Döblin's Destiny: The Author of Schicksalsreise as Christian, Jew and German

Abstract

This manuscript offers an interpretation of Döblin's Schicksalsreise in regard to authorial identity. Schicksalsreise appeared in 1949, but long suffered from critical neglect. Now a few analyses of the work exist and effectively explicate its "confession" or "conversion" theme. The problem with this analytical approach is that by overemphasizing the confessional narrative, it misses other features of the book. Schicksalsreise reveals a complex author – not only a Christian convert, but a "former" Jew who has not turned his back altogether on Jewish political concerns and, also, a German who is drawn back to postwar Berlin and whose diction betrays the excitement of hearing his native language spoken on native soil. Important as religio is to Schicksalsreise, the work does not invite an interpretation that reduces these other elements to religious terms. The manuscript relies on a recent study by Roland Dollinger, who has represented Döblin as an "epic" writer constructing his works out of "fragments" – a perspective that is suited to Schicksalsreise and its "fragmentary" author. It is suggested that "exile" supplies a frame of reference in which to view the ambivalence of Döblin's identity.