Nelson Kleistgoethe and Walsermann

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Kleistgoethe and WalsermannAuthor(s): VICTORIA NELSONSource: Salmagundi, No. 123 (SUMMER 1999), pp. 110-126Published by: Skidmore College

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KleistgoethendWalsermannBY VICTORIA NELSON

[Jekels]sof he pinionhat hakespearerequentlyplits pcharacternto wo ersonages,achofwhom henppearsnot

altogetheromprehensiblentil nce more onjoinedwith heother.

- Freud, SomeCharacter-TypesEncounterednPsycho-Analyticork"1

Who reyouto thinkou'renothing?- Germanaying

A fewyears ago, peeringnto therusticwoodenmaquetteconstructedyTim ndSteveQuay ntheir outh ank tudio or then-

planned uppet ilm fJakob onGuntenitwould atermetamorphoseintoheir irst uman-actoreatureilm,henstituteenjamenta),found

myself hinkingwhat completelyympatheticharacterts authorRobertWalser s, at least to a certainegmentfthepopulationhatincludesmyself howust ikeWalser' hapless haracter enzel ,too,couldhave bjectlyubmitted,id ubmit,he JobApplication"o omemartinetf bureaucrat"Large nddifficultasks cannot erform,nd

obligations f a far-rangingort re too strenuous ormymind . .

Assuredlyhere xistsnyournstitution,hich imagineobe overflow-

ingwithmain nd ubsidiaryunctionsndoffices, ork fthekind hat







KleistgoethendWalsermann 111

onecan do as in a dream?"), ow ife o the ess than irelesslymbitiousoften eems ike an endless oursenservanthoodt the nstitute., towhich ne's tuitions always narrears.2

Thinkingf Walser lwaysremindsmeoftheterriblehoto-graphsfhisdeath takennsitu ythe nvestigatingagistrateot arfromhe sylumn whichWalserhad penthe ast wenty-threeears fhis ife,where ecollapsed rom heart ttackwhile aking walkon

Christmasay, 1956.A German-editionollectionfWalsermemora-bilia everentlyeproducesourolice hots a set ffootprintsn he now

(foreground);woviews,head andfoot,of theungainlyprawled ody(background);inally closeup f he orpse's ace, rozenmouth aping

open.3 hinkingfthis iolationfthedead'sprivacynthename f art

triggered yNewWorldnegativeudgmentnthefetishisticuropeancult f thegenius-artistall those usts nd artifactsndwritingesks

turnednto ltars,eityworshipvery it svulgars a roadsidehrine oElvis. like o hinkhe rospectf deathmask, orxample, ouldhave

horrified alser, s much rom isownexaggeratedenseof unworthi-ness sfrom henotiontself,nways twouldnothavehorrifiedomeofhisprominentontemporaries,oreikelyoregardhis izarre ccoladeoffamesnothingess han heirue.But f oursen hose hotosWalser

got he wentieth-centuryquivalentnyway.What feuilletone could

havemadeoutof that.Most of all, thinkingf RobertWalsermakesme think f

ThomasMann. By virtue f their xtreme ifferencesithin lmostidenticalifespans stretchingromhe 1880sto the1950s,the ct of

readingneofthese uthorsnvariablyriggerseflexivehoughtsftheother: heworld-renownediteraryigure rapedn awards nd honorsversusthe forgottensylum nmate, epic vision versusmannered

miniaturism,r theultimateiterarypitaph)major" ersusminor."I submithat his erversessociations no fluke.t s, rather,

law of Hegeliannature hat wo suchdiametricallypposed iterarysensibilitiesnd lives mustbe symbioticallyinked, e moreweirdlynecessaryoeach otherhan oanyone lsein theworldfonlybecauseartisticnflation,ike sunny ayonthePacific oast, nexorablyraws

aftert hemarineayer f rtisticeflation.t satfirstlancewhatmightbe calledthe President'srother"yndromeJimmyndBillyCarter,







112 VICTORIA NELSON

FranzJosef ndMaximilian,tc. thenotuncommonpectacle f a

dignifiedndaccomplishedamousmangenetically oked o his darkcourtester,hatmbarrassinguffoon hodances nd avorts round is

legs, ven inraremoments)ausing he reatnetotrip. owevermuchthe minencewould iketo shake ffhisannoyinghadow, e remainsforeveround o t,giant odwarf,nternationallynown igurenexpli-cably ttachednour maginationso theneurotic/psychotichose ife

ends in squalidisolation. Like the wretched artleby,withwhomMelville'sprosperousmanoftheworld inds imself o mysteriouslyobsessed, hewasalways here."

