Despite the initial enthusiastic reception of Die Dämonen by the press, and its prompt translation into English, the novel did not attract wide notice outside Vienna and Austria. [Note: Heimito von Doderer, The Demons, trans. C. and R. Winston (New York: A. Knopf, 1961).] Its bulk (1345 pages) and overwhelming cast of characters (142 in all, 40 of them major characters), as well as the relatively obscure historical setting (the political turmoil in Vienna during the years 1926-1927 which culminated in the burning of the Palace of Justice) and the inclusion of a fifty-page text written in Early New High German, conspire with unfathomable structural complexities to make it a difficult novel to read, much less to interpret. No doubt this explains the relative dearth of authoritative treatments of Doderer's work in the scholarly literature.
The only summary of the Doderer research illustrates this dearth graphically. [Note: Jan Papior, "Der Stand der Doderer Forschung," Studia Germanica Posnaniensia, IV (1975), 21-30.] It was written in 1973 and published in 1975 in an obscure Polish journal of German studies. It shows that there is hardly enough material to write an extensive summary of research. The first generation of dissertations on Doderer is just now beginning to appear. It should be years before they are digested and reviewed so that the research goals of the future can be formulated.
Hence, a major goal of this dissertation is to lay the groundwork for a discussion of Doderer's work in terms of his biography. We feel that some good work in this methodological direction has been done on Thomas Mann, while this approach has received only limited attention in connection with Doderer. However, the well-documented life of Mann makes eminently practical a mode of criticism that is quite problematical for less well-documented artists. In the case of Doderer, the biographical method can furnish only a hypothesis. Thus, we are less interested in an absolutely valid interpretation of a novel--that in itself is an impossibility--we are more interested instead in presenting and arguing a hypothesis that can lead to further discussion and most certainly, criticism.
In this chapter we also hope to extend the scope of Papior's Forschungsbericht by a discussion of the American dissertations and the substantial publications about Doderer since l973. One great advantage of working on a relatively obscure author such as Heimito von Doderer is that it is still possible to collect and interpret the majority of the secondary material. [Note: Sources for bibliographic information are: Dietrich Weber, Heimito von Doderer. Studien zu seinem Romanwerk (Munich: C. H. Beck, 1963), 298-320; Lutz-Werner Wolff, Wiedereroberte Aussenwelt. Studien zur Erzählweise Heimito von Doderers am Beispiel des 'Romans No 7' (Göppingen: A. Kümmerle, 1969), 280-285; Wendelin Schmidt-Dengler, "Bibliographie. Sekundärliteratur zu Heimito von Doderer," Literatur und Kritik VIII (1973), 615-620. A complete annotated bibliography is awaited with impatience by all who are concerned with modern Austrian literature.] A search through the standard bibliographical listings will yield approximately one hundred titles, all of which, with the exception of unpublished European dissertations, are available in libraries in the United States. The interpretation of this record, however, is a more difficult matter. Ordering the material is essential to an interpretation because of the diverse and often contradictory nature of the perspectives offered. First, one must differentiate serious scholarly work from feuilletonistic literary criticism and from journalistic efforts. With these three generic distinctions firmly in mind, one must further differentiate commentators along national lines. It takes a great deal of sensitivity to distinguish the perspectives of Austrian, German, British and American scholars. An additional category, a chronological one, will serve to distinguish reviews and commentaries published contemporaneously with Doderer from more substantial publications based on only recently available portions of the posthumous papers.
In the following chapter we shall review the most important works on Doderer with specific reference to interpretations of Die Dämonen. We shall consider the secondary literature under three headings. First, we shall consider book-length studies published by German publishers specializing in that dubious discipline called Literaturwissenschaft. Secondly, we shall consider three dissertations that have been written on Doderer in the United States and one quite excellent Austrian dissertation that is relevant to our thesis. Under the third heading we shall discuss selected examples of the approximately three dozen shorter treatments of Doderer's work that bear on our topic.
A. Book-length Studies
To date only four book-length studies have been published on Doderer. [Note: Dietrich Weber, Heimito von Doderer. Studien zu seinem Romanwerk (Munich: C. H. Beck, 1963); Rene Tschirky, Heimito von Doderers 'Posaunen von Jericho' Versuch einer Interpretation (Berlin: E. Schmidt, 1971); Lutz-Werner Wolff, Wiedererobrte Aussenwelt (Göppingen: A. Kümmerle, 1969); Roswitha Fischer, Studien zur Entstehungs- geschichte der 'Strudelhofstiege' Heimito von Doderers (Vienna: W. Braumüller, 1975). The recent publications by Reininger, 1975 and by Schröder, 1976 will be discussed below.] A short discussion of these four studies should serve as an introduction to some of the special problems of Doderer-scholarship.
Weber's monograph must be considered the starting point for research on Doderer. It was written in consultation with Doderer himself and published with his permission three years before his untimely death. Since Doderer approved the study, it represents, in a sense, the opinions letzter Hand of the author about his work. Yet, the study also suffers a loss of objective analysis due to the proximity of the author. Weber's analysis of Die Dämonen, the major portion of the study, concentrates on the technical difficulties Doderer experienced with his narrative pose. Although the point is crucial, and Weber's documentation from the novel and the author's journals is excellent, his discussion seems more of a justification than an interpretation or analysis. At times his discussion reads like a theoretical thesis on the "total novel," couched entirely in Doderer's difficult theoretical vocabulary.
Weber describes Doderer's failure at writing a chronicle of a group of Viennese intellectuals from a consistent narrative perspective. The reasons Weber cites lie in Doderer's methods of writing as well as in the nature of his project. Doderer differentiated strongly between writing concurrently with events and writing as events present themselves through the distance of memory. During the years 1931-1937, while Doderer was working on the objective Zeugenbericht about the group of characters called die Unsrigen, he could not maintain objective distance from his narrative. Thus, the objective narrator, Geyrenhoff, actually becomes involved in the story. After the Second World War, having written Die Strudelhofstiege (1951), which treats many of the same characters as Die Dämonen in the years before and just after the First World War, Doderer was able to turn the abandoned chronicle into a novel by superseding Geyrenhoff as narrator with a third-person narrator.
Weber continues with a discussion of the "total novel," its structure, thematic content, and general function, as illustrated by Die Dämonen. He discovers a series of epicenters in the development of groups of characters, which are connected by the theme of zweite Wirklichkeit (defined as: a mode of existence that relies on an ideology as a buffer to reality) for overt didactic purposes.
Weber points out a layer structure, a mehrstufiges Gebilde in Die Dämonen: Zeugenbericht, Chronik, Roman. The Zeugenbericht is written concurrently with events and forms the material for the chronicle, a fictitious first-person narrative, which in turn serves as the preliminary stage for the "total novel," written from an objective third-person perspective. The novel may be approached from either end: from the novel (the controlling form) to the Zeugenbericht (the actual details of reality); or, from the details to the organizing form.
Within the layer structure, the narrative continuum appears as a series of epicenters, woven together by the consistency of the reality portrayed, as well as by the thematic material provided by the author. There is a tension in the epicenters between the reality content and its symbolic value. The symbolic value points to the "total novel" and its didactic function, while the reality content points to the mimetic function of the Zeugenbericht. Thus, there are never overt symbols, only slices of life with potential meaning. Thus also, the specific events in the novel really admit to no interpretation; they are to be treated as neutrally as events in everyday life. The cumulative effect of the reality content points the direction of the symbolic value, which is only vaguely circumscribed as a quest for humanity.
Although Weber's description of Doderer's intention is quite clear, his actual analysis of the novel is confined to only three of more than a dozen of potential epicenters: Jan Herzka, the events around the burning of the Palace of Justice, and the figure of Frau Mayrinker. This leaves large portions of Die Dämonen unexplored and prevents Weber from forming clear conclusions about an interpretation. He limits himself to an exposition of the "total novel" and can only conclude that Die Dämonen lived up neither to Doderer's intentions nor to his expectations.
Rene Tschirky traces the Entstehungsgeschichte of some of Doderer's short stories, Divertimenti I-VII, in which Doderer experimented with musical techniques in prose writing. His actual interpretation of the stories is essentially intrinsic and does not touch the aspects of Doderer's work under consideration here. We will, however, briefly discuss his short chapter on the autobiographical element in the Divertimenti below, in Chapter Two.
Tschirky's study of the Divertimenti has been reviewed more than once. [Note: E. Krispyn, Journal of English and Germanic Philology, LXXI (1972), 434-437; F. Trommler, Colloquia Germanica V (l973), 248.] Krispyn's review is a lengthy and very sympathetic paraphrase of Tschirky's major points that seems to indicate satisfaction with the material covered. Trommler, on the other hand, is quite critical of Tschirky's failure to be aware of methodological problems in the interpretation of the Divertimenti, a mistake we shall be careful to avoid in our efforts on Die Dämonen.
Lutz-Werner Wolff's study of Doderer's narrative prose can be taken as a continuation of Weber's study. Wolff traces the further refinement and development Doderer and the "total novel" exhibit after Die Dämonen. He points out that the theory of the "total novel" cannot be understood from the perspective of Die Dämonen, since the technical problems of the "total novel" were not fully solved until the publication of Die Wasserfälle von Slunj (1963).
The most important of these innovations was a secure narrative pose that does not lead to an analysis or objectification of a figure, but rather, lets the figure appear as an autonomous, independent center within a dynamic whole. Some explanation of this technique is necessary since practically all of Doderer's work after the Second World War is directed towards his peculiar notion of realism (Wirklichkeitserfassung or Apperzeption). It calls for figures to be drawn from life as they actually appear, not as they should appear for the sake of a thematically coherent novel. The point of Doderer's creative effort is absolute mimesis, not aesthetic craftsmanship. The key for this new mimetic pose in Roman No 7 is the avoidance of overt autobiography. According to Doderer, autobiography demands specific thematic content which is the recognition of an intended Sinn in the figures presented. Doderer's absolute mimetic style moves away from meaning to a balanced and neutral portrait of reality.
There is only one problem in Wolff's analysis. If we were to accept his conclusions, we would have to consider Roman No 7, or at least its narrative pose superior to Die Dämonen. This is clearly not the case. Not only has Roman No 7 remained a fragment, only one quarter completed, but even the completed portions lag far behind Die Dämonen in aesthetic intensity. As a result, Wolff's study is of limited usefulness for our consideration of Die Dämonen, despite his excellent analysis of Doderer's late style.
