familiar of objectsin spacerather scene, representsthe temporal relativity thanthe spatiality of the artworkas objective form.Innaturalistic art, "Das seelisch-zeitliche Moment die riiumliche Bestimmtheit" vollstindig fiberwog andcorrespondingly, "dieVoraussetzung allerPlastik,der kubische Raum, in Francein war vergessen"(p. 250). Withrecent artisticdevelopments mind, Carl Einsteinreaffirmsthe notion of spatialform in art, as first formulated by Worringer.

DONAHUE: Aesthetics of Carl Einstein

423

art because it is emotivein Einsteinand Worringer reject naturalistic in its technique of mimeticdepiction. In primitive contentand rational art "washierals Abstraktion erscheint,ist dortunmitteltheyfindthe opposite: locatesthesourceofprimitive abstracbargegebeneNatur" (p. 251).Einstein das Dingan callsthe primitive's tionin instinct,whatWorringer "Gefihlfair irrational instinctunPrimitive sich:" art is "unmittelbar gegebene Natur," In naturalistic art there exists a directcormediated by rational technique. the empathetic identifibetweenthe artistandviewerthrough respondence art there exists an inverse cationof each with the art work;in primitive formof the art workand betweenthe objective,amimetic correspondence of viewer. The formerproduces the irrational impulses the artistand the realism;the latterproducesa type of psychicrealism:"Die psychological Sinnals stlirkster Realismus erweisen" wirdsich im formalen Negerplastik can to We understand that "realism" (p. 251). byreturning briefly Worringer. reducedartisticformto the principle of "Weltgefihl," whichis Worringer in specific immanent manis dominated an detailsof style. Primitive by instincor "Raumal dreadof naturethatWorringer callsagoraphobia ("Platzangst" of it a fear and contain. the He finds relief scheu"), openspace dangers might from that dreadin the notionof a transcendent or some god atemporal behindphenomena. Art is, for the primitive, of the reification permanence thatrealmandof his own(private, butcommunal) the since sense, religious formal abstraction eliminates thetemporal relativamimetic, fixityofprimitive of and to some unnatural and timeless essence. ity openspace, corresponds art has iconicsignificance. of Einsteinlikewiseproclaims Thus, primitive African "Die Kunst des ist vor allem bestimmt" sculpture: Negers religi6s Ratherthan (p. 251) and containsfeelingsof both dreadanddeliverance. art that imitates the dominant irrational side of primitive nature, descriptive mangives rise to a "Realismus der transzendenten Form" (p. 253). to Worringer, mansuffersfromthe same"Weltgefiihl" According modern of agoraphobia, notfromdread of nature, butfromhisfearof a world without God and his rational of the of all Whereas recognition relativity things. art is a product of instinct,modern abstraction is "Erkenntnisproprimitive a cerebral "Gefihlffirdas Dingan sich." dukt," recoveryof the primitive's and modernabstraction constitutepsychicrealism, Hence, both primitive as Einsteinindicated. ForEinstein,allabstraction has a "metaphysische[s] Korrelat" The modernartistwho rejects (p. 254), becauseit is amimetic. and "religious" like the primitive, but analytical mimesisis not instinctive andconscious of the epistemological of abstraction. implications Accordingly, the artist "agiert... ffir die reine Form"(p. 251). Consequently, both andmodernabstraction demand an aestheticsof spatial form. primitive The transcendental aspectof the artworkis the resultof "spatial percepin the artistandviewer,whichis the recognition tion" of the separate formal
integrity of the art work apartfromthe viewer andremote from"empathetic" "Dieser Transzendenz entspricht eine riumliche Anschauung, participation:

424

THE GERMANQUARTERLY

1988 Summer

die jede Funktiondes Beschauers ausschliel3t" (p. 252). Withoutthat "empathetic" participation,or reference to the naturalworld, the art work is self-contained as the spatial realizationof its medium in an objective form. As a spatialwhole unto itself, the work has its own ontology that is asserted by the eliminationof the time element: "Um ein abgegrenztes Dasein des Kunstwerksherauszubilden,muBjede zeitliche Funktionausgeschaltet werden" (p. 253). The temporal dimension of three-dimensionalperspective is negated for the immediate effects of wholeness, of complete integrationin a single moment of perception. Spatialart requires: die dritteDimension in einemeinzigen,optischen Vorstelzu fixierenundals Totalititzu schauen;daBes lungsakt in einerIntegration sei ... was Bewegungsakt ist, gefal3t mu3zurUnbedingtheit fixiertwerden.Diedreidimensional situierten das Teilemiissengleichzeitig werden, dargestellt der zerstreuteRaum muf in ein Blickfeld heif3t, integriert werden.(p. 255) By excludingthe relativity of time and space in three dimensions, the artist fixes amimetic form into the single dimension of its spatial medium where it can be apprehendedin a single moment as integral whole. The notion of on a single plane in a single moment constitutes the conceptual "integration" of "absolute"art. Integration occurs, paradoxically howEinstein's totality as "eine starke die man als ever, Aufteilung, n6tige, krfiftigeVerselbstlindigung der Teile bezeichnen darf' (p. 258), a revelationof compositionalparts that reinforces the single impression of "unmittelbaren Raumsein"(p. 258), the immediate spatialityof the art work. The ideal of abstract art for Einstein is "formalfixierter Ausdruck"(p. 256), rather the opposite of the fluid rhetoric of pathos normallyassociated with Expressionism, though both might share the characteristic Einstein prescribes for art: "daBKunst einen besonderen FallbedingungsloserIntensittit darstellt"(p. 257). Intensity of expression for Einstein, however, is not an outpouringof strong emotion, but the rigor of compositionalcoherence, the very denial of empathy and the inversion of strong emotion into strict As "tektonisierteIntensittit"(p. 258), art is the formal,constructivist form."' equivalent for the transcendent psychic force, whether instinctual in the primitive or analyticalin the modern, that the art work contains but does not represent mimetically: der Plastik ist es, eine Gleichung zu bilden, worin Aufgabe die naturalistischen und somit Bewegungsempfingungen die Masse g'inzlich absorbiert sind, und ihre sukzessive in eine formaleOrdnung Verschiedenheit umgesetztist. Dies Aquivalent totalsein, . . . als ein bedingungslomuf3 ses, geschlossenes (p. 257) Selbst1indiges. Finally,the conceptualtotality of the art work and its realizationas "formale Ordnung" within its medium is for Einstein "unmenschlich, unpersin-

