Focus Fall 1997.tif 170 Focus on Literalllr Thomas Mann's First Vision of W oman (1893) Gamin Bartle image: 1. a physical likeness or representat ion of a person, animal. or th ing, photographed, painted, scu lptu red or other­ wise made visible. 2. an optical counterpart or appearance of an object , such as is produced by a lens, or the passage of luminous rays th rough a small aperture and their reception by a surface. 3. a mental representation; idea; concept ion. 4. a mental representation o f something previously perceived, in t be absence of the original stimulus. 5. form; appearance; sem­ blance: God created man in his own image. 6. counterpart ; copy. 7. symbol, emblem. 8. a type; embodiment. 9. a de­ scription of something in speech or writing: he crealed some of the most beautiful images in the language. 10. an idol/icon. 11. a figure of speech, especially a metaphor or simile. [ ... ] Webste r's Encyclopedic Un­ abridged Dictionary of the English Language. (New Yo,ko 1989) 71t. U n Male Fantasies, Klaus Theweleit makes seve ral sweeping state­ ments about the Status of female characters and the role of the female image in European literature. "in their primary role as ' power­ h Ollse"n he writes, "wo men si mply don't exist in Western literature. [ ... ] 10 their secondary role, as a force of absorption, h owever, they have been a central concern - perhaps the central conce rn - of that literature. It is usual - and rightly so - to speak of a history of the female image in European Lrerarure, and of a history o f th e men who made itn (272-73). T heweleit describes the function of th is image wi th relation to desire as follows: "[I]n all European literature (and litera­ ture inOuenced by it), desire, if it fl ows at all, flows in a ce rtain sense Focus 011 Literatllf Vol. 4, No. 2 (1997) 172 Focus on Lileratur through women. In some way or olher, it always £lows in relation [0 the image of woman" (272). To accept these statements withom reser· vatian would be (Q ignore the literature beyond canonical bound­ aries; to deny them completely would be absurd. Tbeweleit's asser­ tions are an invitation to question the maner further. I look at Theweleit's pronouncements through the textS of one male canonical author. Thomas Mann. This paper is part of a larger project, namely my dissertation. "The Woman in Mann: Criticism Through Non-conformity." My thesis is basically that when characters do not conform with tradi­ tional gender (stereo-)rypes in Mann's works, they become critics­ explicitly of their positions in the texts, and implicitly, of an underly­ ing patriarchal system in Mann. After defining the (stereo-)typical and therefore expected behaviors of typical male and typical female characte rs in Mann, I limit my study to female characters who do not conform to their expected roles. The first female who does not com­ pletely conform to her anticipated gender role in Mann's writing is in his first short Story, or as he called il, Prosa-Skizze, entitled Vision from 1893. Since this story is only two pages long, there is not much space to set up a framework of stereotypical gender behaviors. 1n my dissertation I draw from a larger group of texts, from which I am able to delineate the typical, or stereotypical, in a more thorough manner than would be possible from just one shon Story. The term "typical," when used with respect to characters in Mann, refers to those charac­ ters, both male and female, whose behavior generally corresponds to patriarchal (stereo)types. Male characters who fall into this category recurrently possess some combination of the following t ruts. T hey are powerfu l, at least in the traditional sense of having control over others and conforming to the traditional patriarchal hierarchy. Those powerful men are served by other characters in the works, men and women alike. Since typical Mann characters are from bourgeois back­ grounds, their power usually includes financial power. They have money and the power to decide how to spend it. Such characters are also portrayed as representatives of their families or businesses (usu­ ally both) in the public sphere. Another characteristic typ ica1ly as­ cribed to males in Mann's works is an almost unlimited decision·mak· ing authority, which is sanctioned by patriarchal society. These men Mann's First ViSIOn 173 often act as judges of others. They are also sexual aggr~ors who are legitimized in their sexuality. Typical male characters 111 Mann, s:uch as H:lllS Castorp in De,. lauber-berg, are also allowed to go ?ut into the world, incidentally wilhoUl being judged harshly by l~elr narra­ tors. Such characters can simply be viewed as active, especially as op­ posed to the female chancters, who are, as we shall see, often de­ picted as passive. M~in cha~cters .in Mann.' freq~endy males, are usu­ ally depicted as havmg an mner Me, that IS, their thoughts are more often related by the narralor than those of their female counterpartS. They also lend to silence women, and in some cases speak for them. The typical females in Mann are, understandably, the .o.ppo­ site of t he typical males. They are portrayed in subo rdinate positions, also in the traditional sense of being com rolled by men as mandated by patriarchal hierarchy. A typical woman is under the direc.t can· tfol of, first, her father and, later, her husband. T h ese subordlOated women are also financ ially dependent on men and have little say over rhe fami ly finances. Women are represemativ~ of their fa~ilies in the private _ non-business - sphere rather than III t.he public sph~re. ~ woman's reputation in society affects her family name. ': t~ue woman keeps the family name hononble. By nature of her sltuaU?n, the