ETD

• sprachreflexion theologie Ball Döblin Kafka

The present dissertation offers a new theoretical framework for the literary Sprachreflexion in the German-speaking Moderne. To this end, a flexible method based on the principles of transdisciplinarity and relationality has been devised: the general phenomenon of language reflection is conceived as the result of a constant theoretical tension equally shared by literature, philosophy and theology (chapters one and two). Indeed, every single manifestation of the Sprachreflexion can be observed as the byproduct of a phenomenological field (Feldtheorie), i.e. as a relational event, embedded in a vast intertextual network straddling across different disciplines. This field method of investigation (chapter three), developed from an adaptation of the theories of Ernst Cassirer and Pierre Bourdieu, allows us to encompass an otherwise elusive and heterogeneous phenomenon, while identifying its regulating dynamics (Sprachrealismus, Nominalismus, Ontologisierung and Deontologisierung der Sprache) and assessing its technical and poetological repercussions.
The fourth and final chapter of the work is dedicated precisely to this last aspect: in fact, a series of case studies explores the variety of formal devices which different authors of the period (Arno Holz, Hugo Ball, Alfred Döblin and Franz Kafka) has elaborated in order to put into action the coordinates of their theoretical reflection on language. Using a morphological approach, an attempt has been made to detect certain stylistic devices from different religious traditions (the Kenosis model, the double negation, tautology), to identify their basic function and to observe their plastic adjustment to the literary language of the Moderne. These stylistic devices were renamed Logosformeln, following the Warburgian model of the Pathosformeln. More specifically, it has been observed how the kenotic conception of language, originating from various strands of Christian thought, decisively informed two of the most iconic literary expressions of the time: Hugo Ball's Lautdichtung on the one hand, and Alfred Döblin's steinerner Stil on the other. Secondly, an attempt has been made to analyze the apophatic play of Kafka's language, constructed through the recovery of a theological negative linguistic repertoire of Jewish descent, from Moses Maimonides to Salomon Maimon.
Far beyond the now classic labels of Sprachkrise, Sprachmagie or Sprachvertrauen, the present work wishes therefore to offer a set of analytical tools capable of reframing a highly complex phenomenon, providing both a synchronic snapshot (the sprachtheoretisches Feld) and a flexible diachronic perspective (Logosformeln) on its genesis and differentiation.