Focus Fall 1995.tif . Clio in the Midst of Patriarchy: Tony Buddenbrook and the Mediation of the Buddenbrook Family Past N orman Roessler IiiI homas Mann's: BlIddenbrooks addresses the topic of history on a ... number of levels. Fi rst and foremost it is the chronicle of a patrician fam ily between the years 1835 and 1877. Tracing four gen­ erations, with particular attemion <0 the pat riarch ic lineage, the novel details both the fise and the eclipse-pol itically, economically, socially, spiritually-of the Buddenbrook family . Th is fami ly chronicle has provided the basis for three main interpretations: autobiographical, socia-h istorical, and socioiogical. Hence, the novel can be read fo r its relationship to Thomas Mann's family and the city of Lubeck (Ridley 2), as a document of nineteenth-century pol itical and social history (Ridley 81-84), and as a renection on the Bourgeois/Burger debate (Zeller 10-14). Yet these interpretations by no means exhaust the historical di­ mensions of the novel. The term history encom passes not only raw information such as dates, events, accou nts and characters but also includes the collecting, processing, and transmission (oral and writ­ ten) of t his information, More succinctly stated, one must be aVlare of both the historical material and the historiographical endeavor. T he major interpretations listed above have concentrated primarily on the histOrical information provided in the novel at the expense of the histo riographical aspects. The Buddenbrook family history does not exi st si mp ly for the reader; on the conrrary, it is a vital and acknowl­ edged aspect of the Buddenbrook family. The Buddenbrooks are aware of their own history and are constantly historicizing themselves. H ow this hislOriograph ica l project is carried out is equall y important w the historical material it attempts to synrhesize. Although the term historiography allows one to differentiate the broader concept of history, it is tOO fo rmal fo r the purposes of th is paper and requires a fu rt her del ineation. Histor iography evokes im- FIXUJOIl LiteratllT Vol. 2, No.2 (1995) l50 Focus on Literatllr ages of official writers, scribes. and his~orians applying a pu rported scientific methodology in o rder to wnte a codIfied document. T he term places far [00 much weight on a wo.rk s~ch as Bllddenbro~ks which offers a fictionalized account of a family hIstory. A term which lends itself far bener to the task at hand is historical mediation. Simi­ lar to historiography, historical mediation refers to lhecoll~ti~g. pro­ cessing, and transmission of information. As the word med ,atlo.n SU~· gem, it is an intermediate p.ositioo. be{wee~ tWO or more pO.les: In t~IS case reconciling the material of history with the transmISSion of hiS­ tor;. Moreover, historical mediation intercedes in the p~s(/present/ fu ture nexus, acknowledging and interpreting l~e past In a present and future time frame. The term, furthermore, IS much more mal­ leable than historiography. Historical mediation can be applied ~o situations which ideally would not fit the scientific framewo rk of hiS­ to riography. Beyond putat~ve histo~ica~ doc~me~ts and acc?un~s , be­ yo nd official historiographICal pubh~atlons he ammat~ .m~ mamm~te objectS which collect and co nvey hl~t0l!' ~enc~, hlSto rl~al n:'edla­ t ion allows one to move beyond the institutional Idea of hlStonogra­ phy and investigate areas Olhe rwi se left unexamined. Where does one find the historical mediation of th e Buddenbrook past in terms of these crite r~a? T wo areas can be iden tified: 9 the fami ly album and 2) the fam ily members themselves. The family al­ bum provides a relatively detailed accoun~ of the B~ddenbrook fam­ ily history over the course of [wo centunes. Kept .m the des~ .0: the reigning Buddenbrook palriouch, it lists births, marriages, acquIsIti ons. notable events, and provides both commentaries and small vigneu~s. The family album appears throughout the novel in a nu~ber of .dl~­ ferent situations with a variety of family members. OccaSiOnally It IS brought out for viewing, to be read by an i~dividua l , .o r to be re~d aloud in front of an intimate group. The family album IS the material focal point of the Buddenbrook past; it is both the receptacle and the conveyo r of the fami ly history. . Undeniably, the family album represents a fundamental me~\U.m for the Buddenbrook family history and is worthy of study m ItS own right- I However, it