ABSTRACT

IMAGE AND IMAGERY
IN FRISCH'S DIE SCHWIERIGEN

By
Loren Ray Alexander

This study attempts to clarify the main character
images and the poetic imagery in Max Frisch's gig
Schwierigen. Parallels drawn with characters in Frisch's
other novels show similar trends and contrasting
developments. The characters reveal themselves in the
several facets that are of foremost importance in the
modern novel: the search for self; the portrayal of the
inner self and of personas; and the portrayal of characters
influenced by others in their perception of self. Thus,
first the characters are delineated in these respects, then
in Chapter V the main poetic images are evolved in their
relationship to the theme. The search to realize the self
in the midst of the world of uncertainties that modern man
experiences becomes evident as the theme of the work.

Two fundamental approaches to life became evident
in the study of person-images: the rational and the
irrational. Neither is possible to the total exclusion
of the other, and man fails when he attempts to turn his
efforts to the development of one over the other, as
evidenced in both ways by Reinhart in his development.

A balanced rational/irrational life based on an under-
standing of the makeup of the individual's total self is

Loren Ray Alexander

the goal of man's struggle -- ultimate maturity. Those
who attempt to project the true self live in the existential
present, whereas those who willingly present a persona ~-
here of the overly-irrational, visionary man and of the
overly-rational, pragmatic man -- are psychically ”dead".
The naive, usually women and young men, are those who are
not consciously aware of the conflict and unconsciously
project their true self.

Poetic imagery, the ultimate in language, encompasses
a variety and unity which reveals nuances of the theme.
Poetic images are not restricted to individual characters;
rather, they serve to depict a composite personality.
Frisch creates an allegory of modern man in the search for
self and for identity. The main poetic images are the
following: Child-, Moth and Flame-, Bird-, “may, Battle-,
Blue-, Death-, and Glass-imagery. Qflllfi imagery reveals the
theme: The uncertain searchfor the realized self, the
adulthood of man. Moth and Elame imagery emphasizes the
natural attraction of the goal of self-realization and the
subsequent cessation of the quest. The former signifies
psychic life; the latter, psychic death. This imagery
broadens to the Icarus myth and the attempt to do the
impossible. gigs imagery clearly points up the flight into
the void, the vast inner spaces of the self, an intimate
part of all creation. Animal imagery generally presents
the negative aspects of a lack of consciousness of self.

Battle imagery reflects the struggle that must take place

Loren Ray Alexander
in the attempt to avoid persona-projection. glgg
represents the affirmed goal of the ambivalent in-the-world
self. 1233313 images are employed to give impact to the
lack of life in the person who is not striving. And
glass imagery depicts the various aspects of the difficulty
of the struggle and the constant nearness of the goal,
keeping alive the hope of attainment.

The pessimistic view of man's search for self-
realization in the midst of the uncertainties of modern
life, the theme of Frisch's work in general, is balanced
in pie Schwierigen by the hope that he yet holds out for
man. Man is "difficult” because he so easily finds ways
of avoiding the struggle, and because his task, while
necessary, appears all but hopeless. The significant
note of hope in Die Schwierigen is strengthened by Frisch's
use of poetic imagery and becomes man's counterbalance to

the negative aspects of life in-the-world.

IMAGE AND IMAGERY
IN FRISCH'S DIE SCHWIERIGEN

BY

Loren Ray Alexander

A THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of German and Russian

1970

Cé7f9‘[

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author wishes to express his sincere appreciation
to Dr. Mark 0. Kistler, Professor of German, for his
guidance of this work. A long-term effort beyond the
ordinary has required much patience of Dr. Kistler, and
this, together with his critical assistance, has brought
this dissertation from the birth of an idea to the
completed production.

The other members of the committee for this
dissertation, Dr. Stuart Gallacher and Dr. George
Badimersky, along with Dr. William Hughes, Chairman of
the Department of German and Russian at Michigan State
University, deserve the author's grateful acknowledgment
of the time and effort expended by them in the interests
of better scholarship, both as models to emulate and as
critics of past and present efforts.

The author also wishes to thank Dr. Fritz Moore,
Professor of German, Kansas State University, and Dr.
William Coates, Professor of Linguistics, Kansas State
University, for their assistance and enouragement.
Discussions with and special assistance from Isidor J.
Wallimann, Alpanchdorf, Switzerland, were especially

valuable.

11

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCT ION C O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

A.
B.
C.
D.

CHAPTER

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

CHAPTER

A.

Die Schwierigen and Prisch's Novels

ThONOVOIaBaGenre..........

The MOdern Novel e e e e e e e e e

The Terminology of Narrative Literature

I REINHART AS VISIONABY: THE ARTIS
SEARCHEReeeeeeeeeee

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . .
Reinhart and Yvonne . . . . . . .
Reinhart and Hortense . . . . . .
Ammann as Sounding Board ... . . .
Comparison to the Other Novels . .
II YVONNE AND HORTENSE: TURANDOTS

EXISTENTIAL UNCERTAINTY AND
RATIONAL ”CERTAINTY” . . . . .

Yvonne: The Turandot of Existential

Uncertainty . . . . . . . . . . .
1. Introduction . . . . . . . .
2. The Turandot Image . . . . .
3. Yvonne and Hinkelmann . . . .
u. Yvonne and Reinhart . . .y. .

5. Ivonne and Hauswirt . . . . .

111

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12

22
27
35
38
no

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22

an

B.

CHAPTER

A.
B.
C.

D.

E.

CHAPTER

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

P.

’ iv

Hortense: The Turandot of Rational
”certaintY'eeeeeeeeeeee

1e IntrOdUOtion e e e e e e e e

2. Hortense and Heinhart . . .

3. Hortense and the Minor

Characters .........

h. Ivonne and Hortense Compared

to Characters in the Other

Novelaeeeeeeeeeee

III THE PRAGMATIST: THE OVERLY-
RATIONAL MAN . . . . . . .

Introduction . . . . . . . . . .
Hinkelmann: Immaturity and Death

Hauswirt: Forceful Businessman;
Passive Husband . . . . . . . .

The Oberst: Man of Tradition and
FOI‘OO. O O O O O O O O O O O O O

Ammann: Man of Tradition and
POUI1b111ty e e e e e e e e e e
Iv REINHART.AS PRAGMATIST: THE
OFFICE EMPLOYEE . . . . . .
IntrOduOtlon . . o Q Q Q 0 O 0
Persona as Escape . . . . . . .
Persona as Psychic Death . . . .

Masks: Personae . . . . . . . .

J'adore ce qui me brule:
Capitulation e e e e e e e e e e

Comparison to the Characters in
the Other Novels . . . . . . . .

56
57

62

63

. 56
. 67
. 68
. 7“
. 79
. 82
. 90
. 92
. 96
. 101
. 103

. 105

. 67

. 90

CHAPTER V MAIN POETIC IMAGE-GROUPS: THE

A.
B.

C.

D.

E.

F.

G.

H.

I.

ULTIMATELANGUAGEe e e e e e e e e
IntrOdHOtioneeeeeeeeeeeee

Child-Imagery: The Theme of the Self
as a Goal, once had, now lost . . . .

Moth and Flame-Imagery: The Attraction
Of Self-Realization e e e e e e e e e

Bird-Imagery: The Limitations of Human
Beings and their Possibilities for
MOmenta Of Insight e e e e e e e e e e

Blue-Imagery: The Goal of Self-
Healization . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Animal-Imagery: Brutal Materialism
or Mankind Gone A8tray e e e e e e e e

Battle-Imagery: The Struggle for
Realization of Self over the
PtOJQOtion Of Persona e e e e e e e e

Death-Imagery: The Absence of Viable
Life or the Creation of Persons . . .

Glass-Imagery: The Difficulty and
Uncertainty of Ultimate Goal-
Attainment O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

c ONCLUS ION O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

FOOTNOTES 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
WORKS c ITED O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

. . . 111
111

111

117

121

124

127

131

139

148

e e e 15“
. . . 16h
e e e 169

INTRODUCTION

A. Die Schwierigen and Prisch's Novels
Die Schwierigen has its origin in two early versions

of the novel: Jfirg Beinhart: Eine sommerliche Schicksals-
fahrt (l93fi): and J'adore ce qui me brule oder Die

Schwierigen (19b3). Die Schwierigen oder j'adore ce qui
me brule (1957)1 1. the final form given to the adventures

of Jfirg Beinhart. The first version concerned the
protagonist in his early years. The literary power that
Prisch has evidenced since then was not clearly evident in
that version. Prisch himself seems to have viewed it "as
a stylistic anachronism.“2 The second version is actually
an extension of Reinhart's adventures of the earlier one.
The latter is included in the second version as a short
introductory section. The third and final version, the
one that concerns us here, omits the introductory section
dealing with Heinhart's early life and begins with a
chapter titled: 'Hinkelmann oder ein Zwischenspiel." Thus
the final version contains no part of the original.
Previous to this final version Prisch met success
with his major novel Stills; (195%). Stiller brought him
world acclaim. subsequent to Die Sgggierigen he has
published two more highly-acclaimed novels: Home faber

(1957). and Mein Name se; Gantenbein (196R). Frisch's

1

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reworking of Die Schwierigen occurs in the midst of success
with other novels: it is only reasonable to assume that his
efforts with the reworked version of his first novel would
evidence expressive powers comparable to the novels
surrounding it.

Weisstein comments very favorably on Die Schwierigen:
”a novel remarkable for its lyrical quality, its nostalgic
mood and a philosophical outlook more suited to a writer's
Alterssti; than to the Neltanschauung of a twenty-nine-year-
old artist."3 Binziger views the work as 'nicht besser und
nicht schlechter als Hunderte von Ehnlichen Romanen jener
Jahrzehnte.' He finds Die Schwierigeg difficult to
categorize, however: 'sie wirken konventioneller als Ul sses,
hoffnungsvoller als sin Roman Hamsuns, 'lebendiger' als der
Mann ohge Eigegsgngtten, bfirgerlicher als Kafka. Die
Vergleiche sind disproporticniert, erlEutern aber vielleicht
doch die Tatsache, dass der Roman eine schweizerische

h Stiuble repeatedly refers to

Hitt01138uns daretellt.”
Die Sghwiezigeg in his discussions of the other novels by
Prisch: 'Schon disses frfihe Werk waist alle charakterist-
ischen Merkmale der spiteren Werke Prischs auf. Schon
lange vor dem 'Stiller' hat Prisch in diesem.Buch die
Trangie des modernen Menschen gestaltet, schon das
Schicksal Jfirg Reinharts wurde von.einem Dichter erzfihlt,
der alle billigen L8sungen verwirft....'5 Stiuble also
quotes walter Pischli concerning Die Schwierigen: “'Die

Sprache dieses Romans ist von auserlesener, ausserordent-

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3

licher Scthheit und Modulationsthigkeit. Sie bandigt die
Vielfalt des Lebens in einer Weiss, die auch da helles
Entzficken verursacht, wo disses Leben uns 1m tiefsten
erschreckt."6 And Welzig, in reference to Die Schwieri en,
calls it 'Prischs zu Unrecht weniger bekanntes Prfihwerk.”7

Hoffmann makes no mention of Die Schwierigen while
praising Prisch's other novels: ”in Stiller, Homo faber,
and Msin Name sei Gantenbein he has created three of the
most important novels of the past decade. Taken together,
these books are perhaps the most meaningful recent German
writing in their particular genre: the psychological nove1.'8
Only the larger works, such as those by Binziger, Stiuble
and Welzig make more than a passing comment on this early
novel. Any concentrated efforts on this one novel are
singularly lacking. I shall analyze Die Schwierigen in
order to show the intent of the author and to focus on
lines of thought that seem to be of importance not only to
this work but to Prisch's works in general.

B. The Novel as a Genre

A view of the art of the novel in general will help
focus on the study of Die Schwierigen.

The elements of the novel peculiar to this genre in
contrast to poetry and the drama are stated by Schiller in
a letter to Goethe: purpose is found ”in jedem Punkt seiner
Bewegung; darum eilen wir nicht ungeduldig zum Ziele,

sondern verweilen uns mit Liebe bei jedem Schritte."9

n

Schlegel comments on epic poetry in relation to lyric and
dramatic poetry: "As form, the epic obviously has
precedence: it is subjective-objective...epic poetry is
the root of the whole and the exact middle between the
wholly interior lyrical and the wholly exterior dramatic
poetry."10 Blanckenburg, in his work on the novel, shows
that he already understood the developments taking place
toward the prose works of today. the aspects of novel
structure and function that are only today becoming widely
accepted. He emphasizes the function of the novel as
character portrayal. And Northrop Prye differentiates
between the romance and the novel thus: "The romance does
not attempt to create 'real people' so much as stylized
figures which expand into psychological archetypes...a
subjective intensity that the novel lacks....'11

A fruitful study of the novel concentrates on small
parts or divisions without losing sight of the salient
theme of the work. A study of an individual novel should
consider the importance of the subjective-objective
characteristics, allowing neither the subjective nor
objective view to predominate, an ambivalent approach. And
the study of character is the unifying base from which to
operate, which will result in finding either 'real people'
or types: but this latter point becomes more difficult in
light of the modern novel.

The view of the novel as a "world” enables one to

approach this genre of literature with the all-encompassing

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5

view demanded by it. Organization is emphasized: "In it
inhers such a vast number of traits, all organized in
subordinate systems that function under the governance of
a single meaningful structure, that the nearest similitude
for a novel is a 'world."12 Dye shows that Blanckenburg
'is in the mainstream of thought on the novel - and very
near its source - in asserting the special pertinence of
'das Innre' to the novel form"13 Thus the ”world" under
consideration is not the external world of direct
observation, but that internal universe in the soul of man.
Ziolkcwski shows that Kafka and Rilks knew how to
approach the subjective-objective aspect of the novel,
concluding that “in novels where the subject is allowed to
rampage, uncontrolled by an objective view, there can be no
unity of form: and in those where the object prevails,
untempered by subjective feeling, there can be no meaning.'1u
Helzig also emphasizes the concentration on 'das Innre" by
pointing out the unimportance of the external actions: "Dos
im konventionellen Sinns 'Erzihlbare' des Geschehens
umfasst sehr oft nur mehr unwichtige Ailsserlichlsrsiten."15
The novel under consideration here is studied for the
inner developments of the main character, the protagonist,
and the balance between the rational and irrational
characteristics in the presentation. An.intensive
expansiveness that would enable one to view the whole

”world” of this protagonist, the “inner world", is sought,
bringing the perspective of the reader into a parallel with

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the view of the Bildungsrcman as a classification.

While studying this novel, it must be kept in mind
that a too-limited perspective on the part of the viewer
is as bad as a too-limited perspective on the part of the
novelist. What the work has to offer us is limited no more
by the powerfulness of the image created for us than by our
ability to perceive this image in its widest possibilities.
Holloway emphasizes this in his discussion of poetics in
the structural aspects of the work of art:

If the great work of literary art has come in

part to offer us what the rituals of other

societies have offered their members, and has

come to do so through being in some respects

the same thing, from the present point of

view it appears as in the first instance a

source not of pleasure, not of insight

(whether into fact or value), but of experience:

an experience peculiarly comprehensive and

demanding, an experience unified, ordered and

composed. This is perhaps the point at which

it begins to transpire that seeing the great

work as 'an imitation of life' or as 'a

criticism of life' is a little like contemplat-

ing an engine, and noticing all its parts, but

not seeing that 42 works.1
This, then, is no small task. As Richards says: "The
critical reading of poetry is an arduous discipline....The
lesson of all criticism is that we have nothing to rely
upon in making our choices but ourselves. The lesson of
good poetry seems to be that, when we have understood it,
in the degree in which we can order ourselves, we need

nothing more.'17

C. The Modern Novel

There are several reasons why a study of a contemporary

7

novel has been undertaken rather than of one found by the
historical process and the ravages of time to have lasting
qualities. One of the most important is given by Croce,
who pointed out the importance of the study of contemporary
writers for all literary critics. He felt that some study
thus spent would prepare them to treat literature of any
period as if it were literature of the present day, and
thus avoid the pedantry of historical scholars.18 And, too,
the neophyte is often on surer ground with a work that is
of his times and speaks of his times than with a work that
would require him to be steeped in the many aspects of life
of a previous time. The risk of being found wrong is
perhaps greater, but the stimulation of working from a
personally-felt foundation overbalances this.

Beyond this, the novel is a form that has not yet
found its place alongside other forms of art. It has
rather never yet existed in its full potential, rather
than being a form that should be discarded. “Der moderne
Roman stsht in vieler Hinsicht nicht nur nicht vor dem
Abschluss, sondern vor einem Beginn."19 Thus a look at
the modern novel in its differences from past understandings
of this genre will help approach Die Sghgierigen from the
correct perspective.

The novel of today is difficult to classify according
to the old, accepted schemes. Welzig attempts a new
ordering that concerns itself more with the content as
such rather than with the form that results from the

[R

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8

content: "Was es...an vorwiegend formbezogenen Ismen gibt,
ist vollends ungeeignet, in das Romanschaffen des 20.
Jahrhunderts eine sinnvolle Ordnung zu bringsn."20 Most
novels appearing today can Justifiably be classified under
several various headings that once signified pertinent
differences. Today, these differences are seen as of
secondary importance.

welzig refers to Emrich's statement on the destruction
of the old novel that was based on a certainty of reality:
vw. Enrich hat Die Aufseichnuggen des halts Laurids Brigge
den ersten deutschen Roman des 20. Jahrhunderts genannt,
der die Zertrfimmerung der episohen riktion einer
geschlossenen Kirklichkeit radikal durchffihrte.'21

As in other artistic fields, the novelist today often
does not attempt to create a flawless work of art: ”Es ist
eine wesentliche Eigenart des Kunstwerkes des modernen
Romans, dass es seine kfinstlerische Qualitfit leugnet. Sein
Ersihler will alles sein, nur kein.Dichter.'22 Rather, he
is more concerned with creating a work that opens up
’possibilities for the reader, among which he is free to
choose. He often attempts to lead the reader through the
imperfect ”hero" to the reader's own realisation of self.

The poet frequently serves as the mover of society,
as above, through the attempt to reach the individual.
This function is too often recognised by politicians as
positive only when it serves their functional political
purposes. 3311 says of this situation, that “when politics

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fails or suffers defeat...it is writers who are called upon
to speak the persuasive word.'23 host first-rank writers
of today, including Prisch, feel free to criticize the
existent social order in their works of art. Their
methods of doing so, however, naturally vary considerably.

The “typical hero of the German novel in the early
sixties presents himself as a pronounced caricature or
distortion of human nature. These heroes are not rounded
characters, but exaggerations, to the point of absurdity,
of certain traits...that are usually suppressed or at least
balanced by other elements of the personality.'2u 2;;
pgghgigziggg,does not wholly exemplify this type, but rather
appears to represent transitional protagonists of this
distorted view. Prisch seems to be creating a link
between “the classical and the modern views of poetry --
the classical which thought of it (the function of poetry)
as making horrible things pleasing, the modern which sees
in it the acceptance of the horrible as part of a pattern."25
The protagonist in.Qie Sghgierigeg discusses this problem
of "harmonizing the sadness of the world"26 in relation to
his own endeavours as an artist.

Involved in this search for harmony in life is the
view of the psyche as the source of much of what troubles
modern man. Schopenhauer already saw the purpose of the
novel in this light: “Bin Roman...wird desto hSherer und
edlerer.Art sein, 3e mehr inneres und 3e weniger Eusseres

Leben er darstellt....Die Kunst besteht darin, dass man mit

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10

dem m3glichst geringsten Aufwand von.€usserem Leben das
innere in die starkste Bewegung bringt: denn das innere ist
eigentlioh der Gegenstand unseres Interesees."27 This early
expression of the goal in no way signifies an early
attainment nor an early pursuit of this goal by artists
since Schopenhauer. This is now the business of the novel,
and will continue to be, because it is on the face of it
unattainable to more than an.imperfeot degree, and is an
effort that proves to be different for each individual.

The novelists that take on this task of the search for the
self by the protagonist, themselves become partners in the
search by creating the necessity for the attempt, "sich
selbst su finden.und die ihnen gestellte Aufgabe su
erfassen."28 Thus man, the more-than-animal, attempts to
create the possibility of creating his own possibilities:
'Die Fabulierfunktion hat sich vom biologisch zweckmEssigen
Erseugen von Piktionen zur Schaffung von GSttern.und hythen
erhSht und sich endlich von der religi3sen Welt gens
abgelSst, um freies Spiel su warden. Sie ist 'die
Eihigkeit, Personen zu eohaffen, deren Geschichte wir uns
selbst ersihlen."29 This "freies Spiel” i; the creation
of possibilities when properly applied and properly received.
The difficulty today is that ”the writer is bound to feel
himself to some extent superfluous in a society no longer
granting metaphysical dignity to practitioners of the arts."30
The artist must be heard: his efforts, when possible, must
become guides to the goal; the goal must be defined, the

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pathway pointed out. C. G. Jung is one who is attempting
to do this.

Jung says that ”once metaphysical ideas have lost
their capacity to recall and evoke the original experience,
they have not only become useless but prove to be actual
impediments on the road to wider development.'31 These
old formulations of ideas must be replaced by new
formulations, and whereas religion no longer is capable of
fulfilling this role, it falls to_the arts, and especially
literature, to do this. The creation of new experiences
within the reader is the means to the recognition of and
the movement towards the realisation of the self as an
autonomous being. The task is overwhelmingly complicated
and difficult, due to the great defenses against this very
thing built up in the person by his development within
social forces that repress individuality. But the
importance of the novel in this endeavour is pointed up by
the fact "that the more numerous and the more significant
the unconscious contents which are assimilated to the ego,
the closer the approximation of the ego to the self, even
though this approximation must be a never-ending process."32
The theatre of the Absurd demonstrates this involvement
in the search for the self, perhaps more readily recognized
there than in the novels that treat the problem on a more-
individualised level. ”The Theatre of the Absurd forms
part of the unceasing endeavor of the true artists of our

times to breach this dead wall of complacency and automatism

12

and to re-establish an awareness of man's situation when
confronted with the ultimate reality of his condition."33
Hoffmann emphasises that ”the first concern of
Frisch's heroes is the examination of self, and the novels
rest on a series of assumptions that Frisch makes...about
this examination.” Frisch, however, is aware of the
difficulties, the opposing forces that create the necessity
for a tremendous effort on the part of the individual to
discover his self. Hoffmann explains that ”until he has
done so, he has not even begun to be human, for, though
the awareness of self may be what tortures him, it is also

the essence of his humanity.'35

D. The Terminology of Narrative Literature

Since the form of the modern novel cannot be resolved
in absolutes, it stands to reason that the terminology
associated with it must likewise be redefined and stated
in relative terms. ”Die Situation des Literaturwissen-
schaftlers ist damit der eines Physikers vergleiohbar, der
in der Terminologie eines Faraday die Erkenntnisse Heisen-
bergs oder SchrSdingers beschreiben wollte.'36 The modern
novelist is grappling with psychic situations that are not
yet well understood, and the emphasis on the inner man
results in themes that require comparable treatment in
respect to form. The old terminology will have to be
replaced here and there by terminology that speaks to the
situation of today. whereas there is no well-established

13

body of terminology for the literary scholar, it will be
necessary to use the most helpful terminology at hand.

A hierarchical structure of understanding a literary
work has been shown to begin with the simplest narrative
element -- that of the exterior plot development -- and
to culminate in the highest form -- that of the theme,
well understood: “For the simplest auditors there is the
plot, for the more thoughtful the character and conflict
of character, for the more literary the words and phrasing,
for the more musically sensitive the rhythm, and for
auditors of greater understanding and sensitiveness a
meaning which reveals itself gradually."37 The next
higher level, of course, never loses sight of the previous
levels. James says: “A novel is a living thing, all one
and continuous, like any other organism, and in proportion
as it lives will it be found, I think, that in each of the
parts there is something of each of the other parts."38
Theme, plot, character and description, the elements under
discussion by James, are all involved one with the other.

Types of presentation within the novel include a
three-way division that at times is clearly seen by the
strict differentiation in the text and that at other times
are all three involved in the same passage: Summary, 8 one,
and Eggggiptigg. These three control the movement of the
novel: “Summary moves rapidly: scene moves in normal time:
description is cessation of movement."39 The study of

these factors in a novel will help reveal the importance

1n

the author attaches to the situation being presented. In
combination with other aspects of the novel, one can more
easily perceive the intentions of the author.

The search for theme cannot be taken for granted
today. But the difficulty of discovering the theme should
snot deter one by the easy implication that there is no
guiding idea, that the guiding idea can be dispensed with.
”Der kinstlerische Rang eines Romans hingt nicht von der
Tatsache ab, dass er 'montiert', das heisst aus
versohiedenen Teilen zusammengesetst ist, sondern von der
Idee, die diesem Tun sugrunde liegt und bewirkt, dass statt
einer Summe von Teilen ein kinstlerisches Ganzes entsteht.”O
Theme gives meaning to the work: it expresses the basic
idea that stands behind the whole work: this is so, even
when the basic idea is meaninglessness, or when.a terrible
uncertainty of Weltanschauung is being presented.

Souvage distinguishes between theme and plot: "theme
being a factor of permanent impression, and which creatively
informs the novel, and plot being the chain of causally
related incidents in the novel.“1 This helps clarify the
depth of theme in contrast to the shallowness of plot.

Plot is 'a vehicle of meaning.'u2

without it, theme is
inexpressible, and “the more completely a novelist assigns
to plot the process of a secret life evolving between
appearance and reality, the more tenuous his plots will
appear.”3 This is the normal situation of the novelist

today. The plot, although essentially secondary to theme,

‘V

15

is more difficult to discover in its formal structuring
than it is to oursorily express the theme. The theme,
although expressed, needs constant improvement as the plot
becomes clearer. As this involves more and more the inner
man with the resultant indefiniteness of postulates based
on inadequate understanding the theme becomes one with the
problem, i.e. an inexpressible understanding of life, an
uncertainty of approach to life.