Thisodd-couple airingfWalserwithMann snotwithoutts

strongmirrorcho nGermaniterature. e cannot ullyppreciateheduowithoutteppingack o aken full uaternityhatncludes einrichvonKleist ndWolfgangonGoethe centurynd half arlier: oethethe ane, ife-embracingensibility,leist he euroticuicide;Goethe he

center, leist hemargin. oethewasa culturalcon, hemost enerated

literaryigurenEurope;his ontemporaryleist ookhisown ife tagethirty-five,eneratingsilence omparableoWalser' when e enteredthe sylumtage forty-sevennd ffectivelynded ll humanommuni-cation. neknowsntuitivelyhat oethe ad deathmask ndKleist idnot.ThomasMannhadnodeathmask 1955reallywas a bit atefor hatsort ftribute buthe did have a "lastportrait,"ketchedytheDutch

painteraulCitroen.)It sthe opular iew hat achage's major rtistsiveout heir

days n he unlightfpublic cclaimwhile tsminorrtists uddlen heir

monumentalhadows,butterfliesn the liff fgreatrt,"s Walser utit. nthis iew hemajor, eservedly,s someone veryoneasheard f;theminor,qually eservedly,elongs othe pecialistsnd cholars.Atthe ame ime henaggingense ingershat he entermightctually,nsome ubterraneanay, e nferioro nddependentn themarginatherthan he therway round. here s a spiritfthemarginhatsserts, sWalter enjamin id ofWalser' work,Thisnothingnesssweighty."4Cynthia zickmaintainshat tobeable tosaywhat minorwritersif t could be done at all wouldbring s a little earer odefining

culture,"houghhehastens o dd lest, ne uspects,he ound sifshewere dvancinghe ereticalotion hatminorsbetter):There anbe no







Kleistoethe nd Walsermann 113

majorwork, nfact,without he creen, rground, f esser artistsgainstwhom themajor figures illuminated.Orput t thatminorwriters re the

armature ntowhich theclay ofgreatness s thrown, ressed,prodded."5But Ozick's firstbold statement s more interestinghan her

qualification justasminor rtistshemselves, erversely,end obe. And

her mageof thereverse mprints much ike thatRilke used to describe

his own quirkyfiction, heNotebooksofMalte Laurids Brigge:

I myself ometimesthought f it as a hollow form, negative

mold,all thegrooves nd ndentationsnd mostpainful nsights,but hecastingfromwhich,were tpossibletomake one (as with

a bronze thepositive figureone would get out of it), would

perhapsbe happiness,assent mostperfect nd most certain

bliss.6

All this magery fmolding ndcasting, nfact, srather eminiscentf

deathmasks.And Rilke's metaphor, oubtless drawnfrom bservationsofhishero theepic sculptorAugusteRodin, ironically ummonsRobert

Walser's ownuncharacteristicallylat estheticpronouncement:God is

theoppositeofRodin."7

God is theoppositeofRodin.This is theromanceofthemargin,

marginchauvinism,and we speak now in its language, marginolalia.

