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Volume J
FACULTY OF ARTS
1958 Number 1..
The Time Levels in Thomas Mann's Joseph the Provider
BY
K. LEOPOLD, M.A., Ph.D.
Department of GermanUniversity of Queensland
'fHE UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND PRESSBRISBANE
10th OCTOBER, 1958,
Registered at the G. P. O. for transmi.r.rion by Post
as a Book
Printed bySIMPSON HALLIGAN & CO. PTY. LTD.
Wickham Street, Valley, Brisbane
Text-Linotype Caslon
The Time Levels in Thomas Mann'sJoseph the Provider
by K. LEOPOLD
The first three novels of Thomas Mann's tetralogy Joseph and his Brethrenappeared in 1933, 1934 and 1936 respectively. The fourth novel, Joseph theProvider, did not appear until 1943. During the seven years that elapsed betweenthe publication of the third and fourth novels Mann published two major worksthat had no direct connection with the Joseph story: the novel Lotte in Weimarand the "Indian legend" The TranslJosed Heads. These circumstances suggesteither that Joseph the Provider caused Mann considerably more difficulty thanthe other novels of the tetralogy or that the author felt compelled to devoteparticular care to this final novel in which the hero's maturity and period ofgreatest glory are represented. In either case the student of the Joseph novels isobviously justified in paying special attention to Joseph the Provider, and acareful study of the text does indeed reveal that this novel is particularly richin ideas, is in many respects the key novel of the four. The striking anddistinguishing feature of Joseph the Provider is that it points to the future andcompletes Mann's representation of the formation of myth by showing thisfuture through the present of the novel.
In order to understand fully the nature and significance of this futurereference of .1oseph the Provider it is necessary to consider briefly some of thebasic ideas of the tetralogy.
The idea that is indispensable to an understanding of the work as a wholeis the concept of "gelebte vita"', of relived life. In primitive societies inparticular the individual does not seek to be a unique individual: he seeks to fitinto an existing pattern, to live a life that has been lived before. This processmay go beyond imitation of a pattern of life to identification with a figure in thepattern. Mann himself has an illuminating comment on this aspect of primitivelife:
"The Ego of antiquity and its consciousness of itself was differentfrom our own, less exclusive, less sharply defined. It was, as it were, openbehind: it received much from the past and by repeating it gave itpresentness again. The Spanish scholar Ortega y Gasset puts it that the manof antiquity, before he did anything, took a step backwards, like the buIlfighter who leaps back to deliver the mortal thrust. He searched into the pastfor a pattern into which he might slip as into a diving-bell, and being thusat once disguised and protected might rush upon his present problem. Thushis life was in a sense a reanimation, an archaizing attitude. But it is justthis life as reanimation that is the life as myth."2
1 The term is used by Mann throughout the essay Fre'ud and the Future. He does not state thatthe term originates with Freud.
2 In Freud and the Future (Adel des Geistes, p. 181).
3
With this concept of "gclebre vita" constantly in the foreground, l\!lannproceeds to show the formation and development of myth through rhe lives ofthe patriarchs. What becomes in the noveb narrative, character, incident, imageand symbol may he stated in intellectual terms as follows:
At some prehistoric period the human subconscious found expression inthe creation of myths, many of which were based in one form or another on theimage of the father. At a later but still prehistoric period a number of thesemyths assumed within one tribe (Israel) a highly spiritual quality when-againafter the image of the father--an omniscient, omnipotent and completelyspiritual god was created. But even in this new age of monotheisri1 imitation ofand identification with earlier patterns of life and earlier mythic figurescontinued, for no age creates something entirely new and yet the individuality ofeach age adds something new to basic, traditional patterns. There was also aquestion of profit and loss in the new monotheism: Israel had evolved the highestgod, but at the same time the myth of this tribe had lost the vividness andconcreteness that went with the body of the god.
