Grotesque Ambivalence: Melancholy and Mourning in the Prose Work of Albert Drach

237 Pages·2004·1.589 MB·English

by  Mary Cosgrove

Conditio Judaica 49
StudienundQuellenzurdeutsch-j(cid:23)dischenLiteratur-undKulturgeschichte
HerausgegebenvonHansOttoHorch
inVerbindungmitAlfredBodenheimer,MarkH.GelberundJakobHessing

Mary Cosgrove
Grotesque Ambivalence
Melancholy and Mourning
in the Prose Work of Albert Drach
n
Max Niemeyer Verlag
T(cid:23)bingen 2004
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ISBN3-484-65149-0 ISSN0941-5866
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Content
Chapter 1
Introduction ...................................................................... 1
1.1 Albert Drach: Revolutionary Poet and Bearer of Death .............. 1
1.2 »O Ophelia«: The Encounter with the Cadaver ....................... 10
1.3 Status Nascendi versus Status Quo: In defence of Nature Morte .... 12
1.4 Positions ................................................................. 15
1.5 The Child in Flight ...................................................... 22

Chapter 2
The Grotesque: Topography of Transgression, Morphology of Emptiness ... 25
2.1 Body Language .......................................................... 25
2.2 An Entire Thematics of Mortality and Vitality ....................... 34
2.3 Subterranean Spaces .................................................... 43

Chapter 3
Grotesque Discourses: Mourning and Melancholia .......................... 51
3.1 Constellation of Cross-Contamination ................................. 51
3.2 From System to Process: The Semiotic, the Symbolic
and the Thetic ........................................................... 55
3.3 Anaphora of Nothing ................................................... 64

Chapter 4
Floating Documents ............................................................. 73
4.1 The Protokoll: Epic of the In-Between ................................ 73
4.2 Outside the Text: Creating the Catachrestic Space ................... 80

Chapter 5
Ex-centrics, Evil Eyes and Missing Persons: The Optics of Mimicry in
Das Goggelbuch ............................................................. 107
5.1 Grotesque Surplus: Mimic Man ........................................ 107
5.2 Representing the In-Between: The Secret Art of Invisibility ........ 114
5.3 Fallible Frames .......................................................... 121
5.4 Aphanisic Faders ........................................................ 131
VI Content
Chapter 6
»Z. Z.« das ist die Zwischenzeit: Paralysis of the Powerless ................. 151
6.1 Diverging Paths: A Theoretical Re-evaluation ........................ 151
6.2 Writing Apotheosis ..................................................... 160
6.3 In the Shadow of the Egocrat: A Micro-Physics of Power ........... 173
6.4 The Ventriloquist(cid:146)s Dummies .......................................... 183

Chapter 7
The Time of Evil Children ..................................................... 187
7.1 The Spectre of Absolute Negation ..................................... 187
7.2 Divine Intoxication: Simulating Infantile Sovereignty ............... 198
7.3 Infernal Sobriety: Apotheosis of the Eternal Present ................. 204
7.4 Contours of the Culpable ............................................... 208
7.5 Suffer Little Children ................................................... 216

Conclusion
Concentration Camps of the Mind and the Child in Flight..................... 219

Bibliography ..................................................................... 221
Index ............................................................................. 229
Acknowledgements ............................................................. 231
Chapter 1
Introduction
[...] »Art« takes on murder and moves through
it. It assumes murder in so far as artistic prac-
tice considers death the inner boundary of the
signifying process. Crossing that boundary is
precisely what constitutes »Art«. In other words,
it is as if death becomes interiorized by the sub-
ject of such a practice; in order to function he
must make himself the bearer of death.
(Julia Kristeva)

In jedem Wort sitzt der Tod.
(Albert Drach)
1.1 Albert Drach: Revolutionary Poet and Bearer of Death
Albert Drach has often been associated with the grotesque, his works an ex-
pression of uncompromising cynicism and relentless criticism of existing so-
cial orders.1 The everyday banalities of culturally produced grotesquerie and
horror are recurring thematic topoi of his prose work. Characteristic for Drach(cid:146)s
use of the grotesque is also the distinct lack of pathos in the comically vivisect-
ing gaze of the narrating perspective, whether focalised through the innocent
but discerning eyes of a young child, or whether transmitted through the radi-
cally alienated perspective of the persecuted self.2 In particular, Drach(cid:146)s use of