DONAHUE: Aesthetics of Carl Einstein

425

frei von der Erfahrung des Individuums" lich... ; das heilt konstruktiv, but fixityof the art workis not lackof vitality, (p. 262). The constructive the highest pitch of expression,where depths of emotionaland rational in the iconic stasis of pure form: experiencereach sheer concentration "Diese Starrheit hei8t nichtsanderesals letzte Intensitiit des Ausdrucks, befreitvonjedempsychologischen sie vor Entstehen;zugleicherm*glicht allemeinegekliirte Struktur" artis, paradoxically, "fixierte (p. 262).Abstract Ekstase"(p. 262). Inhisintroduction to African Einstein aesthetsculpture presentsa general as spatial ics of abstraction form.His discussion movesfrom1) his note on criticalmethodto 2) a brief historical sketch of "painterly" and "plastic" of the psychic/religious of abstraction, dimension to arts, to 3) a discussion form and finally,to 5) a brief general 4) an analysisof spatial("cubic") discussion of African masks.Nowhere does he mention particular examples of African from his 116 His lackof explication illustrations! sculpture among seems at first to contradict his stated critical methodthat emphasizes the of the art work. His for the aesthetic merit stylisticparticularity argument of African sculpture proceedsfromits theoretical preceptsthrough degrees ofincreasing closenessof characterization, a varying of self-paraconciseness theoretical terrain to the works phrasethatbringsthe readeracrossdifficult themselves thatfollow, buthe stopsshortof making the obvious connections for the reader.Einstein's as a whole in stands a argument type of absolute to its It to his that it complementary equation object. belongs argument does not become descriptive,i.e. naturalistic. The laborof criticalcomwhomustthink forhimself in detail prehension belongsto the viewer/reader, inorderto avoid facile"empathy," anappreciation of artthrough identification and... laziness.Einsteinsteps aside to allow,or ratherto demand,that the reader/viewer instance. carry throughthe analysisinto the individual He therebypreservesexactlywhat"empathy" a "Distanz zu den destroys, which him with other modernists and his Dingen" aligns (p. 249), gives idea of criticism, likehis idea of abstraction, a touchof hierophancy. The variedreiteration of hisprincipal ideasinNegerplastik serves to bring the reader/viewer closerto the objectbymediating a multifarious comprehension of the essence of the art workas form,withoutsuccumbing to direct His earlier demonstrate the same essential description. essays preoccupato context. In the essays I have tions, thoughthe terms vary according chosento discuss,we see howthe ideasthatcrystallize inNegerplastik and that comprisethe unityof Einstein's artisticenterprisein the first halfof his careeremergefromhis deliberations on literature andderiveultimately fromhis attemptat "absolute" fictionin Bebuquin oderdie Dilettanten des Wunders. Inhisfour-part I-IV" Einstein delineates inapodictic (1914) essay"Totalitit
style his fundamentalconception of art without reference to any particular medium. Unlikein Negerplastik,he does not consider the instinctualorigins

426

THE GERMAN QUARTERLY

Summer 1988

of primitive of modemabstraction: art, onlythe epistemological implications "DerErkenntnisakt, d.h. die Umbildung der Weltvorstellung, geschiehtwederdurch dasSchaffen des Kunstwerks oderdasBetrachten, vielmehr durch dasKunstwerk selbst"(p. 224). Theworkof artdoes notreflectthe empathy of its makeror viewerthrough to a mimesis,but as totalitycorresponds of the the work of art is "transzendent" world; conception (p. 224) and "eingeschlossenesSystem"(p. 226). As suchthe worksuborautonomous, dinatespsychology andits basisin causality: "DertotaleGegenstand absorbiertjeden psychologischen ihnhinzweckt, der auf also auchjede Verlauf, connectivelogic the workexchangesdepth KausalitUt" (p. 228). Without in of scene or character in (perspective painting; description psychology for of literature) immediacy spatial presence,"einsimultan (p. Rdumliches" for comparison andaestheticevaluation is inten228), whose onlystandard unterscheiden sich voneinander durch sity: "Totalititen Intensitat,d.h. je und reicher der ihrer Inhalte mehr kr~ftiger diese selbst vielist, je Bezug Elemente darstellen" is a measure of the internal seitige (p. 228). Intensity coherenceamongthe elements of the workof art, not linkedcausally in but to all other elements at once. sequence spatially In a shortessay "Uberden Roman" continues a polemic (1914),Einstein the novel that he had in his "Brief against psychological fiber already begun den Roman" "Der psychologische Romanberuhtauf causaler (1911/12): Schlufweiseundgibt keineForm" (p. 127). Through logicaldevelopments of cause andeffect, the psychological novelgives mimeticrepresentations of a character's andportrays a space thoughtsin responseto surroundings for "empathetic" ratherthanpresenting itself as a totalityof identification, form.The material of the psychological novelis therefore naturalistic spatial filteredthrough or presentedto a character "Der description psychology: Romansetzt vollsttndige schildernde Unkenntnis des Lesers deskriptive von Tischen,Nachtt6pfen, jungenMdidchen, Treppensteigen, Schlafr6cken, usw. voraus" Busen, Hausklingen (p. 127);thatmaterial hangstogetherby the logic of plot: "EinEreignismit Vorbedingungen undFolgen" (p. 128). motivation Einsteinproposesthat "Jede Againstthe logic of psychological kann auchandersendigen" Handlung (p. 128),which upsetslogical sequence andallowsforthe endlessrearrangement of elementswithin a givenform.1 is the randomness of auctorial principle ist caprice:"Alsodas Kunstwerk Sache der Willkiir" notionof arbitrariness undermines (p. 128). Einstein's the logical connectedness fornaturalistic invisual orverbal required depiction art andreleases compositional elementsfromtheirtemporal dimension in orderto presentspatial form.In anticipation of the demonstrative anti-logic of DADA, Einsteinconcludes "Uberden Roman" withthe rallying cry "Das
Absurde zur Tatsache machen!" (p. 129)."4 In 1910 Einstein published an essay entitled "Vathek"(pp. 28-31), occasioned by FranzBlei's translationinto Germanof William Beckford'snovel. In terms of logic the form of the novel is arbitraryand its constructive