Marginchauvinists elievethat ll worthy,ivelyartderivesnotfrom he

sanctioned, ewardedmainstream, utfrom ts eastregarded ributaries

andrivulets.Recovering ndvalorizing hemarginhas beenan important

criticalundertaking f the last twenty-five ears. Gilles Deleuze hasproclaimed:"There s nothingmajororrevolutionaryxcepttheminor."8

This preference the same sensibility hatmaintains,as the Polish

maverickWitold Gombrowicz did, "The imperfects superiorto the

perfectbecause it s moreconstructive)"9 exerts tself tevery urn nd

can be said, in some quarters,to have overturnedthe center and

mainstreamedtself.By thisvery ct,however, uchartmaybe negated,since the ow status fthemarginal s primarily hatdefines t;a margin

demarginalized s a marginno longer.Deleuze again:

How many stylesor genresor literarymovements, ven verysmall ones, have only one single dream: to assume a major










Shakespeare's lays, nd it is stillhighly isible n themetaphoricaldistinctionse makebetween he efinedcenter) ersus he nstinctual

(edge),high ultureersusowculture,nd oon.13 hesedays, f ourse,whenwe ook t theGothicmanuscripts,urKleistian erspectiveicksin.Marginhauvinismssertstselfndour ecular yemoves traightothemargin,lottinguttheholy enter:Wherewouldwe rathere,we

think,rappedike a fly n amber nside stiff,ormalapital ettern

Corinthiansrrevelingn thefree paceout n themargins dancing,eating, ornicating,ilkingows ormysteriously,s inonemanuscript,presentingplate fturds o a lover)?

Asmembersf n nformalentraluropeanine fdescenthat

Benjaminthe rchetypal arginommentator)ubbed he legacy f he

fool,"14 alser ndKleistbelong o this pecialmarginfdrôleriesn

Europeanulture.Within heboundariesfthe ldHolyRoman mpirea latter-dayenealogyfthemarginaliteraryrotesquean betraced n

which escentoesnot oconventionallyrom athero onbut vuncularly

fromnestrikingoguemaleorMelvilleansolateto nother.hiskleineProsa sensibility, hich lso foreswearshegrand nd epic forthe

deliberatelyiminishedndcompressed, uns n a single hread rom

Kleist ndGeorgBüchnerhrough alser, ranzKafka, runo chulz,andothers. The blackholeof Germaniterature,"label appliedto

Büchner,ould qually escribellmembersf he loodline and ttests

totheuneasy ensethat hemargins not afely eripheralutrather

seductive,hreateningortexhatmightasily wallow pthe enter ere

it o inclined.

Whetherrnot the ink mong hem onsitutesoincidence,overtnfluence,raffinityrising romncubationn the ame cultural

crucible, these "uniques" show a kind of Kierkegaardian

symparaneckromenoi,"fellowshipfburiedives."Their irstommon

featuresan nherentversion,n ife s in iterary atters,othe oleof

patriarch.nd ince llwereverymuch ons n real ife with prepon-derance fdomineeringathersn thepicture), t thus eemsfittingo

describeheiriteraryloodrelationships much ikethat ftheBreton

folk eroKingArthurndhisknights,onless ll,whose ower escended

frommaternalncle onephew. ythe ame oken,ontemporariesuchasWalser ndSchulz ndKafka ouldnotbedescribeds "brothers,"







116 VICTORIA NELSON

connectionar oo hargednd ntimateor uch iteraryoners,ut ather

"cousins," xchanging arybut notunfriendlylances t each other

across he ormal,inen-cloakedinnerable tyearlyamily atherings.(There reno aunts nd nieces ntheKleist-Walser lood ine.15)

The genetic athers fthese mbattledons had theiriterary

counterpartsho endedobehaventhe amebullying ays the meek

son" tance,ike ny thern ife, ctings amagneto ttractuch ypes).

And liffslsoenvy utterflies,ecause majors" ave nannoyingabitofnegativelyefininghe ccomplishmentsfminorsoprotectheir wn

positions. fKleist, oethepronounced:With he estwill n heworldtoward hispoet, havealwaysbeen moved o horror nddisgust ysomethingn hisworks, s though erewerea body well-plannedynature,ainted ith n incurable isease."16 s directorf theWeimar

theater,oetheeems ohave uined leist' TheBroken ug ndnot nly

rejected enthesileaut urned hemanuscriptnthe tovewhile onde-

scendinglynnouncingisownpreferenceor something ore rom he

heart."17Evermore living nstitution,ndfrequenthampion f thesafely hird-rate,"otesone commentator,hewithholdingather f