There was in the tribe of Israel a certain Jacob who was well versed in themyths of his own and other tribes, who sought always to act in accordance withestablished mythic patterns and who yet in his actions and his storiesunconsciously contributed to the development of these patterns. In Jacob's son,Joseph, a new power had emerged: like his father, Joseph lived in the myth, buthe possessed for the first time the consciousne.r.r of living in the myth. He wasthe first man to know that his actions were largely determined by what hadgone before and that these same actions were hd~.ing to establish a slightlydifferent pattern for those who would come aftci him. He was one whoseconsciousness embraced past, presen t and future. Yet despite, or possibly becauseof, his firm roots in the past it was Jacob rather than Joseph who foresaw andforetold the future. Aware of the lack of vividness and concreteness in the mythof Israel, Jacob began to prophesy an incarnation of the purely spiritual god. Astime went by, this belief in an incarnation developed and became one of thecentral beliefs of Israel. As it developed it borrowed many traits from "heathen"myths such as that of Tammuz and also traits from the life of Joseph himself.Prophets proclaimed that the time of the incarnation of the god was at hand,and at last a man emerged who was so imbued with tradition and with aMessianic sense of self that he regarded himself as the incarnation of the god andwas widely accepted as such. His life fashioned itself after a mythic pattern thathad begun somewhere in the bottomless well of the past and had developedthrough Tammuz, Joseph, Moses, the prophets and others. After his death themyth-creating elements in man fitted his life even more completely into theestablished mythic pattern.
Here we have then, in brief and over-simplified form, the basic conceptionof mythic development from which the novels arise. Naturally no attempt ismade by the author to represent directly the whole of this development. Theperiod ~f time directly represented in the four novels is only some thirty yearsof the life of Joseph. But with these thirty years in the foreground as present theauthor succeeds in conjuring up both past and future. It is the very opposite ofclosed form that Mann achieves here. The work 1n1lJt not be self-contained: itmust point backward and forward in order to realize the author's intention.
One may say t,hat the joseph novels consist of time-strata. One stratum,reprl:senting thirty years of Joseph's life, is in the centre and immediately beforethe eyes of the rl:ader. Directly beneath this central layer is an earlier, lesstangible stratum that presl:nts the development of monotheism from itscme'rgencl: to thl: timl: of Jacob and j oscph. Beneath this stratum is a third, onlyfaintly p(~rccptible stratum covering the earliest, most primitive times. Abovethc ccntrallayer representing joseph's life is yet another, corresponding in clarityand tangibility to the layer immediately beneath the central one and representingthe development of the Hebraic myth from Joseph to Christ. Above this stratum,corresponding in tangibility to the bottommost stratum, is modern Christiancivilization.
It is impossible for the author who seeks to represent the formation ofmyth to show this process of formation in a single time-stratum that embracesonly the life-span of an individual, for the essence of myth is repetition anddevelopment of an established pattern over centuries or even millennia. Either,the author must adopt the unity-destroying device of telling separate stories fromdifferent ages that reveal the same mythical pattern or else he must proceed asJ\
These characteristics of the mythically oriented artist do not belong toJoseph from the very beginning. Certainly his consciousness of his role in themyth seems to be with him from his childhood, but, as with Goethe and Mann,there is a long development before he attains to full maturity. Young Josephabandons himself to vain dreams, gives free rein to his youthful egocentricity,must twice be cast into the pit and make the acquaintance of the underworld ofdeath before he is ready to become govcrnor of the land of Egypt and confirmin his person and by his actions that he is blessed with blessings of heaven above,blessings of the deep that lieth under. It is this final stage of full maturity, ofinner equilibrium, of harmony of flesh and spirit that is represented in Josephthe Provider.
Having discussed some of the basic ideas of the tetralogy as a whole, wecan turn now to Joseph the Prov·ider in particular and to our earlier statementthat it is this novel that conjures up the two time-strata that lie above thecentral stratum of Joseph's life: the period from Joseph to Christ, and modernChristian civilization.
The futurc reference of Joseph the Provider points primarily to threefigures and the "myths" associated with them. They are:
T. Christ and Hcbraic mythology.2. Hermes and Greek mythology.3. Goethe and European Humanism.
f.;:.,j
T. Chri.rt and Hebraic mythology: The reference£ to Christ in J().reph theProvider are both explicit and implicit. Though the name Christ is nowhere used,there are references that are unmistakable to anyone with even a rudimentaryknowledge of the Christian tradition. References of this kind occur in two sectionsof the book: in the prologue and in the fifth chapter.