The developing understanding of plot brings with it
the gradual revealing of motifs.uu These elemental units,
with the help of which the work of art is created, are each
'eine sich wiederholende, typische und das heisst also
menschlioh bedeutungsvolle Situation. In diesem Charakter
als Situation liegt es begrfindet, dass die Motive auf ein
Vorher und Nachher weisen.'u5 That is, they point toward
the plot development and point out thematic importance.
Motifs find a middle, guiding position between plot and
theme: ”Rs fiberrascht nicht, dass der.Autor, dem 3a das
Thoma v3llig klar ist, seinen Roman.beginnt, ohne den
Verlauf der Gesehichte su wissen, ohne sine Pabel zu
haben.'u6

East-moving Supper; may be seen as the revealer of
surface plot: 'It must generally be the work of Summary to
guide the reader down the crooked corridor, or to entertain
him in the ante-chambers --- S3353 is a more precious
effect reserved for more important uses, and liable to

debasement if put to servile tasks like these --- it is

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16

also liable to become artificial or tedious.“+7 Scene will
point up the moments of importance to the theme; Summary
will assist in organising ideas and maintaining interest.
Scene, as understood here, is dramatic presentation in real
time. This contrasts with the general use of the term for
'eine komplexere, fibergreifende Form von deutlichem
Gestaltcharakter..."l"8
Characterization has been recognized to be of more
importance to a novel than plot: Blanckenburg ”recognizes
...that viable characters may not automatically conform to
the exigencies of plot, and proposes that the writer
resolve the difficulty simply by recognizing the priority
of character.”9 Wayne C. Booth says that only the novel
”is so well suited to the portrayal of characters who are
complex mixtures of good and bad, of the admirable and the
contemptible."5O Watt carries this one step further,
emphasizing the importance also of Description: ”the novel
is surely distinguished from other genres and from previous
forms of fiction by the amount of attention it habitually
accords both to the individualization of its characters
and to the detailed presentation of their environment."51
And the emphasis on the inner man in the modern novel
creates "nicht Individuen, sondern typische Kraftfelder....
Die geistige und soziale Situation des Einselwesens ist
uninteressant geworden im vergleich zu seiner Reprasentanz
insbesonders ffir das Wirken bedrohlicher seelischer
Krirteu'52 The study of character is the study of the

17

human psyche.

The inner moods of man and his own view of these
moods are made perceivable by his recognition of the manner
in which he observes the landscape. The outer world
becomes a mirror of himself: if he can learn to observe it
thus, he will gain some control over his own creation of
mood. Brown explains this as "a strange though familiar
phenomenon of human nature that our inward life tends to
project itself upon the surrounding, thence to be reflected
back as though it came from without. Our sorrows sadden
the landscape and this sadness intensifies our own."53
The gesgriptive‘pggggggg in.a novel should point out the
inner man in a way that scene could never do. A
descriptive passage thus understood could be of more
importance for what it can reveal about the protagonist
than for the beauty that the author is capable of creating.
Fortunately, in Die Schwiggigen, the protagonist has a real
sense of beauty, allowing the author to create beautiful
descriptive passages and at the same time keep in step with
the emotional development of the characters.

Certain ideas occur repeatedly on.various levels of
an investigation, and some of these ideas and their poetic
representations are often found to be repeated within one
level, while serving various purposes. Thus repetition in
variation guides the search for the main ideas. Ullmann
says: ”The persistent recurrence of certain important

stylistic devices and ieit-ggtivs...is an unmistakable sign

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18

of conscious and purposeful artistry.” The same effect is
obtained by several different devices when ”they all concur
to express the same idea or to produce the same effect."5u

Discourse restricted to the most evident strong
elements may appear to present an unreal situation. But
the reader is influenced to unconsciously accept pronounce-
ments of the author through repetition in ordering.
Blanckenburg comments interestingly on this: "sum Theil ist
diese Pormung, diese Bildung so unvermerkt zur Wirkliohkeit
gekommen, dass es, uns selbst unbewusst, hat geschehen
konnen. Denn natfirlich haben all' die uns sugestossenen
Vorfille, sie mSgen nun so klein, so unwichtig echeinen,
wie sie wollen, auf unsre Art su denken, su empfinden, zu
handeln irgend einem Einfluss gehabt....'55 Thus order is
sought where it is to be found -- in repetition:
"Repetition is the strongest assurance an author can give
of order: the extraordinary complexity of the variations is
the reminder that the order is so involute that it must
remain.a mystery.'56

Although the end goal of such research as this must
“remain a mystery“, interest is retained in the hope of
making progress from ignorance toward enlightenment. This
Cunliffe sees in Prisch, an imaging of the condition of the
"intellectual, whose helplessness is satirised....'57 He
concludes that man is ”condemned to exist in a state of
ominous uncertainty, and this uncertainty is the underlying
issue in all Prisch's work."58 Referring mainly to Stiller,

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Cunliffe finds this theme of "Uncertainty" in the novels as
well as the plays, but lends the major effort toward a
study of the plays. Just as Stiller cannot make real
progress toward the realisation of self without some
”arrest in transcedence,"59 so does Reinhart meet this
same difficulty. This is the barrier to self-realization
that appears to be impenetrable, and perhaps uncircum-
navigable. Jaspers comments on this need of modern man
in his reflections on Nietzsche and Kierkegaard, both of
whom appear to have influenced Frisch: 'Beide gehen einen
Weg, der nicht aussuhalten ist ohne einen transsendenten
Halt.'6°
Spaethling has simultaneously come to the same
conclusion regarding the thematic import of Uncertainty
in an article on Gunter Grass. As mentioned above, gig
Sghwigrigen does not include the explicit presentation of
the fantastic characterizations that are to be found in
Grass and in Prisch's later works, but the implications
of the novel are that the inner man is nevertheless a
character of at least Just as mysterious metaphorical
implication. When Spaethling chides Pongs for having
chided Grass for a "lack of dialog and thereby a lack of

'61 one can readily apply this

compassion and humanity...,
discussion to Die Schwierigen, where directly-presented
dialogue plays avery minor role in the amount of text.
Spaethling criticises Pongs: "His criteria are simply not

commensurate with modern reality and contemporary realism."62

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For this same reason, this dissertation has only employed
a few basic terms from among the vast structuring of
imagery and metaphor developed by Pongs.

Spaethling emphasizes the modern writer's "inability
to communicate more than one's own moral and aesthetic
uncertainty."63 Re mentions the problem of dealing with
imagery in such a context: "the distortion of language and
center of vision, the obliqueness and ambiguity of image...
appear as an effective means of communicating at least one
basic and painful reality of our age, the reality of

uncertainty.'6u

Die Schwierigeg does not take part fully
in this break from the solid ground of shared language
perspective: the beginnings of this are, however, evident.
The narrator is yet capable of beautiful and apparently
significant descriptive passages at the same time that
character portrayal has shifted toward the imaging of the
uncertain stance of modern man.

This study, then, attempts first of all to clarify
the main character-images developed by Frisch in their
relationships to one another, focusing on the thematic
import of each as revealed by poetic images. Parallels
drawn with characters in Prisch's other novels show similar
trends and contrasting developments. The characters reveal
themselves in the several facets that are of foremost
importance in the modern novel: the search for self: the

portrayal of the inner self and of personas: and the

portrayal of characters influenced by others in their

21

perception of self. Thus, first the characters are
delineated in these respects, then in Chapter V the main
poetic images are evolved.

The poetic images are not restricted to one person
and are not primarily concerned in delineating nuances of
individual character: rather, they serve to depict a
composite personality. These poetic images are allegories
of modern man, as Frisch sees him, in his feverish search
for self and for identity. Thus the study of image and
imagery -- evolved images of character expressed literally
and symbolically -- serves to reveal the essence of a
modern novel such as Die Schwierigen. When theme and plot
have become nebulous and character ambivalent in a world
of relatives, the evolving images of the characters give
a rewarding insight into man's predicament and his search

for clarity.

CHAPTER I
REINHART AS VISIONARY:
THE ARTIST-SEARCHER
A. Introduction
We begin with the image of Reinhart, since he
represents the central figure, around when the novel turns.
In the beginning he projects the image of an artist. As an
artist, he is a more complicated person that when he later
projects the image of the office employee. As artist he
hides, as poetic life does, his reactions to and involvement
in life behind a veil of naivete, of poetic expression on
the part of the author in the attempt to portray this
portion of Reinhart's being, whereas the office employee
attempts to meet life as a very rational person and to
discover the self through reasoned conclusions based on
facts that he can uncover, failing to realize that not all
facts can ever be known in their specificity and that all
of life is involved in every individual unit of life to
some degree. The poetic imagery of the novel dealing with
Reinhart's irrational period and his late reflections on
precious memories of moments of fusion of rational and
irrational in the realization of self represent the greater
divisions of this search.
The irrational is emphasized in the incipient
discussion of Reinhart's life because the irrational is the

22

23

motivating force in the search for the realization of the
self: the very rational man, imaged by the Oberst, for
instance, avoids this loneliness, the barrier, the danger,
and never concerns himself with the true makeup of the
self, never himself creates the possibility of a realized
self, the balance that would be necessary to fully partake
of the great experiences of life. The highly irrational
man, best imaged by Reinhart as an artist, unfortunately
loses contact with the other person's self, which contact
is required for a true-perspective basis for the perception
of his own nature.

The danger of the pursuit of the irrational to the
exclusion of the rational is indicated frequently by the
characters in Die Schwierigen. Reinhart, as painter, says:
'Wenn die Welt nichts anderes ware als sch8n..., man k3nnte
sich mit dreissig Jahren in den Berg legen, denke ich oft,
am hellichten Tagei' (DS 70)65 Reinhart realizes that
something beyond beauty is necessary, but he cannot
identify it. Yvonne subsequently thinks: ”was Reinhart
offenbar vermisste und suchte, was man sum Weiterleben
brauchte, das Umschwirmerische, Eigentliche, Wesentliche,
was uns tiefer erhilt und die Ernfichterung erst wieder
auszuffillen hat, wie hitte Yvonne es ihm sagen k3nnen7'

(DS 70) Reinhart evidences a lack of balance between the
rational and the irrational, realizing it himself without
knowing what it is that is amiss. Yvonne realizes what it
is that is lacking but is unable to communicate it to him

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2h

until there is no longer any possibility that she could
remain with him, and then is unable to communicate it
verbally.

Reinhart communicates to Hortense the game that he is
playing, carelessly influencing her toward the carefreeness
of the artist life that he is leading: ”'Gehen Sie nach
Paris: Oder nach Griechenland! Oder nach Spanien:' sagte
er leichtsinnig...." (D8 103) When she later attempts to
act on this advice, it is then he who is no longer able to
play that role. Rational reflection at that early moment
would have shown him that she should not be influenced to
change her life pattern, that she should be left to make
such a decision for herself.

The dangers of the overly-irrational approach to life,
a situation just as real as that of the overly-rational
approach, are sensed finally by Hortense: ”Ahnung eines
heiteren flutes, der Abschied ruft von.vielen Pormen,
Abschied um der Wiedergeburt ihres Geistes willen: Ahnung
von alledem, was jenseits der Enge beginnt, und droht, und
lockt--” (D8 160) Although she fails to consciously
perceive the lack of the rational, her perception of the
possibilities of the irrational approach remain valid.

Two planes of character present themselves: one that
represents the external, visible actions and appearances
resulting from openly expressed emotional states: and one
that represents the internal actions that result from

situations and emotional states that never reach the

25

consciousness of the character. These two resemble the
§ghgig,and Sgig of modern German terminology. §ghgig is
the persona, the mask that the person presents to others,
and here, to himself. It is difficult for both the person
himself and others to readily see through the persona to
the self, the actual person as he is. The self may be
being presented to others openly in certain moments when
the individual drops his guard, his mask. It may be seen
clearly in moments of insight into the other's character.
It is in these two divisions that the modern approach to
character must be carried out: the persona, mask, Schein,
the external forcing of characteristics of a false self
onto the other person: and the self, openness, gain, the
internal makeup of the individual that is the real person.

Reinhart has not matured socially at the beginning of
the novel, and openly expresses himself without regard for
the naive revelation of the truth of his self, 'of the
defective characteristics that others might see. He is
yet the youth with no division of self. But we are not
allowed to view this for long. Ivonne quickly brings the
force of her personality, her Turandot-tendencies, to bear
on Reinhart, who begins reacting to this. We thus have
only a glimpse of Reinhart in the naive state of unconcern
for his projected image.

The beginning of the dramatic struggle for the
conscious realization of self is noticed when Reinhart

takes up the suggested profession of an artist. Although

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he perhaps has talent for this, it does not preclude a
combination of factors that could make this talent
mediocre in its accomplishments. Thus the first persona
presented to the world isthat of an artist, somewhat
,successful in his endeavours in the art world, but with
lack of pride and self-confidence. His works have weakness-
es that Reinhart is able to see himself, but which he does
not elaborate upon. He lacks the will to carry out
difficult tasks on his own: he lacks the depth of thought
necessary when a great idea is to be presented.

His failure to meet the demands of the Turandot,
first imaged by Yvonne, results in a forceful rejection of
art and a turn to the occupation of an office employee.
This is also a persona, a mask that gets its inspiration
from a reaction to the sensitive, visionary, “useless“
world of the artist. He accepts now the ideas of the
masses that have a mediocre education and low regard for
or lack of insight into works of art, as he himself saw
them in Ammann's supposed view of Reinhart. He also
accepts the challenge of Yvonne's rejection of him due to
the lack of such characteristics.

Hortense also plays a complicated role here. She is
of a family that Reinhart knows would demand the sober,
rational approach to life and that would reject the suitor
who would present himself as an artist without substantial
worldly goods and means. However, she herself is interested

in Reinhart because of the artist in him, because of the

27

youthful, spirited approach to life he yet represents.
Reinhart repeatedly sees her as being like a child, which
shows that he recognizes the impetuousness of her endeavour
to fall in love with him. His rejection of the artist role
in reaction to Ivonne does not actually fulfill Ivonne's
image of the husband who has artistic naivete within him

as well as practical sense. Hortense's romantic view of
the artist who begins anew is also denied. He does

search for the practical and serious approach to life, but

does this to the attempted exclusion of the irrational.

B. Reinhart and Yvonne

Yvonne has the first great impact on the development
of Reinhart's image. She complains that men think her not
quite a woman, because of her intelligence, ”weil sie nicht
aufkommen, weil es einfach keine Manner mehr gibt....' (D8
12) Reinhart, who seems to be different from any other man
she has ever met, is able to see her as a person, an
individual. However, he is yet young, and has not assumed
the traits of the average adult. She then cautions him:
”'Bleiben Sie ein Junge....Oder nehmen Sie Gift, bevor es
zu spit ist...das heisst, Sie haben Talent....Mag sein, Sie
haben noch nichts zustande gebracht, ich weiss. Vielleicht
bringen Sie es auch niemals zustande." (DS 12) Reinhart
subsequently becomes an artist, remains unable to assume
practical responsibilities, and has no real success in his

artistic endeavours. Her suggestions are realized, he

Q

0. O

C...

28

plays the role of the visionary, but this is the cause of
her later rejection of him. Reinhart acts on her sugges-
tions and creates his first persona, his first false
approach to life in search of the full life. Yvonne goes
so far as to introduce Reinhart as a painter, which annoys
him at the time, but which exerts a molding influence on
him. We never view the transformation within him that
allows this occupation to become his, due perhaps to the
ultimate inability of Prisch to describe the creative
process.

Frisch describes Reinhart's newly assumed occupation
in one sentence introduced before the important walk in
the woods with Yvonne. The sentence clearly shows the
artificiality of his position: "Reinhart war Maler geworden,
--ohne dass er mit einem Wort oder auch nur mit einer Miene
weiter darauf singing, seine Pfeife stopfend, blickte er
ins Ungewisse hinaus, als ware er taub oder traume....'
(D8 67) The imagery of uncertainty, as applied to all of
life, gives the feeling that this is a very important step
for him, and the references to deafness and dreaming seem
to indicate the total irrationality of the act, the lack of
basis in a perception of his self, a lack of real commitment.

Ivonne's thoughts give us a clue to the lack of
certain characteristics in Reinhart: 'das, was Reinhart
offenbar vermisste und suchte, was man zum Weiterleben
brauchte, das Unschwarmerische, Eigentliche, Wesentliche,
was uns tiefer erhalt und die Ernfichterung erst wieder

I.

29

auszuffillen hat, wie hitte Yvonne es ihm sagen k8nnen?”
(DS 70) She leads him on to a more involved relationship,
hoping for a change in him. She is leading him away from
a search for his inner self simply by being unable to
express to him what it is she wants in him. She clearly
enough has expressed her desire to have him be the naive
individual who does not lose contact with nature, and he
makes a valiant attempt to do this. However, she isn't
satisfied, due to the falseness that is involved in this
exaggerated, assumed stance, and wishes for some inner
characteristics in him that are difficult for her to
express and for him to attain.

Ivonne senses Reinhart's lack of a father in the way
he talks. He has had feelings about his foster father's
lack of paternal qualities, but he has been.unable to think
of the actual possibility of having had a foster father.
His feelings about the real situation are unable to surface
in an unaltered condition. This is so closely connected
with his view of himself, that the feelings that have been
reinforced for years cannot be negated without some radical
reaction from his ego. Even though Ivonne says, "Vielleicht
war or gar nicht Ihr wirklicher Vater...!' (DS 79), we get
no indication that he is more than casually curious about
what Ivonne meant by this. Only upon being confronted with
the facts by the Oberst in a first-hand report, is he able
to accept this as the truth.

A postcard reproduction of Michelangelo's work, Adam,

If

30

is compared to works in sculpture seen around the studio,
and is found to be more than a "Verzierung des wirklichen
Lebens..,[ es_/ t3nt hier die Geburt, das Wunder, die
Erweckung des Menschen....' (DS 82) Reinhart himself is
taking part in this creative awakening: he is observing
life in a richer harvest of impressions than most achieve
after physical maturity. His work and efforts would
indicate that Reinhart wishes to continue this emotional
growth: however, his art works remain shallow. In order
to improve, Reinhart will have to develop the sensitivity
that will enable him to delve deeper and deeper into the
mystery of life with full knowledge of his abilities and
limitations and a will that is strong enough to withstand
the vicissitudes of earthly existence. We see that he is
able to attain some of these insights and to produce some
acceptable art work at the expense of retaining an immature
approach to his surroundings. His works lack depth,
however, partly due to the lack of confidence in himself,
which is necessary to produce powerful, lasting works that
help explain life. For the most part, "Reinhart glfihte in
Begsisterung,“ (DS 82) rather than actually creating a true
work of art. Understanding is a distant cousin to creating.
The question of whether Reinhart has the inner capacity to
create a truly poetic work is academic. The factors of

his life and his patterns of response to life in general
determine his ultimate failure. His life is doomed to

mediocrity, falseness, even absurdity as he continues

31

without a congruent situation that must exist between his
true self and his degree of the unavoidable persona, if he
is to be productive artistically. His assumption of the
artist persona temporarily avoids the struggle of finding
out for himself the nature of his self.

Reinhart shows Yvonne his atelier, and comments on
the works left behind by his sculptor friend: ”Die haben
Zeit...Nicht wie unsereiner...Drum machen sie auch keine
gekrEnkten Gesichter, wenn sie einmal ein Jahr oder zwei
in eine leere Ecke blicken.” (DS 81) This sensation of
looking into a corner for such a long stretch of time is
what Reinhart has been doing with his attempt at being an
artist of more than average accomplishment. He feels that
he has been peering into an empty possibility for accom-
plishing the supernatural. Yvonne has guided him into this
occupation, and it is his lack of inner necessity to
produce a work of art that expresses deeply perceived truth
that causes the welling up of a sensation of uselessness.
He does not have the drive to produce: through his views
of nature given in the descriptive passages, we know that
he can recognize and enjoy the experience of beauty that
is truth, but he observes rather than creates.

The sculptured works left in the atelier appear to
have a life of their own, to be imbued with vitality.
Reinhart selected one statue of a standing girl to unveil.
The description of this status, understood to be that given
by Reinhart to Yvonne, expresses the infusion of an artistic

32

element that he can see in works other than his own: "1 es_/
t3nt hier die Geburt, das Wunder, die Erweckung des
Menschen, die Michelangelo einmal malte: wie Gott ihn mit
dem Finger berfihrt....” (D8 82) He then shows Yvonne the
card with Michelangelo's picture of Adam, the first man,

"der gerade den Kopf nach seinem SchSpfer dreht,

nicht bittend eigentlioh, nicht dankend ffir das

empfangene Leben, nur staunend. Und wie schwer

laetet der Korper nooh auf dem Vordergrund aus

gruner Erde, dumpf und plump, als habe der Strom

des tragenden Lebens noch nicht den ganzen Leib

erfasst. Nur im Blicke glinzt Erwachenl' (DS 82)
What we find out later, isthat what Reinhart sees in Adam
is himself. He has difficulty becoming a full man: he is
able to see the beauty and vitality of life, but he is so
affected by these powerful insights into the life-force
as expressed in art that he loses his psychic balance: his
emotional development does not keep pace with the intellect.

Reinhart has now had the insights necessary to be able
to carry on and produce work of his own that also entails
such depth of expression. The movement of this section
nears a highpoint, having brought Reinhart and Yvonne
together and shown the progress that Reinhart has made in
his artistic endeavours. But he has lost the balancing
worldly concern for Yvonne's welfare, his naively rational
sensitivity to emotional needs. On the second walk together
she was not cautioned by him to wear proper shoes: she
suffers quietly as he fails to notice her predicament.

She attempts to enjoy the evening, trying to forget the
pain her shoes cause. Reinhart is too absorbed in the

33

experience of the moment. They get lost in a swampy area
and find themselves in the midst of a beautiful landscape.
Yvonne is also vulnerable to the mood Reinhart experiences,
and they 'kehrten zurfick in die zErtliche Entdeckung ihres
Du." (DS 8”) The tension of possibilities of self-
acceptance is increased: for a moment they meet psychically
in an acceptance of the irrationality of the situation,
imaging the irrationality that is a part of themselves.

The following passage contrasts with the above loss
of worldly concerns by Reinhart. It is summer, the high-
point of the seasons, and Reinhart is shown to have made
progress toward mastering his worldly affairs. He has
stopped living with his foster mother, and lives alone
in the atelier: he has been commissioned to paint a
portrait. Yvonne has no job, and Reinhart whistles the
whole day long. He recognizes his progress and is satisfied
with himself, not realizing the amount of progress yet
necessary to become the full man, that one victory does
not win the war. The descriptive passage fits in with all
of this, preceding it: maturescence in abundance and
references to coming events through symbols of mutability
and of catabolism.

Yvonne has some hope that Reinhart will come up to
standard, and they gayly make plans for the future. The
balance that Reinhart is reaching for is expressed in the
passage describing the quiet, timeless sensation produced
by still air, etc. in the days preceding the storm.

3h

'fiberall hatte die Zeit ihr Gefalle verloren.” (D8 88)
Reinhart and Yvonne know that something must happen to
make their lives full, but their approach is simplistic,
and incapable of bringing success.

A rainstorm during Hortense's visit to Reinhart
expresses the turmoil going on within him. Hortense is
deftly made a part of this scene, presaging the role that
she plays later. The turmoil is to a degree everybody's:
Reinhart's, Yvonns's and Hortense's. After the rainstorm,
'leuchtets der kindliche Zauber eines Regenbogens." (D8 102)
An emphasis on the naive irrational helps prepare the
(reader for the rich descriptive passage to come as well as
for the strong move Reinhart makes toward the sensitive
artist.

This passage, so full of poetic imagery and
expressive of Reinhart's sensitiveness to the artistic
values in nature, also indicates his carefree approach to
recording it on canvas: “Er summte und pfiff, er stieg in
weglose HShsn wie eine Ziege, von Wechselnden.Anblicken
weiter und waiter verffihrt...er malts, zeichnets, trunken
von Welt....' (D8 106) The words, (Eggrfihggf and 'trunken',
give the feeling of the instability he is evidencing: his
inability in producing works of depth results from his
shallow approach to life. It is Prisch who carries out
the task with words, creating the image that Reinhart can
only perceive.

The fall from this height of psrceptiveness does not

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35
occur suddenly. Reinhart and Yvonne both live through
moments of vision before Reinhart's loss of mood and his
embarrassing predicament with the cart.

Yvonne's headscarf, described preceding the ”trial
of the letter”, gives the appearance of a butterfly: "wie
sin Schmetterling sass es obenauf.' (D8 118) This coincides
with the flightiness she will exhibit in leaving Reinhart
without warning. Although no words of genuine affection
reach our ears, her actions have been such as to lead
Reinhart naturally to assume her acceptance of him and a
certain amount of attachment in depth of feeling. But she
is a riddle, a Turandot!

The sudden break to Yvonne's apartment is unprepared
for the reader: he is made to feel the reaction that
Reinhart experienced. A descriptive passage creates the
sense of lostnsss in the reader. It begins with a
reference to another man in a dream of hers, without
orienting the reader as to time and place. The reader is
still at the lake with Reinhart, realizing only halfway
through the paragraph that Yvonne is now in her apartment
and entertaining Hauswirt. Hauswirt is described as Yvonne
sees him, the antithesis of Reinhart. Three passages show
him to be aggressive, tough, and impassive: he will make it
a point of pride to furnish Yvonne with her heart's material
desires. Thus we know that she has rejected Reinhart.

C. Reinhart and Hortense

The dangers of Reinhart's overly-irrational approach,

C

36

as shown in his relation to Yvonne, are the step into
ultimately unproductive loneliness and the easier pitfall
of using the irrational as an escape from the rational of
life in-the-world. Contrastingly, Hortense images the
dangers of carelessness with the self in response to the
call to the irrational in others, i.e. her attraction to
Reinhart as painter, and the attraction of external
rational forces as an escape from the responsibility of
determining one's own life, i.e. her submission to the
dictates of the materialistic life imaged by her father.

Reinhart's endeavour to discover and realize self
in his rationalbeing results in few moments of balance in
harmony with self. In the midst of these false attempts
he suddenly thinks of a child of his own ”das ihn fiber-
dauert, und will es, ohne Verstellung.” (D8 158) His
association with Hortense and its induced recognition of
the conflict of rational and irrational, as personified by
himself and her father, triggers natural thoughts of
preservation of the self in his concern for a child of his
own. This would be incongruent with Hortense without the
further development of a confrontation with the rational
forces as personified by the Oberst. But Hortense
represents the rational to a degree that is not consonant
with Reinhart's true self.

The highpoint in poetic imagery in relation to
Hortense occurs midway through the third chapter. This is
an isolated passage describing the sudden arrival of spring

37

and attempting to create a sense of the vitality of the new
season in its orderly reawakening from the dead ashes of

the past autumn. This fittingly occurs between Reinhart's
irrational proposal of marriage to Hortense and his
unsuccessful attempt to rationally figure the costs of
providing for a family. The irrational is having its way
with him for a time in the midst of his attempts to lead the
rational life.

One sentence from the middle of this passage shows
the piling on of images occuring here: "fiber dem Gurgel der
Quellen, nooh in den Manteln des Winters, gehen die Paare
auf grfinendem Teppich der Wiesen, mitten durch die
blfihenden Teiche des Feuchten, durch Lachen von Schlfissel-
blumen." (D8 182) Reinhart's heritage is too strongly
based in the irrational to be denied. His real mother's
vitality and his real father's dullness give him no solid
basis for leading a mainly rational life. The constant
return to a sensitive acceptance of the flow of the
irrational as a positive force in life keeps him from
making steady progress toward the life of the full, middle-
class citizen. And the dull status of the subjugated
intrudes consciously here in his attempt to lead the life
of an office employee.

