Von der menschlichen Unzulanglichkeit: Zu Hofmannsthals Das Marchen der 672. Nacht

Hugo von Hofmannsthal'sDas Märchen der 672. Nachtand the Trials of Oscar Wilde

“…For the Kaufmannssohn , no thing or individual enjoys a genuine independent existence, but may only, at best, serve to represent an abstract ideal. The narration suggests, in other words, that the protagonist considers the phenomenal world to be little more than “der Abglanz einer höheren Welt” which exists only insofar as he is able to apprehend its various forms (Rieckmann , 303) . Looking back decades later at the period during which he wrote the Märchen , Hofmannsthal specifically cites this highly (in the literal sense of the term) discriminatory epistemology as a symptom of what he considers the defining crisis of the age.…”

“…. ], in die von ihm verlassene Welt der Schönheit und Künstlichkeit zurückzukehren” (Rieckmann , 307). Yet even inside this apparent oasis, the Kaufmannssohn is unable to escape the procreative expectation of society, which appears in the form of a little girl whom the Kaufmannssohn confronts in an unusually physical, almost violent manner: “Er hatte Mühe, es nicht zu treten” (Hofmannsthal , 25).…”

“…Yet even inside this apparent oasis, the Kaufmannssohn is unable to escape the procreative expectation of society, which appears in the form of a little girl whom the Kaufmannssohn confronts in an unusually physical, almost violent manner: “Er hatte Mühe, es nicht zu treten” (Hofmannsthal , 25). Rieckmann has pointed out, as well, that the young man's barely suppressed urge to trample (“treten”) the little girl serves as a textual allusion to the Kaufmannssohn 's reaction upon receipt of the letter, when he becomes so angry at the author of the letter that he tramples his own cloak (Rieckmann , 308). In both cases, the protagonist attempts to suppress the expectations of a society whose demands he is unable to escape.…”

“…Much more powerful are the horses they serve. As Rieckmann has shown, the balance of power in the stable is the opposite of what it had been in the glass houses (Rieckmann , 308). Here, society is not represented by a weak little girl whom the Kaufmannssohn can trample but by the strongest, most menacing horse, which ultimately “tramples” – that is, kicks – the Kaufmannssohn with such force that the young man dies a slow and painful death as a result.…”

“…Jens Rieckmann has suggested that the Kaufmannssohn embodies the problematic existence of the artist, whose art is only enabled by the artist's own lack of an identity, a trait that heightens his ability to feel what others feel at the same time that it renders him humanly deficient. According to Rieckmann, Hofmannsthal was able to express through the Märchen his own fear that “die Gewinnung einer festumrissenen Identität, Voraussetzung für die Menschwerdung des Künstlers, gleichbedeutend mit dem Verlust künstlerischer Produktivität sein könne” (Rieckmann , 298–299). Imke Meyer incorporates both Cohn's and Rieckmann's interpretations in her essay on the Märchen , seeing an intersection of the two readings “wenn der Kaufmannssohn verstanden wird als ‘Lebenskünstler’” – that is, as one who purposely attempts to transform his own body into a work of art in an ultimately futile attempt to escape his own humanity (Meyer , 197).…”