In Der Verschollene, Franz Kafka examines whether the concept of self-realization, as developed in the tradition of the Bildungsroman since Goethe, can still exist in the complex world of the 20th century. My article reflects on metaphors of order and disorder that permeate the novel and are contrasted in different social spaces along Karl Roßmann’s educational path. By means of this tension, Kafka focuses on the crisis of free individuality experienced in modern civilization, in which repressive principles of reason determine the social order. My goal is to show how Kafka updates the genre tradition by formulating a modern but grim idea of ‘Bildung.’ (FB)
{"title":"The Limitation of Bildung—On the Relation of Reason and Dis/Order in Franz Kafka’s Der Verschollene","authors":"F. Bauer","doi":"10.3368/m.114.4.537","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3368/m.114.4.537","url":null,"abstract":"In Der Verschollene, Franz Kafka examines whether the concept of self-realization, as developed in the tradition of the Bildungsroman since Goethe, can still exist in the complex world of the 20th century. My article reflects on metaphors of order and disorder that permeate the novel and are contrasted in different social spaces along Karl Roßmann’s educational path. By means of this tension, Kafka focuses on the crisis of free individuality experienced in modern civilization, in which repressive principles of reason determine the social order. My goal is to show how Kafka updates the genre tradition by formulating a modern but grim idea of ‘Bildung.’ (FB)","PeriodicalId":54028,"journal":{"name":"Monatshefte","volume":"114 1","pages":"537 - 550"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-12-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44720421","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Preface from the Special Issue Editors","authors":"Kyle Frackman, Ervin Malakaj","doi":"10.3368/m.114.3.vii","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3368/m.114.3.vii","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":54028,"journal":{"name":"Monatshefte","volume":"114 1","pages":"vii - viii"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43272361","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Photographic portraits of queer subjects from the early 20th century—shaped by early medical-scientific and legal practices—have often been identified with hegemonic ways of seeing, even when they re restaged in the present. In this article we argue that bringing an ethics of attentiveness to the analysis of such photographs reveals not only how embodied subjectivities were captured by the photographer’s lens, but also how our own feelings and sense of self shape our investments in “touching” the queer past. Attending to such “quiet frequencies” (Campt) of the queer photographic archive llows us to embrace a wide range of emotions, from shame, desire, and grief to desire, exhibitionism, and self-assurance. We argue that through their portraits, the queer subjects examined in our article ay claim to a form of “deviant dwelling” that incorporates a tension between pragmatism, conformity, and refusal. This tension resonates into the present, as curators and artists recirculate and cite archival genres of queer portraiture. In doing so, they create moments of transtemporal queer touch between today’s audiences and historical subjects, albeit in ways that do not always sit comfortably with contemporary attempts at queer world-making. (BL/KS)
{"title":"An Ethics of Attentiveness: Photographic Portraits and Deviant Dwelling in German Queer and Trans Archives","authors":"B. Lang, Katie Sutton","doi":"10.3368/m.114.3.363","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3368/m.114.3.363","url":null,"abstract":"Photographic portraits of queer subjects from the early 20th century—shaped by early medical-scientific and legal practices—have often been identified with hegemonic ways of seeing, even when they re restaged in the present. In this article we argue that bringing an ethics of attentiveness to the analysis of such photographs reveals not only how embodied subjectivities were captured by the photographer’s lens, but also how our own feelings and sense of self shape our investments in “touching” the queer past. Attending to such “quiet frequencies” (Campt) of the queer photographic archive llows us to embrace a wide range of emotions, from shame, desire, and grief to desire, exhibitionism, and self-assurance. We argue that through their portraits, the queer subjects examined in our article ay claim to a form of “deviant dwelling” that incorporates a tension between pragmatism, conformity, and refusal. This tension resonates into the present, as curators and artists recirculate and cite archival genres of queer portraiture. In doing so, they create moments of transtemporal queer touch between today’s audiences and historical subjects, albeit in ways that do not always sit comfortably with contemporary attempts at queer world-making. (BL/KS)","PeriodicalId":54028,"journal":{"name":"Monatshefte","volume":"114 1","pages":"363 - 383"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-11-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49149190","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Julius Evola, the Italian fascist philosopher who has become a touchstone for far-right thinking throughout the world, has surprising connections to figures in the early German homosexual emancipation movement. From Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, he draws on the idea that men can have female souls and women can have male souls. From Otto Weininger, he adapts the idea of taking this kind of gender inversion and applying it to race. From Hans Blu¨her, he draws on the glorification of the Ma¨nnerbund, an erotically bonded group of men, as the basic building block of society. The unexpected queer roots of alt-right thinking help to explain the presence of gay men and women on the far right, outlining a reactionary queer genealogy that contrasts with liberal progressive LGBTQ+ histories. (RDT).
