Chapter V: The Quest for Union
Andrew Webber
From Sexuality and the Sense of Self in the Works of Georg Trakl and Robert Musil (1990), pp. 75-100, doi:10.59860/td.c8cc656
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| Part of the book: Sexuality and the Sense of Self in the Works of Georg Trakl and Robert Musil Andrew Webber MHRA Texts and Dissertations 30 Bithell Series of Dissertations 15 Modern Humanities Research Association for the Institute of Germanic Studies ModernGermanPoetryFictionPhilosophyopen Abstract. This section will pursue the dismantling of the narcissistic ideal, by focusing on the motif of androgynous union and in particular on what Richard Detsch calls the 'numinous' figure of the sister. In his chapter on 'Androgynous Man' Detsch is able to cast the motif in a ráther rosy light (without doubting the generally 'optimistic connotation' of the colour) by detaching his examples from their contexts, and taking them very much at face value. There is no regard here for the sort of subversion of the textual programme that the present study has sought to illustrate. While he is undoubtedly right in recognising the compound nature of the moment of transcendence in 'Abendländisches Lied' the unity of creation in 'Ein Geschlecht' as contingent upon the union of male and female 'Geschlechter' - he fails to see that it is but a moment. Full text. This contribution is published as Open Access and can be downloaded as a PDF, or viewed as a PDF in your web browser, here: |