Kleist, ölderlinnd therswas trikinglyonsistentnrejectinghe est

ofthenext eneration."18ThomasMann, aving erventlyodeled imselfike good on

after oethe,till efendedleist s "one f he reatest,oldest,ndmostambitiousoetsGermanyasproduced;playwrightnd torytellerf he

very irstrder; manunique nevery espect." ut he could not esist

makinghefatal ualificationhat einforcedis iteraryather's ege-

mony andbyextension isown): "Kleist' ambitionwas in itsveryessencedamagedbyhubris,ealousyandenvy, lwaysoverreachingitself,he assion f nepretendingo crownhats not ightfullyis ndwhichmust etorn rom heheadof ts rue wner,nthis asethemost

great,most ichly lestGoethe."19Is t urprising,hen,hat he ephews,ringingnder hese eath

raysfrom heir arsh nd udgmental ather/brothers,urned o theircousins nduncles or upportnd validation? ever o haveflesh-and-blood ons nddaughtersf theirwn, hesemen selected heiriterary

forebearsndprogenyike fairiessubstitutinghangelingsorhumanbabies.Walseriked nd dentified ith leist, afka iked nd dentified









1 18 VICTORIANELSON

But henephewslsoactively oughtack,ntheirelf-effacingway, gainst hefather/brothers,ndmarginhauvinism as a crucial

weapon n thisbattle. or whenmarginnd center radeplaces,the

"imperial"rtistinWalser' condescendingerm) ecomesminor,he

marginalizedrtistmajor. rom he mperial erspective,artlebymaylook ikeRilke' negativemold;fromhe utterfly'serspective,God sthe ppositefRodin." nthis anny eversal fvalues,Kafka efines is

literaryousinRobertWalser y omparinghe acehorsehatumpswiththe nethat oesn't.Afterxtollinghe ision f essence" nd unity"rider erives rom he ormer,ethen onsiders heviewfrom he atter:

But fmyhorse urns ack ndwon't ake heump nd huns hehurdle r runs ff nddisportsnside he rena, r eventhrows

me,naturallyhe otal iewwill eeminglyavegained greatdeal. There regaps mong he pectators;omefly, thersall,handsweave back and forth s though espondingo every

possiblewind, rain ffleetingnterrelationshipsalls ponme,and t squite ossible hat ome pectatorseel t nd oncur ithme while lie on thegrass ike worm.22

Neatlyunderminingheauthorityf theunifyingmperial iew,this

impeccablyelf-effacingistinctionerives,n way, romvery udeo-Christianision f he pset freceivedower: hosewho re ast hall efirst.

Fromthe owerperspective,urthermore,he"greatman" s

revealeds a vampireevouringis ntimatesnd iteraryompetitorsnsinglemindedursuitfhonor ndglorymasked s devotionohis rt. hisworm's yeview of theunderbellyfgenius s brilliantlyepictednChild'sPlay, a novella y heAustralian riter avidMalouf,nwhicha youngtalian errorist,na ratheriteralcting utofHaroldBloom's

anxietyf nfluence,lots he eath f hemost enowned riterfhisday.About he iteraryminence ehopes oassassinateMalouf terrorist-narratorsks nexasperation:

Cangenius eseparatedromgotism? isego smonstrous;etit s n he roteanransformationndmasqueradesf his go, ts








capacity oslip nandout of other orms,therives, hathediscovershat eelingor he neness f hingshat othustifieshisvision fhimselfs aphenomenonfnaturend onvincessof ts ruth.23

This novella s profitablyead in conjunction ithThomas Mann's

Diaries,which mply eflectMann's sense of his owngreatnessnd

entitlement:

Onmy fternoonalk houghtnce gainhowgood twould eif were o die now.Thenfeelingf ove for he ittle ne[his

daughterlizabeth],ndbegan xperimentingnmymindwiththe hexameteroem.But also saw thethematicelationshipbetweenmyfuture orks nd thedomain fmyreading: heromanticismf deathplus affirmationf life n TheMagicMountain,he rotestantismfTheConfidence an.A sense f

reaffirmation.24

These rethe ecuremusingsffame,which llowthewriter he uxuryof ontemplatingis euvrend alibratinghe extppropriatedditionsto t.Againsthem,s if onstructingnalgebraicquation,ne mmedi-

atelywants o et he emark alser iveshis ltergo, he spiringervantJakob onGunten,nhisownfictionalagebuch: In aterife willbeanutterlyharming,phericalero."25

It is not imply ttitudeowardwork nd other rtists hat s

affectedy iterarytatus. ltimately,hework tself analso reflectfalse xaltation,he ollownessf he sixty-year-oldmilingublicman"as shrewdlyescribedyElias Canetti:

Everywriter hohasmade nameforhimselfnd assertshatname nowsuitewell hat orhis eason e sno ongerwriter,for e administersositionsike nyburgher.uthe hasknown

peoplewho were so utterlyndpurelywritershat hey ustcouldn't e successfult t The writer ho sserts imself,

whoknows heywerepurerhan e,can'tendure aving hemaround orong, uthe squite reparedo veneratehemn the







120 VICTORIA NELSON

asylum. They are his split-offwounds and keep vegetating s

such. t s exalting ocontemplatendgettoknow thewoundsso

longas one does not have to feel them noneselfanymore I

wonderwhether here s, amongthosewhobuild theireisurely,secure, inear cademic lives on the ifeofa writerwhodwelled

inpoverty nddespair,even one who is ashamed.26

Witold Gombrowicz,writhing ompetitivelyn the giant shadow thatMann cast overeveryotherEuropeanwriter f his generation, eclared

that greatness s always inauthenticity"nd thatMann's vaunted "har-

nessingofopposites" "greatness oillness,geniustodecadence,superi-

ority odegradation")became overtime meretactic, one morewayof

forcing under heguiseofhonesty evenhumility others o acknowl-

edge his own right oglory."27Yes, yes andyet. Marginchauvinism side,uncles-and-neph-

ews is not theonly story. Becoming-minor"s one step n the now,but

it s notthe ast,nor s itby anymeans the best.Let us look atthematterof persona first, orself-presentations the cornerstone f all artistic

illusion.In Gombrowicz' voice can be heardthesame envythatMann

identifiednKleist,theenvyand bitternesshatwarpthe udgment f the

disenfranchiseds surely s the sense of entitlement arpsthe udgmentof thoseat thetop. n theend,does anything istinguish he mperial goonone hand from hepathological elf-effacement,he orgiesof belittle-

ment,"as MartinWalser described the earlier Walser' s characteristic

posture,on the other?28 Both personas are equally narcissistic. The

omnipotentbasement fKafka'shungerrtist ardens nto kind fbodydeathmask, nd meregreatnesss drowned utbythegrandiose choes of

Walser' s "sphericalzero."

The real secret,the important ruth,ies outside questions of

literaryrpersonalsuperiority,nd t s this: hePresident nd hisbrother,Mann and Walser, Goethe and Kleist, are more alike than they are

different. ome,mostnotablyChristopherMiddleton,have observedthis

basic underlyingdentity.n describingRobert Walser as a "liminoid,"

marginal rtist,Middleton acknowledgesthatMann,"withhis antitheses

andtensions, ndhisantagonisms,"might e a liminoid rtist,oo,thoughhe qualifiesthecomparison:







KleistoethendWalsermann 121

WithMann there s an immensely ntricate ntellectual

superstructureothenarrative;massive ultures enshrinedthere.Perhapsthat mass serves to cushionthe authorial

imagination.ithWalsert sobviouslytherwise.e sfootlooseandbarefoot,ndhe dances atherhan lods.His dance s thatof an autodidactalbeithe read widely), xposed,boyish,

defenseless, holly ependentn a spontaneityhat ludes, smuch s itchallenges,he equential eterminacyf deas.29

Middletonlsosees deep ffinityetweenWalser ndGoethes "eternal

youths,"eter ans whonever rew p.The usualfate fthese ypesaswasthe aseformost f theuncles ndnephews)s early eath r other

formsfself-extermination,reativerpsychological.But, sMiddletonoints ut:

Once na bluemoon . uer eternusemainsntact ndreachesan advanced gewith is reativeowers otmuch iminished.