{"title":"Queer German Roots of the Alt-Right: Ulrichs, Weininger, Blüher—and Evola","authors":"R. Tobin","doi":"10.3368/m.114.3.470","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3368/m.114.3.470","url":null,"abstract":"Julius Evola, the Italian fascist philosopher who has become a touchstone for far-right thinking throughout the world, has surprising connections to figures in the early German homosexual emancipation movement. From Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, he draws on the idea that men can have female souls and women can have male souls. From Otto Weininger, he adapts the idea of taking this kind of gender inversion and applying it to race. From Hans Blu¨her, he draws on the glorification of the Ma¨nnerbund, an erotically bonded group of men, as the basic building block of society. The unexpected queer roots of alt-right thinking help to explain the presence of gay men and women on the far right, outlining a reactionary queer genealogy that contrasts with liberal progressive LGBTQ+ histories. (RDT).","PeriodicalId":54028,"journal":{"name":"Monatshefte","volume":"114 1","pages":"470 - 488"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-11-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"69652721","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article explores the ways in which sadomasochism (S/M) performs on the level of content and form in Robert Musil’s Die Verwirrungen des Zo¨glings To¨rless (1906). The interconnecting yet disjointed literary tableaux in To¨rless are drawn together through tensions developed by the interplay between what Nicole McCleese calls sadistic time (accelerated and authoritative narrative temporality) and masochistic time (a poetics of delay, suspense, and waiting). Reading sadism and masochism across the narrative exposes the multivariant form of S/M, one that achieves both literalized and symbolic ends. This reading is situated squarely within queer interpretations of sadomasochism, suggesting that, despite the authorial narrator’s claims, To¨rless’s path after the cadet school can only be read as a queer phenomenological turn. The reading of sadomasochism in To¨rless is tied to a metacommentary, concerned with the anxieties associated with modernity. (AM)
本文探讨了罗伯特·穆西尔（Robert Musil）的《死亡》（Die Verwirrungen des Zo¨glings To¨rless）（1906）中施虐受虐（S/M）在内容和形式层面上的表现方式。妮可·麦克莱斯（Nicole McCleese）所说的虐待狂时间（加速而权威的叙事时间性）和受虐狂时间（延迟、悬疑和等待的诗学）之间的相互作用形成了紧张关系，从而将《无主》中相互联系但又不连贯的文学画面拼凑在一起。在整个叙事中阅读虐待狂和受虐狂暴露了S/M的多种形式，一种既达到文学目的又达到象征目的的形式。这种解读完全是对施虐受虐的奇怪解读，这表明，尽管作者的叙述者声称，托利斯在军校毕业后的道路只能被解读为一种奇怪的现象学转向。《无主》中对施虐受虐的解读与元商业联系在一起，关注与现代性相关的焦虑。（上午）
{"title":"The Queer Temporalities of Sadomasochism in Robert Musil’s Törless","authors":"A. Merritt","doi":"10.3368/m.114.3.384","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3368/m.114.3.384","url":null,"abstract":"This article explores the ways in which sadomasochism (S/M) performs on the level of content and form in Robert Musil’s Die Verwirrungen des Zo¨glings To¨rless (1906). The interconnecting yet disjointed literary tableaux in To¨rless are drawn together through tensions developed by the interplay between what Nicole McCleese calls sadistic time (accelerated and authoritative narrative temporality) and masochistic time (a poetics of delay, suspense, and waiting). Reading sadism and masochism across the narrative exposes the multivariant form of S/M, one that achieves both literalized and symbolic ends. This reading is situated squarely within queer interpretations of sadomasochism, suggesting that, despite the authorial narrator’s claims, To¨rless’s path after the cadet school can only be read as a queer phenomenological turn. The reading of sadomasochism in To¨rless is tied to a metacommentary, concerned with the anxieties associated with modernity. (AM)","PeriodicalId":54028,"journal":{"name":"Monatshefte","volume":"114 1","pages":"384 - 406"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-11-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45732187","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article brings the discussion of queer temporalities to a field from which it has been strikingly absent: Remembrance after National Socialism. Taking a cue from Yael Bartana’s strategy of “transhistorical queering” in her 2021 piece Malka Germania, the study investigates the potential of queer temporalities for memory in the wake of National Socialism by focusing on two stylistically divergent works: Ulrike Ottinger’s film Freak Orlando (1981) that weaves together a network of stories set against frameworks of institutionalized violence and May Ayim’s poem “deutschland im herbst” (1992) that refracts the history of National Socialism through contemporary realities of racist violence in the 1990s, remembering injustices toward gays and lesbians along the way. In both the film and the poem, a temporally queer aesthetic destabilizes linear notions of remembrance that consider the past to be past, and challenges us to reimagine a form of memory in the wake of National Socialism that proceeds through practices of solidarity and through an active interrogation of the present. (SS)