DONAHUE: Aesthetics of Carl Einstein

427

Since he makesno mentionof the translation, the essay is not a review; Einstein to the define of the novel, but his instead, proposes significance in fact enunciates his own or rather artistic from essay literary program Bebuquin. For Einstein,the principle of composition in Vathek is"Willkiir... zur Technikgeriindet"arbitrariness as a techniqueof sovereignsubjectivity, "desfiberspreizten Willens zurOriginalittit." Sucha workrejectsappearances of realism,"Tautologie, und andappearsinstead Allgemeines Bekanntes," as "einKunstmiirchen," an art tale but more literally fairy aptlyfor Einstein a parableof Art in an ideal sense, a secularand self-contained vessel of transcendence that preserves in the unreality of its narrative a sense of miracleand otherworldliness. or the "Kunstmdirchen" in general, Vathek, demonstrates for Einstein"dabReligikses isthetischabwirkt und geheim im Poetischen besteht." The workof art, thusconceived, is a self-conscious atavism ina secular and redeems that otherwise society piousimpulses would be lost. By avoiding character and other realistic elements,the psychology workof artrevealsits owncoherence of composition; andthatself-reflexive, withthe piousfunction combines of artto makethe "Kunstrevelatory quality ein Gleichnis des unerreichlichen ... Mysteriums." miirchen the compositional of Vathek is the artist'ssovereign Although principle his technique is rational which a logical arbitrariness, calculation, provides bestimmte to what is ("mathematisch conception Anschauung") apparently Forexample,characters in Vathek are stylizedideasthatrepresent illogical. the absoluteness("Bedingungslosigkeit") of art andof the artist;theirarbitrarinessandexcess, apparently the strictures of reason, illogical, abnegate andmimesis,whatEinstein calls "abbildenden Positiviscausality summarily mus." The "Kunstmdirchen" canhaveonlyone "plot" of sorts;Einstein casts Beckford's characters into the allegorical formof the quest or searchfor a miracle: "sie ... suchenwas ihreWillkiir fibertrifft- das unbeantwortete Staunen." andrealistic the Thus, by denying logic, causality representation, artisttries to adumbrate but as "stimiraculous reason, something beyond lisierendeRationalismus," his denialof logic remainsstrictlycalculated or the mathematical of the art workby logical.Einsteinemphasizes precision its elementsas "strengmodellierte describing objetsd'artvollmathematischer Funktion" and as "Konstruktionen" or productsof "geometrischer The absolutenessof the work of art contains,paradoxically, both Wille." andrational a paradox thatEinstein mystical irrationality calculation, captures in the phrase"gesetzmil3ige Willkiir." Einsteinplaces Beckford's Vathek at the beginning of the tradition of or what we call FrenchSymbolism in the "disthetische[m] Pessimismus," traditionof Schopenhauer(Einstein names Mallarme,Beardsley and of "derreinenKunst" Baudelaire). His evocation alignsEinsteinwith that
tradition, but he departs notably from that tradition by his emphasis on geometrical form, mathematicalexactitude, laws of form and, particularly,