Roswitha Fischer's excellent monograph on the genesis of Die Strudelhofstiege (1951), the novel which Doderer published just before Die Dämonen and to which he owes a large part of his reputation as a novelist, tries to clear up some technical aspects of Doderer's art. She tries to establish exactly when Doderer wrote portions of the novel, where he wrote them, and how he put them together. Consequently, Fischer's monograph is less an interpretation of the novel than a quite valuable prerequisite for an interpretation. In her introduction she justifies her selection of Die Strudelhofstiege for her study and sheds some light on similar, but more aggravated problems in connection with Die Dämonen.
[das]...Dämonenmanuscript (Einschliesslich der Skizzen)... ist auf Grund der verschiedenen Fassungen derart umfangreich, dass eine solche Aufarbeitung von einem Einzelnen kaum bewältigt werden könnte. Von den abgeschlossenen, grossen Romanen ist am ehesten das Material der Strudelhofstiege gerade noch überschaubar [Note: Roswitha Fischer, Entstehungsgeschichte, p. 12.]
We can only marvel at the thoroughness with
which Fischer discharged what must have been
quite tedious positivistic work, and hope
that the task of clearing up the exact genesis
of Doderer's work is proceeding at a good pace
at the institutes of modern Austrian literature
in Vienna.
Perhaps this work will eventually lead to the
removal of the misunderstandings and
misinterpretations that characterize
commentaries to his novels.
B.
Unpublished Dissertations
To date, only three dissertations have been written on Doderer in the United States. [Note: Franz-Peter Haberl, "Theme and Structure in the Novels of Heimito von Doderer" (Diss. Cornell, l964); Andrew Boelcskevy, "Rhetorische Darstellungsmittel in Heimito von Doderers Roman Die Strudelhofstiege" (Diss. University of Pennsylvaia, 1969); Peter Falk, "Heimito von Doderer's Concept of the Novel: Theory and Practice" (Diss. University of Southern California, 1971).] A discussion of these dissertations should point the direction of research on Doderer in the United States.
Haberl's early dissertation can serve as no more than a general introduction to Doderer's work. Haberl lacks familiarity with Doderer's theory; he skirts Weber's discussion completely and considers Doderer only from the perspective of theme and motif. Theme he defines as an abstract idea, motif, as a recurring character or event. He proceeds with a chronological survey of Doderer's novels from Die Bresche (1924) to Die Dämonen that amounts to little more than a retelling of the plots.
His analysis does uncover consistent thematic material (Menschwerdung and zweite Wirklichkeit), which leads Haberl to treat Doderer as a realist with an overt didactic purpose. In his concluding remarks, Haberl can only point to some discrepancies between Doderer's professed realism and his narrative intrusions. Since he leaves the question unexplored, the promised "...structural analysis of the individual novels, including a consideration of imagery, motifs, use of language for characterization, point of view, and the mode of presentation..." [Note: Haberl, p. 3.] solve few interpretative problems.
Andrew Boelcskevy concentrates on Die Strudelhofstiege for the stated reason that it is written from a unified perspective and thus lends itself more readily to an intrinsic interpretation. The slant of Boelcskevy's analysis is revealed by his theoretical basis: Wayne Booth [Note: The Rhetoric of Fiction (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961).] and Eberhard Lämmert. [Note: Bauformen des Erzählens (Stuttgart: J. B. Metzler, l955).]
After an excellent comparison of the narrative prose in Die Dämonen and Die Strudelhofstiege, Boelcskevy documents the interaction between the reader, author, narrator and the figures of the novel Die Strudelhofstiege. He analyzes rhetorical devices as they are recognized by Booth and Lämmert. His concerns are two-fold: he uncovers a tension between the reader, the thematic content and the various poses of the author. Given the nature of these tensions, he shows that Doderer is only tentatively accessible to an intrinsic analysis. Nevertheless, his actual categories of analysis, irony, caricature, symbolism of names and leitmotif derive from the critical vocabulary used to analyze the realistic novel.
Boelcskevy lauds Doderer for his ability to overcome the tendency towards overt autobiography in favor of a coherent, realistic narrative. Thus, Boelcskevy goes counter to our emphasis of the autobiographical in Die Dämonen and its roots in the early work.
As a prelude to our discussion of Doderer's montage technique in Die Dämonen, which in turn is a prelude to an interpretation of the autobiographical correlative to the figures of Stangeler, Schlaggenberg and Geyrenhoff, an interpretation from a different perspective must be discussed. Falk's dissertation is an interpretation of Die Dämonen in terms of Doderer's theoretical essay on the novel in general, Grundlagen und Funktion des Romans, which appeared four years after the publication of the novel in 1959. [Note: Heimito von Doderer, Grundlagen und Funktion des Romans (Nürnberg: Glock & Lutz, 1959).]
In his discussion of Grundlagen und Funktion des Romans, Falk reaches several conclusions:
1) For Doderer, the novel "...is a work of art representing a microcosm in a specific form." [Note: Falk, p. 14.] This is an attempt at a neutral definition of the novel that is more specific than the fool-proof "...piece of prose of a certain length." Falk's encapsulation of Doderer's theory draws attention to all the elements of the novel that Doderer emphasizes: a) the mimetic, "representing," b) the social and ethical, "microcosm," c) the aesthetic (vs. the journalistic), "work of art." By "specific form" Falk means Doderer's conception of the "total novel," which is to add universality to the elements listed above. Falk quotes the salient passages from Grundlagen und Funktion des Romans to support his conclusions: "...Universalität ist der geometrische Ort aller Sachen, die heute noch mit einem Mindestgrade von Deckung zwischen Innen und Aussen ergriffen und zur Sprache gebracht werden können." [Note: Grundlagen, p. 38.] Doderer thus locates universality within the realm of the communicable, at the point where private consciousness intersects the exterior world and can find expression through language. At this intersection, the "total novel" becomes possible. "Der totale Roman ist der geometrische Ort aller Produkte die sich gleich weit entfernt befinden von der Kunst, der Wissenschaft und vom Leben." [Note: Ibid., p. 50.] Falk concludes his discussion of Grundlagen und Funktion des Romans with the following summary: "...the above quote...implies that the author of this 'total novel' will seek the outer limits of the potentialities of art, knowledge and life without losing control over any one aspect. In seeking these limits, the writer beomes capable of creating the sought-after concept of universality--and that, for Doderer, is what the novel represents." [Note: Falk, p. 40.] Thus, with "specific form" Falk describes Doderer's concept of how the novel attains universality. Doderer emphatically juxtaposed this universal concept of how the novel attains universality to the "utopische oder transreale Roman" of his contemporaries: "...der Salzburger Schnürlregen der Assoziationen bei James Joyce, die im Essayismus erstickten fadendünne Handlung bei Musil, und die geradezu gewaltige Dynamik der Langeweile bei Marcel Proust." [Note: Grundlagen, p. 36.]
2) Falk's second conclusion follows from the first. Given that for Doderer the novel was a synthesis of many elements, universality being but one, Falk goes through a catalog of novel types from the historical novel to the detective novel, rejecting each in turn as an appropriate category for Die Dämonen. He finally settles on one type, the Bildungsroman: "The many dimensions of this novel have been indicated by this brief survey of the various types of novel which Die Dämonen could be. The Bildungsroman would undoubtedly be the classification most readily affirmed by the author." [Note: Falk, p. 59.] Falk does qualify his conclusion in a footnote: "In the decade between the publication of Die Dämonen and his death, Doderer did not comment publicly on any criticism. This assumption is based on the attitude expressed in so many of his essayistic writings and diaries regarding the ultimate function of the novel." [Note: Falk, p. 59, note 13.] Falk supports his thesis by citing Doderer's moralistic aims. In the novel, each character is confronted by the demonic aberrations of his "second reality," a mode of existence that relies on ideology as a buffer to reality, and learns from the experience: "...and it is the portrayal of the process whereby his characters become capable of perceiving their reality and reacting to it that is of the greatest interest to the moralist Doderer." [Note: Falk, p. 62.] Falk correctly locates the main emphasis of Die Dämonen on the character's growing awareness of reality; this is, in fact, Doderer's primary thematic material, Menschwerdung, which is discussed widely in the critical literature. However, is it possible to use the historical and association-laden category of Bildungsroman to classify a 1348 page portrayal of the various stages of Menschwerdung of more than 40 characters? Falk clearly states his definition of Bildungsroman: "a Bildungsroman is here assumed to be appropriately defined as a novel in which a segment of the hero's life illuminates the manner in which the hero develops intellectually, spiritually and psychically as a result of his contact with his environment..." [Note: Ibid., p. 63.] and proceeds with his interpretation.
3) In his interpretation, Falk concentrates on the figure of Leonhard Kakabsa and charts any development he makes towards Menschwerdung. He also shows the thematic function of Dwight Williams and provides ideas on the interpretation of the three manuscripts in the novel. These topics provide much material for analysis. The story of Kakabsa would be precisely a Bildungsroman if it were lifted from the book. Kakabsa is an uneducated but intelligent factory worker who comes into possession of a Latin grammar and by learning the language of the humanists, gains access to a humanistic education. He leaves his factory behind and becomes a happily married scholar. Dwight Williams, the American lepidoperist who appears occasionally throughout the book, also weaves his way to a successful integration and a happy marriage. In this sense, the two characters chosen for interpretation share the fate of most of the main characters who also marry happily.
4) Although there can be no quarrel with Falk's analysis of Kakabsa and Williams or his interpretation of the three manuscripts, we must object to his portrayal of Die Dämonen as a well-integrated Bildungsroman. Falk qualifies this portrayal by drawing attention to the overall structure of the book, which is not that of the Bildungsroman, but approaches that of the symphony, with changes in tempo and modulation of theme. With this concession to an overall structure, Falk smoothes over suspicion that Die Dämonen has, in fact no easily discernible structure aside from the most general, that of the montage and that the narrative of Kakabsa is NOT paradigmatic for the novel as a whole. In point of fact, the story of Kakabsa is a Bildungsroman integrated into a larger context in the way a movement of a symphony is part of a larger entity. However, an interpretation of a novel cannot concentrate on five sections of a montage and say nothing about the bulk of the book, including the three main characters, Stangeler, Schlaggenberg and Geyrenhoff.
