Eumeswil
Eumeswil is a utopian novel by Ernst Jünger , published in 1977 . It is set in a future that is not exactly determined in the fictional city-state of Eumeswil on the North African coast. The first-person narrator Martin "Manuel" Venator is a historian and comes from an old family of scholars. He considers their liberal convictions to be outdated and enters the service of the Condor, the tyrant of Eumeswil , as a “night steward” . With this he finally embarks on an expedition into the woods, from which he does not return.
Eumeswil follows on from Jünger's novel Heliopolis and develops motifs from his essays Der Waldgang and Über die Linie . Martin Venator describes himself as an “ anarch ” who stays out of political developments and does not make them “his business”.
The world of Eumeswil
In the novel, the development of technology in the 21st century led to the formation of a world state. The then split into several domains, which are referred to as the Diadochin empires . Eumeswil is a small state that is dependent on these neighboring larger empires - such as those of the Yellow and Blue Chans. In the city of Eumeswil, republican systems, in which the government is exercised by tribunes, alternate with tyrannical rule in a violent manner from time to time.
Regarding the geographical location, it says: “ The area borders the sea in the north; Depending on my mood, I sometimes think I'm on the Mediterranean, sometimes on the Atlantic. To the south it is lost in the desert ”(p. 46). The name is derived from the Hellenistic general Eumenes von Kardia (p. 86).
There are two parallel worlds in the novel. On the one hand in the catacombs to which numerous scientists have emigrated, an apparently worldwide subterranean system that has existed for generations, on the other hand in the "forest", which is on the one hand the tropical rainforest , on the other hand a fantastic region with mythical creatures that travelers find wondrous Experiences are reported.
content
The teachers
Martin Venator is a lecturer in history and also works as a “night steward”, a kind of bartender (p. 71), in the service of the Condor, the tyrant of Eumeswil. Among other things, he has to wear a “ tight-fitting ” blue-striped suit without underwear and a “ ridiculous hat ” (p. 16). The Condor also calls him "Manuel" because that sounds better. “Manuel” feels comfortable in his own skin (p. 19).
One of his teachers is the historian Vigo, whose assistant is Venator and to whom he ascribes his ability to look at history impartially, independent of his own historical roots. Vigo is ridiculed by colleagues and the press for using metaphorical language and making mythological comparisons to interpret the story. He had advised Martin Venator to accept the post as night steward because he could gain knowledge for his historical work by dealing with those in power.
Further teachers are the philosopher Bruno, who among other things has access to the catacombs, and the grammarian Thofern, who insists on a precise use of the language, where it is largely neglected in Eumeswil.
"Manuel" s father and brother, liberal historians who sided with the tribunes, are appalled that he is serving the hated tyrant. Conversely, he considers their political convictions to be outmoded and hollow. The family members don't have much to say to each other. Martin Venator was an unwanted second child; his father wanted to have him aborted. He speaks of his father as his "father".
Demarcation and security
In the event of a coup, “Manuel” would have two cabin stewards to guard a small post called the duck hut. He thinks that these comrades-in-arms are unreliable and that he should either fire them or kill them. During various hikes he discovers an abandoned bunker. If the Condor were to fall, he wanted to go underground for a while.
Night bar notes
The Condor resides on the Kasbah , a fortress near the city. Occasionally he goes to the night bar in the evening, where "Manuel" serves. "Manuel" has most evenings off. When the Condor appears, it is usually with his head of security Domo and his doctor Attila. Sometimes there are more from the entourage, rarely a state guest like Yellow Chan.
Condor, Domo and Attila often discuss how to react to events in Eumeswil, they " see in tyranny the only framework in which the atomized mass can be kept in shape and the struggle of all against all can be delayed " (p. 179 ).
When a journalist writes a satirical article about the Condor as a vulture and scavenger, they send an ornithologist to the Kasbah in the middle of the night, who has to provide a description of the condor as particularly large and majestic as possible . The image of the scavenger is not rejected, but only embellished.