428

THE GERMAN QUARTERLY

Summer 1988

of art has an analytical hard His conception the workof art as construction. ofmoodfavored creation the musical bythe Symbolists. edge thatcontradicts thatthe poeticelementsof a workarefullysubordinate claims WhenEinstein fallsnot on to "einemmusikalischen Gesetz,"we sense that his emphasis Nowheredoes lawsof formal the music,but on mathematical composition. but Einsteinrecognizethe sensualappealof art in the Symbolist manner, in Vathek he findsforhis ownpurposes What construction. insteadits logical of a hermetic is the evocation andthe French realmof art ("das Symbolists otherthat signalsthe Platonic Gebietder abgeschlossenen Imagination") his of formand abjuresfamiliar worldliness reality.He brings essay to a hisowndenselyinaccessible thatbest characterizes close witha prescription konzentrierte Resultate-keine fiction:"man Wege." gebe of rational andirrational The paradox totalityin the hermeticworkof art forits "intensity," to the degreethatits elementsform"simultaneaccounts of the work.15Those withinthe spatialautonomy ous" interconnections in the art work and its "konrelations comprise denytemporality reciprocal with apparent zentrierteResultate," the interplay of logicalconstruction of that paradox into disconnectedness. Einsteinevokes the manipulation of and both selfmathematics dense formations music, through metaphors notations withoutmimeticreference. contained systems of interconnected in terms of their selfnot temporally, Einsteinconceivesof both spatially, of proofor theme than their formal rather reflexive, development autonomy, TomakethatclearEinstein reinforces hispresentation towards a conclusion. "Ichm6chte of that paradox with a thirdcomparison to abstract painting: sie [the artists he emulates]im Gleichnis nennen, Schwarzwei.6kiinstler solchediemitabstrakten Farben arbeiten." The reductive butforceful simplicof the mimetic a distortion (black-white), ity of allegorical oppositions already of naturalism, standard (nonmimetic coloring) undergoesfurtherdistortion in orderto attain the "intensity" of absolute paradox, "Schwarzwei.3kiinstler . . . die mit abstrakten whichwould Farben arbeiten," signalthe self-containedtotalityof spatialart. his ownattempt inBebuquin Einstein's oderdieDiletsimileunderscores tantendes Wunders to of to write imaginative prose according principles In artist the of cubism. cubism the eliminates dimension pictorial temporal the objectinthree-dimensional that manifold into its spacebybreaking object in Bebuquin spatialplanesin one dimension, representedsimultaneously; Einsteinattemptsto eliminate the temporal dimension fromprosenarrative the disintegration of unified of plot, irregucharacter, through discontinuity of compositional laritiesof syntaxanddiction,andthe spatialconstruction elements in the workthrough the logicalself-reflexion of leitmotifs.In its to organicdevelopment over time in the novel, Einstein's work opposition
militates againstthe dominanttraditionin the Germannovel of the "Bildungsroman"and becomes sort of "anti-Bildungsroman." Accordingly,the novel has less to do with the formationof character than with its deformation.

DONAHUE:Aesthetics of Carl Einstein

429

the titular character of Bebuquin is a young As in a "Bildungsroman" the characterof Bebuman. Yet unlikethe protagonistof a "Bildungsroman" "Bebuquin has little potential for positive change, as the name indicates:16 quin"derives from the French "b6b6"for baby and "beb6te" for babyish, for artificial puerile, simple(-minded); and from the French "mannequin" clothing model (as in English), dummy, insignificantperson, a lifeless, unof naturalunderdevelopment naturalbeing. The name indicatesa combination and a conscious and stiff artificiality, an inabilityto develop beyond infantility renunciation of naturalness;the first suggests freedom froma matureidentity and the childlikecapacity to adapt to others, but the latter suggests the evasion of all fixed identity. Thus, Bebuquin's"character"is one of willful puerility and experimental identity for the sake of negation, in the manner of a dilettante.17 In the opening scene Bebuquinwanders "dingstlich" throughan allegorical intent circus setting, on avoiding"alle[ ] Uberlegungenfiber die Zusammenseiner Person ... ." A series of attractions that he avoids demonsetzung strates his willfuldenial of characterformationby his environment, until he succumbs and enters "das Museum zur billigen Erstarrnis."There, confronted with a doll, he is pleased by its naturalappearanceand recognizes in his pleasure that he himself "nochnicht in dem richtigenMasse abgestorben war";his aim is to eradicate organiccharacterin himself since it reflects the outside world, not his originalSelf. He proclaims: ichwillmich, IchwillnichteineKopie, keineBeeinflussung, aus meinerSeele muI3 etwas ganzEigeneskommen, und wennes L6cherin eine privateLuftsind. Ich kannnicht mit den Dingenetwas anfangen, zu ein Dingverpfichtet allen Dingen. Es steht im Strom, und furchtbar ist die Unendlichkeit eines Punktes.(p. 74) Bebuquin consists of negations; he denies all influences from the outside world that would form his identity. Denial is the route to "etwas ganz Eigenes." Afraidto define himselfin relationto worldlyobjects, he wishes instead to discover an originalSelf beyondthe relativityof naturalappearances, however intangible("L6cherin eine private Luft"), but he remains trapped in the "Unendlichkeit eines Punktes"thathe cannotproceed beyond.Through the negation of all identity with the naturalworld, Bebuquin seeks to transcend his empiricalself in order to arrive at his own metaphysicalorigin. As he declaimshis intention, another characterenters and speaks to him. The real world intrudes upon his transcendent aspirations: eines Verstehens Peinlich auf, daB ging ihmdas Talglicht sehenwollte,einemanderen zum er, wo er ein Schauspiel Theatergedienthabe. Er schrieauf: Ich bin ein Spiegel,eine unbewegte,von Gaslaternen Pfiitze,die spiegelt.Aberhat ein Spiegelsich glitzernde je gespiegelt?(p. 74)