The last passages in this chapter on the office-
employee role create a feeling of finality, a sense of the
concrete reality that Reinhart has faced and will live with,
without further attempts to develop a relationship with a

38

woman. The reader has no reason to suspect that the
relationships will be taken up again. Yvonne has been out
of Reinhart's life all during this time, and the finality
of the situation with Hortense is emphasized by the
repetition in almost the same words of the last sentence in
the chapter: after Reinhart leaves the Oberst's presence:
"So ging auch das wieder zu Ends.” (D8 220) and again at
the end: "So war auch das wieder zu Ends.” (D8 227)

The sense of finality, of the end of the attempt to
incorporate the irrational in existence, seen at the end of
this chapter, is not equal to that felt at the denouement
of novels of a former day that left all conflicts resolved.
The rational-irrational conflicts remain: but the characters
have progressed to a conclusive departure from one another.
This inability to fuse two lives into a full, unitary
relationship results in the tragedy (reality?) of suspended
existence. Prisch follows this with a final chapter which
shows the hiddenness of the vital qualities in the lives of
the characters after the irrational in their lives has been
soundly "defeated” by the “firs".

D. Ammann as Sounding Board
In the sessions during which he is painting Ammann's
portrait, Reinhart has difficulty getting Ammann to strike
a natural pose. Ammann is always somewhat affected, due to
his concentration on the desire to present a "good” pose

rather than to be natural, i.e. his attempt to present his

‘0

39

persona as well as possible. Ammann poses to be only
natural, and it ig.natural for him. Reinhart, who notices
this in Ammann, cannot see that he is doing the same thing
himself. His occupation as a painter is a persona and not
a realization of a recognized self.

As so often happens in this novel, a character
expresses truths that he is unable to apply to himself.
Reinhart says: "Was Sis da machen, -- alles, was man macht,
ist Pose -- und zum Kotzen, gelinde gesagt, zum Kctzen!”
(DS 96) He then makes a statement, a page later, that
could well apply to himself and his problems in the later
portions of the novel: 'Ich meine, Sis sollten mehr
Vsrtrauen haben, nur da, Vertrausn zu sich, zum lieben
Gott, was weiss ich: Vertrauen zu seinem Gesch8pf, zu den,
was man so Mensch nennt --' (D8 97) Thus the image of
striking a pose is again fundamental to the novel. People
have difficulty being themselves.

A lengthy monologue that Reinhart delivers to Ammann
at the_next sitting occurs after Reinhart's break with
Yvonne, and shows his strong reaction to the events and
his subsequent grasping at straws of ready-made solutions
to his dilemma. He mentions Turandot again, but this time
he relies on a rational approach, using the intuited truth
to reach an end through rational means. The movement away
from the contact with the elusive grounds of truth-
perception rising from the subconscious causes him to veer

away from the contact with the path that may have led to

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the revelation of further truths. Such images as the
following indicate a reliance on cliches: "die Frau als
Kamerad....Am Ends zeigte es sich als die grSsste
Vergewaltigung der Frau...', ”keiner, der kommt, der die
sinnends Stirne mit dem drohendsn Schwerte vertauscht und
~alles einfach niederhaut, raubt, was or will," and "Schn-
sucht nach der verlorenen Peitsche, Heimweh nach der Gewalt,
die ihre tiefste Erffillung ist und ihr heimlicher Sieg3”
(DS_130-l) Reinhart's injured ego leads him to a new
approach in his search for the correctly lived life: 'Wir
mfissen wieder Manner werden!” (D8 131) He will go from the
life of the free-living artist to the restricted life of
the office clerk, from exaggerated emphasis on the
irrational to‘a polar move towards the rational. The role
played by Ammann receives scenic and summary treatment,
serving to introduce him as a character and using him as

a sounding board for Reinhart's ideas.

E. Comparison to the Other Novels

Reinhart's original contact with Yvonne encouraged
her to see in him the answer to her loneliness. He seemed
to be able to live with himself, to accept the loneliness
that is man's condition. Hinkelmann finally became aware
of this necessity but his emotional development precluded
any ultimate acceptance of this as his own reality.
Reinhart, too, recognized the ultimate loneliness of man,
the ultimate unity with nature that leaves only one entity

remaining. Whereas Hinkelmann perceived this in the trauma

#1

of rejection by Yvonne, recognizing it as something that
must be learned and accepted, and which, for him, was not
yet experienced, Reinhart, on the other hand, has moments
wherein he directly experiences this existential loneliness
as a result of an accidental balancing of the irrational
and rational forces in himself: "sah er plBtzlich eine
Kfihle, sine Waite, ein Jenseitiges Gelande von Einsamkeit
wie nooh nie.” (D3 181) The elemental force of attraction
for the self that was Hortense brought him to this peak.
This is the same kind of force that is at work when Walter
Faber, in Homo faber, follows some inner drive that takes
him to visit his boyhood friend someplace deep in the
forests of Central America.

Stiller, in the novel by the same name, shares this
loneliness, this existential anguish before the
impenetrability of the barrier to the full realization of
the self. And Gantenbein, in Mein Name as; Gantenbein,
wanders from one possibility to the next in search of the
correct path to the self.

'The great barrier to the realization of self that is
encountered in Die Schwierigen is the general expectance
that the other person should fit the pattern that the
observer has in mind for him. The suggestions made to each
other by the characters carry an influence on the other
person to the extent of Shaping his life for him. The
affected individual denies his responsibility for shaping
his own destiny.

#2

Another barrier, one that gets heavier treatment in
subsequent novels, is the heavy legacy of the past. Yvonne
complains about the ability of men -- here, of Reinhart --
to build an image of the other person based on past
incidents, rather than allowing the existential present to
outweigh anything of the past; she wishes, "dass man dem
andern mehr als ein Abenteuer, mehr als ein Erlebnis, mehr
als eine grosse Erinnerung ware." (D8 7%) This is the
mechanism wherewith Reinhart is later able to clear Yvonne
from his life. The question remains whether he has already
begun this process early or whether he reacts in defense of
her reJection of him later.

The realization of self in artistic creativity also
met an impenetrable barrier. Reinhart sees this as merely
a limit to his talent, whereas the reader sees this as a
barrier erected by his false approach to life. In a sense,
however, Reinhart realizes that being an artist is not
productive for him as a means to self-realization:
"Vielleicht war as dis Arbeit, die ihn, immer wieder mit
neuem Elan begonnen, zum gleichen Bewusstsein seiner Grenzen
brachte, schon seit Jahren.‘ (D8 117) But, like a fly at a
window pane, he senselessly pounds away at the barrier,
failing to realize the necessity to circumvent it. In
moments that might have led to progress toward himself, he
avoids the difficulties: "Der Haler hitte sich eigentlioh
schimen sollen, verschob es aber auf spater." (D8 1&3)

The emotional moments between himself and other persons get

“3

careless treatment.

We hear Frisch speaking, and realize the importance
of the disappointing ending of the novel, when Stiller
comments on his own stories: "gerade die enttauschenden
Geschichten, die keinen reohten Schluss und also keinen
reohten Sinn haben, wirken lebenseoht." (D3 74) Stiller
is aware of the search for self, in contrast to Reinhart,
whose awareness is of a misled nature. One doesn't quite
perceive whether Stiller is conscious of the character of
the struggle that he is making, but his struggle is very
much on the right path to a discovery of himself. Reinhart
is conscious of his struggle to find himself, but he does
not see it as such, omitting the necessities that Stiller
includes: facing oneself objectively; allowing others full
latitude of possibility to be themselves. And Gantenbein
goes one step further, in that he is free to consciously
pursue any possibility that shows itself: ”was ich
eigentlioh mache: --Entwfirfe zu einem Ichx..." (G 132)

The personas of Qie Schgierigen that were seen to be so
negative take on some positive qualities in Stiller in that
they are seen to be unavoidable in the human condition and
to have the possibility of leading one ultimately to
oneself: in Homg faber the masks of personas result in
tragedy, whereas in Gantenbein they once again are shown in
yet more positive light. Die Schwierigen and Stiller
appear to evidence a beginning of polarization in concept

that is carried much further in Homo faber and Gantenbein.

CHAPTER II
YVONNE AND HORTENSE: TURANDOTS OF
EXISTENTIAL UNCERTAINTY AND
RAT IONAL 'CERTA INTI”
1. Introduction

Yvonne and Hortense are two other characters who
image a strong visionary approach to life, but in both
cases, their ability to operate as a unified self lacks
the conscious perception and realization of self; they are
naive in.much the same way that the young Reinhart was
naive. They are also floundering helplessly in the world
in respect to psychic development. Their ability to
function on a mature level emotionally, however, even
though not consciously pursued or realized, is a healthier
state of affairs than the loss of naivete without a
resultant balancing of the rational and irrational elements
of the self. Their condition is healthier, that is, for
the perpetuation of the human race. It is unhealthier in
respect to the coming of age of man, himself, to a
consciousness of the true psychic condition of the human
race in a particular moment. The events perceived in this
novel to be the high moments of Reinhart's life are those
that he can later reflect on as being moments of truth in
relation to self and to the self of another. Such an

event is necessarily shared by the woman he is with, but

an

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she, herself, joins him from a base of non-realization due
to her lack of conscious pursuit of this goal. Both
experience great moments of beauty, but only one thereby
partakes of the creation of self based upon an understanding
of the self.

Just as Hauswirt and Reinhart combine to complete
the fortunes of Yvonne, so do Yvonne and Hortense function
separately in Reinhart's development. Yvonne allows him
to pursue the path of the irrational and Hortense that
of the rational through their effects on him. He, however,
is unable to thereby find himself, being rather misled at
each step, finding an element that is lacking in himself
and then searching for the possibility of creating it.
Hinkelmann sees Ivonne as the person who can accept the
worst in human nature and can follow the consequences to
their necessary conclusion. (DS 39) Hortense also finally
rejects the false approach to life that Reinhart offers.
Both are sensitive to the positiveness of the irrational
in Reinhart but reject the exclusion of the rational or
the irrational to any extreme degree. Thus both seem to
evidence an at least partial unifying of the two polar
approaches as a part of the given characteristics as women
in contrast to men, and to be uncompromising in their
demand for a balanced realization of self in Reinhart.
They are conscious of Reinhart's lack of balance, but
appear to be unaware of the status of the same in themselves.

Yvonne images the naive surety of correct movement

#6

through life. She says in giving advice to Merline:
”Siehst du,...man muss nur an eine Sache denken, ganz fest,
Tag und Nacht, es kommt doch alles aus unserem Innern --"
(DS 60) She is able to rely on the subconscious for
direction, but operates with the possibility for freedom

of choice. This creation of a calculating character of
such magnitude is perhaps somewhat convincing. Her
weaknesses fit in all too readily with corresponding
moments in Reinhart's development, allowing the development
of involvement in complications unforeseen by both. At the
same time that she tests him for pragmatic concern she also
evidences a desire that her ”heart” have mercy on him.

(US 111)

Paradoxically, in a work full of paradoxes, we are
given a clear, objective description of Yvonne, and thus
can see her as a person less clearly than Reinhart. Frisch
would have us realize that the more one carefully and
determinedly describes a person through what is physically
seen and rationally perceived, the less one is able to give

of the essence of the true self of the person.

2. The Turandot Image
Reinhart, on the deck of the same ship that Yvonne
takes in leaving Hinkelmann, catches Yvonne falling in a
faint and places her in a deck chair. After she regains
consciousness, he tells her that she had looked like
Turandot: "Einmal habe ich ein Bildnis gesehen, Zeichnung

a?

in Tusch, nur ein paar Zfige mit dem Pinsel waren es und
fast wie eine Schrift, aber fabelhaft. --So sahen Sie
aus!" (DS 33) Yvonne does play this role. Is he reminded
of the Chinese fairy tale because he subconsciously
recognizes the relationship that is coming about between
them? Or does he somehow sense what has happened between
her and Hinkelmann? Either way this is giving the reader
a foreboding of what is to come, not only in the case of
Yvonne, but also Hortense, as they both image the Turandot
in their relation to Reinhart and other suitors.

The Turandot image has its basis in an oriental
story:

Turandot, Heldin einer Erzihlung in der

crientalischen Sammlung '1001 Tage' (dt.

von F. P. Greve, 1, 192;). Die Prinzessin

T. gibt ihren Freiern Hatsel auf und lasst

sie toten, wenn sie keine L3sung finden;

schliesslich erh3rt sie doch einen Bewerber.

Der Stcff wurde von Carlo 60221 1762 zu

einer Commedia dell'arte gestaltet, die

Schilleg (1802) ffir die dt. Bfihne bearbeitet

MtOOOO 6

Reinhart's reference to a picture rather than the
story itself emphasizes the freedom that Frisch retains in
applying this to the novel. The Turandot by 60221 was
quite successful in its own right as light comedy; Schiller's
rendition, written in a period of relaxation after
producing the "Jungfrau von Orleans”, elevated the
character-portrayal of the Turandot, ”indem er Turandots

Verhalten nicht, wie Gozzi, aus der grausamen Laune einer

Marchenprinzessin herleitet, sondern zu einem Kampf

#8

zwischen Stolz und Liebe macht."67

The Turandot of the present novel, imaged especially
by Yvonne, has more of the characteristic of Schiller's
Turandot, reflecting a concern for the implications of
this struggle within the woman, herself, and between her
and the men who desire her. E. T. A. Hoffmann refers to
the heavy demands put upon the artist who would present
the heroic qualities of the Turandot without sacrificing
her attractiveness as a beautiful woman.68 Although Yvonne
is not physically attractive, other qualities make her very
attractive to men. Frisch thus has more in mind than the
pattern of previous Turandot-characters.

Yvonne's attractiveness to suitors is paralleled by
those men who seek her out for advice, thereby paying
homage to that quality within her that is lacking in them.
This quality is perhaps the ability to unfearingly face
the choices in life, which she somehow communicates,
through her being, to others, who then find it easier to
make the decisions they must make. She constructively
”listens”, which, Prisch would say, often results in truth
at times when the spoken word would merely confuse the
issue and make resolute action next to impossible.

Reinhart appears later again when he visits Yvonne
in her apartment after having accidentally met her on the
street. He is completely at ease, not sensing any of the

anxiety that he would were he to consciously recall the

story of Turandot and think of Yvonne in that role in

“9

relation to himself. Her own uneasiness would more likely
imply that she is the one who consciously fears her own
tendencies in this direction. However, Reinhart is "voll
kindlicher Freude, hinabzusehen auf den munteren Verkehr

in den Schluchten der Stressen.' (DS #9) The view from
her apartment window far above the street makes the vehicles
appear like toys, emphasizing the childlike nature of the
situation. The position of sitting on the high window
ledge produces the feeling of naivete toward danger in

this scene, and images his ignorance of the danger involved
in a relationship with Yvonne.

We see that it is Yvonne who is greatly concerned
about her role in life, when she asks him if he remembers
the time in Greece, “'als Sie mich fragten, was ich denn
eigentlioh sei?...Sie waren der erste Mensch auf der Erde,
der mir mit dieser Prage fiber den Neg lief.‘ Er erinnerte
sich nicht mehr.” (DS #9) Evidently Reinhart asked her the
question driven by some inner, subconscious force that

recognized the reality of the true self of the other person.

3. Ivonne and Hinkelmann
Hinkelmann, as a character in the novel as a whole,
serves mainly to presage later events, provide contrast,
and to provide the vehicle for the characterization of
Yvonne. Although the title of the first chapter is
"Hinkelmann oder Ein Zwischenspiel', it is more importantly
concerned with Yvonne and her first meeting with Reinhart,

50

than with Hinkelmann.

Yvonne's marriage to Hinkelmann was to a man, ”der so
viel grasser, so viel gesunder, so viel starker neben ihr
sass, ein blonder Fels, dessen zweifellose und unschuldige
Sicherheit sie fast erdrfiokte....' (DS 17) Yvonne is
impressed by the appearance of self-assured manliness in
him. In his field he is successful beyond expectations
and is a paragon of teutonic manhood in physique. His
total interest in dead civilizations to the exclusion of
the living civilization of the present, of the people who
are alive and around him, finally leads her to see that
he is immature in his development of relationships with
other persons. He is immature emotionally as well as
psychically.

Yvonne recognizes that she has to play the role of a
mother from the moment that Hinkelmann's mother cries from
the departing ship,."a1s stfinde sie an der Bahre ihres
Sohnes....' (DS 23) This life she leads for three years,
satisfied that she has a nice place to live and good
company. Hinkelmann is gone much of the time on his
aroheological excursions, and she accepts this as a mother
would accept the same in a child. She is satisfied with
her lot until she becomes pregnant.

The prospect of becoming a father is a heavy blow for
Hinkelmann. He perhaps subconsciously recognizes his
inability to play the role of a father. Yvonne clearly
sees this inability and tells him: "man bekommt kein Kind

51

von seinem Sohn.” (DS 2“) She is sympathetic with his sad
condition of immaturity and inability to come to terms
with life, but feels that she can do nothing to help him,
that the problem is his to solve, including his decision to
do away with himself.

This episode with Hinkelmann presages her irrational
Turandot relationship with all men, including Hauswirt,
who has to give up the prospect of having heirs of his own
and fulfill a role that Yvonne has selected for him.
Hauswirt, however, recognizes that she would have no
concern for him if he left her; he stays with her and gains
a bit of admiration from her for doing so. In spite of his
lack of finesse as a lover, he is a husband in all

practical respects.

a. Yvonne and Reinhart

Reinhart, upon first meeting her, asks Yvonne what
she is, and gets the answer that she is a riddle, as others
have told her. She thus indicates that she, herself, is
the stumbling block on others' way to discovering them-
selves through her. She believes that they think of her
as a riddle because they don't care to understand what she
really is, that their concern for her as a person is
minimal. She calls herself 'eine Gans -- in allem, was
ich jemals tat --, und irgendwie werde ich es auch immer
bleiben.” (DS 11) Although she now believes that she is
really telling Reinhart what she is, clearly and without

52

reservation, he is not able to puzzle her out at any time
in the novel. But he is the first person not to contradict
her view of herself, and this impresses her above all. In
her ensuing discussion of this, she gets around to stating
the dramatic axis of the novel; she tells Reinhart that it
is unnatural for a woman to be superior to a man, and that
then a person is not a woman "weil sie nicht aufkommen,
weil es einfach keine Manner mehr gibt...." (DS 12) This
is the Turandot challenge laid before Reinhart that he is
unable to meet. Her superiority is a matter of perception
of human relationships, and he must attempt to become as
perceptive as she.

Her change of mood brings with it a second suggestion,
specifically applied to Reinhart, in addition to the
general one of the necessity that a man in relationship to
a woman become a man. She suggests that Reinhart not
become a man, that he remain a youth to preserve his
talent, later expecting him to become the pragmatic man,
too, without being able to express this to him. It is with
this impulsive conclusion about his talents that she
introduces him to the others as a painter, which image
Reinhart fails to reject at this time. She has in all
seriousness asked him to become a man and become the equal
of herself, and then in a mood of gaiety pushes him toward
becoming an artist, a naive person of youthfulness and
immaturity. She tests him in her Turandot-manner and he

fails from the first, which neither of them realizes. Her

53

response to him, had she been well aware of what she was
doing, would have been to reject him at the moment that
he allowed her to determine his role in life. But he
touches heart strings as no other has done, and this
overrides her natural caution.

The climax of Yvonne and Reinhart's relationship
is reached in their few moments in the farmhouse-inn.

The wealth and strength of the imagery in this situation
denote the commonality of their search for the self through
the other: ”Yvonne und Jfirg blickten einander an, wie zum
erstenmal....Wolken von Glfick, der Traurigkeit nahe,
umfingen und trugen die abendliche Stunde....” (DS 73)
Yvonne knows the worth of Jfirg's battle for truth, as he
expresses it, but she quickly realizes the problems
connected with their attempt to work at this together:
”Vielleicht war Reinhart unendlich viel jfinger." (DS 7h)
She doesn't perceive that he is fulfilling the suggestion
that she made to him at their first meeting.

Working with hope against hope, Yvonne continues the
relationship, searching for something in Jfirg that will
indicate the possibility of a reliable, secure family life.
The candlelight scene brings Jfirg into the intimate realm
of her self, to which he cannot readily reply. He is not
prepared to take on even this responsibility, this need to
reply with action of his own. Her gestures of deep desire
for him, for his being, that might together with hers

support them both, is met with neither a positive gesture

5“

on Reinhart's part, nor a rejection, but merely a lack of

response.

5. Yvonne and Hauswirt

Yvonne also has a dream that reveals more of her true
nature psychically than that which is perceived in the
conscious state. She dreams of a man carrying her off, the
man who is also finally able to partially solve the riddle
of the Turandot. This man, who turns out to be Hauswirt,
appears to her to be like her father: "kaufmfinnisch, tatig,
unschwarmerisoh, erfolgreich durch das Fraglose seines
ganzen Wollens, ein Mensch, der nicht anders als in Taten
und Unternehmungen dachte, mannlich auf eine augenfallige
Weiss." (D3 121) This type of man can in no way be seen in
Heinhart,_and as soon as she herself recognizes the total
lack of these qualities in him, there is no question left
in her mind about what to do. She accepts Hauswirt's offer
of marriage.

The suddenness of her decision, and its finality, are
indicated by the manner in which this passage is constructed.
A sudden shift of scene to her apartment and Hauswirt's
visit upon her invitation is a shift of time and space and
psychic relationships: a shift from the stay at the beach
with Reinhart in an atmosphere of the fully-pursued
irrational to the highly rational life with Hauswirt.

Yvonne realizes the purely practical approach that

she has taken in her marriage to Hauswirt:

55

...sie ging den gleichen Weg, den sie ihrer

Mutter nie hatte verzeihen wollen: sie

heiratete den Mann, der sicher fur sie sorgen

konnte und sich einen Stolz daraus machte,

ihr alles zu bieten, was man nfichternen

Sinnes nur wfinschen konnte. (D8 131)

At the end of the novel she is contentedly married
to Hauswirt and has borne Reinhart's child. Her position
in relation to herself has reverted to that presented at
the beginning of the novel: "Noch immer wie einst zu der
Junggesellin kommen Menschen, die Rat suchen, eine Hand-
schrift vorlegen, Traume erzihlen, sich grauenhaft wichtig
nehmen...." (D8 231) Her problem has been settled, but
not to her full satisfaction, because she has taken from
several men that which she needed to have in one man to
fully realize her goal.

Yvonne's self is symbolized by the Turandot story
and the related developments in the novel. She herself
recognizes some of the basic drives that motivate her
actions, but is unable to clearly recognize them and work
with them, using them to advantage. She, as every other
character in the novel, lacks the ability to communicate
on the depth level with other persons, communication that
would be able to meet some of the depth issues and perhaps
overcome them. She finds a place for herself in life, but
at the expense of not being able to truly live it. She is
alone, as indicated by the game of solitaire she plays in

moments such as that when she learns of Reinhart's death.

Like Reinhart, she, too, fails in the realization of self,

56

and lives, finally, with the uncertainty of her existential
condition.
B. Hortense: The Turandot of
Rational ”Certainty”
1. Introduction

Hortense's approach to life takes two paths. The
irrational and the rational both attract her. Reinhart's
later rationalized theories are so much like her father's,
that she has little difficulty in understanding and
sympathizing with the arguments. But she knows without
reasoning it out, that there is more than this to life:

Ihr Kopf machte vielleicht nooh mit. Ihr

Herz aber sagte: Du stehst in einer Sack-

gasse, hinter eigenen Denken verfangen

und ich kann dir nicht helfen. (D8 281:)

Schau, es ist ja alles wahr, was du sagst,

beinahe wahr --- so viel anderes aber ist

auch nooh wahr, und am Ends ist das Leben

doch wichtiger. (D8 287)
As a product of an environment sterile of emotional
expression, she is able to respond irrationally only in a
dreamy escape from reality and without the involvement of
self. It would be doubtful whether her subconscious would
ever allow her to carry these feelings over into a working
relationship with Reinhart. It would, at best, be a
difficult task. She realizes the strangeness of this world
of the irrational, but does not realize that forces beyond

her present conscious perception.and control are at work

creating her decisions.

{C

‘v

.0.

57

Her father expects her to accept without question
his decision that she shouldn't see Reinhart, but she casts
herself in the role of a responsible adult and doesn't
comply. Although Hortense is infatuated with Reinhart's
irrational artist-life, her own difficulty of dreaming in
the unconscious state of sleep makes the healthy approach
to the reality of emotional involvement with him impossible
for her. Her repeated falling into the dream state while
with Reinhart imposes all the rational decision-making on
him and her subconscious. She gradually loses conscious
control of her own decisions and is guided by the irrational
forces of the subconscious: she is ready to be carried away
at their meeting after the long separation. But finally
the rational subconscious reasserts itself when Reinhart
loses his control later, and asks her to marry him. She
reacts with patterned responses instilled in her by her
parents. Hortense's one moment of revelatory dreaming
occurred when she was knocked unconscious and most likely

was prompted to dream by her father's show of deep concern.

2. Hortense and Reinhart
On one occasion Hortense sees the nude drawing of
Yvonne and feels a pang of jealousy, but not in relation
to Yvonne. Her jealousy is ”eine viel weitere Eifersucht,
unverstandlich.” (DS 1h?) It is the world of artists that
is so foreign to anything she has known or experienced.

Her world has been that of the carefully rational approach

58

to life; Reinhart's life, "wo jedes Geschehen m5glich
schien wie in den Landschaften des Traumes,..." (DS 1&8)
appears temptingly richer and without fault.

Yvonne had demanded of Reinhart an unbalanced
irrational approach, and he produced it, whereupon Hortense
is enraptured with this characteristic so unfamiliar to
her and lacking in her life. But by the time she and
Reinhart finally get serious with each other, the imbalance
gives way to a rational approach, also imbalanced. The
latter doesn't fit him and is a realm within which he
cannot meet the competition from Hortense's friends. This
comedy of errors is based not only on poor timing on the
part of the developing relationships, but also on the
falseness of their personas.