A day on the kasbah
“Manuels” day begins with the fact that he examines himself in detail in front of a mirror, then a cabin steward waits for him. At first it was the Norwegian Dalin, now it's sometimes Kung, a Chinese cook, sometimes Nebek, a violent Lebanese.
The chapter does not really follow “Manuels” further daily routine, but is followed by detailed excursions to the three cabin stewards. Dalin regularly committed theft and sabotage for the sake of destruction. He died stealing a suitcase that happened to contain a bomb. On Dalin's death, the lawyer who placed the bomb in his suitcase is described, then the legal system of Eumeswil, in which the death penalty is carried out once or twice a year for demonstrations, then the islands to which the respective political opponents are banished, then how a small society has developed on one of these islands, where the exiles remain among themselves. It tells of Kung's culinary preferences and his wife. Nebek finally confides in "Manuel" how as a child he admired a Koran teacher who beat other students. The description corresponds to the Zaddecks in Die Zwille .
The only occupation “Manuel” does during the day is historical studies. The main instrument for this is a so-called luminar (see below), from which information on historical events can be given out or played back upon request. He can be taken to the "Weinstube von Jacob Hippel", Friedrichstrasse 94 in Berlin during the revolutions of 1848/1849 . His goal is Max Stirner : “ I see him sitting and smoking, a delicate profile. The sketch that Friedrich Engels drew in London only hits the middle section: the straight nose and the fine mouth. It has been revised by the media in the Luminar. Here too, but less fleeting, the high forehead. "(P. 320)
Stirner's work The Single and His Ownership provides him with the model for describing himself as an “anarch”. From this two axioms are given, among others: “ 1. That is not my business. 2. Nothing beats me. “(P. 324) Jünger's adaptation of Stirner's figure of the“ owner ”was criticized as inadequate by the Stirner researcher Bernd A. Laska .
When he went to bed, “Manuel” started thinking about the catacombs and the forest: “In the catacombs too, more happens than knowledge is hoarded and administered. One does not shake consciousness, but the species. A new Isis is to be created in the forest, through which Prometheus will be freed from the Caucasus by the subterranean. " (P. 338) " If I am right, two schools are at work; one wants to increase the size of the cerebrum, while the one in the woods wants to sink it into the brain stem. " (p. 339)
A day in the city
"Manuel" visits the prostitute Latifah regularly. He also studies with the student Ingrid, whose work he supervises as a lecturer and with whom he also has a relationship.
From the forest
On another evening, Attila reports on an expedition into the southern forest, about fantastic new plants and animals and magical dream experiences. The beaches beyond this forest, in turn, are large landfills , where people live on the rubble of past cultures that they can no longer cope with.
In the end, the Condor decides to go on a “Great Hunt”, an expedition into the forest. One would like to have Venator with them: “ We consider you to be our Xenophon ” (p. 373). He goes.
epilogue
The epilogue is written from the point of view of Martin Venator's brother. He and the Condor and its entourage have been missing for several years, and a democratic regime has taken the place of the tyrant. “ The exiles have returned from abroad and the prisoners from the islands; the henchmen of tyranny have swapped places with them ”(p. 379). Eventually, Martin Venator's notes were found. His brother explains that he first considered cremating them, but kept them out of an “archival conscience”.
Futuristic elements
The mechanization of society and its consequences are among the basic themes in Ernst Jünger's literary work. The luminar and the phonophore are among the decisive technical innovations that influence life in Eumeswil.
The Luminar is a device that is not described in detail, to which "inquiries" about historical events can be directed (p. 303) and from which, in response, partly suitable texts are displayed on a screen, but partly scenes are played back (p. 305 f.). “ In the luminar, the images appear spatially; I can sit with the Montagnards or the Girondists in the convent, as I wish ... ”(p. 312). The factual material as well as its lively presentation is provided by scientists working in the catacombs. “ In the catacombs not only was an encyclopedia of inconceivable proportions created, it was also activated. History is not only described, but also played out ... Both knowing people and artists must have been at work here, even clairvoyant spirits who looked into the crystal. "(P. 306).