{"title":"Untimely Belongings: Queer Temporalities in the Wake of National Socialism","authors":"Simone Stirner","doi":"10.3368/m.114.3.426","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3368/m.114.3.426","url":null,"abstract":"This article brings the discussion of queer temporalities to a field from which it has been strikingly absent: Remembrance after National Socialism. Taking a cue from Yael Bartana’s strategy of “transhistorical queering” in her 2021 piece Malka Germania, the study investigates the potential of queer temporalities for memory in the wake of National Socialism by focusing on two stylistically divergent works: Ulrike Ottinger’s film Freak Orlando (1981) that weaves together a network of stories set against frameworks of institutionalized violence and May Ayim’s poem “deutschland im herbst” (1992) that refracts the history of National Socialism through contemporary realities of racist violence in the 1990s, remembering injustices toward gays and lesbians along the way. In both the film and the poem, a temporally queer aesthetic destabilizes linear notions of remembrance that consider the past to be past, and challenges us to reimagine a form of memory in the wake of National Socialism that proceeds through practices of solidarity and through an active interrogation of the present. (SS)","PeriodicalId":54028,"journal":{"name":"Monatshefte","volume":"114 1","pages":"426 - 447"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-11-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43720080","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In their 2022 minicomic titled “Feindselig” (Hostile), the Munich-based nonbinary nonfictional comics and graphic novelist Illi Anna Heger casts into sharp relief how structures of belonging informing urban design support some forms of life and living at the cost of others.1 Across eleven panels, Heger shows how hostile designs thwart attempts by animals and humans to dwell in public settings at particular times and in particular ways. In one panel, a pigeon aims to land on one of two newspaper dispensers in one frame (Fig. 1). In another, a pigeon struggles to alight on a lamp bracket outfitted with landing spikes. Each frame contains one half of a sentence, the whole of which links the two images: “Was für manche Frieden ist, / ist für andere Ausschluss” (What is peace for some / is exclusion for others). The next set of frames includes humans. The largest frame of eleven features a park populated by six humans variously taking up space (Fig. 2). Some sit on benches; one person sleeps on one, while pigeons roam about. The next frame features a park bench outfitted with a seat divider to prevent people from lying on it. As was the case with the previous two frames, these two are linked by a sentence: “nicht willkommen zu sein macht alles schwerer/und defensive Architektur beschränkt wie der öffentliche Raum genutzt werden kann” (being unwelcome makes everything more difficult, / and defensive architecture limits how public space can be used).
慕尼黑的非二元非虚构漫画和图画小说家伊利·安娜·海格(Illi Anna Heger)在其2022年的迷你漫画《敌对》(Feindselig)中，生动地展现了归属感结构如何为城市设计提供信息，支持某些形式的生活，并以牺牲其他形式的生活为代价在11个展板中，Heger展示了敌对的设计如何阻碍动物和人类在特定时间以特定方式居住在公共场所。在一个展板中，一只鸽子的目标是降落在一个框架中的两个报纸分发器中的一个上(图1)。在另一个展板中，一只鸽子挣扎着降落在装有着陆钉的灯支架上。每一帧都包含半个句子，整个句子将两幅图像连接起来:“Was f r manche Frieden ist， / ist f r andere Ausschluss”(对一些人来说是和平，对另一些人来说是排斥)。下一组框架包括人类。最大的一幅11人的画面描绘了一个公园，里面住着6个人，他们占据着不同的空间(图2)。一个人睡在上面，鸽子在上面游荡。下一个框架是一个公园长凳，配备了座位分隔器，以防止人们躺在上面。与前两个框架的情况一样，这两个框架由一句话联系在一起:“nicht willkommen zu sein macht alles schwerer/und defensive Architektur beschränkt wie der öffentliche Raum genutzt werden kann”(不受欢迎使一切变得更加困难，/而防御性建筑限制了公共空间的使用方式)。