In his prologue, which takes place in heaven, Mann is obviously followinga pattern set by two great predecessors, Homer and Goethe. One is reminded---·and it is certainly intended that one should be reminded··--of the beginning ofthe OdyJJey and the beginning of Fa1Ht. As with his predecessors, Mann'sheavenly figures survey the action that is to follow and make it clear that theoutcome will be favourable to the hero. Mann', however, introduces an elementthat is not to he found in his predecessors: an indication of future developmentthat goes beyond the time-span of the action of the work itself. We learn that ithad been Semae] who had suggested to the Highest One that I-Ie should createman. Now Semael has suggested that the Highest One should descend fromheavcn to man, thus following the pattern of certain "heathen" gods who oftenundergo an incarnation, and the suggestion has been accepted. It is furthersuggested that this divine intention to some extent explains the divine favourshown to the sinner Joseph, since Joseph belongs to the race in which the godwill appear. The whole prologue is, of course, pure irony. Throughout the rest ofthe tetralogy the author shows that these divine figures are a creation of thehuman spirit. Tn this prologue he shows the divine figures directing the destinyof their creators. The prologue does, however, contain the first unmistakablereferences to Christ and so at the very beginning of the fourth novel pointstowards the future.
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The fifth chapter of Joseph the Provider is the story of Tamar. In thescriptures this story occurs rather earlier and if Mann had followed scrupulouslythe arrangement of material of his principal source, Tamar would have appearedat the end of Y01ing Joseph or at the beginning of Joseph in Egypt. But thiswould have been far too early for the author's purpose, for the Tamar story, likethe prologue, proclaims Christ, and Christ belongs in Joseph the Provider. Mannsays in The Theme of the J oseph Novels that Tamar scorned no means to get onthe path of Promise and become a forbear of the Messiah 3 and in the novel itselfhe says that she meant to become an ancestor of Shiloh 4 . Jacob. had told her ofShiloh and Tamar had recognized in him a saviour and a redeemer, a figure oftremendous importance in the future. This figure is to come out of the tribe ofJudah, for it is obviously Judah who will now receive Jacob's blessing instead ofJoseph. So Tamar resolves to interpolate herself into the myth and to bearchildren of the line of Judah whatever the cost. Mann even makes her responsiblefor inducing Jacob to proclaim the law concerning the marriage of the widow tothe brother-in-law, which law does not occur in the bible until a very much laterperiodS.
So the prologue proclaims the incarnation of the spiritual god and theTamar story proclaims the coming of Shiloh. These are the explicit andunmistakable references to Christ.
There are, however, other more subtle ways in which Mann keeps thereader aware of the figure of Christ. The most remarkable of these is the author'suse of the formula "It is I" or "I am he"6. The reader cannot fail to be struckby the recurrence of important conversations in which Joseph reveals or confirmshis identity. Such conversations occur in five of the seven chapters, and in allcases except his reunion with Jacob, Joseph reveals or confirms his identity withthe formula "It is I". II) the first chapter Joseph reveals himself to Mai-Sachmewith the words "It is 1"7; in the second chapter he confirms his identity toPharaoh's messenger with the same words 8 ; in the third chapter Joseph revealsand confirms his identity before Pharaoh with the same formula 9 ; and in thesixth chapter Joseph reveals himself to his brethren, again with the words"It is 1"10. Before the brothers and Pharaoh's messenger Joseph's use of thisformula seems perfectly in place; before Pharaoh, on the other hand, Josephmuses aloud whether "It is I" is really appropriate, and in using the words tothe jailer, Mai-Sachme, Joseph departs so far from the role of the humbleprisoner that even that man of unshakable calm gives a start and the authorhimself feels called upon to comment upon the formula:
"In short, 'It is l' was a formula, echoing from far off, familiar fromof old, and of popular appeal-the formula of the revelation of iden.tity, ofa ritual action popular since primitive times in proclamatory narratIve andin divine mime ..."11
3 Joseph und seine B1'i2der. In Neue Studien, p. 176.4 Joseph de1" Erniihre1", p. 336.5 Deuteronomy 5, 25.6 Both are in German "Ieh bin's".7 Joseph del' Erniihl'er, p. 44.8 Ibid., p. 117.9 Ibid., p. 176.