Goethedid so. The grandmaturityf his mind, ested nd

seasonedby a multitudef externalnterestsnd profound

experiences,ncluding esponsivenesso theradiance f the

eroticwhichdoes not seemtohavefiguredn thescript f

Walser' fortune),rainednd ransformed,ndwasnotmpeded

by,hisunquenchableusto, isabilityo be almost onstantly

emergent,ariouslyorefreshimself.30

Thepoint otake s not henevitableowtoGoethe ut he act hat oth

GoethendMann tartedutmuchmore ikeKleist ndWalser han ither

culturalehemothelt omfortablecknowledgingn ater ears, ide he

instinctiveevulsionan emotion ften tronger hendirectedgainsttraits ne recognizesn oneself) xpressed yGoethetowardKleist.

Perhapsikewiseeeingmore fTonioKrogernhimselfhan ecared o,ThomasMannmade deliberatend elf-consciousgodecisionomarry,

havinginthewords f onebiographer)fallenn ovewith he dea of

living representativeife, ikea prince."31notherritic awMann'sliteraryurnromisuncle chillero veryalculatedmitatio oethe s







122 VICTORIANELSON

a "growingsmosis ftwopersonalubstanceso that,na way,GoethebecomesnThomas annwhat homasMann ecomesnGoethe."32es,Goethemannthatwas thiswriter'sesiredmarriage oal,but he ecretidentificationith heminorontinuedocast shadow n hiseffortsoconsummatehis nflatederemonial nion.

Suchattemptsy climber fthe iteraryliffo fuse dentitieswith "giant" fthepast like thenephews' essflagrantttemptso

mergewith heir ncles contain he seed of a betterynthesis,heprovocativeuggestionhat heremight e anothererritory,eitherhe

imperialeathmasknor tsnegativemold, hat n rtistanoccupy. iventhe ntrinsicimilarities,ouldnot writer ovefromhemarginowardthe enterorfromhe enter ack to themargin)till arryinghebest

qualities fboth as,Middletonmplies, oethe troveodo,outgrowinghisdeflationnly ofall ictim o nflationncehehad rossed o he thersideof he iteraryhadowine?Andwouldn't heminors ehappier,nealmostwants osay, f heyllowed hemselvesull ccess to ife, ove,

seaton the acehorsehatumps?Who,Walserncludedanddespite isprotestations,hich ssified ntohis final dentity),eallywants o beEdward cissorhands?

Another ootnoterom hehistoryfbooksmaybeuseful ere.

During he ixteenthentury,eforewidespreaddoptionfthe rintingpress, riotousnion fgraphicrt nd alligraphyascelebratedn uchworks s theMiraCalligraphiaeMonumenta,handwritingodel ookin whichJorisHöfnagel, rtistn thecourt fRudolph I ofPrague,launchedhimself rom hemargins fGeorgBocskay'scalligraphy.

Höfnagel' spreadingudzu ine fwild rnamentationanimals,hells,plantsndfruitscrupulouslyrawn rom aturenthenewRenaissance

emphasisnnatural istory beautifullyugmentshe extwithoutver-

whelmingt.33 marginalistyprofession,öfnagelived uthisurge oinhabithe ull pace nanadmirablyemocraticashion, ithoutsurp-ing rupsettinghe alance.With nityf ext nd llustrationshisgoal,Höf agel urnedheseopybookmodelsnto omethingxtraordinarythe

butterflies,normousnes, erchmajesticallys full qualson the liffftext.Bythe imeHöfnagel adfinishedhework nthe1590s,however,

bothlluminationnd alligraphyeredyingrafts. hemachine-printedbook restoredheprimacy f textover a clearlydefined order f