Reinhart's direct address to Hortense, here a
stranger, upon her questioning the proprietor about art
instruction causes her to blush. We thus know that she is
from different social circumstances than Reinhart, and her
”proper" approach to their future relationship is prepared.
"Proper” means here the final decision she makes that
determines the outcome of their relationship, and not the
pursuance of the relationship, itself. The balance of
their conversation at this first meeting takes place
without her fully-conscious cooperation: it is her sub-
conscious that is able to carry on with the decision about
time, etc.: "alles Sachliche entschied sich gleichsam auf

der Bfihne eines vorderen Wachseins, wahrend sie aus den

59

Vorhangen zusah, versteckt, aus dem Hintergrund dammernder
Verwirrung....” (DS 87)

The romanticised view that she has of Reinhart is
expressed in the passage given over to her recollections
of the sensations she felt, the moods created in her by
his artistic surroundings, expressing once again the
Turandot relationship: ”Ahnung eines heiteren Mutes, der
Abschied ruft von vielen lieben Formen, Abschied um der
Wiedergeburt ihres Geistes willen: Ahnung von alledem, was
jenseits der Enge beginnt, und droht, und lockt---". (D3 160)
Reinhart kisses her for the second time, but this time with
feeling, and she is overwhelmed and quite ready for him to
pick her up and carry her off. Her lack of basis in a
personal relationship is expressed by the term "der Mann"
in the following passage, occuring as she is being kissed:
'Nichts ware Hortense natfirlicher erschienen, als dass der
Mann...sie ginzlich vom Boden gehoben,...fiber alle Grenzen
entffihrt hatte.” (D8 161) She is enamoured of the man, not
of Reinhart, the person, and is naively ready to do all
that he might wish.

Hortense's naivete in human relationships is reinforc-
ed with the disclosure of her wish to have a child,
”ungeachtet, wie der vater es auanhme." (D8 176) The
basic womanly drives take hold of her and her powerful
will acts upon them with the force expected in a man,
creating the possibility of the rejection of the person of
the husband.

6O

Reinhart leads Hortense to the same farmhouse-inn
that he and Yvonne had visited and in which they had found
each other psychicly. Whether consciously or unconsciously,
he wishes to repeat the experience with Hortense, wishing
. that more success should result from it this time. But the
farmhouse is burnt down, causing confusion for them both.
He irrationally and suddenly asks her to marry him; her
answer is not given, she just cries. Their floundering
attempts to find one another continue to find no footing in
the real substance of life. Their projection of a false
self denies the meeting of their true selves.

Hortense's longing for a natural relationship, an
uncontrived communion with nature, comes before any desire
to be married: 'Zu glficklich, um einzusehen, warum sie
heiraten mfisste, dachte Hortense: Eigentlich m8ohte ich ja
nichts als reiten.” (D8 196) Her idea of marriage is
conditioned by her father's ideas. She never seriously
considers Reinhart for the practical state of marriage.

Reinhart also takes Hortense to the artist's hangout,
a restaurant, where he is able to see her more objectively.
The subjectivity involved in the surroundings is counter-
balanced by the objectivity Hortense's view of the place
creates. He is able to see thAt she does not and would not
fit in with this part of society. Jenny, Reinhart's half-
sister, serves as a point of comparison, in that she, too,
would be unable to reverse roles: "Jenny konnte das nicht.

Schon weil ihr die eigene Erde fehlt.” (D8 205) Reinhart

 

61

projects images in his mind of Hortense's natural composure
in high society and in surroundings that would confuse
Jenny. This thus projects to himself and brings forth a
statement about their relationship that counters any hopes
they might have for a future together:

Ich bin kein Schulbub mehr....Nichtg ist

widerlicher als ein Mann, der ein Madchen

fiberzeugen will, dass es ihn liebe!...Man

muss den Leutchen nur keinen natfirlichen

Haum geben wo sie gemeinsame Wurzeln

schlagen konnen....Jetzt suchst du die

Unnatur bereits in dis, in mir, in unserer

Beziehung --- es ist erreicht, Hortense

mehr wollten sie gar nicht! (DS 205-6)

Hortense has a difficult time accepting this view, but she
also cannot deny it. Hortense finds him intolerable, just

as Reinhart finds their relationship. The situation has
clarified itself: Hortense cannot now find in Reinhart that
which she had found before, and Reinhart cannot extricate
himself from the thought-patterns formerly so strange and
objectionable to him: 'gefangen in der Denkart des andern..."
(D8 207)

These two succeed in finding one another as persons
for a moment. This occurs as they embrace passionately at
the climax of a dramatic confrontation during their walk
together, fully aware that they have no future together.
They part in the uncertainty of self after the experience
of self.

Reinhart, as Anton, views Hortense as not much
changed by the intervening years, and surmises that nature

is happy with the role of mother and wife that occupies her,

‘C’

62

allowing little time for the type of experiences she had
longed for earlier.

Hortense's view of Reinhart's life in the intervening
years has been one of romantic postulation. She has
retained a desire for the irrational probing for the
possibilities of experiencing life, but has become fully
accustomed to and very satisfied with the life she has led.
But the approach to life that she has found has been
possible for her only with the understanding that there
was somewhere the possibility of the irrational in life:
'Dass es das gibt, Hensohen wie du, war oft das einzige,

was allem einen Glanz von Sinn gab!“ (D8 278)

3. Hortense and the Minor Characters

Hortense marries Ammann on the rebound from Reinhart,
but Ammann shows himself concerned for her welfare and
ready to accept the role of father: 'Ein Jahr erst
verheiratet, hatten sie noch nicht damit gerechnet. Ammann
machte ffirs erste die Penster auf, dann lSste er ihr die
Schuhe. 'Warum schaust du mich so an?' fragte er. 'Was
ist?' HEtte sie Sprache gefunden, sie hitte gebeichtetz...
'Ich bin so froh, dass du da bist!...' (DS 2&2-3) She sees
Ammann as a man, now, and professes that she loves him: he
fulfills the father-image of her dreams.

Whereas Yvonne and Reinhart were able to dream
naturally of their fathers, Hortense can only dream in an

unconscious state occasioned by a fall. A stranger talks

(“N

. ‘ ‘
. I
1‘ " ‘
I ‘-
» .r A A

f

(.

P .

63

to her and "kfisste immerfort ihr staubiges Haar, ihre
Schmerzen liessen nach....' (D8 151) Later, when she
awakened, her father was sitting next to her bed. In her
confused state, she has seen her father in a touching
loving role of intimacy as never before, and doesn't know
whether the actual circumstance involved her father or an
ambulance attendant. Of most importance to us is the
realization that she sees her father in this role. She
sees another person in him, the person behind his persona,
who cares, just as Reinhart's persona hides his real self.
The feeling that she develops for Ammann in their marriage
is the realization of this desire for a true, caring.
relationship.

Hortense despises her elder brother, Henrik, who
”blickt dem andern auf die Pfisse, bis er wirklich stolpert.
...Keiner geriet in sein Gesprach, ohne mit einem SchnSrkel
von Verspottung hervorzugehen....' (D8 252) Because of him
she is able to remain somewhat removed from the dehumanizing
influences of the highly-rational life.

a. Comparison of Yvonne and Hortense to
Characters in the Other Novels

The paralleling of concern and harsh treatment,
perhaps justified by the ambivalent desires within Yvonne,
is followed by a description of her disgust with the act
of sexual intercourse and the resultant child, seeing the
child as a sign of that which had ”happened" previously.
(DS 11“) Only with Reinhart does she desire the child,

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and allow it to live. Her experience with Reinhart is one
of full acceptance of the irrational in him, a recognition
of the first step toward a true, loving relationship. That
he cannot fulfill the entire desire for a balanced person
does not disallow the life of the child: she is able to
accept the pragmatic assistance of Hauswirt as essentially
an external addition to the development of the child that
is positive and acceptable. The child, however, yet
represents a moment that is past, that no longer exists
except in the child. Hanna, in Home faber, expresses this
same view in respect to Walter's constant attempts to
capture meaningful moments on film: "nachher muss man es
sich als Film ansehen, wenn es nicht mehr da ist, und es
vergeht ja doch alles -- Abschied." (HP 227) With this
one might be able to conclude that Reinhart's attempt to
capture life on canvas parallels Walter's picture-taking
and Stiller's sculpturing. Only the protagonist in
Gantenbein creates a seemingly valid approach to all of
this, feeling free to manufacture a persons to fit the
reality of the moment. He experiences life subjectively
when he is Gantenbein and blind, and creates the
possibility of perceiving the truth of his situation. In
his other roles, the protection provided by an objective
stance eliminates the possibility of full perception.

Sibylle, in Stiller, views Rolf and Stiller in the
same manner that Yvonne views Reinhart and Hauswirt.

SYbille, however, meets Stiller after being married to Rolf,

’\

65

finding the irrational in him that Rolf lacks. Her
thoughts express this: ”Beide zusammen in einer Person, das
ware es gewesen!” (S 336) In this instance, at least, she
is another Yvonne.

Neither Yvonne nor Hortense compare to Julika, in that
Julika's cold nature sexually has no parallel in Die
Schwierigen. Neither of them "fear" men: 'Julika genoss
es, eigentlioh zum ersten Mal einen Mann getroffen zu haben,
vor dem sie sich nicht ffirchtete." (S th)

The Turandot imagery in these two female characters
appears to run through the succeeding novels, as the women
remain essentially undecipherable. Sibylle, for instance,
plays this role, somewhat more drastically, in the image of
the torero: "Stiller fand sie durchaus in Ordnung, diese
Verteilung der Hollen: Sibylle brauchte nicht einmal ihr
Hfitchen abzulegen, im Gegenteil, ein Torero kann nicht
zierlich genug sein." (S 300)

Love appears to be that which is inexpressible in
these novels, and when it is openly expressed, one can
sense that that which is expressed is not the true love
usually intended. Hortense appreciates Ammann's concern
for her when he discovers that she is pregnant, and the
author reports that ”Hortense liebte ihn." (DS 2H3), yet
she later confesses to Reinhart her reservation through all
the years for the irrational that he represented.

Rolf, during the long night with Stiller while Julika
lies in the hospital, hears Stiller say: 'Ich liebe sie --"

66

(S 51h) Does Stiller here express a true love for her or
is he consoling himself? One cannot conclude from the
evidence either way: his wife has not been able to accept
him fully, and thus no interaction of selves has yet taken
place. This necessity for evidence of love must precede
his expression of love.

Gantenbein includes a proclamation of love, when the
narrator says: "Philemon, sage ich, du liebst sie: Alles
andere ist Unsinn.” (G 212) A mere acceptance of one's
own involvement of self with another would open the way to
true, expressed love, rather than the constant uncertainty

that appears to be the human condition.

CHAPTER III
THE PHAGMATIST:
THE OVERLY-RATIONAL MAN
A. Introduction

The dichotomy of forces that appears to be at the
base of the structure of this novel is one of common
frequency in the discussion of man in-the-world: the
rational and the irrational forces in nature and man.

This arbitrary splitting of external experience and the
inner man into two opposing camps is valid not only for

the assistance it gives in making things clearer to the
observer, but is also, in this novel, a comment on the
problems of the times, the problems created by constructing
false images of one's self and of others, due to the
existential uncertainty of modern man. Man has tended to
view himself as one or the other, basically rational or
irrational, rather than being capable of seeing that he is,
as an individual, a certain, personal composite of both.

It is this modern, imbalanced view that Frisch seems to be
presenting through a complex of relationships and ideas.
.A.full statement of theme would include the implication of
'this split for man, himself, presented specifically through
the medium of the characters as images, and through the
Poetic imagery which reveals these characters in the

57

68

various nuances of their ambivalence and complexity.

This chapter attempts to plumb the more far-reaching
implications of the use and misuse of the specifically
rational forces in life by various characters in the
novel, who are affected by or represent this set of forces.

The characters discussed here are those that clearly
appear to be representative of the workings of the rational
forces in man, ranging from characters of incidental
importance in respect to their own development as a viable
character, to the major characters, who carry the full
weight of the implications of the novel. The previous
chapterdiscussed irrational forces as seen in person
images; the protagonist, Reinhart, was joined by two
women, who paralleled him in his development. In the
following chapters attention is turned to those who more
readily evidence the overly-rational approach to life:
Hinkelmann: Hauswirt; the Oberst: Ammann: Reinhart as
Office Employee. Their rational 'certainty' is shown to
be as incapacitating for the realization of the self as is
the irrational uncertainty of an extreme nature, and this
rational 'certainty' proves itself to be an escape from

the irrational uncertainty of existence.

B. Hinkelmann: Immaturity and Death
Hinkelmann is a success in his work but weak-natured
in human affairs. He provides the counterbalance for

YVOmne's early years of insecurity, but to a degree that

 

69

omits the possibility of a natural inclusion of the
emotional elements of life. His life contrasts with
Reinhart's in the success he achieves in his field and in
the rejection by Yvonne of the child he fathered. His life
parallels Reinhart's in Yvonne's rejection of the man --
Hinkelmann for too little maturity: Reinhart for too little
security -- and in the act of suicide.

Several things occur in Hinkelmann's years with
Yvonne that demonstrate his complete inability to face the
element of uncertainty, to cope with it and make it a part
of his life. He feels himself totally inadequate if, when
amongst a group of people, the conversation shifts away
from his field and the discoveries that he has made and is
making. The conversation is represented as being like a
runaway horse: he is at a loss, ”wenn das Gesprach, das
eben nooh in seinem Zfigel war, p13tzlich wie ein zfigelloser
Gaul seine eigenen Sprunge machte und immer weiter von der
Wissenschaft abkam.“ (DS 16) He is unable to take part in
such a conversation, and merely awaits his opportunity to
bring the topic back to his science. His interests are
thus so narrow as to admit of absolutely nothing but his
work.

This immature reaction is seen again in his response
‘to»the news of the coming of his own child. Whereas an
animal-image represented the unpredictable forces at work
inn a conversation amongst guests, it is an inanimate moving

Object that is used to represent Yvonne's reaction to

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Hinkelmann's unacceptable response to the news of her
pregnancy: Yvonne tells him of her feeling concerning his
response: ”'Ein Kind?' sagtest du ganz erschrccken, als
wire ich unter einen Wagon gekommen." (DS 27-28) She saw,
then, that the child would replace Hinkelmann in her life,
that his relationship with her was unnatural and not one of
husband and wife. Prisch emphasizes the mother-role that
Yvonne has been playing with a comment of his own inserted
in the midst of Hinkelmann's reflections on his situation
just before the suicide: 'nur dachte er auch dabei, wie das
Kind an seine Mutter, stets an Yvonne, deren Achtung oder
Verachtung ja sein letzter Massstab blieb in all dieser
Wirrnis....' (D3 37)

The only irrational experience he has is in the form
of a fantasy which he indulges in while spending an evening
with an old school friend. The two succeed in being happy
by ridiculing their old professors: 'ein ganzes Puppenspiel
von gemeinsam genossenen Professoren, die...wie Hampelmann-
chen an den Drihten ihrer Spottlust erscheinen...." (DS ha)
This joy at the expense of others does not signify any
progress on his part, however, it is a sudden inspiration
dredged up from his youth, and perhaps is intended to
indicate the point at which he stppped maturing emotionally.
These two are able to misuse their former professors by
:making of them caricatures that have little to do with the
reality of the person.

Hinkelmann is unable to meet the demands of real life,

71

forced, due to the bonds of the overly-rational approach,
to capitulate before the intruding irrational element.

The expected child cannot easily be accepted by him, as
this would require a realization of the unnatural relation-
ship that he and Yvonne have been pursuing. Unable to
discuss his problems, due to the feeling-response caused

by personal involvement, he resorts to a careful
rationalization of and supposed acceptance of the situation.
This helps his depth feelings not at all. Then the puppet
metaphor images a contrast feeling with the rational
element, but on the level of a young schoolboy. He becomes
an image, himself, of the modern man who has developed his
intellectual capacities to the fullest, but is incapable of
living the really full life due to his totally undeveloped
emotional drives.

Inanimate symbols illustrate further the exclusion of
the irrational in his life. His values appear to be tied
up in his work, which, when he speaks of it, Yvonne views
as "cine Landschaft wie auf dem Monde, so ohne Duft, ohne
Pisch.und vogel, ohne Hirt, ohne eine einzige lebende
Ziege." (DS 15) Hinkelmann's occupation and the description
of his discussions about his work give emphasis to the
‘barren quality of his emotional side, the irrational forces
that must have expression to present a soul that is
Payohically alive.

It is the highly-developed rational side that attracts

Yvonne to him. She senses in him the security and certainty

72

that she knows she will demand of a husband. He is ”ein
blonder Eels, dessen zweifellose und unschuldige Sicherheit
sie fast erdrfickte.” (DS 17) She lacks this to the degree
that he has it. But this balancing is not one that would
lead to a fine equilibrium. The imbalance within each of
them creates a double barrier to overcome on the way toward
meeting each other on a balanced emotional level. This
almost impossible task is overwhelming for each of them,
but especially for Hinkelmann. He never realizes what it
is that has taken place, or has failed to take place. The
moonlike barrenness of his work together with his rock-like
approach to people create a depressing sense of total
security, total lifelessness. Where are any redeeming
qualities presented in the case of Hinkelmann? Only in his
childhood, where evidences of his atrophied emotional life
are already present.

If Hinkelmann's psychic and emotional development
were arrested in childhood, as Yvonne's comments about the
pictures in his room and the imagery thus far employed
appear to affirm, then his attachment to his mother would
also be in this arrested state, and incapable of growing
into a mature relationship. That this is so is indicated
by the scene at the departure of the married son from his
mother: "Die Nutter weinte von dem Schiff herab, als stfinde
sie an der Bahre ihres Sohnes." (DS 23) This view of her
son as dead suggests the feeling for his mother upon
separation that Hinkelmann would experience were he not

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73

now married to Yvonne. However, the marriage has been no
indication that he has outgrown this type of dependance;
rather, Yvonne now becomes the substitute mother. He, of
course, does not realize this, and his mother also does not
realize the true nature of her feelings. The Freudian
quality of these problems is clearly evident.

A series of images points up the ability that Yvonne
has of anticipating the physical death of Hinkelmann. He
himself senses his imminent end while discussing Yvonne
with his friend. He experiences the surroundings in a
cafe, and views the happy people around them as a 'Vogel-
sang fiber seinem innersten BegrEbnis, Bienengesumm.fiber die
Kranzen seiner Ehe.” (DS 38) He somehow senses that his
inner self has been dealt a mortal blow, that he will be
incapable of continuing in life. The imagery employed by
Prisch and understood by the reader and experienced by
Hinkelmann in this situation does not necessarily enter
Hinkelmann's consciousness on the rational side -- he
here experiences rather than rationally analyzes, and the
movement from the one into the other is not presented as
being even possible for him. He thus is unaware of the
implications of the imagery that he himself develops.

Later, after the abortion and before Hinkelmann's
disappearance, Yvonne sees him at a concert. She sees him
as a corpse, sensing the death within him and the suicide
to come: “seine Augen‘z'waren_/ nichts als zwei schwarze

SchattenlSoher....Es war, als hatte man cine Leiche

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hingesetzt..., als starrte er immerzu auf sie." (DS 99)

The highly ordered life has taken its toll; the
ordering so desperately sought in the external affairs of
life and the internal emotions finally comes to an impasse
in the person of Hinkelmann himself. Yvonne last sees him
at the concert, “die Beine verschrankt, reglos wie eine
Leiche, die man drinnen hatte sitzen lessen." (D8 100)
He is already a motionless corpse in his inner self;
security and certainty spell out psychic, and, eventually,
physical death.

C. Hauswirt: Forceful Businessman:
Passive Husband

At the other pole and at life's end in relation to
Yvonne, is a man who has similarities to Hinkelmann, but
also strong differences. Hauswirt from the first
appearance provides a contrast to Hinkelmann in his
forceful approach to people and his powerful, successful
involvement in the world of commerce. However, he is like
Hinkelmann to the degree that he is providing that which
Yvonne desires outside of a true, loving relationship.
Both men serve a practical function in her life: Hinkelmann
gives her a temporary feeling of security due to his
impressive size and self-confidence in his own field, and
a real financial security due to his success in research;
Hauswirt is not only a successful businessman who can
Provide limitless security, he also makes this project of

Providing for the material welfare of another person a

75

matter of honor and joy for himself.

The image that one perceives in Hauswirt is his
success and confidence in matters of business, which
confidence carries over into human relationships, where a
desire to obtain success overrides any sensitivity for the
feelings of the other. He appears to never entertain any
doubts as to whether he should be using his wealth to
obtain Yvonne: ”Geld war...die bekannteste Spielregel der
Welt....' (D8 122) Wealth is, for him, and, Prisch would
say, for most business-oriented men, not only a measure of
success in life, but the key to what is right and proper:
wealth is justice. However, the inability of pecuniary
gain to influence interpersonal depth relations is the
wider-reaching meaning behind Hauswirt and Yvonne's
marriage, a state of uncertainty in the midst of the
possibility of viable life-style.

Hauswirt is a success in business, strong-willed and
standing alone. He, too, however, is unaware of the
irrational element in life and through years of seeing
everything through business-oriented eyes is incapable of
understanding the emotional nature of marriage. In
contrast to Hinkelmann, Hauswirt takes the initiative in
his relationship with Yvonne and considers their marriage
mas another success scored by himself, only later vaguely
sensing the incompleteness of their relationship. Yvonne
uses both men for her practical purposes, but whereas she,

herself, was naive about the consequences of her marriage

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76

to Hinkelmann, she profits from that experience to avoid
similar pitfalls while married to Hauswirt. She knows that
Hauswirt is ”buying” her, and this fits into her view of
the necessity of her situation: "Er wollte sie kaufen,
warum nicht?“ (DS 85) He is allowed into Yvonne's presence
after the birth of her baby, and stands there ”Die Hands
auf dem Rficken, fast wie ein Gefesselter....' (D3 210)
Hinkelmann was excluded from Yvonne's presence during her
stay in the hospital and figuratively condemned to death:
Hauswirt is admitted, but is shackled by his own ignorance
and twisted psychic development. This moment, however,
reveals some release of bottled-up emotions in Hauswirt.
The surroundings make an impression on him that we have not
otherwise seen: 'Horgensonne rieselte durch das Laub der
alten BEume....Zum ersten Hal seit Jahren machte Hauswirt
an jenem Tag, der endlos war, einen Spaziergang zu Fuss....”
(D3 210) He, like Hinkelmann, is making contact with
elements of his self that have long lain dormant. Unlike
Hinkelmann, he is not torn with a desire to comprehend, but
rather with a desire to truly experience this moment in its
fullness.

Due to Yvonne's manipulation of him in their relation-
ship, Hauswirt can only serve a passive function in the
emotional, irrational aspect of their life together. He
does not have enough comprehension of this sphere of his
own life to realize what is happening to him, and is so
involved in the corollary active function of providing for

77

the physical well-being of his family, that the latter
satisfies his needs as a human being.

”Von den schwesterlichen Blicken halb wie ein Sieger,
halb wie ein Sunder begrfisst,...” (D8 209) Hauswirt waits
at the hospital for the birth of Yvonne's son. He, like
the nuns, accepts procreation, although confused about the
manner in which irrational and rational forces are involved.
An attempt to justify the act of procreation for human
beings becomes weighted down with rationalizations that
have more to do with preserving a childlike naivete than
with enlightening human beings about the role of both the
rational and irrational: the rational with the irrational,
both openly accepted and taken for what they are, create
the possibility for the living of life as a realization
of self. The disjointed nature of atnun's life is similar
to Hauswirt's; he, too, operates with a codified set of
rules, those of the pragmatic business world, and is
utterly devoid of any natural intercourse with other
persons on an emotional plane. His money has succeeded in
bringing him the “wife” he "wants”, and this satisfies him.
Their marriage remains a matter of convenience.

Thus Hauswirt and Hinkelmann are both images of the
rational life in Die Sghwierigen. Prisch makes the
pragmatic approach to life the background of his main
character in Homo faber as well. The science-oriented
engineer cannot be bothered with anything having to do with
the realm of the irrational: ”Wozu soll ich mich ffirchten?

78

Es gibt keine urweltlichen Tiere mehr. Wozu sollte ich sie
mir einbilden?” (HF 28) Imagination appears to him to
serve no purpose: dreamy thinking appears to lead only to
false results. Stiller, the main character in the novel
bearing his name, also avoids the irrational in life,
feeling comfortable in the security of the affairs that
appear to serve a clearly functional purpose: "Man fragt
sich schlechthin, was der Mensch auf dieser Erde eigentlioh
macht, und ist froh, sich um einen heissen Motor kfimmern zu
mfissen.” (S 30) But, like Hauswirt, the engineer in Hggg
£522; believes that he sees all that there is to be seen,
and fails to even allow the possibility of something beyond
this: 'Ich bin Techniker und gewohnt, die Dinge zu sehen,
wie sie sind. Ich sehe alles, wovon sie reden, sehr genau;
ich bin ja nicht blind." (HF 28) And Gantenbein, in.a
later novel, openly plays the role of the blind man, seeing
the truth that lies behind the facade of things seen ”the
way they are.”

A sentence from Homo faber clearly shows the strong
ties between Faber and the two minor characters in Die
Schwie i on, Hinkelmann and Hauswirt: "Alles ist nicht
tragisch, nur mfihsam: Man kann sich nicht selbst Gutnacht
sagen --7 Ist das ein Grund zum Heiraten?' (HP 113) And
Yvonne clearly reflects,this aspect when she herself
perceives Hauswirt's cardinal quality as being a concern
for her material well-being: "Im auffallenden Unterschied

zu allen frfiheren Gaston fragte er auch nach der Miete.”

79

(D3 121) Hinkelmann and Hauswirt image the pragmatic
elements of marriage, which problem is pursued more deeply

in later novels.

D. The Oberst: Man of Tradition and Force

The Oberst is a man of tradition, excluding any
irrational elements in life that he perceives and can
control. He attempts to force his approach to life of his
family directly and on others indirectly, evidencing an
atrophied sense of compassion for other persons as
individuals with selves of limitless possibilities. He
provides the great wall of tradition that Heinhart_is
incapable of effectively opposing, which drives Reinhart
to "worshiping" the pronouncements of this stratum of
society, reacting to the firm certainty with which they
are presented, and forming therewith a self-defeating
philosophyz the ”J'adore ce qui me brule” of the title
and of the amulet.

The chauvinistic attitude of the Oberst permeates his
whole life, affecting his family relationship. The demands
that he makes on other members of the family are sanctified
by the all-pervading honor of the gentleman and his
traditional responsibility to his country: "jeder Fleck am
hEuslichen Tischtuch, den andere sich vielleicht leisten
konnten, wurde in seinem Falls zugleich schon ein Fleck an
der Landesfahne.”.(DS 136) Images of a need for absolute

control over other people result in a natural tendency to

80

view force as the answer to difficulties: "die neue
Hoffnung, ihr den Maler auszutriben.” (DS 150) His
reactions are those attributed to a military leader: "Er
rauchte wie ein Feldherr am Vorabend der Schlacht.” (DS 163)
The Oberst himself would deny that his method of attempting
to bring Hortense to reject Reinhart has any element of
force implied. He easily confuses mental and psychological
pressure through situational ordering with tactful
encouragement of a desired action. He merely acts on the
certainty he feels.