10 Ibid., p. 484.11 Ibid., p. 45.
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Joseph's action in using this formula is in no way different from themajority of his actions. Consciously he uses an age-old phrase, rich inassociations and allusions. He speaks according to an established pattern, hemoves in deep-worn tracks. This is immediately clear from Mann's explanationof the formula as something pointing to the past. It is, however, a formula thatpoints equally clearly towards the future. The same formula is used three timesby Christ in the famous episode when Judas leads the soldiers to the garden overthe brook Cedron l2 . And as though to make doubly sure that the reader-or atleast the reader familiar with Mann's essays-should associate the phraseindelibly with Christ, the author himself makes this association in the essayFretul and the Ft.tl&re. He talks here of myth as legitimization of life and askshow one can live and die more worthilv than in the celebration of the myth. Hementions Jesus and his life "which w;s lived in order that that which waswritten might be fulfilled" and refers to the words of Jesus on the cross:
"That, 'Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?' was evidently not in the least anoutburst of despair and disillusionment, but on the contrary a lofty Messianicsense of self. For the phrase is not original, not a spontaneous outcry. Itstands at the beginning of the 22nd Psalm, which from one end to the otheris a proclamation of the Messiah. Jesus was quoting, and the quotationmeant 'Yes, it is Il' "13
Despite the frequency of the references to Christ it is obviously not theauthor's intention that the reader should be reminded of Christ alone amongstthe many figures who follow Joseph. The centuries between Joseph and Christmust also be conjured up, at least by occasional refl3rences and allusions. Mann'sprincipal means of achieving this end is a kind of a'Aachronism. The author putsinto the mouth of Joseph and his contemporaries words that are either takenliterally from later parts of the scriptures or else are unmistakable echoes oflater parts of the scriptures. To take only a few examples: the Egyptian Chamatbegins his address to the prisoner Joseph with words that arc stronglyreminiscent of the first chapter of Samuel 2 ("how are the mighty fallen" etc.) 14
and Joseph ends his reply to Chamat with almost a direct quotation from thenineteenth Psalm ls . Mai-Sachme expresses the hope that Joseph will rememberhim "when he inherits his kingdom"16. Tamar says to Jacob: "Thy people aremy people and thy God is my God", which is a literal quotation of the words ofRuth to Naomi l7 . In putting these words into the mouth of Tamar, the authordoubtless hopes that the reader will remember that Boaz, with whom Ruthentered into a relationship not unlike that of Tamar to Judah, was a great-greatgrandson of Pharez, the son of Tamar and Judah.
By such devices Mann not only conjures up later sections of Hebraicmythology but also suggests that when a myth is finally told in writing not onlynames and incidents but whole phrases and sentences may be taken over froma remote past.
f 2 John 18, 5. The "lIlH; chapter includes a phrase particularly relevant to Mann's conceptionof Christ: "that the saying- might be fulfilled".
13 J!.rend 'II lid di/' ZlIJwnft. In Adel des GeisteJ, p. 582.14 .Joseph di'J' Ern dh1't r. p. 32.15 Ibid., p. 35.16 Ibid., p. 120. Matthew 25, 34.17 Ruth 1, IG.
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There is manifestly no lack of evidence in the text of ]o.reph the Providerthat Mann constantly brings in the future development from Joseph to Christand particularly Christ himself. Let us repeat: that life in the myth is repetitionand rebirth can be shown clearly in the representation of a mythic developmentonly when the author can point to a later stage that shows characteristics of themost primitive and of the central mythic stages. By imitation and identificationJoseph lives again the Tammuz-Osiris myth, and by the same process Christlives again the Tammuz-Osiris myth plus Joseph's contribution. In the earlieststage, Tammuz-the god who dies, is buried and lives again. In the central stage,Joseph-the man who is cast into the pit, is dead to his father and brothers, isborn again in Egypt and, to his father and brothers, rises from the dead: the manwho is the mediator between God (Pharaoh) and mankind and between twokingdoms and who becomes "the provider". In the latest stage, Christ-he whodies, is buried, is resurrected, is mediator between God and man and heaven andearth and becomes "the saviour".
