Journal | Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie occidentale
Journal issue | 55 | 2021
Research Article | Jenseits des Sichtbaren
Jenseits des Sichtbaren
Rilkes Aufzeichnungen des Malte Laurids Brigge
Abstract
In Rilke’s novel Die Aufzeichnungen des Malte Laurids Brigge, the Parisian scene is conceived as a stage; the main character has been considered as the author’s alter ego or Doppelgänger, who is going to face the most alienating and fearful aspects of the modern metropole. Rilke’s project involves a new use of sight and perception in which the boundary between the inner and outer world is continuously crossed so that Malte – and the reader at the same time – starts to doubt the traditional categories of acknowledgement. Despite all negative aspects of this split scene of modernity, characterised by forgetfulness and alienation, Malte is very likely to eventually die, completely forgotten by his ghostly family – this loss of individuality and possession is also able to enhance a kind of negative capability, representing the condition to make a new start, e.g. a lyrical program expressing the paradox of Life, where life seems to be no longer possible. The formal fragmentation of Rilke’s novel and its lack of traditional unity reflect the split scene of the subject, thus foreshadowing the clash between sign and meaning, between angel and puppet, which will be put on stage in the crucial passage of the Fourth Elegy, where the I is depicted as a spectator in front of the curtain of his own heart.
Submitted: April 13, 2021 | Accepted: April 27, 2021 | Published Sept. 8, 2021 | Language: de
Keywords Family • Sight • Modernity • Individuality • Forgetfulness • Split scene • Puppet • Stage
Copyright © 2021 Barbara Di Noi. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/AnnOc/2499-1562/2021/09/009