{"title":"Introduction: Approaches to Queer Temporalities in German Studies","authors":"Kyle Frackman, Ervin Malakaj","doi":"10.3368/m.114.3.353","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3368/m.114.3.353","url":null,"abstract":"In their 2022 minicomic titled “Feindselig” (Hostile), the Munich-based nonbinary nonfictional comics and graphic novelist Illi Anna Heger casts into sharp relief how structures of belonging informing urban design support some forms of life and living at the cost of others.1 Across eleven panels, Heger shows how hostile designs thwart attempts by animals and humans to dwell in public settings at particular times and in particular ways. In one panel, a pigeon aims to land on one of two newspaper dispensers in one frame (Fig. 1). In another, a pigeon struggles to alight on a lamp bracket outfitted with landing spikes. Each frame contains one half of a sentence, the whole of which links the two images: “Was für manche Frieden ist, / ist für andere Ausschluss” (What is peace for some / is exclusion for others). The next set of frames includes humans. The largest frame of eleven features a park populated by six humans variously taking up space (Fig. 2). Some sit on benches; one person sleeps on one, while pigeons roam about. The next frame features a park bench outfitted with a seat divider to prevent people from lying on it. As was the case with the previous two frames, these two are linked by a sentence: “nicht willkommen zu sein macht alles schwerer/und defensive Architektur beschränkt wie der öffentliche Raum genutzt werden kann” (being unwelcome makes everything more difficult, / and defensive architecture limits how public space can be used).","PeriodicalId":54028,"journal":{"name":"Monatshefte","volume":"114 1","pages":"353 - 362"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-11-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44084716","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article analyzes two contemporary German films for their use of slow aesthetic techniques and their engagement with displays of and challenges to notions of intimacy. Appealing to the critical concept of “precarious intimacies,” the article argues that Sturmland (2014, directed by A´ da´m Csa´szi) and Neubau (2020, directed by Johannes Maria Schmit) employ techniques of slow cinema to manipulate the films’ use, and the audience’s perception, of queer temporality. The two films are part of a transnational new wave of queer cinema first identified in 2012 and show hallmarks of slow cinema like long takes, elliptical dialog, sparse non-diegetic soundtracks, and other elements that foster a contemplative tone. Sturmland and Neubau concentrate on diverse intimate circumstances in their plots, which demonstrate that both the narrative and the medium have ramifications for perceptions of queer potential, eroticism, non-conforming gender, and physical expressions of desire. (KF)
本文分析了两部当代德国电影对缓慢美学技巧的运用，以及它们对亲密概念的展示和挑战。这篇文章呼吁“不稳定的亲密关系”这一批判性概念，认为Sturmland（2014年，A´da´m Csa´szi执导）和Neubau（2020年，Johannes Maria Schmit执导）采用慢电影技术来操纵电影对酷儿时间性的使用和观众对酷儿的感知。这两部电影是2012年首次发现的新一轮跨国酷儿电影浪潮的一部分，展现了慢电影的特点，如长镜头、椭圆形对话、稀疏的非数字配乐，以及其他培养沉思基调的元素。Sturmland和Neubau在他们的情节中专注于不同的亲密环境，这表明叙事和媒介都会对酷儿潜力、色情、不合性别和欲望的身体表达产生影响。（KF）
{"title":"Slow Aesthetics, Fraught Intimacy, and Queer Time in the German Queer New Wave: Sturmland and Neubau","authors":"Kyle Frackman","doi":"10.3368/m.114.3.448","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3368/m.114.3.448","url":null,"abstract":"This article analyzes two contemporary German films for their use of slow aesthetic techniques and their engagement with displays of and challenges to notions of intimacy. Appealing to the critical concept of “precarious intimacies,” the article argues that Sturmland (2014, directed by A´ da´m Csa´szi) and Neubau (2020, directed by Johannes Maria Schmit) employ techniques of slow cinema to manipulate the films’ use, and the audience’s perception, of queer temporality. The two films are part of a transnational new wave of queer cinema first identified in 2012 and show hallmarks of slow cinema like long takes, elliptical dialog, sparse non-diegetic soundtracks, and other elements that foster a contemplative tone. Sturmland and Neubau concentrate on diverse intimate circumstances in their plots, which demonstrate that both the narrative and the medium have ramifications for perceptions of queer potential, eroticism, non-conforming gender, and physical expressions of desire. (KF)","PeriodicalId":54028,"journal":{"name":"Monatshefte","volume":"114 1","pages":"448 - 469"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-11-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48056672","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Filmversion von 1917, die in ihrer reizvollen Architektur wie in ihren Trickund Lichteffekten bereits charakteristische Merkmale seines späteren Schaffens aufweist. Da die Herausgeber_innen in ihrer Einleitung den Film lediglich nennen (10), ihn jedoch mit keiner Silbe kommentieren, ist davon auszugehen, dass ihnen seine Überlieferung nicht bekannt war. Dies ändert jedoch nichts an der Feststellung, dass die Paul-Leni-Forschung mit diesem Buch auf einen Schlag auf einen neuen Stand gehoben wurde.