2. H erme.r and Greek mythology: The biblical story itself suggests that Josephundergoes a change after he leaves the prison. Thus the self-dedication to theHighest One that had kept him pure despite the wiles of Potiphar's wife is nowno barrier to his taking to wife Asenath, daughter of the priest of On. Morestriking still is the fact that Joseph is no longer even considered by Jacob as therecipient of his special blessing, which goes instead to Judah.
This change in Joseph that is suggested in Genesis is made explicit byMann, who develops the new worldly quality of Joseph in considerable detail inthe fourth chapter. At the same time Mann links this worldly Joseph with adifferent mythic tradition-that of Greece-and Joseph himself begins to assumetraits of the god Hermes. Mann states in The Them.e of the ]o.reph N avel.r thatJoseph "perceptibly slides into a Hermes part"18, but the links with Hermes areunmistakable even without this statement by the author. They first appear inthe third chapter. As the first sign of his favour Pharaoh gives to Joseph a11ermes symbol, a lyre, and soon ~fterwards tells of the birth of a god who isobviously Hermes, "a jester and cattle-thief"19. It 'is no coincidence that thisconversation between Joseph and Pharaoh should take place in "the Cretanbower", for the island of Crete was commonly associated with the god and washeld to mediate between the Near East and Europe.
The main links between Joseph and Hermes are easily recognizable: aboveall, the idea of mediation. Hermes, the god of the heralds and the roads, is themediator between the gods and man and between the kingdom of the dead andthe kingdom of the living. Joseph, as we saw above, is a mediator betweensimilar spheres. It is noteworthy in this connection that Joseph emphasizes hisconnection with the underworld of the dead by choosing for his residence:Vlemphis, the city of death.
Hermes was the lord of the herds and an authority in matters of fertility:Joseph is familiar with "the Nile mud and fertility from the deep" and gains hisfame by his administration during the seven years of plenteousness and the sevenyears of dearth.
1 B Joseph 1i'Jld Jeme BrUder, in Neue Stud·ten, p. 178.19 JOJej,h del' ErnahrC"l", p. 180.
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~ermes is a rogue and jester, god of luck and of gain, of thieves and liars:J~seph IS addressed by Pharoah's official on his first appearance at the palacewith the words: "¥ou seem to me to be a kind of jester and joker a sort ofrogue and cattle-thief at whose tricks one can't help laughing."20 '
H~rmes is clo~ely linked in later Greek literature with oratory: Joseph ischaractenzed from hiS early youth by eloquence and glibness of tongue and it isthis gift that first wins him the favour of Pharaoh. '
Hermes at times ~ppears as the astute, worldly-wise business-man amongstthe gods and also occasIOnally appears amongst men as a beautiful youth. It isscarcely necessary to mention that Joseph's appearance is one of extraordinarybeauty and that in this novel he plays the part of the astute man of the worldand man of affairs.
Thus we see that Joseph, who has played so important a part in thedevelopment of the Christian myth, is placed in Joseph the Provider within adifferent mythic development and points forward not only to Christ but also toHermes and the gods of Greece 21 . Obviously the figures of Christ and Hermes areby no means unrelated: both have in common the role of mediator between thedivine and man, but whereas in Christ the spiritual predominates, it isworldliness that is the salient feature of Hermes. At the same time it should beremembered that in many of the Greek cults it is an easy transition from Hermesto Dionysos, who embodies in the purest form traits of Tammuz and of Christ,so that further indirect relationships between Joseph and Greek mythology arethus established.
In linking Joseph so clearly with Herme)t and in including obviousreferences to Hermes in the novel, Mann is not extending the temporal range ofthe work: the mythic development that he conjures up through Hermes coincidesroughly in time with the development from Joseph to Christ. He is, however,extending greatly the spatial range of the work to embrace the two great pillarsof modern European civiliZiation: Christianity and Greek antiquity. Still moreimportant is the revelation that Mann achieves of "the unity of the humanspirit"22. That one figure should reveal traits of Tammuz, of Christ and ofHermes indicates that the myth-creating forces within man work in similar waysat all times and in all places.