430

THE GERMAN QUARTERLY

1988 Summer

of his quest. He remindshim of the ultimateimpossibility The intrusion fromoutsidein orderto defineby of character wantsto avoidallformation those negationsa transcendent, "amimetic" Self, but he cannotovercome in their of his self thatotherswitnessandinclude the irreducible empiricism hat sich ein Spiegelsichje "Aber world.His quest is rationally impossible, gespiegelt?" eines Punktes," the "Unendlichkeit to proceedbeyond inability Bebuquin's mimetic forthe prosewriterof eliminating has as corollary the impossiblity makes inlanguage. of character froma depiction references Justas Bebuquin ofhisorganic character futile,inthe elimination ultimately progress,although variations whoconstitute introduces othercharacters Einstein by negations, as "analogous on Bebuquin's searchandfailure; (Oehm,p. 115) figurations" of the same quest, these figuresnegate froma different angle,or refract, andthey reinforce of Bebuquin, character the alreadyincomplete thereby of Self and the philosophical projectat the core of the novel:the conflation elimination the systematic at through in a preconscious state arrived World 8 of Each transcendence naturalism. of organic identityandthe consequent of Nebukadnezar is a figuration of this central idea.The character character plot in the novel;he cries out, "Ich B6hmrevealsthat idea as allegorical Selfto a transcendent Wunder." Miracle connects the suchedas preconscious reflects the naturalism. Likewise, questfora miracle worldly realitybeyond a in transcendent to referential writer's the subjeclanguage attempt capture autonomous workof art. tivityin the amimetic, In Bebuquin each character figuresas a singleperspectiveon the idea andcan appear of a miracle that defies description onlyas an absence,the of the remains a mere dilettante of a vain each object quest. Hence, figure of an wholeness character that both denies absolute, allegorical organic guise a transcendent butunattainable behind the and,by negation, reality projects of the world.The fulltitle Bebuquin oderdieDilettanten false appearances of singular andplural, des Wunders the arbitrariness reflects, as an equation as of personal does also the between following exchange identity, Bebuquin andB6hm: 'Was Sie so in meiner Unherum, springen AtmosphMe mensch?' IhreAtmosphare ist einProdukt mein Herr, 'Verzeihung, vonFaktoren, dieinkeiner zuIhnen stehen.' Beziehung erwiderte 'es ist Machteine 'Wenn auch,' Nebukadnezar, von Selbsthypnose.' frage, eine Sacheder Benennung
(p. 75)

of individual areeitherdissolved the external The boundaries identity among "factors" thatcondition existence,as in ErnstMach's epistemological "pointillism"19 or simplyasserted more forcefully thanothers, as in Nietzsche's "DerWillezur Machtals Erkenntnis."2o The fictionof individual identityis As dilettantes,the charactersin either entirelycontingent,or arbitrary.

DONAHUE: Aesthetics of Carl Einstein

431

Bebuquinshare a "Suchtnach OriginalitAit" (p. 76), whichincludesboth their of common goal reaching metaphysicalorigins and the novel means to that end that distinguisheseach of them. Therefore they are juxtaposed, paradoxically, in "gemeinsamer Einsamkeit"(p. 76). The dissolution of organic identity eliminates the continuityof individual action and speech, and of overallplot; this dissolutionand discontinuityallow to merge freely at differentpoints intothe leitmotifconstruceach "character" tion of the novel throughideas and word associations. In effect, each "character" becomes a disembodied conglomeration of ideas put into terms of physical description, speech and action. Unlike in a novel of thesis, the "characters"are not simply, or not only, mouthpieces for an idea, but also themselves representations of that idea, that is to say that the organic characterrecedes behindthe parts that fit separatelyinto the overallleitmotif construction, as does the disintegratedobject of Cubistpainting.The figure of NebukadnezarB6hm comes closest to representing the aesthetic that Einstein's work itself seeks to fulfill. As distinctivecharacteristicB6lhmhas "eine silberne Hirnschalemit wundervoll ziselierten Ornamenten, in welche feine, glitzernde Edelsteinplatten eingelassen waren" (p. 75).a The beveled surface of his craniumreflects, refracts and recombines images: Nebukadnezar fiberEuphemias neigteden Kopf massigen Busen. EinSpiegelhingfiberihm.Er sah, wie die Briiste sichindenfeingeschliffenen seinesKopfes Edelsteinplatten zu mannigfachen fremdenFormen teiltenundblitzten,in bisherzu geben Formen,wie sie ihm keineWirklichkeit vermochte. DasziselierteSilberbrach undverfeinerte das Glitzender Gestalten.Nebukadnezar starrtein den Spiegel, sich gierigfreuend,wie er die Wirklichkeit gliedern konnte,wie seine Seele das Silberunddie Steinewaren, sein Augeder Spiegel.(p. 76) B6hm's re-construction of the naturalworld of Euphemia'sbosom gives a glimpse, also, into the transcendent reality of other worldlyforms, "wie sie bisher zu geben vermochte,"but on the threshold of ihm keine Wirklichkeit that other world of forms he "brachzusammen; denn er vermochte immer noch nicht, die Seele der Dinge zu ertragen... sein Leib barst fast im The more complete his intellectualparticipation Kampfezwei Wirklichkeiten." in thatworldof forms, the greater also the contradiction to his empiricalself. He falters, necessarily, on the threshold of transcendence, though in joyous proximity: Dabeiiiberkam ihneinewildeFreude,dabihmsein Gehirn aus Silberfast Unsterblichkeit verlieh,daes jede Erscheiunder sein Denkenausschalten nungpotenzierte, konnte, dankdem prizisenSchliff der Steineundder vollkommen Mit den Formender Ziselierung logischenZiselierung. konnteer sich eine neue Logikschaffen, derensichtbare Symboledie Ritzender Kapselwaren.Es vervielfachte

432

THE GERMANQUARTERLY er glaubte ineineranderen, immer neuenWelt seine Kraft, zu sein mit neuenLiisten.(p. 76)