The phonophore , which Jünger first described in the novel Heliopolis in 1949 , is a type of mobile telephone . Like many things with Jünger, it is also a badge of rank. “Manuel” wears one “ with the thin silver stripe that marks a subordinate but immediate service for the tyrant ” (p. 17). The higher the rank of the wearer, the greater the range; the “highest” is the golden phonophore.
The use of "thermal metals" for energy supply, which was still common in Heliopolis, was abandoned in Eumeswil, as it turned out to be too dangerous (p. 193). In general, "according to the state of historical exhaustion - the" perfection of technology "[...] has been replaced by a use of technology oriented towards convenience."
interpretation
Posthistoire
Martin Venator describes the situation in Eumeswil as " fellachoid swamp on Alexandrian basis" , the layer below - that is, the previous epoch - as " Alexandrian knowledge on a classical basis " (p. 32). Behind this is a historical comparison, according to which in the Hellenistic epoch (symbolized by the metropolis of Alexandria ) the intellectual-historical substance of the classical epoch of ancient Greece was flattened, the great currents of thought in Greek culture were replaced by mere copying and compiling (p. 86 ). The post-ancient Fellachian population of Egypt, on the other hand, had no real access even to this Hellenistic reverberation of the great intellectual-historical phenomena. Jünger outlines a corresponding decline in cultural and intellectual history with reference to Eumeswil, which he describes. The naming of this city after a Hellenistic general also refers to this epoch (p. 96).
In the future, which is portrayed in the novel “Eumeswil”, the political systems still change from time to time, but the underlying convictions no longer have any real meaning. “ The big ideas are polished off by repetition ” (p. 73). “ The historical substance has been used up. You don't take anything seriously anymore except for the rough pleasures and what everyday life demands. “(P. 60) This basic mood of the epoch felt by Venator corresponds to the historical-philosophical concept of the posthistoire .
The figure of the anarch
Martin Venator describes himself as an “anarch” who stays out of political and social developments of his epoch and does not make it “his business”: Since he has recognized the empty content of history, he feels the need to free himself from it . The constant repetitions of world history awaken in him the desire that "time will be brought down" (p. 88), that is, a post-historical phase begins. He is all the more fascinated by the direct and lifelike depiction of earlier epochs, which were still shaped by historical substance, on the luminar (p. 286).
As mentioned and described in the novel, the figure of the anarch is heavily influenced by Max Stirner's work The One and His Own . Several times in “Eumeswil” attempts are made to differentiate it from that of the anarchist. The anarchist is stuck in history and wants to team up with equals in order to fight the existing order. The anarch, on the other hand, doubts the functionality of social systems as a whole. Therefore he could live alone, but at the same time adapt to the current order and accept it without respecting it (pp. 41, 87, 147, 188, 310). For Venator, to a certain extent, “the change in the forms of government from“ tyranny ”to“ popular rule ”is only a transformation of power from the obviousness of its exercise to anonymity” and thus no real progress.
At the same time, Venator itself shows some comfort and complacency. His reasons for becoming a night steward include “a lot of free time for his own work, the luminar, a good salary, the phonophore with the silver lining, the aura of the ruler ” (p. 50). He learned "from women" to look the way others would like (p. 213). When he doesn't feel like going down stairs, he empties his chamber pot out of the window (p. 52). So he is an ambivalent figure, himself part of the "swampiness" diagnosed by him.
Self-removal and forest walk
In addition to spiritual distancing from the society around him, Martin Venator also strives for inner distancing from himself. According to his explanations, experiencing past times on the luminar goes hand in hand with a certain "self-removal" (p. 112) - a concept that had already been discussed in earlier writings of Jünger. In “Eumeswil” self-removal is described in such a way “that one can view oneself as a phenomenon from a distance like a figure in a chess game - - - in a word, that one takes the historical classification more important than the personal one” (p. 111) . In order to perfect this ability, Venator meditates repeatedly in front of a mirror (p. 209 f.). Only in the last few days before the Condor's expedition into the forest, when the decision to take part in it had already been made, did he achieve his great goal: his “complete detachment from physical existence” (p. 377), that is, perception its own metaphysical existence 'from outside'.