3. Goethe and E1.ropean H1.manism: The future references described aboveextend over what we called earlier the time-stratum immediately above thecentral stratum: that bounded by Joseph at one end and Christ at the other.But there is also an obvious modern stratum, extending throughout the Christianera and even into time yet to come. This stratum is made up of many elements,from the editorial intrusions of the author to the use in Egyptian conversations of
20 Ibid., p. 161.21 Naturally it is highly debatable whether Joseph can really be said to point "forward" to
Hermes. In matter which is almost entirely prehistoric it is impossible to say whether Josephreally precedes Hermes in time or vice versa. What can be said with certainty is that theperiod of Hermes' greatest renown, the period through which he has corne down to us-namely the golden age of Greek literature-is much later than any period at which Josephcould have lived.
22 "Einheit des Menschengeistes"-used by Mann in S. Fischers Almanach fiir 1935. Quoted byAnna Jacobson. See bibliography.
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modern German borrowings from foreign languages and such intentionalanachroni'sms as the statement that Pharaoh looked like a young Englishman.But the most important element in this modern stratum consists of thereferences to Goethe and, indirectly, to Mann's own concept of a new Humanism.
Naturally enough the name of Goethe is nowhere mentioned in the novel,but Goethe is proclaimed in the title of the opening section. The prologue bearsthe title "Prelude in upper Regions", which is undoubtedly intended as an ironicparaphrase of the "Prologue in Heaven" with which Goetbe's Faust begins. Aswe saw above, there are further obvious similarities between the two prologues:the same characters appear-the Lord, the devil and the angels: the fate of thehero is foreshadowed in both: some of the principal ideas of both works occur inthe prologue. Thus, from the very beginning, the reader is made aware of Goetheand a link is established between the life of Joseph and a work of Goethe's.
There arc then allusions to Goethe throughout the novel, though for themost part much more veiled allusions than those to Christ and Hermes. The onethat comes to mind immediately is the relationship between J osepb and theyoung Amenhotep. The parallels between this relationship anc! that of Goethe andKarl August are too striking to be coincidental. Furthermore one probably doesnot read too much into the text if one sees in Tacob's attitude to Tamar asdescribed on page 312 a reflection of the elder Goethe's attitude to attractiveyoung women of strong personality. It is also unlikely to be a coincidence thatJoseph is referred to as "del' Hatschelhans"23, a word that Goethe's mother wasin the habit of applying to her son.
However, Mann's principal method of conjuring up Goethe is even moresubtle than those described above. It is done through the main leit-motif thataccompanies Joseph throughout this novel. In the previous novels of thetetralogy Joseph's main leit-motif had been in its basic form; "A dreamer ofdreams, who believed that all human beings could not help loving him more thanthemselves". This motif occurs only once in Joseph the Providet24 , for it is nolonger relevant to the mature Joseph. Joseph's new leit-motif is first stated byPharoah: "But he seems to me blessed from above and below"25. This leit-motif,with variations, then accompanies Joseph throughout the novel: it occurs in themost important piece of character analysis in the novel, the section "Urim andTurnmim"26, in the brothers' discussion of the character of the governor ofEgypt27, in the reunion of Jacob and ]oseph28, in the author's description of theageing J oseph29 , and finally in Jacob's official blessing on his death-bed:
"Be blessed, as thou already art, with blessings from above and fromthe deep that lieth under, with blessings gushing from the breasts of heaven,md from the womb of earth."30
As with the "It is I" formula, the author may safely assume that anyonefamiliar with his other works will realize the significance that he attaehes toJacob's blessing. 'Mann had quoted and discussed the blessing in both What I
23 Joseph del Ernahrer, p. 27.24 Ibid., p. 42.25 Ibid., p. 236.26 Tbid., p. 278.2'7 [bid." p. 404.28 Tbid., p. 582.29 Ihie1., p. 582.30 Ihid., p. 622. Mann altcr~ slightly the text of Jacob's blessing in Ccnesis. (Genesis 49,25).