The narrowly exclusive view of Hortense's parents of
themselves and "theirs" comes to view in a fine application
of metaphor that is unobtrusive enough to carry full effect
on the subliminal level: ”Das Ganze war natfirlich ein
Schlag ffir das Haus....” (D8 171) This quote refers to
Reinhart's mother getting pregnant by the butcher-boy.

This irrational act is a "blow,” a possibly destructive
occurrence, for all those in the family and connected to
the ”house.” The highly developed honor of long tradition
cannot withstand the onslaught of acts that evolve from an
irrational basis, and all effort must be expended to
preserve tradition. The tradition becomes more important
than the individual, and the individual without tradition,
Reinhart, is here patently unacceptable as a new member of
the ”system.”

According to Prison true living requires the animate

vitality of unpredictable, irrational, and emotional forces,

81

a recognition of all aspects of life. The lack of these
signifies psychic death: the status quo is maintained at
the expense of life. Reinhart's last view of the Oberst
images this timelessness of the lack of vitality, death,
much as the same moment is timeless for Reinhart due to
the high emotional content, both are the same yet entirely
different: "es war ihm, als stfinde nun der Oberst in alle
Zeiten so da, die entkorkte Flasche in der Hand, erstaunt,
verlegen fiber den jungen Gast....' (D8 219) The reticence
of non-involvement preserves the status quc of petrified
emotions in the Oberst: the experience of a high emotional
involvement reflects Reinhart's true self. The Oberst's
intransigent, rational approach to life denies elements
vital to true existence.

The Oberst contrasts with Reinhart in his character-
ization as a 'Staatsmann", who is always 'ffir sein veter—
land.“ (DS 16?) His approach to life is based on a
compilation of cliches that justify his life style. A
comparable situation occurs in Stills; as Stiller's
defense attorney employs a long series of cliches to
support his chauvinistic attitude. (3 h38ff) Such
approaches to life reflect Hierkegaard's warnings that
the materialistic attitudes of many men inescapably affect
their thoughts in the ethico-religious spheres, repressing
the freedom of thought in those areas, making one the
follower of crowd views and afraid of the free life.

The Oberst is very bound by his rational views and Reinhart

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82

under the influence of the Oberst's power over his
happiness, moves away from freedom, symbolized by his
destruction of the bird, carried out with the same pistol
with which he threatens his own life.. Freely lived life
is anathema to the Oberst, and is symbolized by the pond
on his estate, in which all organic life has perished.
These forms of life demand a certain freedom for continued
existence, whereas the Oberst's dog is servile by nature
and adjusts readily to being controlled. Such a
Kierkegaardian situation would be out of form if it
included a wife in a leading role, and to be sure one knows
nothing of the Oberst's wife.

walter Faber appears to be an embodiment of the life
style presented by the Oberst, expanded, however, from this
minor role in Die Schwierigen. Walter Faber perhaps
presents the height of abstracted unconcern for the
irrational involvement in others' emotional affairs and
the overly-rationalized approach to the alleviation of
human.misery in speaking of his job as a representative of
the United Nations: “technigche Hilge {fig unterentwickelte
Efilkgg, ich kann darfiber sprechen, wihrend ich ganz anderes
denke.“ (HF 11), So mechanical has it become that the

involvement of his true self is nil.

E. Ammann: Man of Tradition and Possibility
Ammann is boring, ”wie Beton' (DS 9h), but he at

least involves himself in creative efforts. As a young

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architect opportunities open up for him that are denied
to the Oberst. Ammann builds Hauswirt's new house,
described in the first stages of construction: ”einen
grauen Betontisch mitten in Erdhfigeln....” (DS 237) The
architect and the owner are both men of business, but
Ammann's attempt to create a building that expresses some-
thing beyond the practical is negatively influenced by
Hauswirt. All that Frisch makes clear to the reader at
the building site concerning the structure itself is that
the beginning stages show some evidence of ingenuity, and
that the resulting house will be richly furnished, but
essentially dull.

As Ammann visits the building site he enjoys mainly
seeing his ideas become tangible reality. The wood is
"sinverstanden," the plans 'richten sich...sogar gegen den
jungen.Ammann selber,...' (DS 2&0) -- he is unable at this
stage to make many changes. Ammann, through his perception
of the processes of creation with which he is involved, and
due to these first steps taken in freeing the creative
element in himself, is a great contrast to the Oberst. Yet,
he is of the same cast of mind: he has been raised in the
same atmosphere. Thus it also comes natural to him to
give orders when necessary, and again the term "Feldherr"
appears: a painter 'verstand wenn man mit Feldherrenstimme
erklErte...." (DS 2&0) This more artificial setting for
the use of such a term signifies the pressure that it took
for Ammann to use this trait: he works best with ideas on

8&

paper, and cannot direct others with the ease of the Oberst.

Ammann, however, recognizes his modicum of success in
realizing his own ideas, and is perhaps proud to a greater
degree of the fact that all this happens through his own
efforts, whether they are truly creative or not. He is so
slated to see that Hauswirt and Yvonne like the house, that
he stands there, "kaum andere als ein Herrgott am sechsten
oder ffinften Tag....' (DS 2&1) He is sensitive to the
responses of others who view his creation, but remains
unconcerned about whether they perceive that which has been
creative, and perhaps himself does not recognize the truly
original elements in his own work. Ammann, as a beginner,
does not yet require of himself and others the genuinely
creative element in his work -- he is too easily satisfied
with the fact of concrete newness over abstract newness.
The creative possibilities within him are further evidenced
by the fact that he is the only main character in the novel
to father his own children and keep his wife.

The view of Ammann is overwhelmingly one of a person
confident of his practical accomplishments, and, like
Hauswirt, he is proud of his ability to support his wife
in good style. Unlike Hauswirt, he can experience a loving
concern for the person of his wife, and directly act on that
concern in a manner that brings her acceptance of him.

What is further evident in his concern for his wife is his
wholehearted acceptance of the demands of tradition. He

creates a persona by fulfilling such expectations as having

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85

his portrait painted, working hard to succeed financially
and professionally, and making the right moves socially --
all of which does nothing for Hortense's irrational desires
as experienced in her meetings with Reinhart. Reinhart
paints Ammann's portrait and is concerned that Ammann
presents himself falsely. Reinhart says: ”Sie heiratet ja
nicht dein Bild, Freund, auf die Dauer nicht." (DS 95)

But this is exactly what the first girl intends and what
Hortense does, and this is what Ammann is seeing in
Hortense. Only later does Hortense see beyond the persons
and find the true Ammann, whom she appreciates highly and
even admits that she loves.

Ammann's naive approach to his work allows him to
consider many possibilities, which contrasts to the
limitations placed by the conventions that he follows in
his social life. In planning the house for Hauswirt and
Yvonne, he reveals his involvement of self by filling
wastebaskets ”mit knisternden Gew31ken des Verknfillten....”
(DS 237) The cloud symbol appears frequently in the novel,
and appears to indicate limitless possibilities of form.
Thus, at the same time that Ammann limits himself to the
demands of convention in social intercourse, he is open to
any new idea in his work. He is essentially a pragmatist,
but with visionary possibilities himself that we never see
brought into full play. He plays a somewhat minor role in
the novel: he serves mainly as a foil for Reinhart's

thoughts and as a contrast to Hauswirt, Yvonne and Hortense.

86

Like Hinkelmann, Hauswirt, and the Oberst he is a new
pragmatic individual created by Frisch.

The Oberst and Ammann operate on the basis of
tradition, each presenting his own image of confrontation
with the flux of life. The contrast with Hinkelmann and
Hauswirt lies mainly in this and that they serve to
provide contrasts and interrelationships with Hortense,
developing her image from the flat to the round character.

The metaphorical imagery contrasts with that used
for Hinkelmann and Hauswirt, also. Certain parallels in
metaphor, such as the use of animal imagery, point up the
overall classification of these characters under the
heading of pragmatic, persons operating on the basis of
rational thought, therefore excluding emotional feeling on
the high, conscious plans available to human beings.
However, some irrational influences are discernible in the
case of Ammann.

Ammann is also a man of tradition in family affairs,
but contrasts with the Oberst in his restricted ability to
act naively on the irrational plane in.business affairs and
in highly demanding emotional situations with Hortense.
Although his sense of the irrational is also atrophied,
the atrophy has not progressed nearly as far as in the case
of the Oberst. He is capable of showing concern for
Hortense's welfare during her pregnancy, in contrast to
Hinkelmann and Hauswirt, sensitively reacting to the
thought that the child could be his. He provides Reinhart

87

with a symbol for those who are successful in life,
preceding the encounter with the Oberst and thereby
providing Reinhart with pro-drawn conclusions.

Ammann and the Oberst contrast not only in age, but
also in approach to life, to some degree, and in their
relationship with Hortense. On the surface, both appear
to follow the conventions of society in their relationships
with her, but when sub-surface feelings come into play, the
Oberst relies heavily on his past preachings and example
to carry the day, whereas Ammann yet expresses a real
concern for the person. Whereas the Oberst was driven to
real concern openly expressed only when Hortense fell and
hurt herself, Ammann is able to show true concern for
Hortense, the person, during the routine of daily existence.
The irrational is also evidenced by Ammann when describing
the nonexistent house to Hauswirt: he has a touch of the
irrational in all that he does, which the Oberst generally
lacks.

Both characters serve mainly to provide the vehicle
for the development of Hortense as a main character, and
secondarily to provide the soundingboard and background
for Reinhart's development of an ordered philosophy.
Neither has any appreciable contact with Yvonne.

Ammann contrasts to Walter Faber, Frisch's epitome
of pragmatic man, in several ways, one of which is his
response to his first-born child. Ammann accepted

Hortense's pregnancy with a heightened concern for her

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88

welfare, a clear indication to her that his feelings toward
her were genuine. Walter Faber's response to similar news,
is not so drastic as that of Hinkelmann, but nonetheless
full of inconsiderateness and a lack of inner response:
"Sie erwartete damals ein Kind....Ihre Behauptung, ich sei
zu Tode erschrccken, bestreite ich nooh heute; ich fragte
bloss: Bist du sicher?” (HF 57) The same avoidance of
emotional involvement causes him great problems just as it
did in the case of several characters in Die Schwierigen.

Ammann, however, is unique in his ability to remain
very masculine and very humane. In this sense he is more
like Gantenbein than any other major character in Frisch's
novels. Ammann.unconsoicusly performs the role of a person
of some balance between the pragmatist and the visionary,
whereas Gantenbein views all of this quite objectively,
assisted by the tinted glasses: 'Ein Geffihl von.Abschied,
als or die Brille wieder aufsetzt, ist nicht zu vermeiden.”
(G 31) Gantenbein consciously controls his view of the
world: he is able to divide his approach to living on the
basis of a perceived falseness in his own reactions to
reality and validity in all that takes place. Ammann is
unconscious of any of this but nevertheless retains the
possibility of escaping total commitment to either one or
the other. Ammann gives no indication of being a truly
consciously balanced person in this respect, as does no
character in Frisch's novels. Frisch would perhaps disclaim
the ability of man yet to attain balance between the

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rational and irrational in a true realization of the self.
This is yet an ideal, a goal that appears almost unattain-
able, but for which all men should strive. Uncertainty of

the ultimate values in any endeavour remains the stumbling
block.

cmmmxv
HEINHART AS PRAGMATIST:
THE OFFICE EMPLOYEE
A. Introduction

Reinhart, as discussed above, adopted the persona of
the artist upon the suggestion of Yvonne and ultimately
realized his error. Yet, instead of gaining equilibrium
and taking gradual stock of himself, his next move is a
polar one of reaction against this persona. He now assumes
the persona of the highly-rational approach and plays the
role of the office employee, this in response to his
inability to meet Yvonne's demands for security.

His subsequent search for security alone is not
compatible with his inner nature, nor is it that which
Hortense desires in him. Reinhart ponders the possibility
of living with Hortense, but recognizes that she would not
go through with her romantic idea of marrying him in
defiance of social conventions. As social insecurity
cost him Yvonne, social tradition costs him Hortense.

Tradition, in the form of family and social pressures,
later comes to be Reinhart's goal. He submits to the life
style encountered in the Oberst, placing himself in a
subordinate category in relation to those with high social
status.

The Oberst indirectly causes the demise of the office

90

91
employee persona; Reinhart must submit himself to the
stronger forces surrounding him. The pressures from the
top echelons of society cause him to give up his search
for self and to accept a non-entity role.

The minor characters of the novel generally point up
the weaknesses of Reinhart's persona. Their own lack of
initiative in human relations reflects Reinhart's end as
a gardener. Their own form of pressure to conform
coincides with that of the Oberst, but with them it is
through default: Reinhart is faced with pressures from
above and below to assume a role that does not express his
true nature. The utter falseness of the philosophy of
superrational ordering finally leads to Reinhart's suicide.

Reinhart, as the main character in the novel, becomes
the focal point in the development of imagery. The period
of his life devoted to the pragmatic approach involves the
main women characters only indirectly and several secondary
characters directly. The male characters generally
represent the pragmatic approach, but have little contact
with Reinhart: his reactions to men are mostly encountered
as a secondary reaction to their effect on the women
involved. Thus three groups of characters in relation to
Reinhart, the office employee, can be singled out: the
women; the men: and the minor characters. These three
groups will be discussed in relation to the fundamental
images in the novel, comparing Reinhart's relation to the

other characters and to similar personages in Frisch's

92

other novels.

B. Persona as Escape

Reinhart perceives the unreality of his life
situation only after his confrontation with the Oberst. As
he searches for the reality of his heritage in his attempt
to find his true father, he more and more avoids the)
reality of direct conrontation with truth as he works
himself into a state of psychic escapism. While talking
to Frau Hafner his thoughts draw him away from the present,
and he concludes by standing up to leave "wie aus einem
Traum.” (D8 273) The culmination of this development is
Reinhart's attempt to shoot his father, using an unloaded
gun: "Er schoss: es war wie im Traum schon so oft, wenn
man losdrfickt und es knallt nicht, es ffillt niemand um.”
(D3 276) This image of impotency plays a much larger role
in Stiller, yet it is the climax of Reinhart's search for
himself. From this moment on, he ceases to accept as a
part of himself that which he finds to be valid and worthy
of living in life. The dreams that he had dreamt have now
become reality, yet in this real action Reinhart experiences
the moment itself as a dream. He cannot accept his own
actions as possibly being a part of his expressed self: he
acts on the dreams of impotency, interpreting them by his
attempt to kill his father. His actions in the real world
would, however, demand of him that he kill his fears of his
father by meeting them and living with the reality of his

ox

93
father. His attempt to destroy his father is a parallel
action to other attempts to meet life by escaping reality.
This is merely another, culminating step in his escape
from himself and from the truth of the human condition.

The futility of his escapist approach becomes
apparent to him, but he does not know how to change his
course of action. On one occasion he relates an incident
in which an American student of theology exuded a vitality
and balance of approach to life that he and his European
friends lacked: 'nachher hatten wir alle das Geffihl, Greise
zu sein.” (D3 283) They have already capitulated in the
struggle for the realization of self, and thus present a
mask, a persona, rather than the true self.

An emptiness of soul is consequent to an invalid
approach to life, the lack of solid content in a past that
is imposed falsely on a differently constituted self.
Everything that does not express the true self is part of
the avoidance of self-realization, and there is always
some element of inauthenticity in the most well-adjusted
person. Reinhart cannot accept this in himself.

A series of images based on Reinhart's relations with
minor characters reveals this aspect of self realization.
While painting Ammann,Heinhart comments on the falseness
of Ammann's pose and expands his view to include everyone:
"Was Sic da machen, --alles, was man macht, ist Posa --
und zum Kotzen....' (DS 96) Reinhart is so disturbed by
this thought perhaps because he is himself on the point of

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giving up art as a pose.

In his later endeavour to find out the truth about
his heritage, and before he discovers that his foster-
parents are not his real parents, he visits his foster-
mother to try to extract information about his foster-
father. He again senses the inauthentic nature of the
situation: in his foster-mother's home "t3nt [hlleg/
sonderbar...hohl....' (DS 198) He cannot get her to
divulge the truth: she fears living the truth now because
this would mean a negation of the years of false relation-
ship. Although Heinhart senses that she is withholding
something, he misunderstands, thinking that she is avoiding
discussing his foster-father's drinking problem. Shortly
after this, Reinhart cannot keep his pipe lit. The poorly
burning pipe images the state of untruthfulness in his
relationship with his foster-mother. It is empty and does
not provide the wherewithall necessary to maintain it.

The emptiness of the common office worker's life is
directly experienced by Reinhart. He observes the others
with him as "dis grosse Galeere,” (D8 153) slaves oooped
up in a building, working all together on command of the
clock and on orders from above. He needs something beyond
animal existence, something of a higher order involved in
the work demanded of him, something of involvement of self
that would realize his self, something other than the
projection of a persona. Yet he later emphasizes that it
is necessary first of all to have confidence in oneself

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before attempting to project oneself to others through art
or other expressive means, and that such efforts to create
self-confidence are invalid: "Nur kranke, halbe, von Geburt
her verwundete Naturen dfirsten nach Leistung in diesem
Sinne....” (D8 283) If Reinhart has not discovered the
full truth about himself, if he masks his true emotions,
and if he is unable to accept that truth which is revealed
as part of the beauty of life, he must refrain from the
creation of art, for art is truth, and accepted truth
originating in a confidence in all that is the self. An
acceptance of self precedes an expression of self.

The thought processes that are necessary to construct
a viable personal philosophy -- whether correct or false,
a viable philosophy guides one's reactions to life -- begin
taking shape during the pragmatic period of Reinhart's
life. Hortense's return to him during his new employment
forces him to more carefully and fully reject the artist
role and accept the office employee role. She endeavours
to get him to return to the artist role, and ”seine
Gedanken liefen wie die Weberschifflein.' (D8 161) His
thought processes are operating mechanically, rationally,
much as his work in the office requires no emotional
involvement. The rational process must be pressed into
high gear, and it is this momentum that will carry him into
a full acceptance of her father's philosophy, which is in
direct contrast to his own insecurity and ambivalence. At

this moment his choice is not between himself and a persons,

96
but between the persona of the artist and that of the

pragmatist.

C. Persona as Psychic Death

A symptom of the detachment from the reality that is
himself, and the avoidance of the reality that is Yvonne,
is apparent in Reinhart when the author has him approaching
the real situation of personally deep involvement with her
in a dreamy state. He looks ”ins Ungewisse hinaus, als
ware er taub oder trauma...." (DS 67) Reinhart is an
artist, which is actually a movement away from himself and
her to the degree that he is not consciously acting on an
impulse that comes from within himself, and to this degree
he is losing contact with reality. The deafness and
dreaminess are images of the actual state that he is in,
in reality, and thus imply an actality of situation that at
first glance appears to indicate the opposite.

The logical progression from this is a denial of the
real situation in both Reinhart and Yvonne's actions: an
escape in the external life situation can be maintained
only by intensified separation of the inner needs for truth
from the external ones. If they face the reality of the
life that Reinhart is leading, the artist persona will no
longer be viable. Thus, ”alle Fragen...traten gleichsam
hinter einen Vorhang tr3stlichen Glfickes zurfick, wc sie
h8flioh verblassten....' (DS 73) The rational pursuit of

happiness finds no room in a pursuit of the irrational,

97
where they have found common ground. They both finally
capitulate and end their troubled relationship by
psychically 'killing' the other through total rejection of
the reality that is the self of the other.

The true self that requires passion and involvement
with persons drives Reinhart to make one more attempt at
renewing the relationship. In a bedroom scene late in the
novel Reinhart divulges to Hortense his experiences with
Yvonne in this respect. He had held Yvonne, now Hauswirt's
wife, "wie ein wehrloses Bfindel, wie cine Leiche.” (DS 23&)
Reinhart experienced her as a person outside his life, and
he was forced by her repeated rejection of him to accept
this as reality. She was not only 'dead' in his psychic
perception of her, but also in their physical relationship.
Not only did the quester meet rejection and death in the
eyes of Yvonne, but even more so did she herself meet death
in the eyes of herself and the quester.

As with Yvonne, Reinhart finds that he is rejected by
Hortense so completely in the established pattern of life
of the moment, that there appears to be no possibility of
a future for the two of them together. Again, in order to
rescue himself, he must go through a period of rejection
of Hortense, and a new life-pattern for himself in the end.
The rejection of Hortense and his acceptance of a new role
after a difficult struggle for self-identity is indicated
by the group of images treated below.

Depersonalization of the image of the other is never

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easy. But Reinhart's role of the office employee assists
him in this attempt to remove the person of the other
individual from the life patterns of his thoughts. Early
in their relationship Reinhart and Hortense experience a
moment of intense emotional involvement with the being of
the other, but Reinhart is able to see her objectively in
the height of this moment: 'Sie kam ihm plBtzlich wie sin
Gegenstand vor." (D8 181) Much as her father views her as
an object rather than as a person, an individual entity,
so is Reinhart here capable of doing the same. This
depersonalization of the one closest to him in all ways can
only destroy a truly strong attraction between them, one
that would go beyond the practicalities of everyday
existence. Hortense sees in Reinhart the man that her
father sees: 'jetzt war or cine Summe von schmerzlichen
Hingeln....' (DS 22&) 'Sie sah ihn, der eben nooh ziemlich
die Welt war, die einzig wirkliche, als cine Summe von
Worten. Und man heiratet keine Worte.” (D8 225)

Reinhart develops the relationship between himself
and Hortense to the extent that he is quite ready to marry
her and propagate his kind without having first discovered
or accepted who he is. This situation creates ambivalent
drives within him, and he hardly understands the feelings
that would express disappointment at not arriving at his
goal of selfdunderstanding before giving life to another
human being: "Eine keimende EnttEuschung war kaum zu
ersticken.” (DS 181) He is finally able to choke off this

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inner expression of a desire to know himself first, asking
Hortense to marry him. But the image is one of destruction,
destruction of the true self, the self that wishes to
express itself in truth. He has not accepted his role as
genuine, and senses this.

Reinhart finally succeeds in depersonalizing his
image of Hortense, the only other person who gives him
reasons for searching for his true self. With the psychic
death of both Yvonne and Hortense, Reinhart is left with
no hold on psychic life. And only the new philosophy of
certainty helps him live physically for a few years as
Anton, the gardener.

In a dream about his father Reinhart sees him as a
'Hetzger, halb wie ein Henker...,' (D8 202) this before
knowing anything of his real father, who, in fact, was a
butcher. He is living some of the emptiness of his life,
caused by his lack of a true father, and unconsciously
senses the rejection of his mother by his father, which
resulted in her death -- his reel father denied the truth
of his involvement with Reinhart's mother, rejecting the
responsibilities that were his. The ambivalence of
relationship between Reinhart's true parents could have
been the key for his acceptance of ambivalence within
himself, but he was destined never to find an inner harmony.

Frau Reinhart destroys any possibility for true depth
in her relationship with Jfirg by denying him the truth of
his heritage. Her denial of his right to the truth thus

Vi

.100
contributes to his disastrous reaction to the truth when it
finally comes out.

Word imagery relating to death abounds in Reinhart's
account of his moment of truth, when he is to take a meal
with the Hafners, and face his real father. Er "ging wie
zu einer Hinrichtung," (DS 270) fearing the inability to
accept his father, and, thus, himself. His sentence of
death would be subconsiously passed by himself on himself.
Thus the aborted shooting scene and Reinhart's own death
are prepared. The final escape is symbolized by the pistol
which he carries around with him: "or empfand sie wie einen
Halt, den or brauchte....” (DS 275) The ability to negate
his own existence exists psychically in the nonacceptance
of self and physically in the act of suicide. A morbid
view of interpersonal relations denies the full beauty of
moments experienced: Reinhart retains memories of beautiful
moments spent in his life but is unable to balance them
against the sadness of the non-realized self.

Yvonne is the direct motivating factor for the artist
role: Hortense is the indirect motivating factor for the
office employee role. Yvonne directly motivates against
involvement in irrational endeavours: Hortense indirectly
motivates Reinhart's rejection of the office employee role.
Only the current materialistic attitudes of the general
public, of men such as Hortense's father, are left for
Reinhart to cling to in order to save himself. Hortense's
relationship to Reinhart during the time that he is an

’v’

101
office employee changes from an insignificant role in
respect to his development of self to a more formidable
one in which she influences him to adopt a radical
philosophy that also does not fit him. The comedy of
errors plays itself out with his self-justified suicide,
the final act of both certainty and uncertainty.

D. Masks: Personae

An image that deserves treatment here rather than
within the chapter below on image-groups is that of the
mask. This image is so closely bound with character
development that it is unavoidable here.

A statement by Reinhart just before parting with
Hortense in her rejection of him emphasizes the theme that
runs through all of Frisch's novels: ”Alles ist Masks. Man
muss es einfach glauben, das andere Gesicht, bis es wieder-
kommt." (ca 179) The implication of this statement for the
development of relationships between characters is that the
human being is incapable of retaining the reality of the
presence of the other person, that involvement with another
person on the level of the revealed self is a growing,
living thing, and ceases to exist with the loss of contact.
What remains is a memory, an image, which, when fixed in
such circumstances, reveals an immobile, one-aspect view of
the real person, who is mobile and manysided and ever-
chansins.

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work intensively, excluding concerns for persons and life
around him. Such involvement may be productive in a
mechanical search for the truth of some practically
functioning apparatus, but in the production of art, a
basic premise is that art goes beyond the practical, non-
human to involve all aspects of existence to the depths
in which boundaries of practical and impractical become
meaningless: as both are included, all life is included.
Reinhart loses contact with the practicality of the
irrational and the impracticality of the rational. His
work becomes as a mask that conceals and avoids confronta-
tion with his true self.

When Reinhart makes the change from artist to office
employee, Yvonne essentially drops from his life completely.
He himself has had to face the possibility of suicide, and
has chosen instead to relegate Yvonne to a position of
nothingness in his future possibilities in life. This,
then, is much more indicative of occurrences within
Reinhart than those between Reinhart and Yvonne. Reinhart's
thoughts previous to this moment of suicidal tendency
prepare him for this rejection of Yvonne, the person; he
thus 'kills' her. He comments to himself even during a
high moment in their togetherness that each of them wears
a mask: "Immer die t8dliche Masks der Huhe,” (D8 117) as a
mask of calmness in the face of passions that are strongly
felt, a show of certainty in the face of uncertainties.

And it is this false calmness that is deadly for human

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relationships. It follows that if reality consists of that
which is experienced and perceived, then that which is
rejected is consigned to non-reality, or, for the finite
person, to death.