5) Nevertheless, the discussion of Kakabsa, Williams, and the three manuscripts uncovers important thematic material. It is unfortunate that Falk settled on the category of the Bildungsroman and thus restricted the focus of his interpretation of Die Dämonen.
The purpose of this lengthy discussion of Falk's interpretation has been to pave the way for an alternate view. We will consider the novel as a montage of literary types with a strong thematic connection and an equally strong autobiographical current. By keeping in mind that the work is a montage, it is no longer necessary to bring all episodes under a common denominator. To attempt that would even be counter to the definition of the "total novel" described above. In our interpretive scheme, the category of Bildungsroman can be used to label one section of the montage. In this interpretation, the figure of Kakabsa will recede into the background, behind Stangeler, Schlaggenberg and Geyrenhoff.
The idea that Doderer is the man behind the configuration of Stangeler, Schlaggenberg and Geyrenhoff generally does not play a major role in extant interpretations of Die Dämonen. In an uncharacteristic display of philological acumen, however, Der Spiegel of 5 June 1957, mentioned that possibility in its article commemorating Doderer's sixtieth birthday:
Ein anderer... [Aspekt] ist das Autobiographische. Autor Doderer figuriert in seinem neuesten Buch zugleich unter drei Namen, als Sektionsrat Dr. Georg von Geyrenhoff (also als der Autor der Chronik), als der Schriftsteller Dr. Kajetan von Schlaggenberg, als der Historiker Dr. Rene von Stangeler (unter diesem Namen hat Doderer tatsächlich einige Aufsätze veröffentlicht). [Note: Der Spiegel, 5 June 1957, p. 54.]
No doubt such a bald reference to the author behind a work of art seemed journalistic and certainly did not attract a wide following in scholarly circles.
The only systematic exploration of this thesis is to be found in Ingrid Justin's excellent dissertation. [Note: Ingrid Justin, "Das Problem der Selbstdarstellung bei Heimito von Doderer" (Diss. Graz, 1971).] By juxtaposing details of the lives of the characters in Die Dämonen and Die Merowinger with Doderer's journal entries and with the facts of his biography, Justin concludes that Stangeler, Schlaggenberg and Geyrenhoff each represent an aspect of Doderer's personality. She follows this conclusion to a consideration of Doderer's later work and the progressive atrophy of autobiographical elements in Doderer's fragmentary last novel. Her discussion of Die Dämonen is limited to sketching the analogous philosophical horizons of the thinker Doderer and his self-portrait in the novel. Thus, there is a fundamental difference in approach between our consideration of Die Dämonen and Justin's search for autobiographical correlatives in Doderer's work. Since Justin uses Doderer's own critical vocabulary, she can discuss the relation of autobiography and fiction only tentatively. In contrast, our discussion of Stangeler, Schlaggenberg and Geyrenhoff is preceded by an extensive justification of the autobiographical perspective independent of Doderer's own theory. Below, in Chapter Two, we shall examine some of Justin's conclusions in detail, for she quite thoroughly discusses Doderer's own struggle with Totalität and the reflection of that struggle in the characters.
In our discussion of Die Dämonen we hope to concentrate on the text of the novel and follow Justin's conclusions to specific interpretations of events in the novel. We shall employ a different critical vocabulary than Justin. Rather than discuss Die Dämonen in terms of the development of the "total novel," we will use the tension between subjective and objective narrative within the autobiographical montage.
C. Essays.
The eight substantial treatments of Doderer's work which we have just reviewed must be considered against a background of numerous shorter publications about him in scholarly journals and belletristic feuilletons. As one might suspect, the publications run the full spectrum from short reviews to explications of individual aspects and to short surveys of his entire work. To bring some order into this stream of diverse treatments of Doderer from all around the world one must discern the general tenor of the discussion about him. First, we shall discuss a small selection of significant reviews published in the fifties and early sixties, followed, secondly, by a discussion of the German and Austrian contributions to the discussion, considering both the efforts of Literaturwissenschaft and of belletristic journalism. Third, we shall discuss the quite numerous and significant contributions to Doderer research published in Great Britain and in the United States. Finally, we shall try to gauge the trends in publications on Doderer since 1975 and speculate on the future directions of Doderer-research.
The publications on Doderer in the fifties and early sixties consist primarily of reviews of his novels. These early statements about Doderer are not without interest, for they exhibit an enthusiastic reaction to a newly discovered contemporary who showed great promise. A complete bibliography of all the reviews, arranged by the title of the novels is available in the appendix to Weber's excellent monograph. We shall discuss nine reviews that seem to have found an echo in the general discussion about Doderer. In fact, from some of these reviews, a repertory of quotes that explain aspects of his work has been established and can be found faithfully reproduced in later publications. However, it is quite natural that enthusiastic or at least receptive contemporary reviews should play a large role in determining the initial discussion about an author.
The first review we shall discuss appeared in 1940 and treats Ein Mord, den jeder begeht, Doderer's first major effort. [Note: Willy Kramp, "über Freiheit und Verstrickung. Zu Heimito von Doderers Roman 'Ein Mord, den jeder begeht,'" Die Neue Rundschau, LI (l940), 255-260.] This review is less interesting for its specific analysis of the novel than for a poetic, even rhapsodic presentation of the existential problem of freedom versus involvement. Kramp's review is doubly interesting because it is not colored by the outcome of the Second World War and thus allows us to see Doderer in relation to the problems of his contemporaries shortly after the completion of the first part of Die Dämonen.
The reviewer finds in Doderer a fellow traveler in a reality crisis. He stands before the contrast of "Materialismus" with its appeal for sensible action within society and "Illusionen" of spiritual mysteries and mythical realities. What Kramp lauds in Doderer is his tendency to lean towards illusions, for merely to question materialism is to expose its demonic nature and search for a true freedom grounded in a more permanent transcendental reality. Kramp states that most people's lives swing from one of the two extremes, to the other, and that, in fact, this movement characterizes life in general. In this flux, however, one may, or rather must find a static point.
Eine radikale Heilung von den Verführungen die dem Menschen zerstücktes oder lügenhaftes geblähtes Dasein als das wirkliche Sein vorgaukeln wollen, ist indessen doch nur möglich von jenem im Bilde vom schwingenden Pendel angedeuteten Tief- und Ruhepunkt unseres Lebens aus. Denn dort sind wir in das grausame Gleichgewicht gebracht, wo nichts mehr uns hält...wo wir--im Licht der unerbittlichen ganzen Wahrheit--unser Leben vor uns liegen sehen als das, was es wirklich ist; und wo wir nun vor die Entscheidung gestellt sind, entweder in der uns so überraschend geschenkten grausamen Freiheit zu verzweifeln und zu vergehen oder aber in ihr schon den Keim zu einem ganz neuen, wahrhaftigeren Leben zu erkennen. [Note: Ibid., p. 256.]
It is very significant that the reviewer embraces a perspective that turns its back on life in the world, a view not uncommon in the Christian context which Doderer shared to a certain degree.
Es ist klar, dass nach diesem Erlebnis der letzten göttlichen Freiheit für Conrad Castiletz die Dinge seines irdischen Lebens von sich aus keine Wirklichkeit mehr haben. Sie sind nichtig und transparent vor dem brennenden Schein des Gerichts. [Note: Ibid., p. 260.]
In a rather prophetic manner, Kramp points out a theme that could very well serve to describe the motivation behind Die Dämonen. "Es ist die Frage, ob die Freiheit...einem Abschied von der Welt gleichsieht, ob diese seltene Freiheit nicht in Wahrheit erst Voraussetzung und Beginn eines vor Gott erneuerten Lebens ist." [Note: Ibid.]
Due to Kramp's emphasis on the religious aspect, the review does not have much in common with reviews of Die Dämonen published after the war.
Henry Hatfield celebrates Doderer for revitalizing "...the present rather sterile state of German and Austrian literature..." [Note: Henry Hatfield, "Vitality and Tradition: Doderer's 'Die Strudelhofstiege,'" Moderner Deutschunterricht, XLVII (l955), 19-25.] in an enthusiastic review of Die Strudelhofstiege. This reaction to Doderer was typical in the fifties. Doderer seemed to have returned to a better and, most importantly, former time, and written a sane, somewhat chatty novel of family history, but with enough psychological interest to deserve serious consideration. In his discussion of the novel Hatfield conjures up a vision of old Vienna and its rich tradition which, in Doderer's art, seemed to have survived the two World Wars intact.
H. M. Waidson, [Note: H. M. Waidson, "Heimito von Doderer's Demons," German Life and Letters, N. S. XI (1957-58), 214-224.] in a review in German Life and Letters takes a similar tack in discussing Die Dämonen and Die Strudelhofstiege and even suggests "...that the gentle reader may care to have a street plan of Vienna at his elbow as he proceeds." [Note: Ibid., p. 215.] Waidson emphasizes the interconnectedness of the two novels and exhibits his close reading of the text by pointing out that on pages 176 to 177 of Die Strudelhofstiege one may find a summary of Die Dämonen.
However, he also shows how easy it is to go wrong when one considers these novels with methodologies suited for realistic novels. For example, Waidson lauds Doderer for his strong character development and cites Stangeler as an example. "It is part of the strength of Die Dämonen that the main characters, about thirty of them, are shown as undergoing convincing development of character within the scope of nine months' action." [Note: Ibid., p. 219.]
It would have been more accurate to have drawn attention to the long break in writing the book as a possible cause at least for Stangeler's development. Waidson does close with a remark with which we entirely agree even if it has not exactly come true: "It... [Die Dämonen] is one of the most outstanding modern German novels, and the historian of twentieth-century literature will have to give it his attention." [Note: Ibid., p. 224.]
Michael Hamburger [Note: Michael Hamburger, "A Great Austrian Novelist," Encounter (London) VIII (1957), 77-81.] recognizes Doderer as a particularly Austrian novelist who corrects the great omission that not a single novel of note was dedicated to Vienna as genius loci in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Hamburger also makes a good start at an interpretation of Doderer's work. He stresses the close connection of Die Strudelhofstiege and Die Dämonen, poignantly describes Doderer's psychology as "humanistic psychology" and even anticipates the discussion of autobiographical elements: "If... [Die Dämonen] can be said to have a hero at all, he is none of the three main characters--Geyrenhoff, Stangeler and Schlaggenberg--who embody certain phases or aspects of the author's life." [Note: Ibid., p. 79.]
