THE THEME OF ALIENATION IN THE PROSE WORKS OF PETER WEISS by KATHLEEN ANN VANCE B.A., State University of New York at Buffalo, 1969 M.A., California State University at Sacramento, 1972 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF GERMANIC STUDIES We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA January 1980 (c) Kathleen Ann Vance, 1980 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by his representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Germanic Studies Department of The University of British Columbia 2075 Wesbrook Place Vancouver, Canada V6T 1W5 Date January 24, 1980 DE-6 BP 75-51 1 E Abstract The theme of alienation in the prose works of Peter Weiss is the focus of this study. Each chapter provides an examination of this theme from a particular perspective for each work. The first work, Per Schatten des Korpers des Kutschers, is considered as it examines the phenomenology of alienation in a detailed analysis of the characters' pursuit of occupations devoid of social meaning. The second of Weiss's works, Abschied von den Eltern, looks at the recurrence of the theme of alienation in Weiss's portrayal of the narrator's recollection of his childhood experiences. In Fluchtpunkt the focus is the dilemma of the alienation of the individual in the midst of political and social upheaval with particular emphasis placed on the alienation of the individual from the objective world and the subjective self. In Das Gesprach der drei Gehenden the ontology of alienation is discussed in terms of the characters' attempts to locate themselves in time and place through the use of social ritual. In Die Asthetik des Widerstands the ideology of alienation is examined in terms of the narrator's commitment to principles which require the assumption of responsibility for one's actions in the context of a larger world. The conclusion is that, for Weiss, the attempt to recover a sense of self in connection with the world is to intensify the extent of one's separation from that world. Research Supervisor iii Contents Page Abstract , , ii Acknowledgement ............................................ iv Introduction 1 Chapter 1. Der Schatten des Korpers des Kutschers: the phenomenology of alienation 6 2. Abschied von den Eltern: the recurrence of alienation , 55 3. Fluchtpunkt: the dilemma or the persistence of alienation .. 103 4. Das Gesprach der drei Gehenden: the ontology of alienation , 146 5. Die Asthetikldes Widerstands: the ideology of alienation 168 Conclusion , 216 Notes , ......... 219 Select Bibliography 223 Acknowledgement I wish to express my thanks and appreciation to Professor Mark Boulby for his insight and understanding as a dissertation director. I would like to thank the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for its financial support and the Interlibrary Loan Division of the Main Library at the University of British Columbia for its kind assistance in locating and obtaining source materials. In addition, I would like to express my gratitude to my husband and my son for their patience and support. 1 Introduction I have chosen to study the prose works of Peter Weiss in order to explore the theme of alienation. Alienation, a pervasive feature of twentieth-century life, concerns, in the context of Weiss's works, the relationships, or rather the disrelationships, between an individual and the world. The prose works were selected in particular because the individual is more fully portrayed in them than in Weiss's dramas. I have not included Das Duell in this study because it is a translation into German from the Swedish; is, as an early work, not comparable in quality to the other prose works; and is more appropriate to a study which focuses on Peter Weiss's development. The works chosen include: Der Schatten des- Korpers des Kutschers (1960), Abschied von den Eltern (1961), Fluchtpunkt (1962), Das Gesprach der drei Gehenden (1963), and PiexAsthetik des Widerstands (1978). The first work, Per Schatten des Korpers des Kutschers, examines the phenomenon of alienation and particularly the preoccupation of individuals with themselves to the exclusion of the world. In this work the phenomenon of alienation is portrayed, and may well be regarded, as an "exile from the community." While the characters maintain occupations like those which are found in everyday life (doctor, tailor, writer), their occupational activities are directed only toward themselves. Weiss's characterizations in this work portray a 2 world in which the experience of alienation is total. In Abschied von den Eltern the narrator attempts to reconstruct his childhood in order to realize the possibilities of freedom which are still denied him. He discovers that the creation of this alienated world involves the internalization of early experiences of powerlessness and inadequacy. His decision is to focus on aspects of the self which allow for freedom and autonomy. These aspects are revealed to him as he becomes aware that the world of his childhood is capable of being challenged, j'.s. is open to revision. In Fluchtpunkt the world is transformed by the narrator into a