1 »Drachs erz(cid:228)hlerisches Mittel ist die Groteske: Alles, was komisch verzerrt, absurd, (cid:252)ber-
steigert und wunderlich ist, n(cid:252)tzt er in der F(cid:252)lle seiner Episoden und Figuren und Na-
men.« Matthias Settele: Der Protokollstil des Albert Drach. Recht, Gerechtigkeit, Spra-
che, Literatur. Frankfurt a. M.: Lang 1992 (Europ(cid:228)ische Hochschulschriften; 1/1343),
p. 158. »Drachs Wirklichkeitsmodellierungen deformieren alle vernunftgem(cid:228)(cid:223)en, das
einzelne Faktum in einen (cid:252)bergreifenden Sinnzusammenhang integrierenden Absich-
ten als einen Zynismus, als eine Fortsetzung der zynischen Geschichte mit den Mitteln
der Logik.« AndrØ Fischer: Inszenierte Naivit(cid:228)t. Zur (cid:228)sthetischen Simulation von Ge-
schichte bei G(cid:252)nther Grass, Albert Drach und Walter Kempowski. M(cid:252)nchen: Fink
1992 (Theorie und Geschichte der Literatur und der sch(cid:246)nen K(cid:252)nste; 85), p. 216.
2 Cf. Albert Drach: Lunz. Eine Erz(cid:228)hlung. In: id., Ironie vom Gl(cid:252)ck. Kleine Protokol-
le und Erz(cid:228)hlungen. M(cid:252)nchen, Wien: Hanser 1994, p. 7(cid:150)34. Cf. id., Unsentimentale
Reise. Ein Bericht. M(cid:252)nchen: Hanser 1988.
2 Chapter 1: Introduction
unresolved contradiction as a tool of representation in his work broadly affili-
ates him to the grotesque tradition. Add to this the recurring motif of deceased
bodies accompanied by an incommensurable admixture of comic investment
and it would seem that we have a quod erat demonstrandum case of the gro-
tesque in all its contradictions, incompatibilities and cynical exposure.3
In the case of Albert Drach, however, one must ask whether the scope of
these features suffices to adequately capture the economy of the grotesque as it
is manifested in his work. As shall become clear throughout this work, Drach(cid:146)s
rendition of the grotesque in fact forces a revision and expansion of current
theories. Beyond the dull crudity of the material moment, beyond the represen-
tation of the frail dismembered human body in all its powerless and pathetic
incapacitation, beyond the image of a world grotesquely alienated from any
awareness of the extent of its self-alienation,4 Drach(cid:146)s sui generis use of the
grotesque primarily as a vessel of language ambivalence testifies to a level of
calculated subtlety not normally associated with the grotesque.5
In the following chapter, I aim to develop a theory of language grotesquerie
as a form of language ambivalence. Using Julia Kristeva(cid:146)s theory of revolu-
tionary poetic language as a basis for the expansion of the grotesque, I hope to
highlight the proximity of the grotesque and the notion of unresolved contra-

