Dear list members,

May I bring this new book to your – and possibly your librarians’ – kind
attention.

Thank you and Happy New Year,

Markus Oliver Spitz

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Holger Mosebach: Endzeitvisionen im Erzählwerk Christoph Ransmayrs
Munich: Martin Meidenbauer, 2003
ISBN 3-89975-033-0
284 pages, hard cover
Price: 42,00 Euros, ca. £ 29.80

For his doctoral dissertation, Mosebach opted for a close-reading approach of
the novels, yet not the journalistic texts of Christoph Ransmayr. This choice
might come as a little surprise to the reader, particularly as Mosebach states
himself that “[a]uch in diesen kleineren Schriften (…) eine Affinität des
Autors zu Untergängen herauszulesen [ist]” (p 14) and goes on to concede that
motifs of the apocalypse have also found their way into the short prose. It is
equally as true that the journalistic pieces have played their part as
auto-intertextual influences on the novels (see p 82). Mosebach rightly
argues, however, that it is in Ransmayr’s novels where the topic of universal
decline becomes apparent in a more complex and a more condensed form.
	Analysing the structure of Ransmayr’s Endzeitvisionen is the first task set
in the thesis; the second consists of answering the question in what way the
fictional texts form a portrayal of the reader’s world (see p 15). To clear
the ground further, the book continues with a detailed outline of
Endzeitvisionen from antiquity to modernity. The key issue in this context is
how the “Erlösungsmodell von der Errettung der Menschheit” (p 22) has given
way to what Klaus Vondung has called “kupierte Apokalypse”, the understanding
that the disappearance of humans is a possibility not to be ignored, but it is
the traditional vision of the salvation supposed to follow that has now
evaporated. Apocalypse takes place not in the after-world, but here and now, a
train of thought well established. In Mosebach’s words: “[D]er
Fortschrittsoptimismus der letzten Jahrhunderte ist in Zukunftspessimismus
umgeschlagen” (p 31). The much-discussed Fukuyama-theorem of the “end of
history” rounds off this section; Mosebach maintains convincingly throughout
his book that Ransmayr puts his individual notion of the “Konzept des Endes
der Geschichte gegen das der Posthistoire-Idee” (p 243).
	These introductory statements form the theoretical and methodological basis
of the application of the theory on Endzeitvisionen to the works of Ransmayr.
They would seem to lead the reader slightly away from the novels if it was not
for the numerous Rückverweise that are to follow in subsequent chapters.
Still, it is a bit of a way to go before the book returns to Ransmayr in
chapter three with an attempt at defining that author’s Poetologie. As,
unfortunately, there is not much substance in Ransmayr’s already scarce
statements on this matter, the word “Versuch” has been adequately chosen.
Ransmayr’s aesthetics are difficult to pin down because, as Mosebach states,
the positions “schwanken”(p 45) and “[v]on DER Autorenpoetik Ransmayrs kann
zusammenfassend nicht die Rede sein” (p 55). Common ground in all of the
Austrian’s writings is the acceptance of the mimetic aspect of literature, but
the refusal of a sheer “realistic” approach. Instead, Ransmayr’s Erfindung der
Wirklichkeit resembles more what Christa Wolf – alluding to Musil – has
labelled phantastische Genauigkeit: the author does not intend to provide a
positivistic re-narration of factual information, but instead offers possible,
plausible and therefore credible models of reality to the reader. This,
Mosebach points out in a clearly structured line of argument by referring to
all the essential interviews, speeches, and essays available.
	Chapter four is the largest by far, and rightly so as it is dedicated to the
analysis of the Endzeitvisionen. Closely connected with these is the criticism
of progress to be found throughout in Ransmayr’s novels, a fact which Mosebach
deals with in his two sub-sections on “Fortschrittskritik” as visible in Die
Schrecken des Eises und der Finsternis (pp 98-113) and in Morbus Kitahara (pp
242-46). When Ransmayr argues that the human species is incapable of learning
from experience, this can be interpreted as an obvious criticism of the
Enlightenment, around which, one might argue, all of Ransmayr’s works revolve
in one way or another. In Mosebach’s publication, this facet is represented by
the three sections on “Anthropologische Kritik” referring to Strahlender
Untergang (pp 76ff), Die letzte Welt (pp 176-83), and Morbus Kitahara (pp
233-38). What coincides with both these modes of criticism is the
“Rehabilitierung des Mythos” (pp 183-88) as an indicator of the “Loslösung vom
absoluten Fortschrittsglauben” (p 115).
	Taking into account the Austrian’s language, which relishes in depictions of
decay and the theme of the tortured body, completes the analysis of entropy in
Ransmayr’s works (“Ästhetik des Schreckens” and “Geschundene Körper”
respectively). Arguably, these patterns might have been arranged in a way that
synthesises findings for all the texts under one heading, but as they stand
they succeed in forming the guiding line of the dissertation supplemented by
usually highly convincing summaries and transitions at the end of each
chapter.
	On the level of in-depth analysis, the book deals with the novels in a
chronological order. The section on Strahlender Untergang focuses on the
disappearance of man while Die Schrecken des Eises und der Finsternis explores
mainly intertextual relations: The motif of “Die unendliche Fahrt” as
developed by M. Frank might have formed part of those instead of including it
under “Fortschrittskritik”. The brief “Exkurs” on ice and frost as a motif in
contemporary German literature (pp 113-14) seems slightly misplaced when in
between criticism of progress and myth.
	On the one hand, it seems unfortunate that ninety-three pages have been
dedicated to Die letzte Welt, which is almost over-researched, while only a
third of that page range we find dealing with Morbus Kitahara. On the other,
the notion of Endzeitvision is much more evident in Die letzte Welt than in
any other Ransmayr text and therefore serves as a plausible justification for
such an approach.
	Chapter five (“Ausblick”) classifies the novels against the background of the
‘apocalyptic’ genre of the 1980s and formulates the juxtaposition of
Ransmayr’s Endzeitvisionen and other fictional texts from that same period as
a Desideratum der Forschung.
	To conclude, the book fulfils its purpose as it successfully dissects the
roots, the structure, and the nature of entropic thought in Ransmayr’s oeuvre.
It establishes a clear link with the implications these have on the reader.
With regard to all the novels, and Morbus Kitahara in particular, Mosebach
differentiates explicitly between factual and fictional components of the
“erfundene Welt” in question. The concept of the ‘halved’ apocalypse coming
without the belief in a better civilisation replacing the one extinguished
sheds a new light on the Forschungsstand when applied to the texts.
	Mosebach provides the reader with an excellent up-to-date bibliography and a
helpful glossary of names and key words. Minor inaccuracies like typos and
omissions in quotations, especially from Morbus Kitahara, could have been
avoided. The layout is well-made in the sense that it does not tire the
reader’s eye. For a scientific publication in hard cover, the book also comes
at an adequate price.

__________________________
Markus Oliver Spitz
University of Exeter
Department of German

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cand. phil. Markus Oliver SPITZ, MPhil
University of Exeter
Department of German