Kleistgoethend Walsermann 123

unviolatedwhite pace, and center esumed ts dominanceovermargin.Occasional examplesoftheHöfnagelmodel that f transform-

ing a minor-majorymbiosis nto a synthesis do appear in the iteraryrecord.We might ee itoperatingndirectlynthePolish writer lexander

Wat,whospentmost fhis ife nthemarginfirstrtistically,s a Dadaist/

Futurist, nd thenin real life, in Stalin's labor camps) yet lived his

emotional ifesquarely nthecenter,n a deep relationshipwithhis wife

and son. In his greatmemoirMy CenturyWat eloquentlydescribes hisconversion rom margin ensibilitynLuby nkaprison,wherehe osthis

taste for the avant garde, to a wider vision of life. "In prison," he

commented,

the aestheticsensibilitys purgedof various fashions, ll that

experimentalvolatility.Everythingvolatile seems somehow

illusory, lmostnonexistent. nd what's eft rethings hat xist

in themselves ndderive fromwhat s stable.34

A life ived in themargins aveWatgreaterccess to thecenter fthings,tothetruly uman, hanmostpeople ever achieve. That he expressedhis

conversionn a dictatedmemoir ather han work f maginative rt akes

nothing romtspower.Thiskindofunifyingxperience,however, ccursall toorarely

in a single mortal, nd oftenonly underthe most special and difficult

conditions.The randomforcesoflife,fame andpersonalcharacter wist

artistsnexorablynonedirection r theother, enter rmargin,warping

their ensibilities ccordingly. or the rueunionofopposites,we have tolook higher or lower;inthiscontextbothdirections re thesame) to the

metalevel,where he tory f themargin lood clan is fulfilled nlywhen

we combine itwith the storiesof theirmajoralteregos. For surelythe

worksof each member f thesetwopairs GoetheandKleist,Mann and

Walser stand ndesperateneedof theother'scharacters nd storiesfor

satisfactoryompletion.A Borgesianfusionof identitywould bring he

high ow andthe owhigh, bliteratingmajorandminor, ext ndmargin,and allowingthefullstory thegenuine ife-embracingensibility to

emerge from the harmoniousconflationof theirdisparatebut oddlycomplementarymaginings.The Marquise of Ο bringsFaust's child to







124 VICTORIANELSON

term, rounding issoaring mbitionnthe tabilityf a happyfamilyife.

SiegmundandSiegelindemateenthusiastically ith heTannersiblings,thereby reakingboth sets of incestuousbondsand liberating ll. JakobvonGuntengains employments thefootmanntheBuddenbrookshome

and, n a Pinteresque eversal ffortune,eizespower?No, that' not uiteright too muchmajoryangand notenoughminoryin.Better:Jakob's

humility xerts a transformativeffect n themembers of thisrigidly

hierarchicalhousehold,withgratifyinglynarchicresults.Hans Castorp, takinga strolloutside the SanatoriumBerghof

nearDavos, discovers a set of footprintsn thesnow . . . and so his lifecontinues.

Kleistgoethe nd Walsermann.A consummation evoutly o be

wished,though pparently otbythefour arties hemselves,whoinreallife turned heirheads firmlyway from heir ecret harers.Marrythe

shadow,not hegod?For all ofus thats easiersaidthandone.We pickoursides at birth nd decide there's no turning ack.

Notes

1Sigmund reud, ompletesychologicalWorks,tandardd.,vol. 14,trans.James tracheyLondon:TheHogarthress, 957),p.323.

2RobertWalser,TheJobApplication,"electedtoriesfRobertWalser,rans.ChristopheriddletonNewYork:Farrartraus Giroux, 982).

3 Elio FröhlichndPeterHamm, obertWalser: ebenundWerknDatenundBildernFrankfurt:nsel,1980).

4Walter enjamin,RobertWalser,"rans. arkHarman,nMarkHarman,d.,RediscoveringobertWalserHanoverndLondon:Universityress fNewHampshire,1985),p. 144.This xcellent nduseful ook ontains numberf ssays boutWalser yotherwriters.

5Cynthia zick,"Alfredhester'sWig,"nFame ndFollyNewYork: arrarStraus Giroux, 996),p. 87.