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believe and The Them,e of th.e j oJeph LV ovels 3 t, but above all he had used it inLotte in Weimar. These are the words that Dr. Riemer uses to describe the veryessence of Goethe's being: it is the formula that epitomizes true greatness andsignifies the completely harmonious personality in which, as Dr. Riemer says,"the spiritual culminates without there adhering to it any hostility to thenatural"32,
We saw in our study of some basic ideas of the tetralogy as a whole hm,Joseph assumes in j oJeph the Provider characteristics of the mythically orientedartist and thus move]> close to Goethe, Through the allusions to Goethe andparticularly through the use of Jacob's blessing as Joseph's leit-motif, Mannensures that the associations with Goethe are kept alive throughout. So again theunity of the human spirit is suggested: the type of harmonious greatness thittJoseph and Goethe represent has occurred in the most diverse ages and places,But can it not occur again in the future, and not merely as an isolatedphenomenon? Is it not possible that mankind-or a significant section of mankind-may attain to this same harmony, this synthesis of the higher and lower, ofChristian spirituality and other-worldliness and Greek joy in this life! This is anidea to which Mann constantly returns in his later work: he discusses it 111
The Theme of the J()Jeph No'velJ and particularly in Wh.at I belic'L'e, where heagain makes use of the blessing that he applies to both Joseph and Goethe:
"I believe in the coming of a new, a third Iiumanism , .. not lightlydid I choose as the hero of the epic that was to become my life's work a manblessed with the blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that liethunder, .. for me it is the briefest possible formulation of my idea ofhumanity",
Thus j oJeph the Provider points beyond Goethe and beyond the presentto a future in which the characteristics of .J oseph may be the characteristics ofhumanity.
What has been said above in this attempt to bring out the nature andsignificance of the future reference of Joseph the Provider may give theimpression that the author concentrates on the future at the expense of thepresent. Nothing could be further from the truth, The novel is a vivid andgripping recreation of Joseph's life in Egypt from the time he is cast into prisonto the death of Jacob. It is one of Mann's great achievements that, withoutsacrificing the vividness of this present, he succeeds in conjuring up additionaltime-strata, in particular those extending from Joseph to Christ and from Christto the present day and beyond, and also in extending the range of the materialto embrace Greek antiquity, Myth in the process of formation is thusrepresented in a way that is unique in European literature,
31 The The'nu; oJ the Joseph Novelr was published (in English) before the Stockholm eclitionof Joseph der Ern2ihrer.
32 T~otte ,in Weimar, pp, 88-90,
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Bibliography
Although titles and quotations are given in English throughout the paper,the German text of Mann's work was used in all cases. Translations from thenovels are my own; in quoting fr0111 Freucl "u/nd die Z1.thcnIt I bavc made use ofthe English translation published in New York in 1937. The quotation from What1 bel1:eve is taken from the work by H. A. M aiel' mentioned below.
Thomas Mann: Die Geschichten Jaakobs, Berlin, 1933.
Del' junge Joseph, Berlin, 1934.
Joseph in Aegypten, Vienna, 1936.Joseph del' Ernahrer, Stockholm, 1943.
Lotte in Weimar, Stockholm, 1939.
Freml unci die Zukunft, in Adel des Geistes, Stockholm, 1948.Joseph und seine BrUder, in Neue Studien, Stockholm, 1948
(English translation entitled The Theme of the Joseph Novels,Washington, 1942).
Most critical studies of Mann's later work contain some material that IS
relevant to the subject of this paper. The following are particularly useful:
Hamburger, IGte: Thomas Manns Roman Joseph uno seine BrUcier. EineI~inflihrung. Stockholm, 1945.
Jacobson, Anna: Das plastische Element im J oseph- Roman. Monatshefte,October, 1945.
Lesser, Jonas: Thomas Mann in del' Epoche seiner Vollendung. Munich, 1952.
Maier, Hans Albert: Stefan George und Thomas Mann. Zwei Formen des drittenHumanismus in kritischem Vergleich. ZUrich, 1947.
Thieberger, Richard: Del' Begriff del' Zeit bei ThomasMann, Baden-Baden, 1952.
lVlaterial on Hermes was 'drawn from:
L, R. l"arnell: Cults of the Greek States--Hennes (Vo!. 5). Oxford, 1909.
K. LEOPOLD
UNIVE~SP Y'
LIBRARv
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