James Joyces Epiphanie und die Überwindung der empirischen Welt in der modernen deutschen Prosa

Aphorism and Sprachkrise in Turn‐of‐the‐Century Austria

“…This is the insight mediated to Chandos through the experience of his so-called epiphanies: discovering the whole in the elemental. l4 "Denn es ist ja etwas vollig Unbenanntes und auch wohl kaum Benennbares," Chandos writes of his epiphanies, "das in solchen Augenblicken, irgendeine Erscheinung meiner alltaglichen Umgebung mit einer uberschwellenden Flut hoheren Lebens wie ein GefaD erfullend, mir sich ankundet" (14). Having lost his control over totalizing abstractions, Chandos despairs of his ability to express the essence of this "higher life."…”

“…Having lost his control over totalizing abstractions, Chandos despairs of his ability to express the essence of this "higher life." Thus he repeatedly interjects comments about the futility of his attempt to describe these experiences in words (14,15,17). Comparing himself to Tantalus, Chandos explains how the "Geheimnisse des Glaubens" as well as "die irdischen Begriffe" recede from his longing grasp (1 1).…”

“…24 When Hofmannsthal opts for the epistolary form in composing this text, the general purpose and structure of aphoristic expression is not wholly passed over. Chandos, as we have seen, repeatedly employs the metaphor of the overflowing vessel to communicate the fullness of his mystical epiphanies (14). Hofmannsthal, in an attempt to textually reproduce just such an experience, chooses the limiting vessels of epistolary form and the "Sprechton" of the seventeenth century.…”