Tristan chord (novel)

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Edmund Blair Leighton, Tristan and Isolde , 1902

The novel Tristan Chord by Hans-Ulrich Treichel describes the encounters between the young literary scholar Georg Zimmer and the famous composer Bergmann, who - like his entire environment - begins to exploit him more and more. The novel is a parody of the idols of the classical cultural scene and their insubstantial admirers.

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Location of the Hebrides in Scotland
Sicily , aerial view
The Emsland, location in Lower Saxony
Washington Square, New York
Joseph Albert: Ludwig and Malwine Schnorr von Carolsfeld as " Tristan and Isolde " at the Munich premiere, 1865

By chance, Georg Zimmer was given the task of correcting the manuscript of the autobiography of the famous composer Bergmann, "a kind of Brahms or Beethoven of our day". He travels to Scotland to start work at the star's vacation home on a remote island in the Hebrides . Georg encounters a person who tirelessly composes, but at the same time also acts out strange behaviors, drinks, intrigues and unreservedly harnesses his environment for his projects. When the memoirs were corrected, Bergmann invited Georg to continue his work in New York, where Bergmann's latest work was premiered. The inexperienced Georg encounters the great world of high society, moves uncertainly in hotel suites, limousines and at banquets and falls hopelessly and from a distance in love with Mary, the daughter of a famous conductor. He experiences the strange mixture of genius and vanity that characterizes the famous composer Bergmann up close.

Bergmann takes a liking to the shy Georg and when he hears about his lyrical attempts, he wants to win him over as the poet of a hymn for his next composition. In Bergmann's luxurious villa in Sicily, Georg searches in vain for his own thoughts and saves himself by turning a poem by Georg Heym into the opposite. Bergmann quickly sees through the helpless fraud, Georg's attempt to participate in Bergmann's fame quickly fails.

Literary form

Hans-Ulrich Treichel tells personally from the perspective of the anti-hero Georg Zimmer, an inexperienced literary scholar from the fictional town of Emsfelde in Emsland , who longs for recognition in science and art, but has little more to offer than diligence and phrases.

In this context, the leitmotif of the novel is Richard Wagner's Tristan chord . Georg Zimmer describes his attempts to breathe “The Tristan chord” at irregular intervals while listening to classical music self-critically, thereby miming connoisseurship until he, freshly in love, comes across a musically skilled fellow student who then tells him “That's how it works not. ”left. The failed attempt to use a phrase and a corresponding gesture to pretend to be a connoisseur in the cultural field is paradigmatic for Zimmer's behavior in the field of literary studies as well as in the fields of poetry and music.

His dissertation project on forgetting in literature is based neither on real interest nor on specialist knowledge. It is a mere construct, the attempt to avoid the grazed motif of memory and yet to use the interest in this topic effectively. He approaches his topic through pure hard work by searching texts for the term “forgetting”. Analogous to the Tristan chord, when he first met Bergmann, he tried to impress him with his knowledge of Greek mythology: His dissertation was about Lethe , not Mnemosyne , a bon mot from his doctoral supervisor . When Bergmann answers knowledgeably on the mythological level, the confused Georg doesn't understand a word.

The novel develops its tension from a number of central opposites: Georg's world of mediocrity and adaptation contrasts with the world of the classic star Bergmann, the Emsland and the Berlin-Kreuzberg social welfare office meet England, New York and Sicily. Communication between these worlds only takes place as a misunderstanding. The distance is too big for Georg to generate a development from the experience of the opposites.

The ironic tension of the work arises partly from the fact that it is reported and perceived from Georg's perspective, but at the same time this figure is repeatedly exposed.

“It demonstrates the retelling of Georg's musical preferences. After an agonizing beginning on the recorder, he discovered the rebellious potential of the guitar and soon the easier-to-play »air guitar«. But suddenly he hangs it up in order to struggle with the piano from now on. "

- Beat Mazenauer : Tamed Unfulfilled, Remains Suspended, Friday 09 of February 25, 2000

According to some reviewers, the foil for this failure is the perspective of the culturally competent author, who satirizes efforts in literary studies against the background that Treichel himself “would write a clever piece of work on it”.

The story of failure, disappointment and longing for recognition is told very quietly and undramatically. The fragments of the great culture used as a leitmotif, such as the Tristan chord, which is a musical leitmotif for Wagner itself, do not become a counterpoint to the penniless, as they are only described from the perspective of the dilettante Georg. The antihero Georg also remains emotionally controlled despite all disappointments, his strategy of self-distance and repression works even in crises. The dimension of depth can only be contributed by the reader himself.

"The reader has long since raised his warning finger, while Treichel still lets his main character look through eyes that are characterized by blurry naivete."

- Katharina Iskandar : literaturkritik.de, No. 6, June 2000 (2nd volume)

reception

For the majority of reviewers, the novel appears to be weaker than its predecessor, “The Lost”, whose brilliance is lacking, as “solid but not exciting”. The criticism appears to lack emotional intensity and major events.

Nevertheless, there are also positive appreciations. Katharina Iskandar praises the novel in her review “The deep longing for success” as a “look into the human psyche”, as a “homage to human dignity”. A look "into the abyss of a failed existence" demonstrates the consequences of overadjusting to the norms of society.

The figure of the composer Bergmann is the subject of controversy. While Beat Matzenauer found the combination of vanity and genius interesting on Friday, others consider the figure to be implausible. It is more reminiscent of one of the conductor stars, the path of the composers of modern serious music is not paved to this extent with fame and money.

Treichel's style is widely praised. Stephan Ramming reminds Hans-Ulrich Treichel's novel of Thomas Bernhard , Hans-Rainer John writes that Treichel “formed a humorous book, elegant and witty, written loosely in one go, with no chapters, almost no paragraphs. A book that you can read easily and quickly, that entertains and amuses you, an airy web that you enjoy like a creamy dish. " But John also recently formulated criticism:

“Why does the reader remain so happily aloof? Perhaps because, apart from Bergmann and Zimmer, no figure becomes three-dimensional (with Mary and David, the secretary, a lot is given away), Bergmann's creative power gushes so smoothly, success and fame appear as static values ​​and not as acquired, contested and constantly threatened, the music at all basically remains irrelevant, neither the type and quality of Bergmann's memoirs nor the corrections by Georg to them play a role, no problem ever becomes really existential and many details that are dealt with in detail are so everyday and random. "

- Hans-Rainer John : Wanderings of a shy doctoral student, Berlin Reading Signs, edition 12/00 (c) Edition Luisenstadt, 2000

Secondary literature

text

  • Hans-Ulrich Treichel: Tristan chord. Novel. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 2000, ISBN 3-518-41127-6 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Beat Mazenauer: Tamed, Unfulfilled. Hans-Ulrich Treichel's new novel 'Tristanakkord' is solid, but not exciting. In: Friday .
  2. ^ Stephan Ramming, Tristanakkord, Wochenzeitung, Zurich, February 17, 2000
  3. ^ Beat Mazenauer, Tamed Unfulfilled, Remains Floating, Friday 09 of February 25, 2000
  4. ↑ literaturkritik.de, No. 6, June 2000 (2nd volume)
  5. ^ Stephan Ramming, Tristanakkord, Wochenzeitung, Zurich, February 17, 2000
  6. ↑ Hans-Rainer John, Random Journeys of a Shy Doctoral Student, Berlin Reading Signs, Edition 12/00 (c) Edition Luisenstadt, 2000