Summer 1988

His skull is the reification of pure intellect and analyticalcerebration that breaks down the world of naturalappearances into discontinuousparts, as in Cubistpainting;each image is discrete, beyond the relativityof its natural context, and more "intense," "da es jede Erscheinung potenzierte." His architectonicskulltransformsor reassembles the naturalworldinto an artifice foundedon a "neue[r]Logik,"whose disjunctures,"die Ritzen,"symbolically allude to a "neue[ ] Welt,"an invisible world of pure forms. B6hm explains the principlebehind that transformation: Sie sehen, meinesilberneGehirnschale ist assymetrisch. Uberdensichfortwiihrend Darin liegtmeineProduktivit-it. Kombinationen verlieren Sie das ungliickseveraindernden ffirdie Dingeunddenpeinlichen zum lige Gedlichtnis Hang (p. 79) Endgfiltigen. Calculatedasymmetry disrupts our ordered perception of the naturalworld and its relations and dissolves "die Dinge" into "fortwtihrend ver'indemden an infinite and arbitraryrecombinationof constructive eleKombinationen," ments that transcends, in each new combination,the finite sums of rational skull description, "den peinlichen Hang zum Endgliltigen."Thus, BWhm's as and of the formal transcendent represents synecdoche autonomy the work of art. amimetic, spatial Bohm advocates the analyticaldeformationof the naturalworld and even advises Bebuquin: "Aber gehen Sie nicht mehr auf zwei Beinen. Warum amputierenSie nicht eins heroisch unter der Bettdecke weg?" (p. 79). That will appearto the "symmetry"of rationalconsideration willfultransformation as imbalancedand idiotic, but nonsense breaks the strictures of reason and thereby allows for miracle: Zu wenigLeute habenden Mutvollkommen zu Bl6dsinn wiederholter Bl6dsinn wirdintegrierendes sagen. Haiufig Momentunseres Denkens;bei einer gewissenStufeder mansichfiirdasKorrekte, interessiert VerniinfIntelligenz tige gar nichtmehr. Die Vernunft machtzu viel Grosses, Erhabenes zum An der Vernunft ruinierten wir Grotesken,Unm6glichen. Gott die umfassende Idiosynkrasie. (p. 86) To abandonreason for nonsense recovers the transcendent possibilities of religion or artistic form from the constraininglaws of causality or mimesis. B6hm speaks for all of the "characters"when he pontificates: Wenn manfreiundkfihn zumLebenin vielenFormen ist, wenn man den Tod als ein Vorurteil, einen Mangelan Phantasie das ansieht,danngeht manaufsPhantastische, inallen istdieUnermiidlichkeit Formen. m6glichen (p.87)

Aesthetics of Carl Einstein DONAHUE:

433

nonsenseverges on the fantastic and suggests, as a denialof Uninhibited reason,an infiniteandeternalworldbeyondnature.B6hmhimself worldly of sovereigncaprice: dies andthen comes back,the ultimate display
Ich zum Beispiellebe nur,weil ich michmir suggeriere; in Wirklichkeit binich tot. Sie wissen doch, ich lieBmich mir, als Reklamefir das einsargen.Aber ich versprach IdioteinWunder bisirgendein Unwirkliche herumzulaufen, an mirerlebt. (p. 87)

of orthe idealdisintegration as faras possibletoward B6hmhas proceeded


ganic identity for the sake of transcendence, but he cannot succeed to mira-

in hopes cle; instead,he can onlyreturnas "Reklame ffirdas Unwirkliche" as each character deformation of mediating the transcendence ofanother. Just so too does eachposithe negation of identity reinforces byothercharacters, the transcendent reinforce tiveshedding of naturalness, conversely, possibilities of the others. Finally,however, what B6hm says of Bebuquinis equally

"SiesindeinPhantast mitunzureichenden trueofhimself: Mitteln" (p. 81). in Bebuquin The disintegration of character andnarrative discontinuities the shapeof the narrative is dictated constitute narrator intrusions; implied but by the narrator's willful not by extrinsiclaws of mimeticcredibility, of to such laws. The narrator follows the aesthetic B6hm attempt disrupt in orderto adumbrate the miraculous a "neueLogik"(p. 76) for through and of amimea of nonsense constructive prose, logic apparent reintegration, The narrator, tic, spatialabstraction. however,can no more succeed, ultimeasured mately,thanthe "characters"; againstthe aimof transcendence the narrator mitunzureichenden too is a "Phantast Mitteln." miracle, through The "characters" reflect and qualifynot only one another,but also the
narrator;thus, they are awareof their own fictiveness: Bebuquincomplains:

"welchschlechterRomanstoff binich, da ich nie etwas tun werde, michin mirdrehe," in michkonwhereasEuphemia die ganzeGeschichte "mochte zentrieren." canor mustdisplay the same arbitrarTherefore,the narrator in orderto disintegrate iness of his "characters" assumedauctorial omniscience; he introduces a passage that requires naturalistic description and action: "Es [the automobile]rollte den Asphaltauf, glitschte fiber die Reflexe

derGaslampen undderletztenBummler. weiterschreiJetztmagd'Annunzio


ben" (p. 93). His caprice, however, as well as the spatial, leitmotifconstruction of the work both allude to the subjectivityof the author that precedes his fiction. Abstractprose attempts to eliminateor distortmimeticreferences to the naturalworld, as does abstract painting, in order to reflect instead both the subjectivity of the artist and a transcendent reality of form. The narrator'sintrusioninto the work includes him into his character'squest: in Bebuquin'swords, "Herr, gib mir ein Wunder,wir suchen es seit Kapitel dooms their quest to failure;Bebuquinends in madness and Einstein turns later in his career from the religion of art to radicalpolitics.22