In the course of his review, however, Hamburger does not pursue an autobiographical interpretation and emphasizes instead the universal moral drama that unfolds in Doderer's novels.
Sylvia Hayward-Jones, [Note: Sylvia Hayward-Jones, "Fate, Guilt and Freedom in Heimito von Doderer's 'Ein Mord, den jeder begeht' and 'Ein Umweg,'" German Life and Letters, N. S. XIV (1961), 160-164.] in a review of the early novels Ein Mord, den jeder begeht and Ein Umweg is intrigued by a very crucial point in Doderer's work in the forties that can be seen even in the sections of Die Dämonen from that time: the conflict of the individual and fate. To follow her initiative, it would be interesting to consider the conflict Doderer, a Thomistic historian turned writer must have had with the visions of national destiny current in the forties. She summarizes this theme as it appears in these two early novels in the last paragraph of her review:
Freedom is, then, for Doderer, not in any way dependent upon our measure of guilt...But the very faults with which we are endowed are the opportunity given us by our Creator to prove our worth and to attain our freedom from the bondage of our destiny...It is in the acknowledgement of our fate that we may gain our freedom. [Note: Ibid., p. 164.]
This notion of freedom runs through all of Doderer's work and is especially evident in Die Dämonen in the character of Gach.
Robert Blauhut [Note: Robert Blauhut, "Der Metaphysiker des Staatsbeamten. Eine Studie zu Heimito von Doderer," Wort in der Zeit, VI (1960), 23-30.] takes a somewhat different view of Doderer. He considers Doderer from two main perspectives, as an Austrian writer and as a modern European writer. Blauhut draws a strong parallel between Doderer and Stifter:
Die vielen Parallelen, die sich zwischen Doderer und Stifter auffinden lassen, sind zunächst das zwangsläufige Ergebnis einer gemeinsamen Grundhaltung: sie beide haben die heile menschliche Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft als Darstellungsobjekt ihrer Kunst in der Form des Romans gesucht. [Note: Ibid., p. 23.]
Blauhut also mentions Hofmannsthal and Grillparzer as antecedents to Doderer.
In defining Doderer's place among European writers, Blauhut puts Doderer into some august company in the development of the modern novel, which he characterizes as a dissolution of universality. Blauhut equates Doderer's portrayal of freedom with that of the greatest modern writers: "Die Beweise ihrer Freiheit stellt Doderer in einer raffiniert geführten Psychologie dar, deren Vorbild wir bei Dostojewskij ebenso wie bei James Joyce und Marcel Proust finden." [Note: Ibid., p. 25.]
Blauhut goes so far as to trace specific stylistic influences; yet, one wonders how specific those influences may be, considering Doderer's well-known dislike of Proust and Joyce.
Aside from literary comparisons, Blauhut uses the category of bureaucratic consciousness and the attendant bourgeois neuroses as a key to Doderer's work. He does not lack textual evidence for his analysis, for satire against self-important officialdom plays almost as great a role in Doderer's work as does its opposite, the portrayal of freedom.
Hilde Spiel, [Note: Hilde Spiel, "Der Kampf gegen das Chaos. Zu Heimito von Doderers 'Dämonen.'" Der Monat, IX (1957), 65-68.] whose critical involvement with modern Austrian literature is widely respected, coined a striking extended metaphor that aptly describes the labyrinthine form of Die Dämonen.
[Die Chronik]...gleicht in ihrer Form wahrhaftig einem Wurm, einem herrlichen riesenhaften Tatzelwurm, der sich kraftschraubend und in allen Farben des Regenbogens schillernd, auf vielen Füssen und mit gewaltigen Windungen seines Leibes über die Szene bewegt, hoch aufgetürmt über allem niedrigen Gekräuch wie jene urweltlichen Drachen und Echsen, die ein immer wiederkehrendes Motiv in Doderers Traum- und Mythenwelt sind. [Note: Ibid., p. 65.]
In search for literary comparisons, Spiel prefers to go to the early nineteenth century rather than compare Doderer to contemporaries:
Dies [ist]...schliesslich doch eine romantische Dichtung, gleich dem Brentanoschen Godwi ein "verwilderter" Roman im besten Sinne, will heissen, auf weiten Strecken allein durch das Diktat der ungehemmt schwärmenden, inspirierten Phantasie geschrieben. [Note: Ibid., p. 66.]
After discussing general thematic material in the novel, the socio-historical aspect, that of the family intrigue, and that of the novel's aphoristic quality, Spiel establishes a connection between the figure of Mrs. Kapsreiter and Doderer himself that indicates quite acute powers of observation for such an early reading of the novel.
Denn...kaum je sind Visionen wie jene niedergeschrieben worden, die im "Nachtbuch" der Kapsreiter aufgezeichnet sind. Mit welcher Qual sie heraufgeholt wurden aus den tiefsten und unerforschtesten Gründen der eigenen Seele wird... klar. [Note: Ibid., p. 67.]
Ivar Ivask, [Note: Ivar Ivask, "Heimito von Doderer's 'Die Dämonen,'" Books Abroad, XXXI (l957), 363-365.] whose work on Austrian literature in the United States rivals that of Spiel in Europe, takes a rather different perspective in that he puts Die Dämonen solidly into the category of realism. For example, he describes the device of Stangeler's and Schlaggenberg's contribution to the chronicle as an "...elaborate machinery...for the sake of greater lifelikeness." [Note: Ibid., p. 364.]
As Doderer's precursors Ivask mentions Proust, Mann, Grillparzer and Stifter, and, of course, Dostoevsky. To summarize his impressions of the novel, Ivask offers a list of seven major points:
(1) Doderer's is the most successful synthesis so far of the idealism of the German Bildungsroman with the realism of the European social novel;
(2) He has proved the continued vitality of the classical novel of psychological realism simply by integrating into it various modern techniques;
(3) [Doderer aims] at poetical transformation of his age into sharp, memorable images and psychologically believable characters;
(4) Since he is one of the truly convincing realists in the German novel, he may enter Vienna on the map of the European novel...;
(5) ...genuine humorist...;
(6) ...penetrating portrayal of women...;
(7) ...rich vocabulary. [Note: Ibid., p. 365.]
Ivask expressed the hope Die Dämonen would be more exhaustively interpreted by a future flood of publications: "No doubt the above meager outline is already being supplanted by a flood of extensive interpretations (a number of which will follow up the roman a clef implications of the novel)." [Note: Ibid.]
Unfortunately, despite Ivask's efforts to encourage Doderer interpretations through his excellent journal Books Abroad, one can still say Die Dämonen is a roman sans clef.
Karl Horst's eulogy [Note: Karl Horst, "Dämonie der zweiten Wirklichkeit. Rede auf Heimito von Doderer," Merkur, X (1959), 1005-1014.] on occasion of Doderer's sixtieth birthday must be considered the most significant early treatment. Its strength lies in a very confident treatment of Doderer's discursive side. Horst considers the interaction of the inner reality with exterior events the main point of the novel. "Doderer... [hat] vorzüglich ein Problem unserer Aufmerksamkeit empfohlen...nämlich wie es um die innere Auslösung von Ereignissen behält..." [Note: Ibid., pp. 1005-1006.]
As an example of new trends set by Doderer for the modern novel, Horst cites his use of psychology:
Doderer hat in der Psychologie--oder in der Lebenswissenschaft des Romans--einen meines Wissens völlig neuen Weg beschritten...dass er von der Denkpsychologie auf die Ereignispsychologie umgeschwenkt ist. [Note: Ibid., p. 1006.]
With this particular psychology in mind, Horst explains the two novels, Die Strudelhofstiege and Die Dämonen as two stages in an extended detour through life:
[Der Roman]...beschreibt gleichsam einen Umweg, auf dem die brutale Tatsache, die sozusagen in keine Zeit fällt, eben weil sie unmenschlich und gewaltsam schlechthin ist, eingefangen und amalgamiert wird. Die Strudelhofstiege bildet im Hinblick auf dieses einschneidende Ereignis das Vorspiel, mit den Dämonen beginnt das Drama der Bewältigung. [Note: Ibid.]
However, Horst eschews a detailed autobiographical interpretation and singles out Stangeler as a self-portrait of the author only in a passing reference. [Note: Ibid., p. 1012.]
It is obvious that Horst considers Doderer's work universal rather than specifically autobiographical:
Die entscheidende Frage in Doderers Roman lautet dahin wie der Einzelne mit dem Dämonischen fertig wird. Und die Beantwortung dieser Frage, dieser Herausforderung durch den Einzelnen--denn eine generelle Antwort gibt es nicht--zieht aufs genaueste die Grenzlinie zwischen Wert und Unwert. [Note: Ibid.]
Consequently, Horst cannot arrive at any definite statement of interpretation but must end with an evocation of the future, "...Doderer's Dämonen [weisen]...über sich selbst hinaus in die Zukunft," [Note: Ibid., p. 1014.] the safest strategy with a living author.
It is clear from this review of reviews that a three to five page discussion of a novel which appeared only a few months before cannot cover the whole work systematically. Nor should it; all one can expect from a review is a first impression from a contemporary, professional critic. These first impressions are generally highly valued by succeeding generations of philologists, for they document the range of reactions possible for contemporaries. In addition, the cumulative effect of a number of reviews generally leaves few of the main points unmentioned as the collective intelligence of the reviewers illuminates the work.
In the specific case of Die Dämonen, the reviews serve as a rich fund of interpretive ideas. In our discussion we have concentrated on the autobiographical aspect. However, one must admit that the early reviews show most graphically the confusion and puzzlement Doderer evoked.
Piero Rismondo characteristically throws his hands up in despair at mentioning all the significant elements of Die Dämonen:
Aber auch das, so fühlen wir, kann nicht alles sein, ist nicht alles. Wie das Erzähler-Ich, ist auch der letzte Sinn des Werkes einem Kryptogramm gleich in ihm verborgen, das vermutlich erst die Zeit restlos auflösen wird. [Note: Piero Rismondo, "Das Jahr vor dem Justizpalast-Brand. Historischer Gezeitenwechsel in Doderers grossem Wiener Roman," Wort und Wahrheit, XII (1957), 52-55.]
