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World-Making and World-View: Narrative Devices and Their Function in the Novels of Eduard von Keyserling

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Abstract

Eduard von Keyserling’s novels show a great variety of narrative devices. Contrasts are pervasive, sometimes culminating in polarities, as frequently noted in Keyserling scholarship. Contrasts may in the course of a novel be modified, as by attenuation or intensification, or expansion and/or deepening. Contrasts may also be shown to be inappropriate in their initial appearance; reversals of certain components of contrasting complexes may occur. Significantly, whereas contrasts and polarities in their binary appearance usually tend to stress uniqueness and individuality, by the very fact of their recurrence, and their reference to other, similar binary opposites, these contrasts are shown to be indicative of a framework of similarity rather than contrast. Many other devices, mostly overlooked by critics, also occur, such as parallelism of figures and situations, doubling of characters, the use of leitmotifs and symbols. They, too, become recognizable as tending towards sameness rather than difference. Moreover, the play with identities and variants, with leitmotifs, with linguistic links and echoes, with borrowings and anticipations, and, especially in the later novels, with symbols, is repeated among the novels themselves. Intertextuality therefore eventually takes precedence over contextuality, and hence there is established a universe which is a coherent one and, though limited in space and time, complete in itself. This universe is one inspired by a Weltanschauung in which determinism appears to prevail over freedom of action; the analysis of structural and narrative elements undertaken here reveals their function as delineating and supporting this world-view. To see the characteristic of Keyserling’s art, therefore, as showing a divorce from the world as constituted, or an assessment of Keyserling’s novels as instances of a non-committal art for art’s sake, is ill conceived. That narrative patterns are undeniably employed in the cause of novelistic and aesthetic considerations by no means implies that they are not at the same time employed to advance a significant, though ambivalent view of the world.

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Notes

  1. ‘It is a commonplace that Keyserling’s range of themes is exceedingly modest, his setting and subject matter uniform and his stories ‘ungedanklich’’ (McCormick, 23).

  2. “… within this range […] there is a richness of presentation that permits us to call his fiction one of the true common denominators of fin de siècle “(McCormick, 23).

  3. Richard Weber writes: “the tidiness of Keyserling’s narrative structure has long been overlooked or at best greatly subordinated to his descriptive talents and the latent world-view they might reveal” (327). A typical example of how most critics proceed is Hans Baumann, who suggests the importance of “kompositorische Prinzipien” (42) in Abendliche Häuser. but then does not follow up on his claim.

  4. Although Keyserling uses the term Erzählung besides the designation Roman, for our purposes the distinction is negligible.

  5. Richard Brinkmann considers it ‘die erste Erzählung Keyserlings von gewissem Rang’ (216); cf. also Angela Schulz, 17.

  6. The sub-title, ‘eine Schlossgeschichte’ itself already hints at a contrast—that between a well-defined, closed-off location, removed from the wider world: ‘Die Schauplätze der Erzählungen und Romane Keyserlings stellen Enklaven dar, die von der umgebenden Außenwelt in mehrfacher Hinsicht isoliert sind’ (Sturies, 41).

  7. Sturies, 130–138. Cf. Weber (1990) for a full discussion of this important complex.

  8. On this topic, see Schwarz for a full discussion.

  9. Eger, 53ff; Sturies, 53 ff.; Weber 84–87ff.

  10. What Angela Schulz states about Keyserling’s late novels applies in essence also to his earlier ones such as Beate und Mareile, namely that ‘Keyserling diese männlichen Projektionen zwar aufnahm und vorführte, sie auf seine unverwechselbare, leise Art aber auch ridikülisierte’ (Schulz, 33). Again, Steinhilber's comment on Keyserling's later works applies here: ‘daß die Realität zwar durch einen — nie direkt hervortretenden, und deshalb den Schein der ‘Objektivität erweckenden’— ‘Erzähler’vermittelt, gleichzeitig aber als Produkt eines nicht mit diesem identischen Subjekt ausgegeben wird’ (Weber, 97). Cf. also Pusey III, 273–81. With respect to Keyserling’s particular stance as ‘narrator’ much work needs still to be done.

  11. ‘die bürgerliche Mareile [unterscheidet sich] von den aristokratischen Schöngeistern nicht sonderlich’ (Schulz, 97); cf. also Weber: ‘it seems obvious […] that Mareile is not nearly the same type of woman as Eve Mankow and hence should not be included in the same category’ (Weber, 86).

  12. Further devices also point to the highly constructed quality of this novel. Mareile’s twice repeated arrival in the village in each case initiates a narrative phase. Keyserling uses repetition in most of his novels; it has the same effect as the doubling of a character and his or her role, but it is usually accompanied by some variation or intensification, as indeed happens here, when on her third visit a carriage is finally waiting for her—as it turns out, not a good omen, since this is her last visit.

  13. These variations clearly indicate that Angela Schulz’s attempt to interpret the motif merely as a ‘Spielart des Müßiggangs’ (126) is inadequate.

  14. But: ‘Wie in fast allen Werken Keyserlings verweist sich die Berührung der beiden fremden Welten als todbringend und der Ausbruch aus der festgefügten Welt des Adels als unmöglich’ (Haenicke, 20).

  15. ‘Man sagt Leidenschaft oder Liebe, und dann glauben die Frauen, das was sie für unreinlich halten, sei nun plötzlich eine feine Sache’ (54).

  16. Schulz writes that Werner shares many of the characteristics of the aristocratic world, and ‘verkörpert […] keineswegs der Schloßwelt entgegengesetzte Werte’ (Schu1z, 24); he has the same pretensions, addictions and desires, and is somewhat of a ‘Streber’. According to Sturies, on the other hand, Werner is a ‘Botschafter’ of the outside world, while at the same time being a ‘Gefangener seiner Moral’ (Sturies, 145).