eins" (p. 100). The deliverance of miracleremainsoutstanding for all and

434

THE GERMAN QUARTERLY

1988 Summer

turnto politics Einstein's reflectshisdisillusionment withthetranscendental aestheticshe hadformulated for himselfandelucidated in formal terms in Cubist and"Primitive" hisownsense of failure, art.Yethisdisillusionment, cannotobscurethe contribution of his writings in terms of 1) the influence of his narrative and on other writers suchas Carl Sternheim, theory practice Gottfried BennandHugoBall,amongothers;2) the significance of his art criticism in not only providing a unifiedaestheticunderstanding of (at the and"primitive" art forms,but also in promoting time) suspect avant-garde the acceptance of non-Western art in Europe;3) the development African of a critical based the on notionof spatialform,for reading methodology, worksof art, bothliterary andplastic/visual, in termsof theirintegral coherence of form, that is on their own terms, ratherthan as reflectionsof or of intellectual artifacts ethnographic importas anthropological historyas For these reasons Einstein "Geistesgeschichte." deserves, in bothdistinct continued as a central attention inourunderstandphasesofhis career, figure of German and Modernism. ing European
Notes See Sibylle CarlEinstein: Vandenhoeck Penkert, Monographie Beitrigezu einer (G6ttingen: & Ruprecht, radioeulogyof Buenaventura 1969),pp. 122-24.PenkertincludesEinstein's the Syndicalist leader(pp. 146-49). Durruti, 2 Penkert documents Einstein's in the November 1917Brusselsrevolution participation (pp. 81-86). Scumof theEarth(London, Koestler, 1955),citedby Penkert, 3 Cf. Arthur p. 126. causeda sensation whenit appeared, andit receiveda second however, 4 His Negerplastik, in 1920.His prestigeas an art criticled to his comprehensive printing by KurtWolff Verlag Bd. 16(Berlin: DieKunst des20.Jahrhunderts, Kunstgeschichte, 1926). PropylAen PropylAen, 5 Penkert, p. 91, letter to TonySimon-Wolfskehl. 6 Helmut Uber Literatur. Taschenbuch Hei3enbuttel, (Olten; Walter, 1966;Deutscher Aufsiatze 1972),p. 36. Verlag, Grimm directed attention to Einstein andestablished a solidconnection to Bennin 7 Reinhold his essay "Vathek in Deutschland: ZweiZwischenftille ohne Folgen?" Revuede Littirature 38 (1964),127-35.He admonishes Bennscholars thatthe connection to Einstein comparee, has been "bisher Rumold strMlich demonstrates authoritavernachlhissigt" (p. 133).Rainer debtto Einstein inGottfriedBenn undderExpressionismus tivelyBenn's Scriptor, (K6nigstein: 1982). in the volumeTheExperience and the essay is forthcoming of Modernity 8 Schulte-Sasse's Modernist Columbia Univ.Press), editedby DavidBathrick Text,(NewYork: andAndreas I thank Andreas forallowing meto readtheessaybefore its publication. Huyssen. Huyssen Abstraktion undEinfiihlung: zurStilpsychologie Worringer, Ein Beitrag (Miinchen: 9Wilhelm Piper,1919). to CarlEinstein.Werke. Band1 1908-1918, ed. Rolf-Peter Baacke(Berlin: 1o All references Medusa,1980). Africa" Rubin's "Primitivism" in 20th n In his essay "From (pp. 125-75)in William catalogue, andtheModern The Museum Art:Affinity of Modern Century (NewYork: of theTribal Art, Paudrat notes that "CarlEinstein's 1984),Jean-Louis was a book of prime Negerplastik not for its in importance, only butalso priority the historyof ideasaboutthe arts of Africa forthe relevance of its analyses andthe breadth of the illustrations it contains ... "(p. 151). Paudrat's withexactchronology, theintroduction anddissemination ofAfrican essayrecounts, in Europe andthe interestit beganto exciteamong artistsandcritics.Ofspecial sculpture