6 RainerMarieRilke, etters,ol.2,trans. ane annard reenndM. D. Herter

NortonNewYork:Norton,947-48), . 147.







Kleistgoethend Walsermann 1 5

7 Christopheriddleton,ntroduction,akob onGuntenNewYork:VintageBooks,1983),p. 11.

8 Gilles Deleuze and FelixGuattari,oward MinorLiterature,rans. ana

Polan,TheoryndHistory fLiterature,ol. 30 (Minneapolis: niversityf Minnesota

Press, 986),p. 26.

9 WitoldGombrowicz,Dominique eRoux," d.,AKind fTestament,rans.MauriceNadeau London:Calder& Boyars, 973),p.63.

10 Deleuze andGuattari, inor iterature,. 27.

11 Michael amille,magesn heMarginCambridge, A:Harvard niversityPress, 992).

12MichaelCamille, The FleshMade Word:Originsnd Functions f Gothic

Marginal rt,"ecture, niversityfCaliforniatBerkeley,eptember1, 1990.

13 Ibid.

14 Benjamin, RobertWalser," , 145. MartinWalser,however, hought

Benjaminwas taken nbyWalser*consciouslyonstructedholynaif*pose. See his"unrelentingtyle,"nRediscoveringobertWalser, p. 153-168.

15With heBlueFlower, fictionboutNovalis haracterizedy Lenz'Mike

understatementndflatnessfaffect,he nglish ovelist enelope itzgerald as madebidfor iece tatus,ut tspositionnthebody f herwork s anomalous.

16 Goethe uoted yThomasMann n hisforewordo HeinrichonKleist,he

MarquiseofΟ and Other tories, rans.MartinGreenburgNew York:New American

Library,960),xvi.

17 Goetheuoted

nPhilip

B. Miller, d. andtrans., nAbyss eep Enough:LettersfHeinrich onKleistwith SelectionfEssays ndAnecdotesNewYork:E. P.

Dutton, 982),p. 177.

18 bid.

19Mann,Marquise onO,ix,xiv. havefound odiscussionfRobertWalserin Mann'sworks.

20 RobertWalser, p.cit.

21 GuyDavenport, aVinci'sBicycleBaltimore, D: The Johns opkins

Press, 979),pp. 149-185.







126 VICTORIANELSON

22 FranzKafka, LetteroDirectorisner/*nRobertWalser ediscovered,p.139-140.

23 DavidMalouf, hild'sPlay Harmondsworth,K: Penguin, 983),p.60.

24 ThomasMann, iaries1918-1939, d.Hermann esten,rans. ichardnd

ClaraWinstonNewYork:Abrams, 982),p.4 [Saturday,eptember4,1918].

25 RobertWalser, akob onGunten,rans. hristopheriddletonNewYork:

Vintage ooks,1983),p. 24.

26 EliasCanetti,RobertWalser,"n RobertWalser ediscovered,p. 1 1 1 2.

27 WitoldGombrowicz,iaries,vol.2, trans. illian Vallée (Evanston,L:

Northwesternniversityress, 989),p. 125.

28 MartinWalser,RobertWalser,"nRediscoveringobertWalser, . 161.

29 Christopheriddleton,A Parenthesiso heDiscussion fRobertWalser'

Schizophrenia,"nRediscoveringobertWalser, . 193.

30 Ibid.p. 191.

31 RonaldHayman, homasMann:ABiographyNewYork, cribner,998),

p.616.

32 FritzKaufman, homasMann: The World s Will nd Representation(Boston:BeaconPress, 957),p. 170.

33 Joris ofnagel, iraCalligraphiaeMonumentaMalibu,CA: J.PaulGettyMuseum, 992);seealsoPhilip . Meggs, MiraCalligraphiaeMonumenta,in Print 7,no. 1 JanVFeb.993):94-104,144.

34 Aleksander at,MyCentury,rans. ichard ourieBerkeley: niversityf

Californiaress, 988).

Documents

Nelson Kleistgoethe and Walsermann