The moment of love

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The Moment of Love is the first novel that Martin Walser published in his new publishing house Rowohlt after his separation from Suhrkamp (2004).

content

As in Das Schwanenhaus and in Jagd , the protagonist of the novel is the real estate agent Gottlieb Zürn ("Zürn-Romane"), who is now getting on in years. He receives a visit from the student Beate Gutbrod, who read two essays by Gottlieb on the French philosopher Julien Offray de La Mettrie (1709–1751) while doing research for her dissertation and now wants to get to know the author personally. From this acquaintance, a love affair develops that leads Gottlieb to America at Berkeley University, where he is supposed to give a lecture on La Mettrie as a guest lecturer. However, since his voice lets him down, Gottlieb, like Helmut Halm in Brandung, does not manage to read his text aloud alone and has to be represented by Beate. In addition, the content of his essay is received very ambiguously by the members of the university, especially Rick Hardy (see below). A little later Gottlieb leaves Beate and flies back to Europe, where he continues married life with his wife Anna. The novel ends with the same words with which it began, but the Walser-typical ring composition changes characters from lover to wife.

background

As a travel story and love story in an academic setting, The Moment of Love is in many ways reminiscent of the older Walser novel Surf . The artistic innovation lies primarily in the examination of La Mettrie, which enriches the novel with philosophical considerations. It is primarily about the issues of education as training for prisoners and the educational by-product of guilt. Rick Hardy's interpretation following the lecture - the manuscript of which is reproduced in full on pages 114–131 - is the central point of the novel: Hardy accuses Gottlieb of wanting on the pretext that La Mettrie and his thesis of hostility to life from To speak guilty feelings, to “trick Germans into acquittal”, whereby Hardy creates a surprising connection to the memory of the Holocaust . The subsequent reflection by Gottlieb seems like a late self-defense of Walser, who found himself exposed to allegations of latent anti-Semitism during the discussions about his novels A springing fountain and especially the death of a critic :

“La Mettrie claims that there is nothing more inhuman, nothing more hostile to life than remords. That would of course also apply to the way Germans deal with their past. But that's not what he [angry] said. He would then have to prove that there is guilt without feelings of guilt. Don't lie a bit away, don't shrink anything, and still no guilt, no remords. […] La Mettrie had no experience with memory. Meanwhile, memory watches over conscience. Whether this is hostile to life does not matter to the memory. "

Martin Walser's position on the Holocaust can be summarized as follows: He accepts the Germans' guilt for the Nazi crimes without ifs or buts, but he feels that his feelings of guilt restrict his urge to live. This statement is of course very subjective, which is typical of the literary inwardness that runs like a red thread through Martin Walser's work. Ultimately, Walser also admits that he has not found a way to reconcile his historical awareness with his desire to live entirely in the present - this luxury must be denied to the intellectual.

expenditure

As an audio book:

  • The moment of love . Author's reading, 7 audio CDs, total running time 549 minutes, with booklet, Hoffmann and Campe Verlag, Hamburg 2004, ISBN 978-3-455-30376-6 .

Web links

Bernd A. Laska : Why La Mettrie of all places? About the “real hero” in Martin Walser's novel The Moment of Love . In: literaturkritik.de, Vol. 6, No. 10, October 2004