This development of new, transcendent experiences is repeated in a different form in the “walk through the forest” with which the novel ends. The legendary forest, which is located on the other side of the desert, is completely undeveloped and is therefore beyond all areas of experience of society. The flora and fauna there are, according to the few available descriptions, of which the Condor learns, shaped by fairy-tale and monstrous creatures that are dismissed as mythical creatures by science (p. 47 f.). By following the ruler on his ambitious expedition and getting lost with her in the unknown realms, Venator succeeds in exiting the previous spheres of his existence (also physically) at the end of the novel. This train of thought also goes back to earlier writings of Jünger, in which the term “forest walk” was coined. In “Atlantische Fahrt” (1947) the writer deals with the human experience of the forest as something completely 'different': it is impossible to leave the existing paths while staying in a (natural, untouched by civilization) forest, there one would immediately encounter an impenetrable thicket - both in a physical and in a spiritual sense. "[T] he what we refer to as« wilderness »we will always see from an external point, we would have to get lost in it." In "Eumeswil", Martin Venator actually only succeeds in overcoming this previous horizon at the price of sacrificing his own Life.
Form and language
The novel does not offer a chronological plot, but is based on various topics such as Venator's teachers or his duties at the kasbah. The description of the narrator's life and spiritual world is linked to artful excursions or digressions in which individual topics are repeatedly analyzed and reflected. This includes, for example, the “anarch” way of life, which is described in many brief comments. The first-person narrator himself comments several times on his advances and backward movements: “ As I can see, I have built an enclosure in the enclosure ” (p. 228), “ I think I already said ... ” (p. 262). Regarding the hiding place in the bunker, it says: “ I also brought parts of my manuscript there. Incidentally, this explains some of the repetitions ”(p. 275). The descriptive, narrative and reflective passages are divided into short sections, which are often only loosely linked to one another. These "small, loosely connected pieces of prose [...] with minimal plot" are considered characteristic of Jünger's late work and his narrative technique, which was shaped by postmodernism .
In terms of language, Jünger uses a variety of metaphors and assumes meanings for many terms (telluric, titanic, forest walker, worker, etc.) that he developed in earlier works, so that some passages are not readily accessible to the reader. A description of Attila's way of speaking could also be read as a self-description of Jünger's style: “ It strikes me that for him the mythical significance outweighs the botanical one. Cedar, cypress, thuja, juniper all play into each other, ... So the word has less biological than cosmogonic meaning for him. I make a note of this detail because at first it was difficult for me to penetrate into the background of his language, until I finally noticed that things there are not becoming more difficult, but simpler; he leads them back to synthesis. "(P. 371)
Classification and reception
As in other works, there are close connections between the reflections and trains of thought in Jünger's works and his own world of experience and feelings. Often, for example, the description of Vigo and the criticism of his style of thought and language is interpreted as a hidden reaction by Ernst Jünger to criticism against him. Horst Seferens sees further references in the novel to the situation of Jünger as a writer in post-war Germany: He interprets the way in which the "anarch" Venator and his intellectual environment in Eumeswil act as a literary processing of strategies and advice from Ernst Jünger to the extreme political rights to camouflage their anti-democratic thinking and to behave in a politically hostile environment. This interpretation is not undisputed; What is more clearly recognizable, on the other hand, is that Jünger, with the figure of the anarch, generally takes up the discourses on opposition and resistance that arose during the creation of the novel in the 1970s due to the extra-parliamentary opposition in the FRG and the subsequent increase in terrorism.
According to Armin Mohler , Jünger built “the building of his worldly wisdom” in Eumeswil.