DONAHUE:Aestheticsof

CarlEinstein

435

art dealerJosephBrummer, who encouraged of the Hungarian interestis his discussion of African his collection its publication" and made available Einstein's project,"financed of the historical circumstances andintelforillustrations. Foradditional discussion sculptures ofAfrican Bois's article of theseearlyaccounts "Kahnweiler's lectual context art,see Yve-Alain in Representations LiteraturJost Hermand's 1987),pp. 33-68. In addition, (Spring Lesson," und Kunstwissenschaft: methodische seit 1900 (Stuttgart: Wechselbeziehungen wissenschaft forEinstein's contextsinart-historical relevant formalism, Metzler,1965) scholarship provides of Einstein. thoughhe makesno mention of Expressionism, see Fritz Martini, On intensityas a defining ed., Prosa des principle also Richard Brinkmann's Reclam,1970),p. 6. Compare essay (Stuttgart: Expressionismus in Der im Expressionismus unddie Moglichkeit "'Abstrakte' Lyrik symbolischer Aussage" undGestalten, ed. HansSteffen(G6ttingen: Vandenhoeck deutsche Formen Expressionismus: & Ruprecht, Brinkmann comments 1965),pp. 88-114. wenig(p. 88) that"EinGemeinsames stens ist die Intensitit,mit der sich all diese Leute, theoretisch oder praktisch, um die hat sich mit Sprachebemiihen.Kaumeine Epochein der deutschenLiteraturgeschichte mitsolchem mitderSprache, ihren solcher Pathos bis zumKrampf Leidenschaft, Moglichkeiten und Grenzen,ihrerKnechtschaft und Freiheit,ihrerSpr6digkeit und Hingabe, ihrer undEnthiillung Verschleierung herumgeschlagen." L Walter Sokelnotes rightly thatEinstein hereanticipates the central ideain Musil's DerMann inExpressionisohneEigenschaften (1930).Walter Sokel,"DieProsades Expressionismus," mus als Literatur: Rothe(Bern& Miinchen: Gesammelte Studien,ed. Wolfgang Francke, 1969)pp. 153-70. 14ForEinstein's on DADA, see Wilhelm influence ProsadesExpressionismus Krull, (Stuttgart: alsauchdadaistische Autoren "Sowohl Metzler, 1984),p. 35 onBebuquin: expressionistische berufensich in ihrentheoretischen Schriften auf diesen Romanessay, wenn es gilt, den zubestimmen." Fora moredetailed, Standort account eigenenliteraturgeschichtlichen general of these relations, see Hans-Georg Vom zumDadaismus Kemper, Expressionismus (K6nigstein:Scriptor, 1974). 1 Cf. Heidemarie Wilhelm CarlEinsteins(Miinchen: Oehm,Die Kunsttheorie Fink, 1976). Oehm'sstudyis the only fulltreatment of Einstein's workandits theoretical background. here of Bebuquin is to my knowledge the firstin English. I quotethe My brieftreatment passagesfromOehmthat directlysupportor shapedmy own thoughts.See pp. 101-02: dassekzessivteleologische Moment derZeitweitgehend "Indem wird... und ausgeschaltet zu einemSimultand von Beziehungen die Autonomie wird,wirdgleichzeitig 'verriumlicht' des Romans vonseineridentifizierend des Wortes gestirkt .... Die Abl6sung deskriptiven Funktion undseinegleichzeitige in die Potentialitdit einerm6glichen BeziehungsRiicknahme vielfalt machen es zumBestandteil eines totalin sichgeschlossenen, Verweikontextuellen das sich in der analogischen in der leitmotivischen sungsgeffiges, Abwandlung, Repetition, in der kontrastierenden etc. der Zeichen Variation realisiert." discussion as a "total" substantive andof 16 See Oehm's (pp. 103-05)of the nameBebuquin the formal in the novel:"Gerade of the motifof infantility aberdie Dissoziation significance der substanzhaften, in ein Simultand konstanten Persondes Bebuquin und analogischer kontrastierender die 'metamorphotische' Identittit zwischenBebuquin figuraler Komplexe, unddiesenmacht... das Strukturprinzip des Romans aus .... [D]erNameselbstdeutet dann bereitsan,dal3 es sichbei Bebuquin Person umeineKunstfigur umeinemultiple handelt, Weltnichtgibt, die vielmehr als Aquivalent einer also, die es in der empirischen artifiziell zeitlichen konstruiert des kubistischen wurde,so wie der Gegenstand subjektiv Anschauung Bildes die nichtillusionistische Rekonstruktion einer subjektiv raumlichen ist" Anschauung (p. 105). "Essais de psychologie "C'est (1881): p. 108,citesBourget's contemporaine" beaucoup 7 Oehm, de l'esprit tres intelligente alafoiset tres voluptueuse, moinsunedoctrine qu'une disposition toura tourvers les formesdiversesde la vie et nousconduit a nouspreter quinousincline a toutes ces formessans nousdonner a aucune." 18Cf. Oehm,p. 114:"DieVergeblichkeit dieses Unterfangens erkennt selbst, wenn Bebuquin er bald daraufsagt: 'Dieses kindliche Suchennach einem Anfang wirdmich schdidigen.' Dennoch das Experiment, durch die vorsitzliche seines Destruktion unternimmt Bebuquin Ich zu einemursprunglichen, Selbst zu gelangen,die jedoch empirischen sch6pferischen nichtzu dem vonihmerhofften Neuenfiihrt,sondern in Wahnsinn undParalyse endet."

436

THE GERMANQUARTERLY

Summer 1988

" ErnstMach, unddasVerhailtnis desPhysischen zum Psychischen DieAnalyse derEmpfindungen Gustav das Ichist Fischer,1922),pp. 20-21:"Nicht (1885).I quotethe ninthedition(Jena: .... DieElemente dasPrimnire, bilden dasIch .... sondern dieElemente (Empfindungen) Das Ich ist keineunver'inderliche, .... Das Ich ist bestimmtescharfbegrenzteEinheit unrettbar." " Oehm,p. 115. 21 ofjewelsback to Mallarme andFrench Oehm tracesthemetaphor (pp.117-18) Symbolism. 22Cf. Oehm turntoward a materialist pp. 159 ff. (PartTwoof her bookdescribesEinstein's of reality). conception

PROGRAMTITLE:

Concepts of History in German Cinema: An InternationalConference

DATES OF PROGRAM: October 27-30, 1988 PROGRAMLOCATION:The University of Illinoisat Chicago Chicago, Illinois DESCRIPTION: This four-dayconference provides a forum for interdisciplinary debate on German cinema's portrayalof history. It will focus on the cinematicinstitution,attitudes towards national heritage, public opinion about contemporary issues, and other factors that have influencedthe selection and treatment of topics from history. The conference will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday through Saturday, and from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Sunday.The programwill consist of paper presentations, film screenings, open discussions, and social activities. Presentations will address the followingtopics: concepts of agency * cinemaas agent in history * individual/national identity formationand historical subjects * the influence of modernity and post-modernity on the portrayalof history * history as metaphor for the present ... Roger Cook * David Culbert * Thomas Elsaesser * Gast * MichaelGeisler * SabineHake*Jan-ChrisWolfgang * Sheila Johnson * Anton Kaes * Gertrud Horak topher Koch * WolfgangNatter * Hans-Helmut Prinzler * Eric Rentschler * Eric Santner * Tom Saunders * Marc Silberman * Gabriele Weinberger* Other speakers, including three from the GDR, to be announced. The Department of German, College of LiberalArts and Sciences, The University of Illinoisat Chicago The University of Illinois at Chicago, Conferences and Institutes (M/C 607), 912 S. WoodSt., Chicago, IL 60612 Conference Registrar: (312) 996-5225

SPEAKERS:

SPONSOR: FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

Você também pode gostar