"warum, denkt er in Trauer erschSpft, warum reisse
ich ihr nicht die Masks herab vom Gesicht?" (DS 120) This
is said by Reinhart when she has just rejected his advance,
made long after her decision to leave him. Reinhart is
unable to perceive the mask that he, himself, wears, yet
he would force Yvonne to do away with this mask of
rejection. He is correct to the degree that she is now
assuming a role that is as false as that that Reinhart is
playing, and incorrect in that she has accepted him as a
father of her child. She opts for silence on her part,
freely choosing the death in life that is psychological,

or psychic suicide.

E. J'adore ce qui me brule: Capitulation
The Oberst plays a quite minor role in the novel in

relation to character development, but he does influence
Reinhart from the third chapter to the end. The symbol
that is immediately shown to be representative of the
Oberst's philosophy of life, although he does not appear
to consciously understand his relation to it, is the
medallion with the picture of a small Negro savage
worshiping in awe or fear before a fire. Reinhart plays

this role of the worshiper in his relationship to the

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Oberst, in that he unwittingly acquiesces to the Oberst's
power in determining the outcome of his relations with
Hortense, and in that he allows himself to be influenced
by the Oberst's Weltanschauung.

The subservient nature of Reinhart in his role as a
gardener is reflected in the picture on the Oberst's
medallion. As Reinhart-Anton comes into Hortense's
bedroom during the storm, the candles he carries present
an image of a 'weihevoller GebErde." (DS 258) Hortense
sees him as a servant, which, of course, he is; and "sein
Schatten knickte sich fiber die Wfinde und Decks...” (D8 262)
In his final philosophizing, Reinhart views the healthy,
materially successful members of society as 'Zwischentrfiger"
(DS 280-1) of the vital life-force. But the final results
of Reinhart's misguided efforts emphasize the view that one
could attribute to Frisch, that life is not ”held" as fire
is not "held.” It is lived or not lived, existentially
living into the unknown with the acceptance of all revealed
possibility of self, or dead in the repetitive patterns of
life that become a system that excludes self-realization.
An early indication of this total acceptance and radicaliza-
tion of a philosophy shared by the Oberst points up
Reinhart's abjection before it: "Hinter all diesen Kniffen
steckt ein erstaunliches Wissen ums Leben!” says Reinhart.
(D8 206) This in reference to the Oberst's refusal to
accept Reinhart as an equal to Hortense. He decides that

his best act can be one of self-destruction to eliminate

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the possibility of progeny. Due to circumstances and an
ignorance of all that follows from his previous actions,
i.e. his child by Yvonne, the final act becomes ironically
totally ineffective according to his own scheme of things.
He attempted to handle the "fire" of the power over others
and was "burnt” by his too-rationalized view of life.

The self-assurance that results from Reinhart facing
himself in facing the Oberst is real and a positive step
in his approach to the realization of self. But the lack
of knowledge about his real father and mother and the
circumstances of his birth make it possible for the Oberst
to completely demoralize him with the revelation. Frisch
seems to say with this that had Reinhart accepted the worst
possible heritage as his own, there would have been no need
for retreat and there would have been a need for a rethink-
ing of his philosophy of life.

F. Comparison to the Characters in
the Other Novels

These straight-line thought processes that mislead
Reinhart into the Anton-role find expression more directly
in one of the moments in Stiller where one seems to hear
Frisch speaking directly to the reader: "es zeugt von
PersSnlichkeit, wenn einer die Welt etwa mit Heidegger
sieht und nur mit Heidegger, wir andern schwimmcn in einem
Cocktail, der ungefahr alles enthalt, in nobelster Art von
Eliot gemixt....” (D3 220)

The theme of impotency, touched on above, is allied

106

to the death theme. The inability of people to accept the
emotional involvement required in a true experience of
heterosexual relations leads to the death of the other
person as a viable self. Walter Faber makes a definite
point of this in his reflections on his relations with
Hanna: ”Nur mit Hanna ist es nie absurd gewesen." (HE 122)
He was able to accept both of their natural emotional
responses to each other in sexual relations as a part of
the self, but the falseness of the same with other women
made the whole situation "absurd.” Stiller had his Spanish
experience, and Reinhart has his pistol failure in his
attempt to kill his father. Each of these refers to
situations in which the character has negated some aspect
of his self, denying his own existence, and thereby
committing psychic suicide. In Stiller Frisch expands the
implications of this to include the Swiss people: "Die
Armut an.Begeisterung, die allgemeine Unlust, die uns in
diesem Land entgegenschlEgt, sind doch wohl deutliche
Symptoms, wie nahe sie dieser Impotenz schon sind...." (S 290)
Viewed from the perspective of Reinhart the
pragmatist, Yvonne and Hortense are vague entities that are
a stumbling block for Reinhart. The male characters, on
the other hand, image the vital forces of nature misled by
a stagnant, unemotional, life-denying rationalism. Ammann
appears to keep options for irrational involvement in life
open to himself and others to some degree. The Oberst
expresses this possibility for development: ”Vielleicht

107

gibt es viele und verschiedene Maglichkeiten, um ein Mensch
zu werden: aber jeder hat nur sine." (DS 175) His free
thinking is marred by the rigidity of his own position and
his imposition on others. He vaguely realizes that the
possibility of being correct is based on assumptions that
must first be made, allowing for error: but after making
assumptions, the allowance for error is forgotten when
theory is translated into action. A comment on Stiller's
behaviour reflects this situation in regard to Reinhart:
”Er war wohl, wie man sagt, ein Mann mit Chancen, ohne
sich seine Chanoen zu glauben." (S 128) The ideas of the
Oberst are the same ones with which Reinhart finally
excludes any possibility of his own.dcvelopment.

Yvonne married Hauswirt for security: the Oberst is
a man of secure position: Ammann makes his way through
life with ease and confidence -- only Reinhart is unable
to become successful economically. In all of these men,
including Reinhart, there is the element of avoided truth
of the irrational self in various degrees. The great god
Chance determines the degree of success that these various
people attain: noone cares to view the consequences of
success and happiness gained at the expense of other
persons. Walter Faber perhaps best expresses this facet of
the male characters around Reinhart when he speaks of the
affair he was having with a young woman, who turns out to
be his daughter: "was ist denn.meine Schuld? Ich habe sie
auf dem Schiff getroffen, als man auf die Tischkarten

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wartete...." (HF 151) The Oberst could easily brush off
any consequences of the information he has given to
Reinhart as of no concern of his. Hauswirt would be
incapable of assuming responsibility for the consequences
of some action of his on the emotional life of another
person. Hinkelmann was merely without adult experience in
viable human relationships, and Ammann.was capable but
undeveloped. Reinhart began with the ability to see and
care, but gradually lost this completely.

Although Reinhart was surrounded with this kind of
patterned response to life, Frisch holds him responsible
for his position at the end of his life, his psychic
death and his despair in existence. Stiller presents a
similar but intensified development of the estrangement
that develops and endures between Reinhart and Yvonne.
Julika is an entirely different type of person, much more
of a challenge to that person attempting to develop a real
relationship with her. Yet Frisch also allows Stiller no
excuse for not having developed himself through a depth
relationship with her.

Reinhart and Stiller believe, finally, that life can
be mastered by rational thinking and action. The blind
Gantenbein best illustrates a method of proving the false-
ness of their overly-rational approach. He leads persons
to a sudden perception of new facets of life when he has
them in a tour group for which he serves as guide (2)
describe for his sightless eyes what it is that they see at

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each stop along the way: ”Einzelne empfinden ein solches
Erbarmen mit ihm, dass sis, um Worte zu finden, die ihm
eine vorstellung geben von der Weihe des Ortes, selber zu
sehen anfangen. Ihre Worte sind hilflos, aber ihre Augen
werden lebendig; Gantenbein nickt und horcht und nickt und
lEsst seine Pfeife erkalten....' (G 221) In attempting to
express the inexpressible to another human being through
the visionary powers within himself, a person discovers
the depths of the emotional, irrational content within all
nature, including himself.

Psychic death, the death of the inner individual,
took place in Yvonne when she chose a life without the
irrational element. Reinhart later chose a similar path,
as did various other persons. Death resulted from a
rejection of the true self, here of the irrational elements,
as previously it occurred in the rejection of all rational
elements. An assumed persona was the only option open to
the person, condemning him or her to non-existence on an
animal, sub-human plane. In a later novel, Stiller refers
to the death of his wife in terms that lead the jailkeeper
to believe that he intends a physical death. Stiller says
of him: ”Er versteht, dass ich von meinem ersten Mord, da
es sich um meine Gattin handelt, nicht gern rods." (3 27)
Julika is, for him, dead: and, perhaps, for herself, too.
Stiller carries out a development of this theme much more
extensively, but perhaps less plausibly than the parallel

development between Reinhart and Yvonne.

.
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evv

110

The assumption of a role, a persona, contributes to
and eventually ends in an emptiness of reality of the self
that signifies psychic death. Gantenbein toys with the
ability to see both aspects of a person's projected self --
the true and the false. His tinted glasses symbolize this
ability to see whichever he desires. However, he has
problems of adjustment: "Gantenbein hat sich bereits daran
gew8hnt und findet die wirkliche Farbe ihres Lippenstifts,
ohne Brille gesehen, ebenso unnatfirlich.“ (G &l) Ganten-
bein is here realizing the true nature of the person;
the persona, as a person of death-hues, is ”unnatural,”
i.e., not living, and it is this that is the true reality
of that person. The person seen by "natural” light is a
false projection of the self. Reinhart was not able to see
through to the self because he was himself subject to great
errors of self-realization. The appearance of Yvonne, when
he returned to her after being rejected, was as of a
corpse, thus he experienced that which he couldn't openly
recognize. Hortense retains a desire to live the irrational,
an acceptance of existential uncertainty, and thus attains
another dimension. She and Ammann never quite fully assume

a persona.‘

CHAPTER V
MAIN POETIC IMAGE-GROUPS:
THE ULTIMATE LANGUAGE
A. Introduction

Imagery in the novel encompasses a variety, wealth
and unity which reveals nuances of theme and character.
But in a wider sense these poetic images are not really
interested in depicting individual characters, but rather
composite personalities. The poetic images become
allegories of modern man searching desperately for identity.
The following images seem to be of prime importance: Child-,
Moth and Flame-, Bird-, Bluo-, Animal-, Battle-, Death-,
and Glass-images. Several of these categories are
collective units, being able to stand singly as one
pertinent category. Others, such as Battle-Imagery,
include within themselves varieties of smaller categories
that are merely variations of a general theme. Some more
important categories, such as the Turandot image, were
treated above, because they were intimately related to the
portrayal of character images.

B. Child-Imagery: The Theme of the Self
as a Goal, once had, now lost

Since child imagery is vitally related to the main

theme of the novel, it will be treated first. Most of

these images relate to the protagonist, Jfirg Reinhart, who

111

112

is a childlike person who never grows up.

Several images compare things of the inanimate world
to the qualities of a child, the most important of which
is perhaps the reference to the wind as the child of the
void as it relates to Reinhart's real mother recalling her
homeland: 'Sie h6rte den Wind, das Kind der Leere, das
Stfirzen aus Hiumen der Bliue.' (DS l7&) The powerfully
metaphoric quality of this image derives from its unity
with the work as a whole and from the working together of
images that are repeatedly used throughout the novel. The
void, emptiness; concrete terms for unperceivable spaces;
the color Blue as the visible perception of nothingness --
all are intangible, but have some connection with the
tangible wind. Reinhart's mother hears the wind in her
memory of days past, the days of her youth. Her own
position in life is thus like this force of nature; she
can respond to elemental drives, but, like the child, she
is unable to control them herself. She has been unable to
come to grips with life as an adult and realize herself.
She only acts in relation to herself by committing suicide,
by denying herself.

Jfirg Reinhart cannot make the tremendously difficult
change from the child to the mature, self-realizing adult.
Frisch creates no adults in this novel in the sense of a
human being who has known and realized the self. When
Reinhart is in the art supply store, he looks at items
that he does not have the money to buy. Yvonne, who is

113
earning a living wage, buys the supplies for Reinhart as if
in jest. ”Wie Kinder spielten sis Kauferladen." (DS 86)
Both were indulging in assumed roles; the truth of the
situation would have been demeaning to both of them, thus
it is the omniscient narrator who makes this comment on
their behaviour.

Reinhart realizes his former immaturity later in the
novel. He indicates his desire to assume an adult role
when he says to Hortense: ”Ich bin kein Schulbub mehr....'
(DS 205) He is trying to assume the middle class role, as
an answer to the problem, creating a new persona due to an
inadequate basis of self-understanding. His quest, however,
is an.awkward step beyond childishness and the irrational
toward maturity. The change that momentarily occurs within
him, his quest for self, results in no more child-imagery
related to him in the balance of the novel-- he has cut
himself off from a pursuit of the naivete of the child
and subsequently selected a false goal. The last reference
to this, by Hortense, is quickly proven to be a partly-
mistaken view on her part. She says to him, ”wie zu einem
Jungen," (DS 208) that her father would never accept him
for a talk about them. Unknown to her, he has already
arranged the meeting. But she is not entirely mistaken:
Reinhart is seeing her father under the assumption that he
has earned this audience, whereas the actual reason that
her father has accepted him for this interview is because
of Reinhart's real mother, who is yet unknown to Reinhart.

11&

Reinhart's own determination has created the possibility
for this encounter. Thus an opportunity to see himself as
he really is is created by himself. But he fails to take
the information about his origin as including the
possibility of positive aspects. His mother's good
qualities are not recognized by him.

The scarcity of child-imagery in the latter part of
Die Schwierigeg_does not indicate the assumption of adult
status. Maturity is the realization, the actualization of
one's self in life. Reinhart's attempts are based at first
on false information, then, in his later life as a gardener,
on a false understanding of the factual information. No
attainment of this goal of real adulthood is indicated, as
perhaps can be seen in the application of this image to
several other characters in the novel.

The two main female characters, Yvonne and Hortense,
have contrasting child-images. Yvonne becomes childlike
only in conjunction.with Reinhart, and that only for
relaxed moments of indiscreet playfulness. 'KindskSpfe
sind wiri' (DS 8&), says Yvonne, indicating her own
rejection of the role she has temporarily assumed. She
sees herself as in a role: Reinhart accepts this part of
his life as natural. Yvonne, probably not realizing the
import of the statement she makes to herself, expresses
the basis of the problem running throughout the novel: "Am
Ends gleichen wir alle den.Kindern, denen man nicht zeigen

darf, wo man sic liebt und bewundert: schon machen sis,

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uns zuliebe, einen Affen aus sich!” (DS 88) Like a child,
Reinhart accepts the suggestion that he has the qualities
of a painter, made to him by Yvonne when they first met,
and becomes a painter. Such suggested goals in life work
on other characters, also. The one time that Yvonne is
treated like a child is when Hauswirt, who is given no
childlike qualities, condescends to abandon his pseudo-
adult role long enough to fix himself a small repast while
at her apartment: ”In der Art eines Erwachsenen, der einem
Kind zuliebe aus dem Kochgesohirrlein isst." (D3 122)
This says more about Hauswirt than it does about Yvonne.
He falls into a relationship of his own devising that can
never be the basis of a fully consummated union in marriage.
Their relationship assumes qualities of estrangement on a
soul level; it is a relationship of convenience for both.

Ivonne, who so much.wishes to find a mature, adult
man, lacks feelings that result from not having had the
natural life of a child: she feels “als wire sis in dieser
Welt nooh niemals Jung gewesen...." (DS 80-1) Her adult-
like role is an assumed response to the world forced on
her by her parents during her childhood. The first two
pages of the novel explain her position in the world -- her
eugliness brings only surface love from her parents, whereas
her radiant inner qualities make her a center of attraction
at social gatherings. The dichotomous situation was too
much for her as a developing child. She has been a "little
adult" all her life, giving her much experience in

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carefully observing human relationships on the part of
others, but little ability to act effectively upon her own
situation in anything other than practical matters. Her
pseudo-mature approach places unreal demands upon the men
she wishes to love.

Hortense is seen as childlike through Reinhart's eyes.
This is presented as the naive childlikeness that would be
a positive factor in the mature adult. Could Frisch be
suggesting that woman is to retain naivete in adulthood
and in.a different manner from man?

The last category of application of the child-images
is to people in general. For example, Hortense's brother,
Henrik, near the end of the novel, had such an arrogant
manner, 'dass sich die GEste immer wie KindskSpfe vorkamen."
(D8 253) They are subconsciously aware of their immature
approach to life and his attitude points this out to them.
Even those whose 'gute Erziehung sich am laufenden Leben
nicht einsetzen liess und sie ncch in einem Alter, wo sie
bereits in Amt und Warden standen, wo sie Effentliche Reden
hielten und im Btaate ffihrten, wie Findelkinder hilflos
liess” (D8 67) came to Ivonne for advice.

Thus it is that we see this one image indicating the
way to the theme of the work. Reinhart sees the necessity
for becoming an adult when he says to Ammann during the
painting of Ammann's portrait: 'Wir mfissen wieder Manner
werden!” (D8 131) Other imagery clarifies the present state
of a perceived goal. It is impossible to attain this goal

’7’

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117
merely by having the desire to get there; the goal of
maturity, of the realization of self, must be reached by
some unknown route. Reinhart's attempt is valid as an
attempt, but it is doomed to failure due to the present
generally undeveloped state of the art of realizing the
self, the uncertainty of the procedure required.

From the above discussion it follows that the theme
of Die Schwierigen is: The uncertain search for the
realized self, the adulthood of man.

C. Moth and Flame-Imagery:
The Attraction of Self-Realization

An important image, which symbolizes the search for
self, is built around the Turandot-related "moth and flame"
motif, being the attraction of insects to a light. The
light is helpful and exciting until the moment of contact,
which brings death. Turandot is also this: none of the
men in the novel approached Yvonne without being "burnt,"
and in one form or another one can speak of their death:
Hinkelmann commits suicide; Reinhart withdraws from the
quest and eventually commits suicide; Hauswirt never
attains the goal of having a child by Yvonne, and gives up
this quest, also. Moth and flame imagery illuminates well
Ivonne's Turandot nature.

The widened image of the insect attracted to a light
becomes mythical in the Oberst's talk to Hortense: "Wir
sehen die Geschichte vom Jungen Ikarus, die sich millionen-

fach wiederholt: alle sind von der gleichen Sonne

118

verblendet, alle stfirzen vor der gleichen Sonne, die sie
versengt...." (D8 166) He is comparing Icarus to those
persons who attempt to ignore the order established by
centuries of human beings who forged this order out of
"einer endlosen Kette von menschlichen Schiffbrfichen...."
(D8 166) Thus the image takes on qualities of mythical
truths. The Oberst uses it for his own purposes, saying
nothing about the necessity of this type of experience
continuing. That is, he is a man for the status quo in
its extreme. The attempt by man to take a path that is
not designed for him leads to failure, just as the insect
headed for a fire perisches. The Oberst's endless chain
of tradition that attempts to forge order out of the chaos
of life means to avoid the dangers inherent in living.
But this neglects to take into account the psychic danger
of non-involvement in evolving life. Non-involvement
means non-life.

Moth and flame imagery falls into two categories:
the hope that arises from the perception of a goal; and the
ultimate destruction or rejection of those who approach the
goal. Man is viewed as capable of perceiving the goal of
the realized self and of pursuing this, but near-attainment
of the goal occurs only accidentally and with drastic
results, rather than as a result of conscious endeavour.
Turandot imagery and the Icarus image relate to this in a
general way, involving hope, rejection and ultimate attain-

ment in the case of Turandot; hope and rejection in the case

119

of Icarus. The following discussion illuminates these two
categories of moth and flame imagery.

A successful image of an insect attracted to a light
comes during a reflective moment as Reinhart searches for
his father: 'Eine Biene, zwischen Fensterscheiben gefangen,
erschSpft sich nicht irrigerz' (D8 270) He is comparing
the search for self through his father to this image of
the bee, and we see that this ties in with the image of
the moth. Reinhart sees no possibility of attaining the
goal, because he is rationally thinking it out, whereas he
has attained the goal momentarily in his relationship with
Yvonne, but was not conscious of it. This desire to attain
the goal consciously through reasoned effort is the
seemingly unattainable.

Moth and flame imagery is also linked with sailing:
"die lautlosen Segler auf dem herbstlich blinkenden See,
wie grosse Schmetterlinge in der schragen Abendsonne....”
(DS 36) Hinkelmann observes this during his experience of
being finally rejected by Yvonne. He claims that it is
only a mood, nothing more. His eyes have been opened to
the possibilities of life and the person that he is. He
cannot bear this and destroys himself. Sailing is for
those who have a firm footing in a reasoned approach to
life, those who will not be "burnt” because they can never
attain the goal -- they are either naive innocents or
unconcerned pragmatists. The butterflies seen here play
in the light that attracts them, an image of a stimulus

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120

that leads toward a definite goal. Here, innocence is
reflected as unaware of this goal.

In another setting, Yvonne and Reinhart have been on
their trip to Tessin. Ivonne has achieved that which she
desires from this man. She will have a child by him, but
cannot accept him as a provider -- he has shown her that
he cannot provide. The child, she thinks, is her main
concern. The following morning "trug sie...noch cine
weisse Masche, von hinten um den.Kopf nach vorne gebunden;
wie ein Schmetterling sass es obenauf. So kam sie die
Treppe herab.” (D8 118) Like a crown or a medal, the
"butterfly" on her head signifies the success Reinhart has
had in impregnating her, but Icarus must fall to his death:
Reinhart will be completely rejected. The clarity of the
image, its lack of subtlety makes it comical rather than
potent. ’

Rejection as an aspect of moth and flame imagery
occurs early in the novel. Reinhart and Yvonne have met at
a party at her parents' house, and then 'flatterte ein
Tanzer herein wie ein Falter ans Licht.” (D3 11) Reinhart
observes this and her consequent rejection of the dancer.
Yvonne is compared to the light that attracts insects. All
of this supports the contention that Reinhart later sees
Turandot in her as a result of observing her actions here.
He probably doesn't consciously recall this incident, but
his subconscious retains it and makes the connections later.

This rejection of the dancer presages the series of men she

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rejects with more drastic consequences.

The moth motif appears also in the form of the
caterpillar, the earlier stage of metamorphosis: "wie eine
Heerschar unsichtbarer Raupen, die in den atmenden BlEttern
nur nooh das GeEder zurficklassen...." (DS 65) Yvonne is
comparing her unborn child by Hinkelmann to these wormlike
insects. Horrible image that it is, it expresses well the
sense of despair Yvonne has for her situation. People
continually drain her of the strength for advice to all
she somehow has, and now an unwanted child saps her
strength. Hinkelmann later dies, but his seed is doing its
work temporarily, for Yvonne soon has an abortion. This,
then, contrasts with the image that she creates when she
knows that she is to have the child by Reinhart, which she
wants and allows to live.

Moth and flame imagery thus illuminates the hope that
knows no bounds and the harsh consequences of rejection.
The various dimensions of this are further clarified by
the image groups below. They show that nature contains
the elements of these polarities that Frisch discovers in
man's psychic makeup.

D. Bird-Imagery:
The Limitations of Human.Beings and
their Possibilities for Moments of Insight

Moth and flame imagery concerns itself with those
persons who are making the attempt to discover themselves

through an intimate relationship with other people. Closely

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allied with this category is that of bird imagery. In this
category, however, man despairs of gaining insight through
his fellow man, but, in his desperate search for clarity,
seeks metaphysical help. He would soar above his people-
oriented, prosaic and earthbound tradition to seek insight
in an infinite realm. .

Reinhart observes the unconscious Yvonne on the deck
of the ship taking them from Greece: ”Hinde wie Fleder-
mfiuse, hilflos....' (D8 32) The image of helplessness on
land and the inability to take flight fit her condition of
helplessness before the past and the future at that time.

A similar employment of the bird image to create a
sense of earth-boundness occurs later in the novel:
Reinhart, in his room at the Hafners during his search for
his heritage, feels helpless in confrontation with the
miserable man who is his real father: ”es war ihm dann,
als schlagen wir alle die Plfigel auf den Boden wie die
angeschossene Krihe. Es fehlt die Luft, die uns trEgt."
(D8 270) None of what he is finding would enable him to
move toward a realization of himself, understood by him to
be his father's characteristics. He is searching for an
ideal in his father, and will not find it. He knows
nothing beyond this, no religion, for instance, and thus
has no basis for making the effort. At this moment he
senses an impossibility of finding anything that will
create the possibility for self-realization. Nobody that
he knows has discovered this.

123

At an earlier point he senses this fear of finding
no supporting point of reference in life. As an artist
he comes to realize the impossibility of giving expression
to anything ultimate: “Schwermut fiber allem wie schwarze
flatternde V3gel fiber den rauchenden StEtten der Freude,
Schatten der Angst....” (DS 69) The joy of involvement
in a search for the expression of the inexpressible
carries him through a period of ecstatic effort, a flight
without joy: the end result is an overwhelming melancholy
at the lack of final success, at the inevitability of
ultimate failure.

Yvonne pictures Reinhart's foster father as having
no real fatherly concern for him. He has a *Verhaltnis
zu ihm, fast wie zu einem Kuckucksei....“ (DS 79) His
foster father sees nothing beyond the practical, and this
child is beyond his comprehension. The bird's-egg image
could represent the open possibilities of the child who
can make the development into self-realization. But the
ordering and restrictive forces of human relationships at
present restrain a child from developing this element of
his nature to its fullest.

The only moment of successful "flight” is realized
by Reinhart's real mother. She is living away from her
homeland, where the naive contact with the infinite was
more easily maintained. Her own sensitivity to life and
determination to live it in her own way, allow the moment

of self-realization. Her thoughts turn, in a moment of

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deep distress, to recalled images of her homeland: "um die
ihr Heimweh kreiste wie einstmals die russisohen V3gel...."
(D3 177)

The flexibility of the bird imagery results in a
resistance to symbolization. Rather, the images built
around the category of the bird serve to bridge the gap
between it and the moth and flame imagery, the gap between
concrete images of human nature and its metaphysical
possibilities.

E. Blue- Imagery:
The Goal of Self-Realization

Of the color images the color blue is given special
emphasis. Early in the novel its significance is explained
by Reinhart. He is showing Yvonne a postcard picture of a
painting of the first man, Adam. Around Adam's head one
sees ”Petzen von.Bl€ue, die Farbe des Geistes, der
Sehnsucht, der Himmel, der Weite und alles Unerreichbaren
....' (DS 82) Man is desirous of attaining the unattain-
able; his desire points toward an infinitely distant goal.
Up to this point blue imagery coincides with bird imagery,
but here the two categories branch out in different
directions. ”Blue“ suggests the idea that this ideal,
infinite state does not only exist in a remote realm, but
that man has the responsibility and capability of
personalizing it.

