Zwischen Metaphysik und Politik: Thomas Manns Roman Joseph und seine Bruder in seiner Zeit (Studien zur deutschen Literatur; Bd. 147)
2002; Wiley; Volume: 75; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/3072700
ISSN1756-1183
Autores Tópico(s)Philosophy and Historical Thought
ResumoWolters, Dierk Zwischen Metaphysik and Politik: Thomas Manns Roman Joseph and seine Bruder seiner Zeit (Studien zur deutschen Literatur; Bd. 147). Tubingen: Niemeyer, 1998. vi + 331 pp. DM 96.00 paperback. Mann's tetralogy Joseph and seine Brider was written from 1926 to 1942, the most tumultuous period of his life, corresponding with the political unraveling of the Weimar Republic and Hitler's ascent to absolute power. It was during this period that Mann finally spoke out publicly against the Hitler regime and became the leading intellectual representative of German exiles, which burdened him with einer Unmenge politischer Verpflichtungen (1). On the face of it one could interpret the Joseph-novel as a retreat from the times into an refuge, after all, Mann himself set the stage for this with his earlier Betrachtungen eines Unpolitischen and his rather late condemnation of Hitler, but this is clearly not Wolters's view. Wolters defends the thesis that the Joseph-novel is Auseinandersetzung mit der Zeitgeschichte, bewuBte Opposition (1). Quite aware of the challenge involved defending his thesis, Wolters acknowledges that the political content of this seemingly novel can only be appreciated when the legacy of Schopenhauer is examined detail, because Schopenhauer was essentially the formative influence on Mann's attitude (3). So, for example, Wolters must argue that despite Schopenhauer's nihilistic, fatalistic disavowal of the ideal of progress, Mann's novel is politically progressive despite its Schopenhauerian basis (4). The practical objective for Mann involved establishing an immanent (diesseitiges) conception of freedom the place of a deterministic and purely metaphysical one (4): All these Fragen schlieBlich munden eine: Frage each der Konzeption des Joseph-Romans, Geschichtsphilosophie, zeitgeschichtliches Engagement and Asthetik umfaBt (5). Wolters approaches Mann as a writer of novels, not as a political writer, but he shows us from the start how nearly impossible it was for Mann to be apolitical or unpolitical by defining the cultural concerns that had motivated Mann's critique of the times. First there was the profanization of the world and the hegemony of the Enlightenment intellect, countered by a radical romantic movement which strived to do away with intellect favor of seeking originary life; a third evil arose when a barbaric anti-intellectualism hijacked metaphysikfreundliche Deutschtum, leaving Mann no choice but to find a way to reconcile Geist and Leben (12). Given this tall order, and thanks to Wolters wellinformed, well-documented and patient analysis of Mann's influences and sources, we come away from this book with a better understanding of why so much of Mann's writing is politically flavored even if he was disinclined to be political. Wolters makes much of the fact that Joseph and seine Brader was written during the most agitated period of Mann's life, yet its political implications have thus far garnered far less attention than Zauberberg and Doktor Faustus (13). Wolters is skilled using Mann's essays and correspondence to amplify his theoretical positions. Novalis figured prominently Mann's attempts to wed democracy and Romanticism, a position which emerges the correspondence with Ernst Bertram and Von deutscher Republik (27). Mann expended great energy on redefining democracy or expanding its definition, based on such unlikely teachers as Novalis, Nietzsche, George, and Bertram (15, 23, 27). In addition to these well-known sources of Mann's inspiration there were numerous others: Dacque, Goldberg, Freud, Scheler, Benn and a host of other German and Russian thinkers whose books prompted Mann to write his Joseph-novel in eine 'wetteiferende' Reihe with theirs (57). Meanwhile, beside the public statements and more privately the real discussion of Mann's own philosophical orientation the new times was taking place the Joseph-novel, for which Mann relied on and distanced himself from contemporaries die sich vor das gleiche Problem wie er gestellt shen (57, 60-61, 69). …
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