3 AndrØ Fischer has correctly pointed out the role played by Drach(cid:146)s grotesque style in
the problematic reception of his work in post World War II society. Cf. Fischer, In-
szenierte Naivit(cid:228)t (note 1), p. 214(cid:150)217. Eva Schobel has moreover drawn an enlighten-
ing comparison between the troubled publishing history of the German-Jewish writer,
Edgar Hilsenrath, and Drach(cid:146)s own situation. Again, here the problem is a scandalous
use of the comic in a particularly philosemitic social context (Eva Schobel: Albert
Drach. Ein lebenslanger Versuch zu (cid:252)berleben. In: Albert Drach. Hg. von Gerhard
Fuchs und G(cid:252)nther A. H(cid:246)fler. Wien, Graz: Droschl 1995, p. 329(cid:150)375, here p. 363). In-
deed, letters of rejection from publishing houses of the time testify to a mainly socio-
historically based complete lack of understanding of this style: »Zwischen (cid:252)berzeich-
neter Karikatur und verwischten Umrissen schwankt das Buch und wird vom (cid:220)bel.«
Letter from H. J. Mundt, Kurt Desch Verlag, Munich, to Albert Drach, 30 December
1957, Nachla(cid:223) Albert Drach, (cid:214)sterreichisches Literaturarchiv der (cid:246)sterreichischen Na-
tionalbibliothek ((cid:214)LA), Wien.
4 In this respect, Drach is an author of the (in Theodor W. Adorno(cid:146)s sense) anti-realist,
post-war novel, in which the artistic approximation of grotesque reality in the twentieth
century necessitates the relentless use of aesthetic distance. See Theodor W. Adorno:
Standort des Erz(cid:228)hlers im zeitgen(cid:246)ssischen Roman. In: id., Noten zur Literatur I. Hg.
von Rolf Tiedemann. Frankfurt a. M.: Suhrkamp 1981 (Suhrkamp-Taschenbuch Wis-
senschaft; 355), p. 4(cid:150)48.
5 Matthias Settele underestimates the literary consequences of Drach(cid:146)s use of the grotes-
que when he separates narrative plot, time and characterisation from the grotesque:
»Neben der eher konventionellen Handhabung von Ort und Zeit und der Figurenzeich-
nung steht die besondere Bedeutung der Groteske und Episodenf(cid:252)lle.« (Settele, Der
Protokollstil des Albert Drach [note 1], p. 155) I would argue that Drach(cid:146)s use of the
grotesque along with his language grotesquerie, far from merely coexisting alongside
more traditional forms, actually disrupt the presumptions of conventional plot.
1.1 Albert Drach: Revolutionary Poet and Bearer of Death 3
diction to post-modern theories of play, dissolution, exile and difference. In
particular, this theory of the grotesque will focus on the problem of the other as a
form of alterity within the self that is inherently ambivalent and that unsettles
presumptions of clearly demarcated identity. Ultimately, the grotesque as a form
of hybrid identity signifies an openness to difference that articulates the other
(and the self) as fundamentally »other«. Kristeva identifies the expression of this
radical otherness in the language of poetry. Much of the following chapter will
thus explore the implicit grotesquerie of Kristeva(cid:146)s theory of poetic language. 6
Following this line of inquiry, one may propose that Albert Drach(cid:146)s negotia-
tion of the grotesque in his work makes of him (in Kristevan terms) a revolution-
ary poet. However, the profile of this figure is itself complex. The chapters that
concern themselves with literary analysis will voice just this complexity. In
certain texts the gaze of the other informs Drach(cid:146)s aesthetic vision, permeates the
indeterminate narrative perspective of his work, and manifests itself also in the
universal strangerhood and outsider status of all his characters. Drach(cid:146)s anti-
heroes (social outcasts such as Jews, women, criminals etc.) are usually victims
of repressive social systems. However, in these texts that debunkingly interro-
gate images of power the agents representing social repression are exposed as
little more than self-appointed defence instances against the threat of difference
and the disruption of homogeneity implied by the fringe existence of the ex-
pelled other. For the borderline position of this other ensures the recurrent re-
presentation to the self of the peripheries that simultaneously demarcate and
question identity. Such a perspective has implications for the intransigence of the
sovereign self.
It is just this disturbance of otherness from within the confines of rational dis-
course that articulates a dominant function of the revolutionary poet: the literary
use of transgression or jouissance as a means of interrogating cultural and
political constructions of identity.7 For Drach the Holocaust survivor, this ap-
proach signifies a determination to demystify centripetal representations of power
within culture that, given the appropriate political climate, foster the growth of
racism. Indeed, the articulation of difference through a language that tries to
present difference as external to it is one of the main achievements of Drach(cid:146)s
prose. Chapters 4 and 5 explore this aspect of his language which simultaneously
enacts and rejects the rigid confines of centralising, ordering structures typical of
modernity.8 It is within this dual functioning of language as manifested in certain