Man has the elements necessary for the attainment of

this goal within himself. He is incapable of reaching this

 

125

goal through merely external phenomena. Only by a
realization of the same elements within himself that exist
outside himself can he "attain" the goal. In a sense he
does not move toward a goal: he rather reveal and acts out
the self that is already within him.

The method of realization will be individual just as
the form is individual and requires a certain method of
realization. Method of realization and form become one
and the same thing.

Reinhart's explanation of the "Fetzen.von Blane"
takes on such significance due to the juxtaposition of
terms in his explanation and the further application of the
image "blue" in the balance of the novel. Man's desire to
strive for the attainment of something beyond the
immediately perceivable is the thread found in the imagery.

The first reference to blueness in this novel is
directly related to the last such image. Yvonne is
married to Hinkelmann and is satisfied with her lot. She
contentedly sits on the beach alone, “nicht wartend, da
ihr der silberne Wind in den Oliven.vollauf genfigte, das
seltsame Geschlangel der Stfimme, die fleischrote Erde, die
Blane des Meeres....' (DS 22) She enjoys all aspects of
Nature alive, in contrast to Hinkelmann, who concerns
himself exclusively with dead civilizations. At the end of
the novel Hanswalter is wondering what the ocean looks like,
and is able to "recall" the view without having experienced

it. One "erinnert sich an seine unsagliche Weite, seine

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Hiesenmuschelblfiue, man erinnert sich und hat es nooh gar
nie gesehenl..." (DS 296) He is able to do this because
he is experiencing a moment of openness to all that life
has to hold for him, and this is possible due to some
vaguely perceived drives within himself. Hanswalter, now
sensing this drive, is free to apply the powers of
imagination that were once Reinhart's.

Three times in the novel the verb "zittern" is
used in conjunction with "Blane." All three appear to
occur in reference to moments of anticipation, moments just
preceding experiences that are closely related to turning
points in.aeinhart's life. The first refers to the sky
that Reinhart sees from the deck of the ship just before
he catches the fainting Yvonne: 'zitterte die sfidliche
Blfiue.' (DS 30) This chance meeting brings forth the)
Turandot image and Reinhart's subsequent desire to see her
again.

In.a descriptive passage preceding the information
that Reinhart no longer lives with his mother and that
Ivonne has quit her job occurs the phrase: ”Bliue zitterte
fiber den hohen Hiesen....' (DS 8“) This begins the period
of trial for Reinhart, of which he knows nothing. He has
made progress by breaking away from his mother and now has
the opportunity of showing that he is capable of providing
for Yvonne.

The final image in this group occurs during Reinhart's
musings about the type of life he and so many others are

 

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127

leading by being cooped up in an office all day. "Sommer
mit zitternder Blfiue, Wind in den Grfisern, Wilder in
rauschendem Regen: all das verkaufen sie, um leben zu
k3nnen." (DS 153) This reflection immediately precedes
Reinhart's ”accidental” meeting with Hortense. All three
of these images, then, suggest that infinite fulfillment
does not exist alone in some vague realm, but that it must
be sought in the individual himself in the midst of the
everyday world.

F. Animal-Imagery: Brutal Materialism

or Mankind Gone Astray

In direct contrast to blue imagery is that grouped
about the animal symbol. Instead of aspiring to lofty
goals, man will at times revert to his cruder self. Animal
imagery expresses the baser qualities in man, emphasizing
the dull unawareness of self and the aimless wandering that
results when one follows the whims of the moment. No
character seems free from the association with animal
imagery. Base qualities are a part of human nature and
must be taken into account at all stages of life and play
a role in the pursuit of the actualised self.

Hinkelmann is disturbed by any discussion that does
not stay within his sphere of interest and competence:
”wenn das Gesprfich, das eben nooh in seinem Zfigel war,
plBtzlich wie ein zfigelloser Gaul seine eigenen Sprfinge
machte und immer weiter von der Wissenschaft abkam." (DS 16)

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128

causes him to exclude himself from the conversation until

, it returns to his intellectual level. A runaway horse

is one that breaks away from a highly ordered set of
responses, just as the conversation at times breaks away
from Hinkelmann's highly structured view of life. The
horse, in running away, is asserting its freedom. The
rigid pattern that Hinkelmann imposes on life recognizes
no freedom of the person. He is restricted to his
scientific work with past civilizations, which are dead
and provide no danger of suddenly breaking away from
tradition.

This image expresses the drive for freedom within an
animal, and the lack of any goal once it is free. Another
animal image expresses man's willingness to subordinate
himself to a dull, routine existence: the people who work
in the office with Reinhart are 'gehorsam, gewissenhaft
wie ein Milchwagenross, das seine tigliche Strecke kennt,
nooh wenn man ihm den Xopf abschlagen.wfirde:" (D8 152)

No real goal in life guides these people, just as a
conversation can well have no guiding topic. The narrow
world of the scientist who knows nothing of a vital
existence in the present compares with the narrow world of
the office employee who repeatedly carries out the same
task, day after day.

Both of these images help express the incapability
of many people of handling anything new. Their routine is
so well set that an adjustment or change brings about

 

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129
traumatic conditions for them. They have lost the capacity
to cope with new situations that they as a new-born child
must have had.

A third image of the horse is applied to Reinhart's
half-brother, who is ”braun wie ein Ross.” (D8 271) The
image is applicable here to his half-brother's uncontrolled
sex life. He spends his time on the seashore or in a
beauty parlor -- when he isn't under treatment for a
venereal disease. Again, no goal in life beyond the
satisfaction of basic animal drives exists for this human
being.

This imagery has been a movement coming over nearer
application to Reinhart's own final acceptance of a routine
set philosophy of life, an animal-like existence: first,
animal imagery applied to Hinkelmann in conversations that
don't include Reinhart, who is yet naive: second, animal ,
imagery in connection with the people around Reinhart, the
office employee: and third, animal imagery applied to his
own half-brother.

Other animal imagery is used to reveal undesirable
personality traits. Yvonne sees herself as 'eine magere
Geiss, eine Heuschrecke' (DS 57): Yvonne and Reinhart make
. uncalculated plans for their future, 'Plfinen, die kaum
geboren, sie gleichsam wie junge Hunde umhfipften..." (DS 88-
89): Hortense threatens to break away from family tradition,
and her parents look at her "wie zwei Tiere, die auf der
Schlachtbank stehen...” (DS lhh); Hafner despises his son's

 

 

l..- l‘!

130

(Reinhart's step-brother's) actions, but when the young
man comes home, "Hafner...hielt sich lautlos und brummig
wie ein Hund, der den Sohwanz einzieht....” (D8 272)

The highpoint in the development of this animal
imagery occurs after Reinhart has pulled the gun on his
father and attempted to shoot him. The gun was empty, and
Reinhart "ssh nichts als.ein endloses Gewurstel, das sich
fortpflanst, einen Knfiuel von sinnlosem Leben, ein Untier,
das mit Menschenkfipfen wuchert!“ (DS 27?) He has attempted
to destroy the source of so much human misery, only to have
the gun fail to go off. This image occurs during Anton's
conversation with Hortense. He is describing his life
since their parting at the end of the third chapter, and
tells her that he will refuse to propagate the "Untier."

He is determined to have no progeny. The sudden revelation
of the kind of father he actually has and the discovery of
the treatment his half-sister received destroyed his sense
of self esteem. His attempt to shoot his father represents
an effort to destroy the origin of his own existence. If
he must accept Hafner as his father to realize himself, he
is nevertheless aware of the danger of inheriting Hefner's
characteristics and of transmitting them to a succeeding
generation. He has already attempted suicide, and talked
himself out of it. Now he fails to kill his father.
Subsequently he denies himself a productive life, as he
explains it, and in the end succeeds in killing himself.

The "Untier" image creates a dramatic impact as great as

Hi1 3. 1‘

131
any other in the novel.

This monster image, which characterizes successive
generations of humanity, stands in contrast to a poetically
more pleasing image in the animal sphere, that of deer.

In the final pages of the novel girls are likened to deer:
"Das.Antlitz der Mfidchen, unsterblich sieht es dich an wie
die Rehstille aus braunen W51dern....” (DS 289) The "deer-
quiet" suggests the friendly, naive, quiet unapproachable-
ness of the girls, whom Reinhart had observed on the other
side of the classroom as a youth. This image emphasizes
these qualities of the feminine members of the human race.
Women.are seen as embodying the naive qualities that men
strive for. They have generally retained this naivete by
being forced to remain childlike. Men, however, in their
search for a regaining of this condition on an adult plane,
ever return to the feminine qualities, i.e. the childlike
naivete, for the inspiration they need. The strength of
this image lies not only in its application to Yvonne, who
repudiated this view of womanhood, but to all the characters
in the novel.
G. Battle-Imagery: The Struggle for the
Realization of Self over the
Projection of Persona

The battle imagery illuminates the conflicts that
take place on the psychological level, within the
individual and between individuals, in the search for self.
Instruments of battle are in the majority: "Panzer” (DS 5h);

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132
"Bogon" (DS 71); "Kugel' (DS 72); ”Speere" (DS 73);
"Schwerte” (D8 131); ”Dolch” (D8 162); "Giftpfsil" (DS 23k);
”Bombs" (D3 237). The atmosphere of a battle is reinforced
by such terms as "Hear" (DS 126); ”Sieg" (D3 131);
”Helmbusch' (D8 204); 'Angriff' (D8 213); "Kampf" (DB 238).
Most of the battle imagery refers directly to the
characters, creating a mood that reflects the struggles
taking place within the individual.

After Hinkelmann discovers that Ivonne is leaving
him, he "stand wie von einer Art geschlagen...spfirte alles
wie ein.Brett vor der Stirne.” (D8 2“) The psychological
blow causes a physical reaction similar to that following
a terrific blow to the head, He cannot understand what has
happened to him, and repeatedly asks Ivonne for an
explanation. Hinkelmann's dependency on a woman for a view
of himself is sustained by TVonne as long as she doesn't
become pregnant, after which she rejects him. This
uncompromising rejection is felt by him as a rejection of
himself by his mother, which he can't bear. Having lived
psychically only for the acceptance of his person, he now
has nothing more to live for. He loses the battle for a
continuance of his persons or for a positive outlook on
life. .

Hinkelmann's father is a pastor and both he and his
wife are accustomed to consoling people in grief, but now
that they are the grieving ones and cannot pour out their

emotions by consoling someone else they appear "wie
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133

entwaffnet" (DS #1) before this unfeeling daughter-in-law;
both their lives have been projections of a persona.

Again Ivonne has won in the battle for an unrevealed
persona. The weapons that Hinkelmann's parents used were
the qualities they instilled into their son. His
disappearance and surmised suicide leave them nothing but
mental anguish about his fate. They are accustomed to the
ritualistic burial services that include soothing words for
the departed person and the assurance of life beyond the
grave. Their whole concept of life and death has been
challenged by the lack of a corpse, the "nothingness“ that
is now in the place of their son, and Yvonne carefully
gives them no assurance of any other more hopeful view of
their son. Their reason for living has gone with him;
their personas are ”killed.“ The mother's inability to
accept nihilism drives her to her death.

This type of connection between the battle imagery
and the attempts to protect a persona can be drawn with
all of the images classified under this heading. The
”Panzer von Eifersucht" (D8 5“) that Ivonne's lawyer
friend puts on when young friends have a gay time at her
place is a means of protection for his persona of a serious,
nature man. Hortense views Yvonne's relationship with
Reinhart as "cine Attacks aus der Planks.” (DS 87) She
has shown signs of embarrassment, because she is breaking
away from the projected persona that her parents wish her

to have, and a relationship with a painter would not fill

 

 

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134

the requirements. Yvonne is thus seen as a representative
of opposing forces, allied to those of Hortense's parents.
Any hindrance to Hortense's move away from the established,
family persona is an enemy force. Having not observed
Yvonne's relationship previous to asking Reinhart about
the lessons, this appears to her to happen very suddenly.
Yvonne is older and maturer, she thinks, and thus like her
parents.

Other imagery in this category is used to show the
building of a new persona. Reinhart discusses the
relationship that men must have with women in general after
his break with Ivonne. women, he says, have a 'Sehnsucht
nach der verlorenen Peitsche, Heimweh nach der Gewalt, die
ihre tiefste Erffillung ist und ihr heimlicher SiegS' (D8
131) Reinhart is compensating for his rejection by Yvonne
and beginning the buildup of a new persona. Reinhart's
persona of the artist has been attacked. His reaction is
one of doing battle, of conquering with force.

Early in the novel, during his second walk with Yvonne,
Reinhart expresses his conviction that life must include a
positive view of the 'Ewig-Unsichere, das unser Leben in
der Schwebe hilt wie sine glfihende Kugel.“ (D8 72) This
step toward an acceptance of all that he might find within
himself is a step toward the realization of himself in life,
in which he later fails. During this walk he and Yvonne
sense a deep contact of selves, but do not understand what

is going on on the psychological plane. The truth that he

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expresses during this walk with Ivonne is rejected by him
in the new approach he makes to life in the Hortense
episode.

The 'Ewig-Unsichere' of life is the balance that must
be made between what is known of the self and the necessary
projection of a persona to others; the battle for realiza-
tion of self and against the growth of persona-projection
continues. The inability ever to know the self in its
entirety makes it impossible to ever realize it wholly,
thus some projection of persons will be a necessity for
man; some element of ”hot battle" must be a part of the
viable life. This tension between that which is known and
that which is unknown, and between the consciously realised
self and the projected persons, are the situations in true
life that one must accept in order to live as fully as
possible. Reinhart troubles himself excessively about this
very indefinite chracteristic of the self, even while
discussing it with Yvonne. He is ultimately unable to
accept the indefiniteness of the human situation.

Practically the same words are used by the author in
giving Hortense's thoughts upon her discovery that Reinhart
is no longer a painter: 'Bekenntnis sum Ewig-Unsicheren,
das unser Leben in.der Schwebe hilt wie sine glfihende
Kugel....' (D8 160) This continues with references to the
break from an imposed persona that she will be unable to
make: ”Ahnung eines heiteren flutes, der Abschied ruft von
vielen lieben Pcrmen, Abschied um der Wiedergeburt ihres

ea.

3‘. H -—L

 

136
Geistes willen...." (D8 160) The ”Wiedergeburt ihres
Geistes" is the acceptance of self and the realization of
it in life, regaining the naive approach she had had as a
child. The indefiniteness and threat of this undertaking
are expressed in the last portion of this passage: 'Ahnung
von alledem, was jenseits der Enge beginnte, und droht,
und lockt --.' (D8 160)

From this view of the persona, one can see that total
communication can never take place between two people who
are projecting personas. Once the self is opened up to the
other person meaningful communication on a depth level
automatically takes place. This silent giving of oneself
to the other in concern allows the individual to recognize
the meaningfulness of life in the relationship of caring
for the other. {At the same time, the projection of the
real self enables the projector to recognize himself in the
other in some way, like a reflection of some facet of
himself. This recognition makes it possible for him to
take this knowledge and live his life in full recognition
of this aspect of himself, if he has the courage and
understanding necessary to accept the truth and make it a
part of his projected self. Thus the victories in this
battle of the personas and selves can be either positive or
negative. The-victory that results in the recognition of
self, momentary or fragmentary as it may be, is positive;
the victory that results in the destruction of a persona

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137
is negative in value to the realization of the self.

Battle imagery that is applied to nature shows poetic
development as well. The following three images occur in
a span of ten pages, the first and second occuring during
Reinhart and Yvonne's first walk together and the third
during their second walk. They are: "das Ewig-Unsichere,
das unser Leben in der Schwebe halt wie eine glfihende
Kugel' (D8 72); 'Abendliche Sonne...die durch WolkenlScher
brach, wie Bundel silberner Speere' (D8 73); and 'eine
Kugel voll Blut...den.hcnd' (DS 83).

The tenors of these three images tie in metaphorically
with the vehicles of all three images. The sun can easily
be compared to ”sine glfihende Kugel,” and to "sine Kugel
voll Blut." That would be the easy way to form an image.
But such an image would be difficult to develop in its
relation to other images.

Such a tie-in of tenors and vehicles amongst the
images in this group creates the subtle power of the final
image. It does not blatantly describe the situation in
which Yvonne and Reinhart find themselves; this would lead
to hyperbole or weak symbolism. This image expresses an
emotion, or reflects it, or emphasizes it. Or it does all
three. This is determined by the reader's response at the
moment of reading, in context. I sense the insecurity of
the meeting of selves that has taken place, but also the
possibility for further growth. A precariousness of the
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138
a destruction of persona and the realization of the self,
or the ineffectiveness of unrecognized psychic occurrences.
Unfortunately, and Frisch would say, all too humanly, the
latter course is taken.

Later groups show the same type of development, but
two similes appear to stand out as a fulfillment of
previous developments. Both express finality with more
than a single term: ”Er liess sie langsam los, wie von
einem Giftpfeil in den Rucken getroffen” (DS 23h); and
"den See wie eine geschwungene Sense vor sich.” (DS 220)
The first listed is a flashback to a time between chapters
two and three. Reinhart makes one last attempt to bring
back the relationship with Yvonne, this time through force,
but recognizes her total rejection of him, which thus 'kills'
his persona of the powerful, animal lover. He feels that
she has betrayed him; thoy never meet again.

The second simile occurs earlier in the novel but
later in time. Hortense and Reinhart meet for the last
time. Here the feeling is more of a fate that denies them
their continued relationship. Hortense is acting in
response to the requirements of her upbringing, of her
superimposed persona when she rejects Reinhart, and he at
the same time feels that forces beyond his control really
call for the end of their relationship. The end of all of
this is ahead of them only a few moments in time. Thus the
contrasting selection of vehicles. Here the impersonal

"Sense“ has done its job; it is only for them to carry it

139

out. In the previous image the arrow is directed and
pointed in purpose. Thus circumstances destroy another of
Reinhart's personas. The ordering of these two images
suggests a greater importance for the first-mentioned.

The feeling is more one of finality, a more drastic image.
It could suggest that the destruction of Reinhart's self-
imposed persona has more consequences for him, is more
destructive to his total well-being, than the separation
from Hortense.

-The battle imagery reveals the interpersonal conflicts
as the characters attempt to influence and resist influence.
The struggles take place within the individuals in trying
to create the revealed self in their own approaches to life,
but they are hampered by the lack of self-knowledge. The
power that one person has over another in the determination
of self varies with the situation, but forces that
determine persona development or destruction.are shown to
be at work and effective.

Often one character destroys the validity of another's
persona, making the development of a new persona necessary
if suicide is to be avoided. The various aspects of death
evolve from this treatment of battle imagery.

H. Death-Imagery: The Absence of
Viable Life or the Creation of Persona

Obviously, death imagery represents a further

development and a culmination of the processes discussed

under the battle-imagery heading. The hard battle in the

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140

search for self has failed and death imagery symbolizes
this tragic denouement.

Death imagery appears to fall into quite definite
groupings throughout the novel. The first group includes
three images, all related to Hinkelmann, and all occuring
in the first chapter. The first image anticipates
Hinkelmann's death: 'Die Mutter weinte von.dem Schiff
herab, als stfinde sie an.der Bahre ihres 8ohnes.' (DS 23)
He will die by his own hand, but death of the self takes
place prior to suicide. This is indicated by the second
image: "vcgelsang fiber seinem innersten.Begr€bnis....' (DS
38) .At this point Hinkelmann has been totally rejected by
Yvonne and has come to recognize his true self. He cannot
bear to accept himself with all of the limitations, thus
he is ”dead.“ The third image carries this into the
physical realm: ”sein Tod blieb also ungewiss, er glich
dem Benson-ann.auf alten Stichen so wenig, dass ihn die
Eltern.kaum glauben konnten.' (D8 #2) His physical death
is accepted, but the parents cannot bear to admit the
death of a person.as the actual cessation of their persona.
Their values have been so intimately tied up with their
son that his existential death becomes equated with their
own existential death. Embalming and elaborate precautions
for the preservation of the body help salve the self-
inflioted problem of facing their own death. They can
pretend that death is not final. All this must be denied
in Hinkelmann's case -- there is no body. The effect of

 

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this is the destruction of the image of death entailed in
the 'Sensenmann." No outer force has caused Hinkelmann's
death, and the parents do not understand anything of the
inner forces that caused the inner death.

This progression of images brings the reader face to
face with the problem that Hinkelmann’s parents encountered,
the movement toward an acceptance of the death of the
person, not just the body. Frisch emphasizes the
arbitrariness and finality of physical death, and
introduces the more important inner death, the death of
the self. These three images are the only death images
that occur in the first chapter. The next grouping occurs
within four pages of the second chapter.

The death images in the second chapter fall into a
complex ordering. The first and fourth images refer to
Ivonne: the second and third refer to Hinkelmann again,
this time as seen.by Ivonne. Ivonne is shown to be aware
of the rejection she has made of herself, and of the
nature of Hinkelmann's situation. In the first image
Yvonne is telling Reinhart of her past experiences with
Hinkelmann.and her other suitors: "nit langsamen, unglaub-
lich leichten.und krampflosen Horton hatte es begonnen:

‘wie das Sohioksal eines andern, eines lingst Gestorbenen
fiel es von ihr." (DS 98) She has rejected herself through
the rejection of her own past: if she is to again awaken to
life through her relationship with Reinhart, this past must
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precariousness of her situation is emphasized by the last
image in this grouping: she has told Reinhart everything,
then ”dachte sie an den kommenden Morgen wie an cine
m3gliche Hinrichtung, die keine Rolls mehr spielte...."
(D8 101) This “execution” will take place if Reinhart
breaks off their relationship, but it will be the death
of a possibility of the rekindling of life within her;
therefore, the actual situation would be one of a continued
death of her true self. She senses her actual psychic
situation as no other character of the novel.

The two inner images referring to Hinkelmann point
out his existential death as perceived by Yvonne. She
sees him at a crowded concert, but never gets the chance
to speak to him. She sees him sitting on the stage of the
overfull theatre: "Es war, als hatte man sine Leiche
hingesetzt.‘ (D8 99) He appears to have some of the
psychic awareness that Ivonne repeatedly demonstrates; he
turns toward the audience and looks directly at Ivonne,
picking her out of the sea of faces. She, however, cannot
get him to give any sign that he recognizes her. After the
intermission, he is again sitting in the same place, ”die
Beine verschrinkt, reglos wie sine Leiche, die man drinnen
hatte sitzen lassen.' (D8 100)

This second group of death images ties the first
chapter with the second and introduces Reinhart to the
interplay of forces on the psychological level. Yvonne's
own final existential death is anticipated by her references

 

In.al“

1&3

to herself. And Reinhart's future existential death is
anticipated by references to Hinkelmann; Reinhart will
also become like a corpse, but it will be indirectly
caused by Yvonne. This relating of her past forms a
decisive point in the action of the second chapter,
determining the progression toward his full acceptance of
her and her rejection of him. This imagery has shown the
finality of self-rejection in one case and the possibility
for change in the other. Yvonne did not commit suicide,
thus her future possibility rests with Reinhart. He does
accept her with her past, thus this group of images is a
beginning and an end.

Death imagery in the third chapter, three images,
deals exclusively with Reinhart's problem of having no
depth relationship with a father. The first image is in
a dream he tells his foster mother: the butcher is “halb
wie ein Henker....' (D8 202) He here evidences some of
the special sense of awareness that Yvonne has evidenced.
This image of his father includes a reference to a package
containing the ashes of his father, thus the confusing
reality of the dream mixes the father image incongruously
with objects and other persons. The butcher is also
referred to as like a priest, intimating that his father
was the strong patriarchal type who dictated modes of
conduct. Reinhart's real father carried on a clandestine
relationship with his real mother, but refused to marry her

when she became pregnant. He thus causes her moments of

 

1““

Joy, and her death. His foster father never developed an
intimate relationship with Reinhart, thus the confusion

of father-roles comes through to Reinhart on a subconscious
level, where he views both as dead.

The next two death images in this chapter destroy
any possibility of a father image in the person of his
foster father. Reinhart visits his gravesite, and imagines ?m?
the body under the earth: "zu beiden Seiten die verschfittet- .

en KnSchelbilder zweier Hinde, das also ist mein Vater

 

gewesen. Im Mangel der Geffihle...fragte sich Reinhart ;'
gelegentlich, wozu er eigentlioh dastand.” (D8 21h) LFJ
Reinhart is placing emphasis on his comprehension of death

through a perception of the dead physical body. But

through this he is finally able to rid himself of the

foster father's existential life within him: "Es war ihm,

sein vater wire Jetst erst gestorben, sozu sagen zu Ende

gestorben, und sein eigenes Dasein stand wie ein

rauschendes Geheimnis in den dunkelnden BSumen fiber ihm.”

(D8 214) This image completes the drive to discover some-

thing more about his foster father. The visit to his

gravesite allows Reinhart to create powerful images of the

appearance of the corpse. He is then able to disregard

any feeling of concern about this man, much as Hinkelmann's

parents are accustomed to doing. He, however, is able to

destroy a persons his foster parents had attempted to give

him. The open-endedness of his situation results from the

lack of knowledge of himself. He senses this, again a

...»!

 

1&5

psychic awareness, but he will meet with the Oberst
convinced that his foster parents are his real parents.

The final chapter contains about as many death images
as all preceding chapters combined. The emphasis on death
given this chapter helps create a feeling of the finality
of Reinhart's situation. He is not only existentially
dead throughout this chapter, but he also commits suicide.

These images fall into four groups. The first group
expresses the passive resistance offered by unordered lives
to structured existence forced upon them. Reinhart has
found Yvonne for a try with force: ”Er hielt sie wie ein
wehrloses Bundel, wie eine Leiche.” (D8 234) The elements
of the natural surrounding at the building site have a life
of their own: ”als wollten sie um keinen Preis...ihr...
Dasein.aufgeben.' (DS 23#)

The second group creates an.atmosphere of death, the
existential death of many people, preparatory to the final
meeting of Hortense and Reinhart. Hortense is in the old
bedroom of her youth: "es roch nach...toter Luft eines
ungebrauchten Zimmers....” (D8 254) The lights go out
during the storm: 'Leute und Gesinde sassen wie Verschfittete
in ihren dunklen Stuben." (D8 256)

The third group represents Reinhart's moment of
existential death. Reinhart has been invited to take a
meal with the Hafners: ”er ging wie su einer Hinrichtung--.'
(D8 270) Reinhart learns that Jenny is his half-sister:

”er sass wie entgeistert.“ (DB 275)

ul

 

 

1&6

The fourth group is a ”piling on of images" by
Reinhart to express his purpose in life and Hortense's
reaction to this. Reinhart explains his philosophy to
Hortense: "einen Lebensfaden in der Hand zu haben, um ihn
abzureissen, Irrtfimer der Verstcrbenen wie ein Heer hinter
mir, sie alle hinfiberzuffihren ins Nichts, einer unabschatz-
baren Heihe von fragwfirdigen Enkeln das Leben auszublasen
im voraus, vollstrecker, Hinrichter eines verkommenen
Geschlechterlaufes zu sein,...keinefahrlissige T3tung...."
(D8 285)

One final image stands alone, combining the previous
death imagery into one expression of the emotion Frisch
wishes to create: 'im endlosen Zuge sum Leben, zum Pest
der Vergingnis.” (D8 291)

An overwhelming sense of tragedy permeates this
chapter, created by the emphasis on death, autumn, and
uncomprehending dullness. All possibilities for creating
lives based on an understanding of the self have been
discarded by the main characters for the development of
personas. The list of adult characters sounds like a roll
call in.a morgue after the novel has been read: Ivonne:
Hinkelmann: Reinhart: Hortense: Ammann: Hauswirt: Hafner:
Jenny: Reinhart's mother: the Oberst: Hinkelmann's parents:
Ivonne's parents: Reinhart's foster parents. All of the
adult characters have lost in the struggle for viable
human life, or have never become engaged in the struggle.