typical woman in Mann has restricted decision-?"aking ~uthonty. Even though she has limited power, a woman's acuons are Judged by others, usually males. Since men are usually the sexual aggressors, women are most ohen sexually passive. As an example serves the char­ acter Rosalie von Tummler in Mann's final story, Die Betrogene (1953), who describes her marital sex life as follows: "Tummler begeh~e mich, als ich jung war, und ich lieB mir's gefallen, willi~te in sem Werben nahm ihn zur Ehe in seiner Statdichkeit. und wlr pnegten die Wollusl auf sein BegehreJ]" (90 1). Later, the sexual dynamics change dramaticall y for Rosalie von Tummler. But that is another stor~. Generally, women ill Mann muSt either stay home or else they wil l be judged harshly. While it is a virtue for Hans C~storp to venture out and get to know the world, it is a vice for Clawdla Chauchat to do the same. Surely there are other faclors involved, such as the ~act that Chauchat is married and Castorp single, but the fact remalOs that woman of any marital status who travel alone are often )u~ged by Mann's narrators and male characters as immoraL There IS "(tie de­ piction of women's inner life, and their voices are sometimes actively 174 FoClis on L ileratllr muted, as in Tri$lan when Herr Kloterjahn tells his wife Gabriele, "Langsam, Gabriele, take care, mein Engel, und halte den Mund zu ... " (218). H e speaks for her; her words are silenced. Obviously Vllion offers more than I am able to discuss here. The set-up alone - that the narrator is unsure whether he is asleep or awake - could be discussed funher, especially ill light of the dream­ like sequence that follows. On the other hand, perhaps this little story is simply a finger exercise, which "deutlich ihren Charackter als Probestuck Zll erkennen gibr," as Hans Yager writes in the Thomas­ Mann-Handbuch (553). Because of its potencial connection to Theweleit's statement, both pro and contra, the story deserves some attention here. Mann's first Story, Vision, was published in the Lubeck school publication Der Fruhlingsstunn, of which Mann was an editor, in l893. The clarity with which [his unassuming piece makes my point is wonderful. The very title, V1Sion (1893), suggests that it might be a revealing place to examine visions or images. The story itself presents an image of a woman. The image of a female hand animates the male narrator. The woman herself need not be present; only her partial image is necessary. Moreover, the reader gets the impression {hat her ~a~tual" presence in the StOry would disturb the narrator in his imag­ mmg of her. H er "actual" appearance would destroy the image. Vi. sian is a conspicuous example of female image as impe[Us for male­ dominated literature, or for Theweleit's idea of desire flowing through the image of woman. At the same time, it is very possible indeed to flip the idea of "the history of the female image in European literamre and of a his­ tOry of th e men who made it" (Theweleit 273) over onto itself. A man wrote this Story, and obviously he created the image of a woman within it. But there is also an underlying current of the opposite tendency. This story is not a one-sided experiment in the conjuring by a male narrator of a female image. This image, which seems upon casual read­ ing to be unerly created and controll ed by the narrator, turns OUt not to be a force of absorption at alL Instead, she egests, thus inserting herself more strongly into the story_ This occurs either because of Or in spite of her actual physical absence -tn as much as that is possible in writing and reading. The brevity of Vision prevents either character from exhibit- Mann's First Vision 175 ing a full range of the expected gender behavior found elsewhere in Man n. But there are clues that point toward such embodiment. The implicit power structure here is patriarchal - from t he outset, t he narrator speaks about himself: "Wie ich mir mechanisch eine neue Zigarette drehe ... " (9). At lile end, he puts words in the female character's mouth : "Du liebtest mich doch ... " (10) . In between, she seems to demonstrate stereotypical gender behavior in submitting to his gaze. At the beginning of the story. the narraror entrances himself in the smoke of his cigarette, presumably to relax and reach a state of Ruhe, somewhere between waking and dreaming. This becomes im­ possible almost immediately: "Aber nun ist die Ruhe zum Teufel. [ ... ) U nd mit all clem verwirrt steigt Vergessenes auf" (9). From this point on, the narrator is no longer in control of t he images that appear before him. "Einst dem Sehsinn Eingepriigtes, das sich seltsam emeut. .. " (9) takes shape in his view. As the image takes on more recogn izable form, rhe narrator is restricted to a waiting pOSLUre. Finally, the im­ age completes itsel f: "Nun ist es da, ganz deutlich, ganz wie damals, das Bild, clas Kunstwerk des Zufalls . Aufgetaucht aus Vergessenem, wiedergeschaffen, geformt, gemalt von der Phantasie, der fabelhaft talentvollen Kiinstlerin" (9). This image has renewed itself - this is a peculiarity of t he German reflexive form - but how can a vision ap­ pear if nOt through the envisioning of he who sees it? And how can I as a reader say who or what is in control of the image? These are not uncompl icated questions. If I speak of the power struggle or control issues between male and female characters in the works of T homas Mann, it is usually social power placed in the hands of the typical man, who in turn exerts it over the woman. Sexual power, in [his case however, seems [Q be in the hands of the woman. In Vision it is literally concentrated in the hand of t he woma n, because that is all the reader sees of her. T he male