world of victims who reflect his own experiences. However, in the process of this transformation the narrator is alienated both from the objective world and from aspects of the self which would allow him to assume a role other than that of a victim among others. It becomes increasingly evident in Das Gesprach der drei Gehenden that the manner in which individuals and the world reinforce each other in their alienation results in figures who dishonor the forms of social rituals and fail to derive meaning from them. In this sense these figures are very much related to the characters in Der Schatten des Korpers des Kutschers in that their activities deny the meaning of social relationships. Weiss's latest prose work, Die Xsthetik des Widerstands, is the attempt to reconstruct a world in which art and politics, individual dreams and visions of community form integral parts of 3 the whole. In a ll of these works the theme of alienation is woven into the individual figure's relationship to the world. It is a world characterized by a preoccupation with the self; cruelty, intentional and non-intentional; meaninglessness; and separation from one's neighbors. The final novel dispels any illusion that alienation is completely overcome by an ideological posture. In undertaking this study it has been necessary to come to terms with two specific issues. First, there are the problems associated with ideology in literary criticism and, second, the problems of the role of autobiography in Weiss' s prose works. 1 Ideology is important to deal with because, for most critics, Weiss's allegiance to a particular ideology—socialism—elicits from them a strong "doctrinal" response: they feel compelled (as do most of us) to enter the debate and to agree or disagree with the particular ideology on political or substantive grounds. These critics, as diverse as Otto F. Best and Reinhold Grimm, thus have a tendency to use literary criticism of Weiss's works as a vehicle for advancing their own views and assumptions. In this they appear to fall into the trap of "doctrinalism" which I would suggest turns serious literary criticism into serious polemics. It may render literary criticism mute but it does add much to the volume of political debate. This "doctrinalism" has the effect of entrapping such critics in the underlying dualistic assumptions which such "Great Debates" between competing ideologies inspire. These underlying assumptions—good versus evil, internal versus external, fathers 4 versus sons—do of course pervade Weiss's works. They can be the objects of study as can any set of assumptions which constitute a world view in an author's works. For this reason, I have concerned myself in examining Weiss's prose works with ideology as a form, as a way of viewing the world, rather than with an evaluation of specific doctrine. The presupposition in this study is that the world of Weiss's fiction may be considered separate from the author's political decisions. The second issue is concerned with the role of autobiography in Weiss's works. There is a tendency on the part of some literary critics to fall into the trap of what I call "psychological reductionism." This approach to literature would assume that Weiss's works are merely a modestly embellished account of events in his own life. Much of the justification for drawing parallels between such events and his prose works relies on interviews with the author and on his essays in which he refers to such events. Unfortunately, most of these critics in order to draw such parallels (or parallels between Weiss's psychological "experiences" and his prose works) assume that Weiss is "honest" about such events. There is no guarantee that he is being "honest" in any conventional sense. In any event, this approach to literary criticism appears to have a good deal more to do with history and psychology and less to do with literature. These difficulties suggest that it is appropriate to consider the characters in Weiss'.s works as entirely fictional, not to be identified with the author himself. In regard to the format of the investigation, the theme of 5 alienation is discussed on four different levels. The objective level involves the description of the behavior of people in their everyday lives and is illustrated by the examination of Der Schatten des Korpers des Kutschers as it concerns the phenomenology of alienation. The reflective level involves the description of the way people examine why they behave the way they do and is illustrated by Abschied von den Eltern and Fluchtpunkt as they concern alienation as a recurrent dilemma. The existential level involves an examination of the questions which people pose concerning their fundamental experiences and corresponds to Das Gesprach der drei Gehenden with its consideration of the ontology of alienation. The last level is interpretative or a description of the way people behave in regard to how they perceive they behave. This level corresponds to the discussion of the ideology of alienation in Die Asthetik des Widerstands. The "levels" are merely a conceptual framework and represent differences in emphasis.