Rismondo seems to put the burden of understanding Doderer on future generations. We have seen how several book-length treatments of Doderer have responded to the challenge; let us now look briefly at the contributions of literary and scholarly journals.
There are quite a few authoritative sources for general information on Doderer. Helmut Olles [Note: Helmut Olles, "Heimito von Doderer. 'Die Dämonen,'" Hauptwerke der deutschen Literatur, ed. by M. Kluge and R. Radler (Munich: Kindler, 1974), 451-453.] reduces the essential elements of Doderer's gargantuan novels to three thin columns in Kindler's Hauptwerke der deutschen Literatur. Olles brought some experience to the task, having written a general survey of Doderer's work in 1965 [Note: Helmut Olles, "Die Sachen sind wir selber. Der Romancier Heimito von Doderer," Frankfurter Hefte, XX (1965), 345-352 and 415-420.] for the Frankfurter Hefte. Similar surveys are available from Werner Schultz, [Note: Werner Schultz, "Heimito von Doderer und sein Romanwerk," Jahrbuch der Raabe-Gesellschaft, VIII (1968), 23-41.] Herbert Eisenreich, [Note: Herbert Eisenreich, "Heimito von Doderer," Deutsche Dichter der Gegenwart, ed. by Benno von Wiese (Berlin: E. Schmidt, 1973), pp. 46-63.] Karl Hopf [Note: Karl Hopf, "Die Romane Heimito von Doderers," sterreich in Geschichte und Literatur, XI (1967), 204-218.] and Dietrich Weber. [Note: Dietrich Weber, "Heimito von Doderer," Deutsche Literatur seit 1954, ed. D. W. (Stuttgart: A. Kröner, 1968), pp. 77-102.; D. W. "A Commentary on Heimito von Doderer," Dimensions, I (1968), 362-376.] General introductions to Doderer's work are also available in English from Peter Demetz, [Note: Peter Demetz, Postwar German Literature (New York: Western, 1970), 229-241.] Ivar Ivask [Note: Ivar Ivask, "Heimito von Doderer. An Introduction," Wisconsin Studies in Contemporary Literature, VIII (1967), 328-347.] and Heinz Politzer [Note: Heinz Politzer, "Heimito von Doderer's 'Demons' and the modern Kakanian Novel," The Contemporary Novel in German, ed. H. P. (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1967), 37-63.] and from Jean Christophe [Note: Jean Christophe, "Heimito von Doderer ou la rehabilitation du roman," Revue d'Allemagne, III (1971), 903-915.] in French. The main purpose of these surveys is to provide general information for professional literary and scholarly circles. In this sense they serve as an important prerequisite to detailed studies of Doderer; however, their perspective must be checked against a thorough acquaintance of the primary and secondary literature. Consequently, a detailed discussion of each of these surveys would lead us too far away from our thesis.
Another important prerequisite to a study of Doderer is the work of Wendelin Schmidt-Dengler. Schmidt-Dengler's contribution falls into two categories. As editor of Doderer's work he has brought out Doderer's essays and short stories [Note: Wendelin Schmidt-Dengler has edited several volumes of Doderer's collected works: Die Erzählungen (Munich: Biederstein, 1972); Die Wiederkehr der Drachen. Aufsätze, Traktate, Reden (Munich: Biederstein, 1970); Commentarii, 1951 bis 1956 (Munich: Biederstein, 1976).] and, most recently, the Commentarii 1951-1956. Schmidt-Dengler has also published a series of reports on the progress of work on the unpublished parts of Doderer's papers. [Note: Wendelin Schmidt-Dengler, "Zum Nachlass Heimito von Doderers," Literatur und Kritik, IV (1969), 177-180; W. S., "Heimito von Doderer's 'Jutta Bamberger'. Entstehung, Aufbau, Thematik." Zeitschrift für deutsche Philologie, LXXXIX (1970), 576-601; W. S., "Die Anfänge des 'Falles Gütersloh'," Literatur und Kritik, VII (1972), 472-479; W. S., "Heimito von Doderers schriftstellerische Anfänge," Österreich in Geschichte und Literatur, XVI (1972), 98-110; W. S., "Aus dem Quellengebiet der 'Dämonen' Heimito von Doderers. Anmerkungen zu Tagebuchaufzeichnungen des Autors aus dem Jahre 1951," Literatur und Kritik, VIII (1973), 578-584; W. S., "Erläuterungen zu Heimito von Doderer. Aus den 'Commentarii VI', 1951," Literatur und Kritik, VIII (1973), 596-598.] The first three articles discuss the early work while the last three treat the background materials for Die Strudelhofstiege and Die Dämonen. In all cases these reports are superseded by the publication of the actual material, but they still provide valuable interpretive ideas. In connection with Schmidt-Dengler's work we should mention two excellent articles published by Willibald Feinig [Note: Willibald Feinig, "Leben lernen durch Literatur. Zu Doderer und seinen Tagebüchern," Literatur und Kritik, VIII (1973), 608-614.] and Anton Reininger [Note: Anton Reininger, "'Die Dämonen': totaler Roman und antirevolutionärer Traktat," Ibid., pp. 599-607.] in the Austrian periodical Literatur und Kritik. These articles introduce a perspective on Doderer that moves away from the category of realism in favor of an existential perspective in the case of Feinig and a consideration of Doderer's politics in the case of Reininger.
German and Austrian Literaturwissenschaft has not been entirely idle with respect to Doderer even if not all parts of his work have been examined. Some excellent work has been done on Doderer's use of metaphor by Adolf Haslinger, [Note: Adolf Haslinger, "Wiederkehr und Variation. Bildkette und Bildgefüge in Doderer's Roman Die Strudelhofstiege," Sprachkunst als Weltgestalung. Festschrift für Herbert Seidler, ed. A. H. (Salzburg: A. Pustet, 1966), 88-130.] Kurt Adel [Note: Kurt Adel, "Heimito von Doderer und die Metapher," Österreich in Geschichte und Literatur, XII (1968), 148-158.] and Ulrich Klein. [Note: Ulrich Klein, "Die Rolle des übertragenen Sprechens (Vergleich, Metapher, Bild) bei Heimito von Doderer," Wirkendes Wort, XIX (1969), 324-337.] Karl Polheim [Note: Karl Polheim, "Spätzeiten als Frühzeiten," Wirkendes Wort, XI (1961), 74-82.] considers Doderer under the category of mannerism; however, his presentation is too sketchy to remain more than an intriguing idea.
Of similar limited interest for interpretation, but of great interest in terms of background for Doderer's novels is the discussion of topography in Doderer by Karl Hopf. [Note: Karl Hopf, "Von der Strudelhofstiege zum Grenzwald. Die Funktion der Topographie in den Romanen Heimito von Doderers," Österreich in Geschichte und Literatur, XVI (1967), 204-218.] The essay serves as a catalogue of recognizable places in Doderer's novels.
Finally, we should mention Peter Dettmering's analysis of Doderer's novels from a Freudian perspective. [Note: Peter Dettmering, "Heimito von Doderer," Dichtung und Psychoanalyse II (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1974), pp. 91-161.] No doubt there could be valuable corroboration for an autobiographical perspective on Doderer if the Freudian vocabulary were not impenetrable to the layman. The interpretation is important, however, since it discusses Doderer in terms of ideas and not in terms of realism.
The contribution to an understanding of Doderer from British scholarship comes primarily from the work of Martin Swales [Note: Martin Swales, "The Narrator in the Novels of Heimito von Doderer," Modern Language Review, LXI (1966), 85-95.; M. S., "Ordnung und Verworrenheit. Zum Werk Heimito von Doderers," Wirkendes Wort, XVIII (1968), 96-130.] and Cedric Williams. [Note: Cedric Williams, "Down a Steep Place... A Study of Heimito von Doderer's 'Die Dämonen,'" Forum for Modern Language Studies, VII (1971), 76-82.] Swales' thoughtful and thorough essays illuminate quite a bit of Doderer's work. In a short essay in Modern Language Review Swales discusses the narrator in Doderer's novels, while in a longer treatment in Wirkendes Wort he considers all of Doderer's novels under the categories of "Handlung und Struktur" [Note: Swales, "Ordnung," pp. 96-118.] and "Erzähltechnik." [Note: Ibid., pp. 118-130.] Despite Swales' able paraphrase of Doderer's novelistic intentions, Swales seems disappointed that the novels are not more transparent:
Der Leser, der gelassen die Auflösung dieses Geflechts abwarten will und sich geduldet in der Hoffnung, dass sich allmählich eine Hauptfigur oder ein geordneter Handlungsablauf abzeichnen werde, sieht sich enttäuscht: Das Labyrinth öffnet sich nicht. [Note: Ibid., p. 96.]
It is clear that Swales brings to the analysis of Doderer's novels a conception of the modern novel that does not fit quite well. Swales tries to integrate his conception with Doderer's theory and discovers an essentially ego-centric conception of the task of the novelist in the world:
Der Mensch muss aus seiner Umwelt ein ordnendes Prinzip ableiten, um sinnvoll leben zu können, und ebenso muss der Autor in seiner Schilderung der alltäglichen Wirklichkeit Ordnung und Mass finden, da sonst sein Werk dem Wesen der Welt, die es darstellt, erliegt und formlos wird. Doderer setzt also den ästhetischen Bereich analog zum sittlichen: Die Dialektik im Kunstwerk entspricht der Dialektik im Leben, so wie der Sinn des Kunstwerks den Sinn des Lebens spiegelt. [Note: Ibid., p. 97.]
That the author's own life is the nexus of fiction is generally true for many novelists and is specifically true for Doderer and Die Dämonen. Swales, however, does not take the radical consequences which we shall suggest in our interpretation: rather, he discusses the novel in terms of the action and structure of a realistic novel. The problems that arise when employing such an approach become obvious in the course of Swales' discussion of Die Dämonen. For example, Swales treats Hofrat Gürtzner-Gontard as a figure within the fictional reality of the novel and assigns him the function of expressing some very important ideas about the nature of revolutionary consciousness. The scene occurs in the first chapter of the second part and can be considered one of the high points of the novel. Geyrenhoff is quite moved by the old man's lucid exposition of the main sickness of Austrian society in the late twenties. However, more important than the expression of the ideas, is their source. The ideas did not originate with Gürtzner-Gontard but with the young Stangeler:
"Und jetzt, Geyrenhoff," fügte er nach einigen Augenblicken hinzu, "muss ich mich selbst als Plagiator entlarven. Der Kohl ist nicht von mir gebaut. Es ist ein junger, bemerkenswerter Historiker, der mir das alles auseinandergesetzt hat."