narrator entrances himself to a point where he is not sure whether he is awake or dream ing. Then the vision of a table, and a crystal gob let half-fi lled with gold appears. A hand appea rs in his vi­ sion: Davar traumend hingestreckt eine Hanel. Die Finger liegen lose urn den Fufi des Kelches. Urn den einen geschmiegt ein 176 Focus on Literalltr duffsilberne r Reif. Blurend darauf ein Rubin. Schon wo es nach dem urteo Gelenk im Formencrescendo Arm werden will, verschwimmr es im Ganzen. Ein stiBes Karse!' Traumerisch und regungslos ruht die Madchenhand. (10) The hand seems passive, but maybe it is more active than it appears. Theweleir's idea that the image of woman acts as an absorber is deStroyed on the literal level when she does not actually drink from the goblet. While we might be tempted to think that the male narrator controls the image, it is not so simple. Since her appearance is partial - only her hand and the lower part of her arm can be seen by both the narrator and the reader - she physically cannot drink and therefore cannot absorb. Not only is the narrator's wished-for "Ruhe zurn Teufel," but his command over the image has gone zum Teufel as we ll. It is practically a Frankenstein-like situation, where that which was created now threatens the creator. The female handl the main image framed by the larger image of the tableclo th and fantastic goblet of gold, takes o n a life of its own . "Triiumerisch und regunglos ruht die Madchenhand. Nur da, wo sich iiber ihr mattes WeiB weich eine hellblaue Ader schlanglet, pulsiert Leben, pocht Leidenschah langsam und heftig" (Mann 10). This pulsating vein impartS life to the conjured­ and-self-renewing image. It forces the narrator and the reader to see that the image does have its own life, at least in one irnportanr way. For the narrator, the vein represents life and passion, for the reader, it tells of the influence of this particular woman over the narrator. Even as the narrator claims that his Blick comrols [he pulsing of the vein, it is clear that this power resu lts in favor of the female presence. "Und wie es meinen Blick ftihlt, wird es rascher und rascher, wilder und wilder, bis es zu einem flehenden Zucken wird: LaB ab ... ~ (10). I read this section as a depiction of masturbation, but it is not that simple. Even in such a banal description of male masturbation, the power struggle between the two characters in the story remains apparent. This is not just a man thinking of a beaU[iful woman in order to bring himself to sexual fulfillment. The moment he says - or bener, thinks - "LaB ab," this woman, or this image, is not behaving according to gender expectations. Instead of being submissive and serving the man, she has become powerful enough to cause such great sexual tension Mann's First Vtsion 177 and emotional disruption in him that he practically has to beg her to stop. The image takes over here, just fo r a moment. The female character steps Out of her expected role and the result is critique. This critique is bOlh explicit and implicit. First, the female character explicitly rebels against being forced into t he submissive role of the {stereo-)typical woman. The power of sexual attraction, even toward her imagined image, dominates the narrator at this point. A momentary reversal or traditional power roles has to be read as critical of those roles. The implicit critique lies in the notion that the female character gets into a power position solely on the basis of her sexual attractiveness for the narrator. That is to say, she only gets control when he loses contro l. Therefore her control is obviously limited to moments when he tacitly grants ie. This must be read as implicit critique of the patriarchal system. Even though she gets momentary authority, the framework o f t he story still reflects traditional patriarchal power structure. In the end, he puts words into her mouth, assuring himself tbat at/east she loved him. There is no proof of that beyond him telling himsel f it must be so. Since the story is plainly a rudimentary exercise in something akin to inner monologue, there is necessarily a power relationship between the first person narrator and the image that he conj ures up in order to put content into the story. The control he implicit ly necessitates over the image shifts to the image itself in such a way as to render the narrator powerl ess over his own story, at least fo r a moment. The moment the narratOr says "La6 ab ... " enacts his te mporary powerlessness. If the female image controls t he narrator, even just for a moment , then T heweleit's assertion about desire flowing through the image is wrong. After the climax, a pearl is released from the bottom of the goblet, and it rises to the top, where it bursts into red name. The narrator tries to hold on to the vision, but it disappea rs. Apparemly the Miidchenhand allows itself to be seen only until his sexual fulfillment has been attained. As a consolation, the narrator claims that she had loved him: "Wie ich mich miide zurucklehne, zuch Schmerz auf. A ber ich weiR es nun so sicber w ie damals: Du liebtest m ich doch .... Und das ist es, wamm ich nun weinen kann" (10) . This woman is a fragment of an imaginary woman, a projection of [he narrator. She is obviously powerful, sexually stimulating and 178 Focus on Literalltr therefore dangerous. It is a strange son of power balance in that he has conjured up the vision, but even as image, she evidenLly has the powena control him temporarily, and then to remove her own image from his view. The result is that he is enabled to show emotion, something he probably could not have done without her. Still , since the Story ends with yet anomer ich statement - "Uod