  17. In this respect, only Fürstinnen compares. On the topic of symbolism in Keyserling’s work, especially Wonderley needs to be consulted.

  18. ‘[W]ir müssen unser Leben einteilen,’ Grill complains, ‘regelmäßige Beschäftigung, Haushalt, eine Alltäglichkeit müssen wir haben, der ewige Feiertag macht uns krank,’ and later: ‘das haben wir nötig, so eine selbstgeschaffene Bürgerlichkeit, in die man sich fest einschließt’ (19). It is a way of life Doralice despises.

  19. Although Doralice momentarily experiences ‘das ‘stille Einhergehen neben diesem starken, sanften Mann’ as ‘Geborgenheit,’ this proves to be an illusion, and the ‘Stunde der großen Aussprache, der Versöhnung’ never takes place (113). Schulz argues against Steinhilber’s claims that the lack of communication between Doralice and Hans is indicative of a general scepticism about the possibility of language (Steinhilber, 152); rather, she writes, it is a deliberate attempt to avoid communication (Schulz, 66). A similar moment occurs, as will be seen, at one point in the novel Fürstinnen.

  20. I disagree with Sturies’contention that Doralice experiences ‘den eigenen Schmerz nach dem Tode ihres Mannes als den letzten Ort persönlicher Integrität’ (Sturies, 142). As we shall see, the parallel with Fastrade, in Abendliche Häuser suggests that this self-centered concern is a way of glossing over irreconcilable contraries.

  21. ‘Wie in fast allen Werken Keyserlings verweist sich die Berührung der beiden fremden Welten als todbringend und der Ausbruch aus der festgefügten Welt des Adels als unmöglich (Haenicke, 20).

  22. These passages do not at all bear out Schulz’s contention that Keyserling always presents nature as ‘Vorzimmer des Schlosses’ (Schulz, 21), or that in general nature is ‘ent-natürlichte Natur’ (Schulz, 18).

  23. ‘[Keyserlings] Naturschilderungen haben selten epischen Selbstzweck […] sondern sie müssen immer in Beziehung zu der Romanfigur, die sie erlebt, und als Darstellung ihrer Seelenlage verstanden werden’ (Baumann, 39).

  24. ‘Die Frau ist ihm ein Mittel, austauschbar, sofern sie ihm nur sinnlichen Genuß und damit Vergessen schenkt’(Baumann, 66). It is revealing how he sees his sexual drive as ‘Bestie’ (38).

  25. His main flaw, however, is gambling, an activity which is in danger of destroying the future of his estate.

  26. ‘Während ihm die “Weiber” bisher bloß als Lustobjekte gefügig gewesen sind,tritt die Verlobte nun als autonomes Gegenüber auf ihn zu’ (Sturies, 124).

  27. ‘Der Blick Fastrades auf ihren männlichen Partner ist im gesamten Text von ihrem Bedürfnis nach Autonomie und Distanz geprägt’ (Sturies, 123).

  28. The question of irony in Keyserling, which was first discussed by Azzone-Zweifel (191–214), and to which Sturies has devoted an important part of his discussion, cannot be dealt with adequately in this context. Obviously, irony is an important strategy, at a par with the narrative strategies dealt with here.

  29. Baumann writes: ‘So zärtlich und hingebend ist sie dem Lebenden nie begegnet’ (Baumann, 81), but his explanation, ‘Er hat die verhaßte Gegenständlichkeit verloren’ is somewhat doubtful; rather, I would suggest that the parallel with Wellen gives us a clue.

  30. … ein sechzehnjähriges Mädchen im schlecht gemachten grünen Kleide, das reiche, schwarze Haar lockte sich ein wenig wild, und das runde Gesicht mit den großen schwarzen Augen, den breiten, roten Lippen hatte einen so wunderbaren Glanz lachenden jugendlichen Lebens, daß Marie es erstaunt ansah und fühlte, wie das Herz ihr heiß wurde von einer Bewunderung, die fast schmerzhaft war’ (52).

  31. Schulz argues: ‘In dem Moment, da der Graf sich nicht mehr wie bisher mit den Normen des Schloßlebens identifizieren kann, empfindet er den gesellschaftlich etablierten Sprachkodex […] als unzulänglich und befremdlich’ (Schulz, 67). I would argue that Streith’s silence is a (perhaps subconscious) revolt, rather than an inability to speak. This interpretation would also go against Steinhilber’s contention that this particular silence expresses ‘Sprachskepsis’ (Steinhilber, 152).

  32. The courage to be oneself is given to a third contrast figure accompanying Marie, that of the servant girl Emilie, one character that is free from ‘Fürstenerziehung.’ Like Eve Mankow in Beate und Mareile, Emilie stands for unrestricted, frank sexuality, and as such she is the envy of Marie. Marie’s fear of intimacy is like Fastrade’s in Abendliche Häuser, and it has a similar effect: that of chasing her lover into the arms of a more forthrightly sensual woman. Ultimately, of course, it is with Hilda, rather than with Emilie, that Felix leaves, proving that courage is not necessarily limited to those creatures routinely placed in a polar opposition to the representatives of the aristocratic world. Felix manages to break out into the ‘Weite,’ albeit under problematic circumstances.

  33. ‘Das rasche Sterben an einer nicht näher definierten Krankheit erweist sich für ihn als 'günstiger’ Ausweg aus dem Dilemma’ (Schulz, 67).

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  1. Victoria College, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    Augustinus P. Dierick

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I borrow the term ‘World-making’ from Mario Valdés (see below).

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Dierick, A.P. World-Making and World-View: Narrative Devices and Their Function in the Novels of Eduard von Keyserling. Neophilologus 104, 217–233 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11061-020-09638-6

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