"Ein Buch...?" fragte ich zögernd.
"Nein," sagte er, "ein Mensch. In diesem Zimmer hier. Der junge Stangeler." [Note: Die Dämonen, p. 488.]
This example is fairly typical of how Die Dämonen can be misunderstood. The point of the section (II,1,2 in the Appendix) is to show Geyrenhoff, the editor of the first part, that he has not portrayed Stangeler's character adequately in the first part. To formulate the point differently, Geyrenhoff, who represents the mature Doderer who has finished Die Strudelhofstiege and has come to an understanding of his youth through the exploration of his family in that novel, uses the figure of Hofrat Gürtzner-Gontard as a device to rehabilitate Stangeler who is characterized as an inarticulate misfit in the first part. The first part was written in the early thirties, the second part in the early fifties. The actual justification of the character of Gürtzner-Gontard as well as the dramatic development of Stangeler from Part One to Part Two is not to be found in the coherence of fictional reality but in Doderer's autobiographical montage principle. The Stangeler who talked to Gürtzner-Gontard is no longer the ex-cavalry officer who could not become successful in academics, but the competent historian who passed the rigorous exams of the Austrian Institute for Historical Research.
Swales' struggle to define Doderer's use of the chronicle device shows the difficulty of treating Die Dämonen as a realistic novel:
[man]...muss sich fragen, in welchem Sinne Doderer die Chronik versteht. Er sieht die Aufgabe des Schriftstellers darin, sich mit den Gestalten zu befassen, die sich im alltäglichen Leben eines bestimmten Zeitalters finden. Zugleich soll er aber über das Menschlich-Persönliche hinaus auf die grossen sozialen Fragen der betreffenden Epoche weisen, denn in Doderers Augen bestimmt der alltägliche Mensch letztlich die Entscheidung und das Handeln der führenden Menschen...Doch Doderer gelangt nie zu einer gültigen geschichtlichen Sicht und Kritik, weil er sich so sehr für die persönlichen und psychologischen Wurzeln des sozialen übels interessiert, das er sich im Grunde kaum mit den sozialen Problemen als solchen beschäftigt. [Note: Swales, "Ordnung," p. 112.]
The chronicle is not a frame for a realistic novel but a method for arranging texts written by Doderer himself under fictional alter-egos. Swales wrestles with this problem but can only achieve a partial solution:
Geyrenhoff und Schlaggenberg sind die Haupterzähler. Die Stimme des dritten Erzählers--Rene von Stangelers--, der vermutlich für einige der Herzka-Episoden verantwortlich ist, lässt sich kaum von der des Autors unterscheiden. Er ist also in dieser Erörterung der Erzählperspektive ausser acht gelassen. Dadurch, dass wir zwei Erzähler haben, können wir jeden der beiden von innen...und zugleich von aussen her beobachten. Geyrenhoff und Schlaggenberg sind Erzähler und Gestalt zugleich. [Note: Ibid., p. 122.]
Despite an excellent analysis of the thematic material, Swales expresses disapproval and dissatisfaction with Doderer for not meeting his criteria for a realistic novel:
One can only regret that the tone of Doderer's authorial comments should too often be one of lofty ironical amusement; it is this which is disturbing, not the fact of authorial intrusiveness. How unfortunate the effect can be is well shown in [the novel]... [Note: Swales, "The Narrator," p. 89.]
C. E. Williams, [Note: Cedric Williams, "Heimito von Doderer: The End of Ideology," The Broken Eagle. The Politics of Austrian Literature from Empire to Anschluss (London: P. Elek, 1974), 132-147.] who is mainly interested in Austrian novels as literary reflections of the political reality in the first half of the twentieth century, judges Doderer equally harshly. From a passage in the overture Williams concludes that Die Dämonen is "ultimately a political novel," [Note: Williams, "Down," p. 76.] but that it presents primarily a critique of politics. Williams is quite critical of Doderer; he characterizes Doderer's dislike for ideology and political association as a failure in the face of political reality:
Die Dämonen offers a would-be panacea for the ills of European civilization in general and European politics in particular. In fact Doderer solves nothing by advocating a far-reaching individualism, since for better or for worse the principle of association is germane to the political process in a highly organized modern society. The real problem is how to combine effective political action with the maximum individual liberty--and of that problem Doderer has little to tell us. [Note: Ibid., p. 78.]
In our discussion of Die Dämonen the emphasis will be more on understanding and explaining the deep and hidden structure of the novel, rather than to probe the work for weaknesses.
For the sake of completeness, two recent essays on Doderer from Great Britain deserve mention: R. H. Watt's excellent if somewhat short treatment of the motif "Einbruch von unten" in Broch, Musil and Doderer, [Note: Roderick Watt, "'Der Einbruch von unten' : An Austrian Syndrome of the Inter-war Years," German Life and Letters, XXVII (1973-1974), 315-324.] and Andrew Barker's discussion of the railway theme. [Note: Andrew Barker, "'Closely Observed Trains'--Some Thoughts on Heimito von Doderer's Use of the Railway Theme," Forum for Modern Language Studies, X (1974), 357-364.]
In contrast to Great Britain, criticism on Doderer published in the United States is both more numerous and generally more positive in its evaluation of Doderer. However, it would be a mistake to attribute much significance to the fact that this material was published in the United States since most of the contributors to the discussion were trained in Austria or in Germany or at least maintained close ties to Vienna. In addition, the work of many American Germanists is published in Germany or in German and thus gives an international flavor to the scholarship.
Two American publications have devoted entire issues to Doderer. In 1968, Books Abroad published "An International Symposium in Memory of Heimito von Doderer" [Note: Ivar Ivask, ed. "An International Symposium in Memory of Heimito von Doderer (1896-1966)," Books Abroad, XLII (1968), 343-384. The symposium contains the following contributions: Jose Caetano, "The Short Stories of Heimito von Doderer," pp. 363-365; Hans Flesch-Brunningen, "Heimito," pp. 359-363; Franz Haberl, "Water Imagery in Doderer's Novels," pp. 348-353; Henry Hatfield, "The Human Tragicomedy. Doderer's 'Die Wasserfälle von Slunj,'" pp. 354-359; Ivar Ivask, "A Winter with Heimito," pp. 343-348; David Jones, "A Quest for Tolerance," pp. 357-359; Heinz Politzer, "An Aphorism by Heimito von Doderer," pp. 366-368; Wendelin Schmidt-Dengler, "On the Posthumous Papers of Heimito von Doderer," pp. 368-371; Martin Swales, "Doderer as Realist," pp. 371-375; H. M. Waidson, "'Das Letzte Abenteuer,'" pp. 375-378; Helen Wolff, "Heimito von Doderer," pp. 378-379.] under the editorship of Ivar Ivask. It includes ten short essays by experienced Doderer scholars that cover a wide range of topics from Doderer's realism, his water imagery, his short stories to his posthumous papers.
In 1974, the Chicago Review published a selection of translations from Doderer's work along with two essays on Doderer's realism and on Austrian literature in general. [Note: "The Writings of Heimito von Doderer," Chicago Review, XXVI (1974), 3-138.; M. Deen Larsen, "Heimito von Doderer: The Elusive Realist," pp. 55-69.; Peter Karl Pabisch, "The Uniqueness of Austrian Literature," pp. 86-96.]
Frank Trommler [Note: Frank Trommler, "Österreich im Roman. Eine Untersuchung zur dargestellten Wirklichkeit bei Joseph Roth, Robert Musil und Heimito von Doderer." Diss., Munich, 1965; F. T. "Für eine gerechte Doderer-Fama," Neues Forum, XV (1968), 781-784; F. T., "Doderers Moral der Sprache," Colloquia Germanica, IV (1971), 283-298; F. T., Roman und Wirklichkeit. Eine Ortsbestimmung am Beispiel von Musil, Broch, Roth, Doderer and Gütersloh (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1966).] has contributed significantly to an understanding of Doderer's place in modern Austrian literature. In his dissertation he analyzed the peculiarly Austrian traits in the novels of Roth, Musil and Doderer. He published an expanded version of his dissertation in the series Sprache und Literatur and added Broch and Gütersloh to the list of Austrian authors under discussion. This book is valuable for the student of Austrian literature in general as well as for the student of Doderer in particular, for it places the Austrian novel within the context of the nineteenth and twentieth-century European novel and then describes the various authors in terms of their reaction to the stimuli of their time. Trommler does not judge the accuracy of their portrayal of social or political reality, but merely uses the Austrian element in their work as the key for their analysis. Trommler's perspective on Doderer is refreshing, for it moves away from the context of the realistic novel and shows Doderer's place among the philosophical and aesthetic currents of his time. Thus, Trommler is able to discuss Doderer's difficult vocabulary in terms of a more widely shared set of concepts. Unfortunately, Trommler's perspective allows him only passing reference to Doderer's actual work. In his essay on the importance of language for Doderer, he briefly alludes to autobiographical aspects in Die Dämonen, but only to dismiss their importance:
Wohl bekennt sich sein stark autobiographisch geprägter Held Rene von Stangeler zum "Komplexen des Lebens," doch ist die Konsequenz davon in den Dämonen und der Strudelhofstiege noch nicht enthalten. Erst während der Arbeit am Roman No 7 vermochte Doderer sich von der autobiographischen Fixierung zu lösen. [Note: Trommler, "Moral," p. 293.]
Given Doderer's struggle to encompass reality with prose, it would seem natural to conclude that the reality of his own life should find its way into his prose. It would seem logical to start an analysis at this crucial point which is firmly anchored in the actual text, instead of focusing analysis on the abstract concepts in Doderer's theory. Trommler's work on Doderer is concentrated in the area of history of ideas, not in the interpretation of specific texts, and thus brings forth more provocative general ideas than text-oriented analysis.
