ΙΣΤΟΡΙΚΗ ΑΦΗΓΗΣΗ ΚΑΙ ΛΕΙΤΟΥΡΓΙΑ ΤΗΣ ΓΕΡΜΑΝΙΚΗΣ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΚΗΣ ΠΡΑΓΜΑΤΙΚΟΤΗΤΑΣ ΣΤΟ ΜΥΘΙΣΤΟΡΗΜΑ ΟΙ ΑΘΩΟΙ ΤΟΥ HERMANN BROCH

Abstract

Alexander Papadogiorgakis, Historical Narrative and Aspects of German History in Hermann Broch’s novel, Die Schuldlosen

The present essay refers to the Hermann Broch novel Die Schuldlosen (The innocent). Its main purpose is to trace and explain the ways history in general and german history in particular are incorporated into the text, to look into their function in the broader context of the book, to specify their position in the narrative techniques used by the author and, finally, to examine whether Broch’s view of history is related to the central problem posed by the title of the novel, namely that of guilt (or guiltessness ast he case maybe). Although recent academic research on the author’s works is quite expansive, their historical background has rarely been discussed. What is more, Die Schuldlosen has been left aside somewhat by researchers in favour of Broch’s more famous works. On the other hand, since history has always sheld a major part in the writer’s novels, it would be interesting to try and interpret the way it is emplotted in the narrative context of The Innocent. The reader should also keep in mind that historical references in the novel are much less direct and generally more complex than usual. Broch creates his history by emplotting the experiences of his characters.

Consequently, I would argue that the author’s most perceptive historical discussions are embodied not just in his discursive essays but even more powerfully in the plot that he weaves with his fictional characters and in a symbolic narrative that is literally inscribed on the protagonists’ bodies as traces of the power and violence exerted against them, by individuals or armies or society itself. This emplotted rather than theorized history leads the reader to a very different understanding of history than what he initially expects. The author is quite conscious of the partial nature of his narrative fragments, and the fragmentation of his narrative style conveys and reflects the painful fragmentation he sees in history and philosophy. His dual approach of providing an emplotted history in the narratives of his characters on the one hand, and highly accurate references to german history on the other, provides the reader with two different versions of what is at stake in recording history. Is it really the constructed narrative of the common man? Or is it the analytic record of the causes and impulses that guide and govern human activity at a given moment in time? In Broch’s Die Schuldlosen, history is written both ways. And while we might think of these two exercises as complementary, Broch reveals that they potentially lead to very different directions. What we learn from history, Broch implies, depends heavily on how it is presented and on how it is conceived and read.