6 Cf. Julia Kristeva: Revolution in Poetic Language. New York: Columbia University
Press 1984.
7 In her critical reception of Kristeva(cid:146)s work, Anna Smith provides a sound general
definition of jouissance: »Language in its infinite creative aspect causes the subject
to experience bliss or jouissance. Jouissance can produce ecstasy and a sense of
fainting into language. The subject, dissolved and falling, is ravished by the unend-
ing stream of words.« Anna Smith: Julia Kristeva. Readings of Exile and Estrange-
ment. London: Macmillan 1996, p. 14.
8 Zygmunt Bauman(cid:146)s work on the relationship between order and ambivalence criti-
cally explores the centralising tendencies of modernity as a reaction to and product
4 Chapter 1: Introduction
of Drach(cid:146)s prose works (cid:150) the simultaneous implementation and transgression of
the terms of so-called rational discourse from within these very terms (cid:150) that we
encounter an elevated level of grotesque indeterminacy, a rhetorical grotesque
apparent in the decentralising strategy of his prose.
Despite the often distasteful reality that is unmasked by this prose strategy,
the epistemological position implied by the dual function of Drach(cid:146)s protocol
language may be described in terms of an ideologically optimistic perspective.
This is due in large part to the mobile indeterminacy of jouissance as a literary
strategy. A »metaphor for the infinite«, the latter communicates the de facto
openness of cultural systems that present themselves as closed and homoge-
nous.9 This literary approximation of openness is in turn an indicator of the
possibility of change within purportedly fixed social formations.
Drach has claimed that his protocols are vessels of truth. Highlighting the fic-
titious nature of power discourses through the oppositional aesthetics of a split
protocol language conforms to just this optimistic project of revealing the com-
plex truth concerning cultural processes of identification.10 This literary innova-
tion furthermore allows for an analysis of the politics of (mis)representation, that
»peculiar property of language« (cid:150) exacerbated to truly grotesque levels when in
the service of modern institutions of power (cid:150) to function as a »profound estab-
lishment of order in space«.11 Signifying the latent openness of systems through
transgression is thus tantamount to exposing the »beyond« of established order.12
In Drach(cid:146)s work, the borderline space of the beyond is presented through
grotesque indeterminacy as a suggestible space where nothing remains still. This
borderline space represents an ambivalent third dimension to the inside/outside
spatial dichotomy. It exposes what Homi Bhabha refers to as the in-between

of the modern quest for order: »Modern state and modern intellect alike need chaos
(cid:150) if only to go on creating order. They both thrive on the vanity of their effort.« Zyg-
munt Bauman: Modernity and Ambivalence. Cambridge: Polity Press 1991, p. 9.
9 Smith, Julia Kristeva (note 7), p. 111.
10 »Die Wirklichkeit und die Wahrheit sind nicht immer dasselbe. Ich bin ein Fanatiker
der Wahrheit, der Schriftsteller ist immer ein unbefangener Zeuge.« Eva Schobel: Ich
bin ein w(cid:252)tender Weiser. Ein Gespr(cid:228)ch mit Albert Drach. In: In Sachen Albert Drach.
Sieben Beitr(cid:228)ge zum Werk. Mit einem unver(cid:246)ffentlichten Text Albert Drachs. Hg. von
Bernhard Fetz. Wien: Wiener Universit(cid:228)ts-Verlag 1995, p. 14(cid:150)16, here p. 16.
11 Michel Foucault: The Order of Things. An Archaeology of the Human Sciences. Lon-
don: Routledge 2000, p. 83.
12 I find that Bhabha eloquently describes this nebulous postmodern phenomenon of the
beyond as a condition of a borderline existence of permanent transition: »The (cid:155)beyond(cid:139)
is neither a new horizon, nor a leaving behind of the past [...] we find ourselves in the
moment of transit where space and time cross to produce complex figures of difference
and identity, past and present, inside and outside, inclusion and exclusion. For there is
a sense of disorientation, a disturbance of direction, in the (cid:155)beyond(cid:139): an exploratory,
restless movement caught [...] here and there, on all sides fort/da, hither and thither,
back and forth.« See Homi Bhabha: The Location of Culture. London, New York:
Routledge 1994, p. 1.