None of these characters is searching for a spiritual

 

 

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regeneration within themselves that would make it possible
for them to lead a more meaningful life than the customary,
artificial routine of everyday existence.

This sense of death could not have as great an
impact if there were no counterbalancing emotions. The
characters have moments of meaningful existence, which are
possibilities for the full life. They attimes are aware
subconsciously of factors in situations that, if known to
the conscious self, would make it possible to continue the
development of the real self. Although we sense deeply the
tragedy of life on this earth, the finality of death, the
creative elements of existence cannot be denied. The vast
resources of the subconscious, the rich possibilities of
real awareness, the great worth of every human being, the
tragedy of society's shackling of the ultimately productive
impulses of youth, the tragedy of the ultimately
degtzggtive impulses of youth which are not curbed by
society -- all these facets must be faced creatively for
mankind to survive.

Not all is lost: the negative tone is not completely
overwhelming as it anticipates the future. The moments of
insight, the moments of self-expression continue in
succeeding generations. The final pages of the novel
attempt to express the beginning again of all that has
gone on before in the form of two young persons: Hanswalter
and Annemarie. Progeny of the main characters in the novel,
both indicate by their actions and words that they are two

a

 

 

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1&8

new individuals, not carbon copies of their parents, and
that they will also make the attempt to discover themselves
and realize themselves in life. The open-endedness of
existence is thus emphasized.

The final death image also helps create a balance
between the sadness of failure and the happiness of success.
Not only do we have a drive to live physically, but we also
have a will to die. Frisch has created imagery of the
defeat which every individual has to expect in life,
leaving older people who have given.up their chance to
realise themselves. The young person who now appears will
again attempt this self-realisation.

The "Vergingnis' has an optimistic tone: autumn and
related symbols are repeatedly referred to positively.
Death can signify a new start as well as a cessation of
life.

I. Glass-Imagery: The Difficulty
and Uncertainty of Ultimate
Goalthtainment

The image of something in life that keeps us from
taking the last step toward making a realised self in-the-
world is presented symbolically with the glass image. This
glass pane forces an infinite detour, a path that is
beyond rational comprehension. Here we to attain the goal
of full realization of the self, could we not look upon
this as the ultimate extension of the self to include the
whole universe? He would then be including all that we

perceive in our self and thereby negate any individuality

 

(.

1#9

of the self. The realization of the goal destroys the
person, the individual, in a dissolving into the other.
This need not be seen as the dissolving into the other
that is permanent, as in some Eastern religions. It is
rather an existential thing, a matter of the all-inclusive
moment that exists for the individual at that time.

”Elsa” is used repeatedly as an image throughout the
novel: 'glEserner Blasse' (DS 10): "wie dickes Glas”

(D8 31): 'ein.Abend wie Glas" (D8 116): “gehen doch wie
hinter einem Glass” (DS 12“); "die glasige Stille' (DS 21?).
It appears to gain in symbolic importance as one progresses
through the novel, moving from a comparison of concrete to
abstract, to a comparison of concrete to concrete terms,
and ends in.a set of images that explain the meaning of the
term and use it as a symbol.

The explanation of the image ”glass” is given in
terms of what it implies as a function: "Man.kommt sich
selber sehr nahe, indem man sich selber sieht: am Ends
ist es nur nooh ein Glas, das uns vom Ziele trennt, das
heisst, von unserer eigenen Verwirklichung in dieser
Welt...." (D3 270) Thus we know what it implies: something
that separates us from the goal of self-realization. This
symbol-form can be applied to anybody or anything that
serves this function.

With this we can now understand the final occurence
of this image: "man schwimmt wie in Glas....” (D8 290)

This focuses the previous similar images, relating them to

 

5:1,. ,'~‘ :11!

150
Reinhart's pursuit of self-understanding during the Hortense
episode. Through the discovery of his heritage, he thinks
that he can perhaps come to recognize himself and carry
out a realization of self in life, but he is unable to
make progress.

The employment of a woman as a means of keeping
Reinhart from attaining the realization of self is
symbolized by the use of 'Glas' in reference to Yvonne.
Ammann, who is talking to her and Hauswirt at the building
site, thinks: ”aber man redete wie durch ein Glas hindurch
....” (DS 2&1) This in reference to Yvonne. Reinhart had
had the same difficulty. He was determined to look at
Yvonne objectively so that he would know what her facial
features were like, but each time he looked directly at
her, it was “als sehe man gleichsam durch sie hindurch."
(DS 75) The person that was Yvonne hid behind no full
persona, but was nevertheless imperceivable due to a lack
of projection of self: the feminine naivete bound with
the lack of a natural childhood created a person incapable
of reflecting emotions naturally. Only uncertainty of the
other self remains.

Other symbols of that which comes between the person
and the realization of self are: the "Elissa" of the
agave trees (DS 10); ”die Stills” (DS 31): ”Laubschirm”
(D8 62); "helle' (D8 83): "sin Abend" (116): 'Glocke
dieser lauen.Abende' (D8 198). All of these are used in

direct reference to glass. Thus people, concrete items

 

 

151

and abstractions can all illustrate this separation from
the self, or reflect the difficulty being encountered.

In Reinhart's explanation to Hortense of the changes
that he has made since he last saw her before the trip
and her illness, he says: "es kommt eine kfihle, klare
Harte in alles, hinter alles....' (D8 158) This was the
final step on the path towards withdrawal indicated by the
previous glass image after his rejection by Yvonne: 'Leute
gehen.vorbei, stossen ihn fast und gehen doch wie hinter
einem Glase, fern....' (DS 12“) He now works as an office
employee, has put Yvonne and painting out of his life, and
begun thinking like Hortense's father. He will approach
life with cool reasoning, a ”clear” view of things as
people say they are, and a willingness to meet other
people as objects. This is the effect that the glass
images have, and it is easy enough to substitute "glass”
for “cool, clear hardness.“ He becomes another person
who provides a barrier to others in their attempt to find
themselves through him. His actions create psychic
distance that is destructive of emotional forces that
would create the possibility of the full life.

As with the image treated above: “als sehe man
gleichsam durch sie hindurch" (D8 75), Reinhart is giving
expression to the same sensation for which the glass
symbol stands. Late in the novel he employs the term
”glgg” in.his reported thoughts as he lives with the

Hafners: "am Ends ist es nur nooh ein Glas, das uns vom

 

All? ..I: .. :7 Huh

.r‘

152

Ziele trennt....” (D8 270) He recognizes qualities in his
father that he assumes must be a part of himself, but the
difficulty of accepting what he discovers and working
toward the realization of this in his life is expressed in
the same sentence: 'und man ahnt den.ungeheuren Umweg, der
hinffihrt: man wagt ihn nicht. Eine Biene, zwischen
Fensterscheiben gefangen, erschSpft sich nicht irriger!"
(D8 270) From this time in his 11:. on to his death he
errs in ultimately giving up the pursuit of this goal for
a pseudo-certainty that replaces the uncertainty of the
reality of life inpthe-world.

The image of glass as a barrier of some sort between
a person and the realization of himself helps express the
theme of the novel. Frisch expresses the existential
anguish of the person who knows that he himself is other
than that which he is projecting to the world. Such a
person cannot bear to face the infinite insignificance of
his existence and yet strive infinitely to make it
significant. ’The beauty of glass as an image of this
infinite barrier, of this uncertain struggle, comes not
only from its ready application to many aspects of life,
to any experience that could keep him from the realization
of self, but also from the combination of qualities of
hardness and transparency. One may be able to "see" what
he himself essentially is, but only in a reflection from
the world around him. The transparency of anything in the

world renders it useless as a source of final knowledge of

153

the self. It must first be seen as a projection of the
self, then the self as projected is seen objectively.
After this comes the difficult task of creating one's
self in competition with other person's ideas of this
self. Nobody in the novel is successful at this task.
Several trouble themselves about it: most never become
concerned, and only Reinhart struggles to gain it.

The glass image serves, furthermore, as a more
fitting conclusion to the discussion of Poetic Image
Groups than.does death imagery. There is an utter
finality associated with death symbols. Reflecting
Prisch's own Weltanschauung, though, the glass image,
which shows a way out of life's maze, no matter how
labyrinthic it may be, is a more pleasing image. It
allows for hope and a positive solution to the human

condition.

 

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IJIVIoIII

CONCLUSION

Die Schwierigen is strongly concerned with the
individual's awareness of self and his consequent various
responses to the life-situation. No two main characters
respond in the same way: each one's self, to the degree
that the person is aware of its makeup, determines an
ambivalent and complex response, consonant with the
problematic milieu which he encounters.

The three main characters -- Reinhart, Yvonne, and
Hortense -- develop relationships between one another that
portray Reinhart's development. The two women also show
development on a much lesser scale. The study of imagery
enables an ever-deeper comprehension of the workings of
the psyche in these relationships.

Ambivalence is the necessary correlative of the
human situation as seen here. Man can work towards the
realization of a perceived self, which seems worthy of
acheevement: but the realization of self is as yet far
from being achieved, and appears to be a utopian idea.

The unified self is observed only in those persons who are
not yet aware of their own formed responses to others'

views of them, symbolized by the child. It seems impossible
to attain this same kind of equilibrium after the

individual becomes aware of himself, i.e. after he is once

15“

155
no longer naive. Personae are then formed: a mask is
presented to others.

The rational/irrational approach to this study was
used to point out the over-all development perceived in the
main characters. They each end up in an imbalance weighted
on the side of the rational.

The study of the characterization of Reinhart shows
him progressing from the naive wanderer to the older man
who avoids life and expounds a nihilistic philosophy.

Each chapter presents a stage in this development, and
within each stage the forces at work are seen to be varied
in source and effectiveness.

At the beginning Reinhart openly searches for his
role in life, innocently unaware of the forces at work in
and on him.

The second chapter presents the second stage of his
development: the split self. But he gradually becomes
aware of the insufficiency of the artist role for himself,
realizing that he is not able to treat art with more than
a surface concern. The irrational has been given full
sway in an attempt to meet life, but because this is not
a reflection of himself, it is actually an avoidance of
life, a persona.

Reinhart's experience with Yvonne jars him into
recognizing the need for the rational in his approach to
life: this then becomes his goal in the third chapter.

His rejection of the life of the painter and turn to the

156
job of office employee reflects his turn from the overly
irrational to the overly rational approach. In the third
chapter Hortense represents for Reinhart the forces in a
family that relies on the rational above all else, to the
attempted total exclusion of the irrational. Reinhart
comes to know and profess the philosophy of life that
Hortense's father holds, the totally rational view.

Having tried both the univalent rational and the
univalent irrational approaches Reinhart is forced to an
investigation of the origin of his true self, which is
presented as a matter of reflection on his part in the
final chapter. The shift in the final chapter, from the
view of Reinhart's gradual development, is deceiving only
to the degree that the reader fails to recognize Anton as
Reinhart and that Reinhart has ceased to search for self-
realization. The break from the searching individual to
the older man sure of the correctness of his views is
superficial on the level of the external form of the novel.
What is of concern is the static life that Reinhart has
adopted. He has rejected himself both figuratively and
literally, taking the easy way out by capitulating to
others’ views.

Reinhart's final days are a divided life: on the one
hand he passively experiences the beauty of the irrational
forces of nature: and on the other hand he rationalizes
human relationships into a dead system that has little to
do with reality. Both factors contribute to his psychic

 

Mlle. .iw'l
a

I‘

ll.

157
escape from self, from the real situation. A balance based
on the demands of self, of the rational/irrational in all
facets of life, is the goal: but his efforts are so highly
off-center that they do not approach the two-fold two-plane
characteristic of the realized in-the-world self. The
planes of impression and expression are each separated
from the other and the simplistic univalent approach on
each plane is a negative factor, a result of his demand
for some certainties in the midst of awful uncertainty.
The beauty of his final phase, however, is the retention
of the ability to at least experience the irrational in
nature with great force. This is also the irrational of
the memory of experiences, reenlivened through observing
the cycles of nature: the irrational of present human
relationships is avoided.

Thus Reinhart brings about his existential death,
which is portrayed to be of more importance than the
actual physical death. Reinhart's ambivalent life at the
end of the novel is not the ambivalence sought by the
fully-aware human being. The ambivalence is univalent
when viewed on the individual planes of interaction with
persons and with nature. Consciousness of self, discovery
of the characteristics of the self, and the realization of
self are all finally discarded by him -- yet until the
final phase he had hope. Frisch emphasizes hope by ending
the novel with Reinhart's son evidencing the continuation

of the quest.

 

158

Yvonne only experiments with the acceptance of
irrational forces in her expressive life by becoming
involved with Reinhart. She is aware of the necessity of
this in.a meaningful life, but fears the future that
Reinhart presents. Failing to find a balanced representa-
tion of the polar rational/irrational forces in any one
man, she resolves the problem by finding the ideal in a
composite of two men, one irrational and the other rational,
which enables her to have the semblance of a full life.

In the end she experiences life as a rational situation
and expresses herself rationally, which is again a grasping
at some security in the midst of insecurity.

Hortense represents the struggle between the rational
and irrational forces at work to control all of them. She
sees the irrational as giving meaning to life: Ivonne sees
the practical problems it creates. Hortense, too, ends by
treating human.relationships very rationally, and at the
end she expresses that which Yvonne couldn't put into
words -- that she still sees the necessity for the
irrational in life, but not to the exclusion of the rational.
Both have finally married the man with more-rational
qualities, Hortense the more-balanced man. In the midst
of the small certainties of the everyday life of a house-
wife, Hortense lives with the hope that is made possible
by the uncertainties of human existence.

Those minor characters who represent the pragmatic,

rational approach to life that is a conscious effort to

Lfl

 

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159

bring an ordering into the chaos of life are all men. And
of all of the male characters, only Reinhart attempts to
gain the goal of self-realization: the other male
characters either remain naive to a varied degree, or
consciously pursue the goal of excessive rational ordering
in existence.

In contrast to the character images above, poetic
imagery is not restricted to one person and is not
primarily concerned with delineating nuances of individual
character: rather, it serves to depict a composite
personality. This poetic imagery is an allegory of modern
man, as Frisch sees him, in his feverish search for self
and for identity.

Several categories of imagery were found to be of the
utmost importance to this ambivalent struggle. They are
treated individually as they relate to this struggle.

Child imagery reveals the theme of the work: The
uncertain search for the realized self, the adulthood of
man. Man is yet in a childlike state in relation to his
perception of self and the ability to bring about the
realized in-the-world self.

Moth and flame imagery emphasizes the natural
attraction of the goal of self-realization, driving man ever
more strongly as he pursues this toward an ultimate solution
or rejects this altogether, the pursuit meaning at least a
vital life in-the-world, and the cessation of the attempt

being a psychic death. This imagery broadens to the Icarus

-4

 

 

160

myth and the attempt to do the impossible.

Bird imagery clarifies the infinite character of the
search for self, the earth-boundness of man. This imagery
supplies the intermediate, flexible role between moth and
flame imagery and blue imagery. This bird serves well to
bridge the gap between man and the infinite. Man's next
step, flight into the vast unknown regions of the inner
person, is one that would bring him beyond his innate
capacities. The possibility for a flight such as this must
first be created by man himself, then realized. Man is
seen as unsuccessful in this as yet.

The color "blue“ symbolizes the infinite character-
istic of the goal that man searches to attain. In relation
to Adam, blue is imaged as the naive, unified self, the
original condition of man, to which man consciously tries
to return. Blue is presented as a necessary and positive
ideal: man has the capability of personalizing the ideal,
infinite state of the unified self. This possibility for
man finds a contrast in animal imagery.

Animal imagery reflects the dull existence of those
persons who perceive no goal beyond the routine of everyday
life, or who have rejected the pursuit of the goal of self-
realization. The characters exuding the rational approach
to life live an animal-like existence, a living, psychic
death. The status quo is their ideal: the attempt to
exclude all inroads of irrational behaviour becomes all-

important to them. Frisch categorizes most men.under the

161
animal image.

The mask imagery symbolizes the assumption of a
personal stance in life that does not originate from the
inner self, but is a role that projects an imposed self-
image -- a persona. This false stance is necessary to
some degree due to the ignorance of man about his condition
in-the-world. It may come about due to the views of other
persons, upon which the affected individual acts to create
a false projection of self: or, it may come due to the
desires of the individual, usually in avoidance of the
effort required to work toward the realization of the true
self.

Battle imagery shows the struggle that continues as
long as man attempts to realize self. The forces that
counteract this are the seductive avenue of escape by
the individual, himself, into a self-denying persona, and
the overwhelming pressures of society on the individual to
project its view of the person. The battle continues as
long as one works to realize self, because the ultimate
goal is eternally an.uncertain matter. This important
category of imagery receives full treatment throughout
the novel, depicting the tragic consequences of inter-
personal struggles.

Death imagery becomes a separate category through
its importance for the human being in search of self:
death is inescapable psychically as well as physcially,

so far as man has yet been able to determine. This is

 

5.- Li

162

not necessarily a negative thing in relation to the human
condition. Death is a necessary factor in nature,
providing the possibility of new life, which man sees as
positive and necessary.

A positive, hopeful role is presented by glass imagery.
This most powerful image combines the previous imagery
pertaining to the pursuit of the goal of self-realization,
and creates a compact view of the struggle in all of its
aspects. Glass is viewed as not only a hindrance of some
sort on the path to self-realization, but also the factor
of hope in the ability of man ever to attain the goal. If
it can be perceived, it must, somehow, be attainable.

With glass imagery, the study of the poetic imagery
closes on a note of hope for the ongoing maturation of man
into psychic adulthood, a positive note in Frisch's
Weltanschauung.

Person images and poetic imagery both reflect the
ambivalent nature of life and the uncertainty of each man
in his search for his own pattern of self-realization.
Reinhart's struggle to assert his authenticity in the face
of an indifferent universe is a theme which Frisch
constantly repeats. Die Schwierigen anticipates many
aspects of Frisch's later novels, particularly in regard
to theme and character. Although critical acclaim has
brought the later novels into more prominence, leaving
Die Schwierigen somewhat eclipsed, this study shows that
Die Schwierigen prefigures the important images and imagery

163
of subsequent works. It stands on its own merits as a work
of art, in relation to Frisch's other novels, and deserves

more recognition.

FOOTNOTES

1This is the edition referred to in the text of this
dissertation. On the same page as the copyright are the
notations: 'Geschrieben 19h2 -- Neuausgabe 1957:”
emphasizing the changes that were made from the first
version.

2Ulrich Weisstein, Max Frisch (New York, 1967), p. 25.
Hereafter cited as 'Weisste n.

3Weisstein, p. 37.

u7uHans Banziger, Erisch und Dfirrenmatt (Bern, 1960),
p. .

5Eduard Stfiuble, Max zgiaeh (Amriswil, 1960), p. inn.
Hereafter cited as "Stau e.

53taut1e, p. its. Stfiuble quotes Fischli, which
reference could not be located.

7Werner Welzig, 2e; deutsghe Roman in 20, Jahrhundert
(Stuttgart, 1967), p. 9. Hereaf er ci ed as e 2 g.”

8Charles w. Hoffmann, “The Search for Self, Inner
Freedom, and Helatedness in the Novels of Max Frisch,”

The Contemporagz Novel in Gegmgfi: A Symposium, ed. Robert
H. Heitner ustin, 9 7 , p. 9 . Hereafter cited as

”Hoffmann.”
9wa1ther Killy, ed., Goethe-Schiller Briefwechsel
(Frankfurt am Main and Ham g, , p. .

lorriedrich Schlegel, L tera Notebooks 1 -1801,
ed. Hans Eichner (Toronto: Oniversity of Toronto gross,

1957), pp. #8 and 238.

3:;Northrop Frye, Anatomy of Criticism (Princeton, 1957),
p. .

12Dorothy van Ghent, The lish Nevel: Form and
Function (New York, 1953), pp. -7.

16“

165

13Robert E. Dye, ”Friedrich von Blanckenburg's Theory
of the Novel," Monatshefte, Vol. 60, 2 (Summer, 1968),
p. 121. Hereafter cited as "Dye.”

1"(Theodore Ziolkowski, Dimensions of the Modern Novel
(Princeton, 1969), p. 360. Hereafter cited as "Ziolkowski."

151461213, pe 8e

16John Holloway, "The Concept of Myth in Literature,"
Meta hor and S bol, ed. L. C. Knights and Bail Cottle
(London, 1960), p. 132.

171. A. Richards, Practical Criticism. A Study of
Literary Judgment (New York, 1929), pp. 328-9.

18Benedetto Croce, Problemi di estetica (Bari, 1923),
p. 111. Croce states his position thus: "Ma non si
potrebbe fare insieme un'altra raccomandazione, che a me
sembra non meno giusta? e cioe che gli studiosi di
letterature antiche prestino qualche anno die servizio
militare nello studio della letteratura contemporanea per
liberarsi degli abiti scolastici, per acquistare il senso
del vivo e disporsi a trattare anche 1e letterature antiche
come letterature contemporanee? Contemporanee sono ease,
in effeto, per gli animi che le rivivono e intendono.”
My translation follows: ”But couldn't we make another
recommendation that doesn't look any less suitable to me?
and namely that students of ancient literatures spend some
years of military service in the study of contemporary
literatures in order to free themselves of their scholastic
habits and to acquire a feeling for that which is living,
and to prepare themselves to treat ancient literatures just
like contemporary literatures? They are contemporary, in
fact, for the spirits that understand and experience them
as 11V1n8 e '

19W31218 , pe ue

20W91218, De la

211481218, pa 2‘}.

221431218 , pa 2 e

23R. Hinton Thomas and Wilfried van der Will, The German

Novel and the Affluent Societ (Toronto, 1968), p. 1 .
Hereafter cited as “Thomas.“

zuZiolkowski, p. 333.

25C. Day-Lewis, The Poetic Image (London, 19b7), p. 33.
Hereafter cited as "Day-Lewis.

 

 

 

lei

166

26Day-Lewis, p. 33.

27Arthur Schopenhauer, S§mtliche Werke, ed. Julius
Frauenstadt (Leipzig, 1891), VI, pp. 575-5.

281481218, 13. “'1 e

29E. R. Curtius, Euro Eische Literatur und lateinisches
Mittelalter (Bern, 1958), p. 1 . Curtius quotes Max
ScheIer, Die Wissensformen und die Gesellchaft (---, 1926).

3°Thomee, p. 137.

31C. G. Jung, Ps che und 3 bol, ed. Violet deLaszlo
(New York, 1958), p. 35. Hereafter cited as "Jung."

32Jung, p. 22.

33Martin Esslin, The Theatre of the Absurd (Garden City,
New York, 1961), p. 291.

31"Hoffmann, p. 95.
35Hoffmann, p. 95.
36

37Rene Wellek and Austin Warren, Theoyy of Literature
(New York, 1956), p. 233.

38Henry James, "The Art of Fiction,” The House of

Fiction, Essays on the Novel, ed. Leon EdeI (London,
197913030

39Jecques Souvage, An Introduction to the Stud of the
Novel (Gent, 1965), p. 53. Hereafter cited as “Souvege.”

“OWelzig, p. 7.

w31218, pe 5e

 

“ISouvage, p. 21.
”ZSOuvage, pe 21e

2:gAlbert Cook, The Meaning of Eiction (Detroit, 1950):
Po 0

tholfgang Kayser, Das sprachliche gunstwerk (Bern,
19h8), p. 78. Hereafter cited as "Kayeer."

usKaysel‘, p e 60 e

uéKayser, p. 80.

167

“7Rcbert Liddell, Some Princi les of Fiction
Bloomington, 195”), p. 58.

48

 

Kayser, p. 183.
ngDye, p. 129.

50Wayne c. Booth, The Rhetoric of Fiction (Chicago and
London, 1961), p. 188.

511en Watt, The Rise of the Novel. Studies in Defoe.
Righardson and Fieldigg (London, 1937), pp. 17-18.

52Welzig, p. 8.

533tephen J. Brown, The wcrid of Imagery (London,
1927), Do 133-

5“Stephen Ullmann, Langgage and Style (New York, 196M),
p0 1330

551"riedrich von Blanckenburg, Versuch fiber den Roman
(Stuttgart, 1965), p. 323. This is a facsimiie of the
original edition of 177“.

56Edward Killoran Brown, Rhythm in the Novel (Toronto,
1950). p. 115.

57w. G. Cunliffe, ”Existential Elements in Frisch's

Works,” ggnatshefte, Vol. 62, 2 (Summer, 1970), p. 116.
Hereafter o te as "Cunliffe."

58Cunliffe, p. 121.

59Cunliffe, p. 121.
60

2 Karl Jaspers, Vernunft und Existenz (Bremen, 1989),
p. O. '

61Robert H. Spaethling, ”Gfinter Grass: 'Cat and Mouse'”,
Monatshefte, Vol. 62, 2 (Summer, 1970), p. 150. Hereafter
cited as “Spacthling.”

628paethling, p. 150.

633peethiing, p. iui.

6“Spaethling, p. 192.

65The titles of Frisch's novels are abbreviated and

inserted in the text as follows: DS - Die Schwieri en:
S - Stiller: HF - Homo faber: G - Gantenbein.

168

66"Turandot," Der Grosse Brockhaus, 16th ed., Vol. 11.

67Reinhard Buchwald Schiller: Leben und Werk
(Wiesbaden, 1959), p. 780. ‘

68Hedwig Hoffmann Rusack, Gozzi in Germagy (New York,
1966), p. 1&8.

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Brown, Edward Killoran. hhythm in the Nove;. Toronto,
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Brown, Stephen J. The World of Imageyy. London, 1927.

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‘ Was—'-

 

170
Buchwald, Reinhard. Schiller: Leben und Werk. Wiesbaden,
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