Joseph Strelka's excellent essay on Doderer's theory of the novel [Note: Joseph Strelka, "Die Tiefe ist aussen oder Doderers Romantheorie," Acta Germanica, V (1970), 215-226.] is similarly abstract. Strelka's presentation is couched in Doderer's vocabulary and revolves around the concept of perception and metaphor in the "total novel." Strelka gives a definition of the "total novel" that describes Die Dämonen quite accurately:
[dieser]...totale Roman kennt weder einen einheitlichen Stil noch einen--wenngleich noch so distanzierten, bleibenden Standpunkt des Erzählers, er hat kein richtiges Ende und wurde von Doderer zunächst als eine Art "universales Journal seines Autors" aufgefasst, und er will nicht weniger als das "Leben telle qu'elle est" sprachlich einfangen. [Note: Ibid., p. 223.]
Our interpretation will show that Die Dämonen is such a journal of its author's life, a journal that contains masked entries from all the periods of Doderer's life. This recognition leads Strelka to conclude, however, that Doderer's novels tend to be packed with details that can be understood only by means of elaborate analogies.
More text-oriented studies are Herbert Knust's essay on one of Doderer's short stories [Note: Herbert Knust, "Camus' 'Le Malentendue' and Doderer's 'Zwei Lügen,'" Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen, CVIII (1971-1972), 23-34.] and Andrew Boelcskevy's article on Doderer's narrative technique. [Note: Andrew Boelcskevy, "Spatial Form and Moral Ambiguity: A Note on Heimito von Doderer's Narrative Technique," German Quarterly, XLVII (1974), 55-59.] Boelcskevy uses a concept from Wayne Booth, "moral ambiguity" [Note: Booth, Rhetoric, pp. 379-398.] to characterize impersonal narrative as it is found in the realistic novel. Since Doderer does not exhibit moral ambiguity in reference to his characters, he argues that Doderer's novels are not impersonal narratives; instead, they are characterized by "spatial form," a term coined by J. Frank. [Note: Joseph Frank, "Spatial Form in Modern Literature," The Widening Gyre: Crisis and Mastery in Modern Literature (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1963), p. 9.] It is difficult to gauge the usefulness of this concept, especially since it does not allow an adequate explanation of the form of the chronicle: ".. Die Dämonen the author takes over since both Geyrenhoff and Schlaggenberg fall short as reliable narrators--Geyrenhoff primarily on technical grounds, Schlaggenberg on moral ones." [Note: Boelcskevy, "Spatial Form," p. 58.]
Nevertheless, the article is valuable, for it indicates a dissatisfaction with the categories of realism and searches for a new concept to differentiate Doderer's work.
D. Recent Publications and Future Research Goals.
The search for new concepts to aid in an understanding of Doderer is reflected in a rash of new publications that try to place Doderer in the history of ideas.
Franz Slawik's essay, which treats the "Selbst-verständnis in der modernen Literatur," is a wide-ranging discussion of the main themes in Doderer in the context of the thought of Adorno, Hegel and Sartre. [Note: Franz Slawik, "Literatur von Innen. Heimito von Doderer und das Selbstverständnis der modernen Literatur," Literatur und Kritik, XI (1977), 227-241.] Slawik makes an interesting point concerning the function of memory in Doderer's writing by quoting a few passages from the Tangenten:
[die]...Geschichtlichkeit artikuliert sich...bei Doderer in dem Begriff "Gedächtnis": "Die Gegenwart des Schriftstellers ist seine wiedergekehrte Vergangenheit." Und daher heisst es etwas weiter unten: "er hängt ab von der Chemie seines Gedächtnisses." [Note: Ibid., p. 234.]
Slawik does not, however, follow his insight into Doderer's thought to an interpretation of his work; instead, he closes with a reference to the difficulty of modern art:
Wenn Thomas Mann in Doktor Faustus den Teufel sagen lässt: "Das Komponieren ist zu schwer geworden", dann ist dies wohl eine Antwort der Verzweiflung. Ist die Kunst zu schwer geworden? Vielleicht liegt darin auch die Antwort auf die Frage, warum sie heute für den Betrachter, den Hörer, den Leser oft "zu schwer" zu werden scheint. [Note: Ibid., p. 241.]
Claudio Magris [Note: Claudio Magris, "Doderers erste Wirklichkeit," Literatur und Kritik, XI (1977), 209-226.] appears quite hostile to an autobiographical perspective on Doderer. He mentions a new book by Anton Reininger [Note: Anton Reininger, Die Erlösung des Bürgers. Eine ideologiekritische Studie zum Werk Heimito von Doderers (Bonn: Bouvier, 1975).] to support his disdain for that perspective:
Die Interpretation Reiningers ist völlig frei von der Hermeneutik des Verdachts, die so oft seit der Romantik die Dichtung nach einer hintergründigen, unausgesprochenen, peinlichen persönlichen Wirklichkeit durchsucht und durchleuchtet... [Note: Magris, "Doderers erste Wirklichkeit," p. 213.]
Magris prefers to view Doderer from aesthetic categories that allow no mention of psychology or any correlatives outside the work of art:
In diesen Windungen, in die Verzögerungen und Wiederholungen eingestreut sind, liegt die ganze Kunst Doderers verborgen: das zeitlupenhafte, spiralenartige Verfahren, mit dem er die ganze Wirklichkeit einbeziehen und einfangen will, die genaue Aufzählung aller Einzelheiten und die pedantischen Präzisierungen, die nicht das Risiko der Manie und des Fetischismus fürchten. [Note: Ibid., p. 210.]
Magris' perspective is interesting, however, because it concentrates on Doderer's first reality, while most other critics mention only the negative side, the second reality. The portrait of Doderer that emerges from Magris' discussion is of a religious writer with a curious view of realism. Magris evokes the mood and spirit of Doderer's work with his rhapsodic paraphrases but offers no systematically argued thesis.
Similarly, Anton Reininger's recently received publication, Die Erlösung des Bürgers, represents a new departure in criticism on Doderer. Reininger focuses neither on Doderer's work nor on his biography but on his developing thought. Reininger recognizes and traces a coherent development from Doderer's early ideas to his mature work:
Im Rückblick erscheint Doderers Werk als ein Prozess, in dem sich eine Anzahl von schon in den Anfängen gegenwärtigen Themen unter dem Einfluss der historischen Erfahrung entfaltet und zum System organisierten. [Note: Reininger, Erlösung, p. 208.]
Reininger's thesis is that the modern technological Massengesellschaft forced the conservative and aristocratic Doderer into the pessimistic rejection of the world as it appeared and the flight into deep, albeit secular religiosity. Especially after the Second World War, the matured Doderer seems to have accepted the conditions of his existence and cultivated an attitude that affirmed whatever is:
Geheilt von dem widersprüchlichen Wunsch, durch die Revolution zu einer hierarchisch gegliederten, auf den Differenzen beruhenden Gesellschaft zurückzukehren, macht Doderer scheinbar eine völlige Kehrtwendung. Er lehnt alle Veränderung ab und erklärt das Bestehende als das zu Erreichende. [Note: Ibid., p. 210.]
Reininger is very careful to integrate the several aspects of Doderer's personality, the scholar, the soldier, the political activist and the artist in his portrayal. His approach is essentially chronological. After a short discussion of Denkmotive in Doderer's work and in his journals, Reininger starts with the first conception of Die Dämonen in the thirties and traces the mutation and the development of his ideas through several stages: the abandonment of Die Dämonen, the publication of Ein Mord, den jeder begeht, and Doderer's publications after the Second World War.
Reininger's attitude towards the autobiographical in Doderer is ambiguous. On one hand he uses Melzer, Stangeler, Schlaggenberg and Geyrenhoff to illustrate examples of Doderer's thought, on the other, he never discusses those figures in terms of the text of the novels. One is left with the impression that the figures have become completely divorced from their novels and are being discussed by Reininger as elements in Doderer's imagination which Reininger has hypostasized. Specific mention of the autobiographical occurs only in passing:
Die autobiographische Verfassung von Doderers Werk hat also eine doppelte Wurzel. Einerseits ist die persönliche, an die physisch-psychische Totalität der Person gebundene Erfahrung das einzige authentische Material der Kunst, anderseits hat alle Kunst ihr letztes Ziel in der Vollendung und Befreiung der Persönlichkeit. [Note: Ibid., p. 31.]
It is typical of work on Doderer that Reininger should shy away from a positive treatment of the autobiographical in favor of treating that problem as either an inescapable paradox or an obvious commonplace in all art.
Hans Schröder cites publication figures to show that popular interest in Doderer is dwindling. [Note: Hans Joachim Schröder, Apperzeption und Vorurteil. Untersuchungen zur Reflexion Heimito von Doderers (Heidelberg: C. Winter, 1976).] In his discussion of Doderer research Schröder dispenses little praise. He is especially critical of the results achieved by werkimmanente critics. [Note: Ibid., pp. 6-11.] In his own substantial treatment of Doderer Schröder proposes to reverse the relation of reflection and the novel. By "reflection" Schröder means the ideas expressed in a novel. He proposes to extract the reflection from the novel and look at the ideas in the novel independent of the actual construct of the novel:
Der Frageansatz ergibt sich aus einer Umkehrung der üblichen Verhältnisbestimmung von Roman und Reflexion: statt vom Roman auszugehen und die Reflexion fallweise zur Erläuterung heranzuziehen, ist die Reflexion die dem Roman zugrunde liegt, ins Zentrum der Analyse gerückt. [Note: Ibid., p. 12.]
Instead of concentrating on the reality of the novel of which "reflection" is but a small part, Schröder proposes to concentrate on the reflection and thus relegate the novel to the limited role of a vehicle for ideas. Especially for Doderer, this perspective is inviting. We have emphasized above that Die Dämonen should not be read as a realistic novel and interpreted as a slice of life. Below, in Chapter Two we shall draw attention to a current in modern literature that recognizes the subjective consciousness of the artist as the only measure of a work of art.
Schröder hopes to penetrate the thought of Doderer by examining the concepts he used in his reflection in the context of the history of ideas, rather than in the conext of the novel. Schröder concentrates his presentation on three essential questions.