{"title":"Sex, Politics, and Comedy: The Transnational Cinema of Ernst Lubitsch. By Rick McCormick. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2020. 372 pages + 30 b/w images. $95.00 hardcover, $48.00 paperback.","authors":"Alan Lareau","doi":"10.3368/m.114.2.331","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3368/m.114.2.331","url":null,"abstract":"Filmversion von 1917, die in ihrer reizvollen Architektur wie in ihren Trickund Lichteffekten bereits charakteristische Merkmale seines späteren Schaffens aufweist. Da die Herausgeber_innen in ihrer Einleitung den Film lediglich nennen (10), ihn jedoch mit keiner Silbe kommentieren, ist davon auszugehen, dass ihnen seine Überlieferung nicht bekannt war. Dies ändert jedoch nichts an der Feststellung, dass die Paul-Leni-Forschung mit diesem Buch auf einen Schlag auf einen neuen Stand gehoben wurde.","PeriodicalId":54028,"journal":{"name":"Monatshefte","volume":"114 1","pages":"331 - 333"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46953813","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
As Rainer Maria Rilke began to spend more time in Paris around 1900, his contact with Paul Cézanne’s still lifes and his time working as Auguste Rodin’s secretary led him to develop a sophisticated theory of how the artist should relate to the world of things.1 After his work on The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge in 1904, Rilke began to express his conception of the artist’s relation to things more concretely through the concept of love. In a letter to an anonymous female friend in August of 1920, Rilke reflected back upon the way that Malte helped shape his relation to things, writing: “Besides, it is he [Malte] who obliges me to continue my devotion, who asks me to love all the things I want to shape with all my faculties of love” (Briefe 246). He continues to write that these things present the poet with a series of questions: “Are you free? Are you ready to consecrate all your love to me […] all the love that exists on earth?”2 (Briefe 246). For Rilke, the role of the artist was not a matter of expressing one’s genius, but rather, to form an attentive, loving response to the world of things. The ability to respond to things in this way is framed here as freedom, and this capacity to love things acts as a litmus test for the artist to determine whether or not they are free. Rilke’s conception inverts the typical, 19th-century relation between the artist and thing: to allow the thing to speak, to allow the thing to question the status of the supposedly autonomous artist. In his New Poems, this inversion is almost omnipresent, not limited to artists and the things they seek to represent, but more generally we find a reversal of the power dynamics between the subject and object. Things are brought to life in Rilke’s poems and, as their invisible powers are revealed, they begin to threaten their perceivers.3
{"title":"Love of Things: Reconsidering Adorno’s Criticism of Rilke","authors":"L. Hoffman","doi":"10.3368/m.114.2.242","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3368/m.114.2.242","url":null,"abstract":"As Rainer Maria Rilke began to spend more time in Paris around 1900, his contact with Paul Cézanne’s still lifes and his time working as Auguste Rodin’s secretary led him to develop a sophisticated theory of how the artist should relate to the world of things.1 After his work on The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge in 1904, Rilke began to express his conception of the artist’s relation to things more concretely through the concept of love. In a letter to an anonymous female friend in August of 1920, Rilke reflected back upon the way that Malte helped shape his relation to things, writing: “Besides, it is he [Malte] who obliges me to continue my devotion, who asks me to love all the things I want to shape with all my faculties of love” (Briefe 246). He continues to write that these things present the poet with a series of questions: “Are you free? Are you ready to consecrate all your love to me […] all the love that exists on earth?”2 (Briefe 246). For Rilke, the role of the artist was not a matter of expressing one’s genius, but rather, to form an attentive, loving response to the world of things. The ability to respond to things in this way is framed here as freedom, and this capacity to love things acts as a litmus test for the artist to determine whether or not they are free. Rilke’s conception inverts the typical, 19th-century relation between the artist and thing: to allow the thing to speak, to allow the thing to question the status of the supposedly autonomous artist. In his New Poems, this inversion is almost omnipresent, not limited to artists and the things they seek to represent, but more generally we find a reversal of the power dynamics between the subject and object. Things are brought to life in Rilke’s poems and, as their invisible powers are revealed, they begin to threaten their perceivers.3","PeriodicalId":54028,"journal":{"name":"Monatshefte","volume":"114 1","pages":"242 - 261"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45381870","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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