Web links
- Associazione Eumeswil, Florence Italy
- Ernst Jünger - anarch. Blog about Eumeswil and the figure of the anarch
- Dust jacket of the first edition
literature
expenditure
- Ernst Jünger: Eumeswil. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1977, ISBN 3-12-904170-2 .
- Ernst Jünger: All works in 18 volumes. Volume 17: Eumeswil. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1980.
Secondary literature
- Bernd A. Laska : "Katechon" and "Anarch". Carl Schmitt and Ernst Jünger's reactions to Max Stirner. LSR-Verlag, Nuremberg 1997, ISBN 3-922058-63-9 ( reading sample ).
- Dietrich Murswiek : The anarch and the anarchist: The freedom of the individual in Ernst Jüngers Eumeswil. In: German Studies. Volume 17, 1979, pp. 282-294.
- Steffen Martus : Ernst Jünger. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2001, especially pp. 209–215.
- Joachim Schote: Ernst Jünger's novel Eumeswil: The theory of the posthistoire and the failure of the anarch. In: Augias. Volume 43, 1992, pp. 28-48.
- Harro Segeberg: We're straying forward. On the function of the utopian in Ernst Jünger's work. In: Lutz Hagestedt (Ed.): Ernst Jünger. Politics - Myth - Art. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2004, pp. 403-414.
- Heike Tschenett: Ernst Jünger and antiquity: rulers of Roman decay in the novels Heliopolis and Eumeswil. Thesis, Leopold Franzens University, Innsbruck 1994.
- Christian Weilmeier: 'Eumeswil'. Ernst Jünger's philosophy of institutional order. Dissertation, University of Philosophy Munich 2005 ( digitized in the Internet Archive ).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bernd A. Laska: "Katechon" and "Anarch". Carl Schmitt and Ernst Jünger's reactions to Max Stirner. LSR-Verlag, Nuremberg 1997, ISBN 3-922058-63-9 , p. 52 ff.
- ^ A b Rolf G. Renner: Eumeswil (1977). In: Matthias Schöning (Ed.): Ernst Jünger Handbook. Life - work - effect. JB Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2014, ISBN 978-3-476-02479-4 , pp. 250–257, here p. 251.
- ↑ Steffen Martus: Ernst Jünger. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2001, p. 210.
- ↑ Steffen Martus: Ernst Jünger. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2001, p. 213.
- ↑ Steffen Martus: Ernst Jünger. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2001, p. 211.
- ↑ Steffen Martus: Ernst Jünger. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2001, p. 214.
- ↑ Ernst Jünger: Complete Works. Volume 6: Diaries VI. Travel diaries. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1982, p. 133 f.
- ↑ On the interpretation of the walk in the forest in "Eumeswil" Steffen Martus: Ernst Jünger. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2001, p. 214 f.
- ↑ Steffen Martus: Ernst Jünger. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2001, p. 210 f. (Quoted from p. 210); Rolf G. Renner: Eumeswil (1977). In: Matthias Schöning (Ed.): Ernst Jünger Handbook. Life - work - effect. JB Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2014, ISBN 978-3-476-02479-4 , pp. 250–257, here p. 255.
- ↑ Steffen Martus: Ernst Jünger. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2001, p. 212.
- ↑ Horst Seferens: People from the day after tomorrow and from the day before yesterday. Ernst Jünger's Iconography of the Counter-Enlightenment and the German Right after 1945. Bodenheim 1998, p. 356 ff.
- ^ Rolf G. Renner: Eumeswil (1977). In: Matthias Schöning (Ed.): Ernst Jünger Handbook. Life - work - effect. JB Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2014, ISBN 978-3-476-02479-4 , pp. 250–257, here p. 250; Matthias Schöning: The anarch and the anarchists. Ernst Jünger's “Eumeswil”: A Metapolitical Typology of Public Enemies from 1977. In: Norman Ächtler, Carsten Gansel (Ed.): Iconography of Terror? Forms of aesthetic memory of terrorism in the Federal Republic 1978–2008. Winter, Heidelberg 2010, pp. 21–49.