Anknüpfend an die Schlüsselbegriffe Wissenschaft, Apperzeption und Vorurteil lassen sich die Leitfragen, die den Zugang zur dodererschen Reflexion ermöglichen sollen, folgendermassen formulieren:
1.) Wie stellt Doderer sich als Romanschriftsteller den Erkenntnisforderungen der Wissenschaft?
2.) Wie ist der Begriff der Apperzeption definiert und welche Funktion hat er als Erkenntnisbedingungen für den Roman?
3.) Wird Doderer selbst seinem Apperzeptionspostulat gerecht oder verbergen sich hinter seinem Konzept der unvoreingenommenen Wahrnehmung starre ideologische Fixierungen. [Note: Ibid., p. 13.]
By focusing on the ramifications of the concepts Apperzeption and Vorurteil Schröder is able to illuminate large portions of Doderer's ideas and bring them in contact with similar ideas in the history of thought. An index of names at the end of the text makes Schröder's book a valuable source of information on Doderer. For our purposes however, Schröder's analysis is too far removed from the text to contribute to our thesis, but it is welcome as an alternative to the realism perspective.
If one were to speculate on the future of research on Doderer, having briefly recapitulated the past, one could divide the research tasks into three groups: first, the sources on Doderer must be published and discussed in monographs. The editorial work of Schmidt-Dengler and publications such as Fischer's work on the genesis of Die Strudelhofstiege point the way for that direction. Secondly, the novels of Doderer, his thought, his theory and his practice should be presented in a series of monographs and in comprehensive presentations of his whole work in terms of his biography. The work on Thomas Mann in Germany can serve as a convenient paradigm for what needs to be done for Doderer. This dissertation hopes to contribute to the work of this group by discussing a representative selection of the secondary literature in terms of the autobiographical thesis which is generally avoided by the critics. We hope to provide a firm basis for an interpretation of Die Dämonen by presenting a detailed outline of the plot and to solve some of the methodological problems involved in working with Doderer by finding suitable paradigms in modern Literaturwissenschaft. Finally, this dissertation hopes to illuminate the actual text of Die Dämonen by discussing specific passages from the novel.
A third and quite recent current in Doderer research examines his thought in the context of the history of ideas. Trommler can be seen as a precursor in this direction, and Schröder, Reininger, Slawik and Magris have developed this perspective in great detail. Despite all these efforts, we can only conclude that Doderer is still an enigma to most of his readers.
E. Summary of the Secondary Literature As It Applies to an Interpretation of 'Die Dämonen'.
After this extensive discussion of the secondary literature, let us summarize and recapitulate the treatments of Die Dämonen as they relate to our concern with the autobiographical aspect of the novel.
Die Dämonen has been variously called a political novel with strong ethical considerations, [Note: Spiel, "Kampf," pp. 65-68. In this early review, Hilde Spiel draws attention to three aspects of Die Dämonen: 1) "...die Dämonen [sind]..ein diffuses Buch über ein scharf abgegrenztes Thema--nämlich der Niedergang einer Gesellschaft in die Tiefen des totalen Staats," p. 66. 2) "Neben dem Grundthema zeichnet sich ein zweites, eine Erbschafts- und Familienintrigue ab...," p. 66. 3) "...dieses Buch [ist]... überreich an frappanten Formulierungen über die Mechanik des Lebens," p. 67. With these three points, Spiel describes a realistic novel, leaning towards popular genres, that incorporates psychological analysis of behavior.
Trommler, "Doderer-Fama," pp. 181-184. In a short feuilleton, Trommler mades a similar point more than ten years later: "... [Die Strudelhofstiege und Die Dämonen] sind historische Romane, die jedoch das Historische unter einem sehr distanzierten Form- und Moralraster erscheinen lassen," p. 182.
C. E. Williams, The Broken Eagle. Williams rightly includes Die Dämonen in his ambiguously titled study, "The Politics of Austrian Literature from Empire to Anschluss: "Die Dämonen then is ultimately a political novel, but of a curious kind. For the most part its political relevance is indirect; moreover, it embodies a radical critique of politics...," p. 137. However, Williams expresses some disappointment with the political aspects of the novel: "That the novel ultimately fails to illuminate our political experience in those areas where it raises that expectation, is an inevitable consequence of the non-political attitude Doderer - belatedly - adopted," p. 147.] a Bildungsroman, an apprenticeship novel, [Note: Falk's dissertation, "Heimito von Doderer's Concept of the Novel," explores the thesis that Die Dämonen is a Bildungsroman in detail.] a poly-historical novel, [Note: Gerhard Friesen, The German Panoramic Novel of the Nineteenth Century (Berne: H. Lang, 1972), p. 14.] a Grosstadtroman, a metropolitan novel, [Note: The essays of Hopf, Jones, Waidson and Rismondo consider Die Dämonen under the category of Grosstadtroman.] and a Schlüsselroman, a novel written in code. [Note: Tschirky, Posaunen, pp. 15-16.] To some critics it is an attempt at an entirely new conception of the novel, a "total novel," [Note: See Weber's monograph, Heimito von Doderer, and Falk's dissertation, "Heimito von Doderer's Concept of the Novel," for an exposition of the "total novel."] while others place it with popular literature of the category of Heimatroman, a novel of local color. [Note: Albert Soergel, Dichtung und Dichter der Zeit, II (Düsseldorf: A. Bagel, 1963), pp. 786-789: "Weite Strecken seiner Romane sind in naturalistischer Manier geschrieben, andere lesen sich wie ein Gesellschaftsroman, manche wie eine Hintertreppengeschichte. [...] Zahlreiche...Stellen bestätigen den Verdacht seiner Kritiker, dass Doderer seinen dichterischen Visionen sprachlich nicht folgen könne. Grossartiges steht neben Plattem, ein überzeugendes und in sich folgerichtig entwickeltes Weltbild findet keinen organischen Ausdruck," p. 789.] Scholars agree only that Die Dämonen is elusive and defer judgment until unpublished letters and journals become available.
Having looked at the various interpretive strategies, let us generalize. It is characteristic of interpretations of Die Dämonen that they either squeeze the novel into one of the extant categories of analysis or sub-genres such as Bildungsroman or Grosstadtroman, or that they treat it by means of negative categories such as Verworrenheit or formlessness. [Note: Swales, "Ordnung und Verworrenheit," pp. 96-130.] None of these strategies do justice to the work. The former glibly disregards important parts of the work for the sake of a coherent interpretation, while the latter terminates analysis where complexities seem insurmountable.
A third method is to consider the "total novel" a new literary genre that allows no normative structural order but attempts a synthesis of the subjective and the objective, of the interior and exterior worlds. However, postulating the form of the "total novel" begs the question since it obviates the need for analysis in favor of an impression of totality. One must suspect that the "total novel" serves as a self-justification for Doderer's somewhat undisciplined narrative accomplishments. After much discussion, the theory of the "total novel" boils down to a circular argument in which Die Dämonen has to serve as the only example of the genre it defines. [Note: Doderer was fond of quoting Gütersloh's pronouncement on the novel: "Was ein Roman ist, bestimmt derjenige, welcher ihn schreibt."]
The three approaches have in common that they apologize for the structural quirks of the novel either by denying them, condemning them or elevating them to structural principle.
No doubt, these attempts at interpretation offer valuable perspectives on aspects of the novel, and they do place it in the general context of the modern novel; yet, by and large, they miss the point of Doderer's creative effort. Die Dämonen is less a perfect work of art, less an example for a "new" type of novel, and certainly not the last novel ever to be written; it is, rather, a monument to Doderer's perseverance and skill as a writer. It illustrates perseverance in that Doderer could finish a project in 1955 which he had conceived in 1930 and had abandoned as unworkable in 1937, and it illustrates skill in that Doderer could change the gist of the novel from a pre-war portrait of the Jews in Viennese society to a historical and personal chronicle of the time before and after the Second World War, without major revision of the completed part. [Note: Documentation for the Entstehungsgeschichte comes from Schmidt-Dengler, "Aus dem Quellengebiet," pp. 578-584; and from Reininger, Erlösung, pp. 32-53.]
Such an Entstehungsgeschichte is not without consequences for an interpretation. If one considers Die Dämonen intrinsically, one can only find thematic unity displayed by the work as it presents itself as a self-sufficient piece of reality. The work does in fact exhibit thematic unity, for Doderer was very careful to integrate each part of the montage. The stylistic unity, which would normally classify the work, is lacking because parts of the novel were composed at different times in the author's life. Only after one discovers the autobiographical principle behind the montage, can a new stylistic unity be recognized. The styles are not consistent within the work, but within Doderer's life. In Die Dämonen we are presented with a wide spectrum of Doderer's writings, tied together by three narrators and an author, who represent the periods and psychological states in his life. The stylistic diversity thus reflects a structural principle: the montage of prose written at different times and in different moods throughout his life.
A brief example should illuminate his montage technique. Geyrenhoff's unsuccessful chronicle is integrated into the larger novel as an early stage in Geyrenhoff's development. Doderer made no attempt to rewrite the first part from a new point of view. Geyrenhoff's chronicle simply becomes part of the novel, and Geyrenhoff himself becomes a character narrated by an author. The loss of coherent narrative perspective is balanced by a gain in the immediacy of the narrative. Interpreters of Die Dämonen frequently falter at this crucial point. Only in the identification of immediacy (Unmittelbarkeit) and realism can Doderer be considered a realist. One must consider, however, whether "realism" is an adequate category for an analysis of Doderer's writing. His stated quest for presenting his own consciousness subverts the possibility of a conventional analysis along the lines of realism.
To look at Die Dämonen as a conventional realistic novel exposes only thematic material and the mimetic outer structure, both of which are too sparse to compare with the realists of the nineteenth century. To consider the work a "total novel" leads to an idiosyncratic critical vocabulary that removes the analysis from the general discussion of the modern novel. [Note: Even Justin, in "Das Problem der Selbstdarstellung," despite references to Thomas Mann and K. Hamburger, remains within the bounds of Doderer's highly idiosyncratic critical vocabulary.] Conversely, to condemn the novel as imperfect and confused exhibits only a negative understanding of a gargantuan effort.
This interpretation will attempt to avoid both classification and theory about the "total novel"; instead it will consider Die Dämonen in terms of the general trends in the modern novel. The tension between subjective and objective narrative and the struggle for an objective perspective on the part of the modern artist seems to be a promising starting point.