is also interes~ing and signifi~ant to examine not the object, but the character who IS most responSible fo r the me­ diation of this past. Obviously this character must have a profound involvement with the family album. Yet this criterion cannot serve as Buddenbrook Fami ly Past 151 the sale basis for the mediation of the Buddenb rook past. One mllst ask, which character actively intercedes and reco ncil es the fami ly past? Surprisingly, in a novel which concemrates on the patriarchic lineage of a family, historical mediation is not the task of the Buddenbrook patriarchs, but rather the task of a Buddenbrook matria rch, Amonia (Tony) Buddenbrook. To illu minate the central role of Tony Buddenbrook in relation to her fami ly's past, it is first of all necessary to different iate her in­ volvemem with the family album from that of the other f.amily mem­ bers. In some way. all four generat ions of the Buddenbrook p;llriar­ chy- old Johann, Jean, Tom, and Hanna (becallse of his early death Hanna never becomes fami ly patriarch, bur if h e had reached adult­ hood, he wou ld have assumed this position)--come into contact with the fam ily album. It is, of cou rse, the unstated responsibility of the male head of the Buddenbrook household to maimain and update the family album. To list but a few examples: Jean records the birth of his daughter and reads passages of the album that his father wrote (53-58). Tom dutifully records Tony'S second divorce (393-39 -1), and even H anno finds cause to write in the family album, drawing a double line under his name and explaining later to his irate father: "leh glaubte ... ieh glaubte ... es kame nichts mehr" (523). Tony, in relation to the family album, is never granted the same status as the Budden brook men. The responsibility for guarding and updating the family album is never officially bestowed upon her. Yet no character in the novel is so strongly and consistent ly involved with the family album as Tony Buddenbrook. No one else is desc ribed as having, nor shows the abili ty, to memorize dates, events, and persons in the fam ily alb um 3S does Tony Buddenbrook. This ability is dem­ onstrated as Tom informs her of the impending sale of the family house: "Unser I-fau s! ... Jeh weiR noch, wie wir es einwei llten ... . Wir waren nicht gro6er als so damals. Die ganze Famili e war da. Und Onkel Hoffsted trug ein Gedicht vor .... Es liegt in der Mappe .... leh wei~ es auswendi g .... Venus Anadyomene ... . D as Landschaftszimmer! Der EBsaal! Fremde Lellle ... '" (583-84). Not on ly does she read the fam ily album or recite its details at family gatherings (160, 478)1 bllt she also at various times writes in it herself, thus being the onl y female in the enti re history o f the family to do so (160,235). 152 Focus all Literatllr Denied official recognition within the family, Tony is neverthe­ less the unofficial guardian of the family albu m. Compared to the Buddenbrook patriarchs, she has invested relatively little time writ­ ing in the album. However, she has devoted herself to the album and to the family history. Of all the family members, she is most aware of the family history and most involved in interpreting it. The various Buddenbrook patriarchs record the family history blu are detached from what they write. Never do they show any deeper involvement with the alb um other than recording information in it. Into this vacuum steps Tony Buddenbrook and, imbued with her family his­ tory, serves as the real caretaker of the family album. Her position is confirmed at the end of the novel. With the family withered away and Tom's widow Gerda leaving to go back to HoI­ land, Tony gratefully accepts possession of the family albu m. With great reverence she announces: "Einmal in der Woche kommt ihr zu mir zum Essen ... und dann lesen wir in den Familienpapieren" (757). Tony takes sole possession of the object that contains the entire his­ tory of her family_ No longer is she only the spiritual guardian of the family album. She now has physical ownership of it. Tony's role as mediator of her family's past, however, does not reside solely in her involvement with the family album. Throughout the novel she is actively engaged in attempts to rewrite the past. Since she has memorized the family album, she is well aware of the glory and the shame of the Buddenbrook past_ The glory of the Buddenbrook past centers on their social climb over the paS( tWO centuries. Eco­ nomical, political, and social success have accompanied the Buddenbrooks in their rise to one of the most powerful families of the town. Ambitious as any of the patriarchs in the family, Tony wants to enrich the family history through her own deeds. She is limited in this endeavor by the constraints of nineteemh+ century bourgeois real ity_ The depictions of the Buddenb rook family and the character Tony Buddenbrook are consistent with contempo­ rary historical appraisals of the middle to late nineteenth century. The nineteenth-cemury bourgeois family was largely defined as the sepa­ ration of the private from the public (Nipperdey 4-1). More specifi­ cally, the private realm was defined as fundamemally concernjng the home and the family, with women being the primary representatives (rIausen 64), and the public realm as fundamentally concerni ng capi- Buddenbrook Family Past 153 tal production and society, with men being the primary representa­ tives (Nipperdey 47·48)_ Confined to rh e private realm, women were left. with iiHle chance to make a mark on society. The only actions which allowed them to push out of the private rea lm and into the public realm were that of marriage and chi ldbirth (Nipperdey 52)_ Through marriage Tony attempts to write herself imo the fami ly album. However, after the failure?f her first marriage, the institu ti on of marriage represents her one chance to rewme the past. She is a social and financial burden to her family and tbis situation must be rectified. Tony does not seek to eradicate the past, but rather judi­ ciously edit the mistakes while allowing the unbroken glo ry of the family to resonate in memory. Significamly. her project of historical revision through mar riage is always discussed in reference to the family album. Hence, when Tony promises her father tim she will nOt allow her first divorce to blight [he family history, it is in reference to the family album. Poim­ i~g to the albu~ she declares: "Vater, ich weiR wo hl , daB dies Ereignis elnen Flecken 10 unserer Fami liengeschichte bildet. l a, ich habe schon vie! dari.iber nachgedacht. Es ist genau, als ware hier ein Tintenklecks in diesem Buche. Aber sei nlhig .. . es ist meine Sache, ihn wieder fonzuradieren! reh bin noch jung ... " (235) (referring to her ability to marry again). Later, on the eve of her second engagement, she is em­ powered by the thought that this marriage will extinguish the blem­ ish of the previous one. It issllch a consuming feel ing that it infiltrates her dreams, and again the family album is present: "Diese Nacht haue sie im Traum die Stelle in den Familienpapieren vor Augen gesehen, an der sie die Tauache ihrer zweiten Verlobung zu vermerken gedachte ... diese Tatsache, die jenen schwarzen Flecken, den die Blatter enthielten. tilgte lind bedeutungslos machte, ... " (343). Finally, be­ fore her daughter's wedding, Tony sees yet anOlher chance (0 recover lhe past. Her ability to rewrite the past has been exhausted, bUl her daughter, Erika, can finally realize the projecl. Although Erika 's name is re.c0rded in the family album, Tony is the real bride (-1-15) and she has JUSt embarked on her third marriage (-1-1 7). Despite all her efforts, Tony is never able to rewrite rhe blemishes of her and her family's past. By the end of the novel she is left alone with on!y the remnantS of a once distinguished family. Her one con­ solation is the family album which, for the first time, is under her so le 154 Focu5 on Lileratllr guardianship . Yet th is outcome does not diminish Tony's role as the primary mediator of the Buddenhrook family history. In every as­ pect-caretaker, mediator, curator- she represents the character most involved with the family history. Moreover, she achieves this posi­ tion in spite of difficult obstacles: she is not a member of the Buddenhrook patriarchy) she is a woman in stratified nineteenth ceo­ tury bourgeois society, and twice-divorced, she is a social outcast. Tony'S role as historical mediator of the Buddenh rook patria rchy is also noteworthy because of the ironic detachment Thomas Mann dis­ plays toward her character. Who would look for the historical muse, the Clio, of the Buddenbrook family in a character who, for the most part , is depicted as a faa!? ?he Universiry of Pennsylvania Note I A useful examination of the famil y album is to be found in Jochen Vogt, Thomas Mann: Buddenbrooks (Munchen: Wilhelm Fink, 1983): 117- 121. Vogt analyzes the family album