Seeing Jaakob: The Poetics of Visuality in Thomas Mann's "Die Geschichten Jaakobs"

324 Pages·2011·2.423 MB·English

by  David Tingey

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David L. Tingey, Jr.

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Seeing Jaakob
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M The Poetics of Visuality
in Thomas Mann’s

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S Peter Lang
Despite the considerable amount of scholarship on Mann’s work, his
tetralogy – composed prior to and during his exile from Nazi Germany
– has received less attention and has not been examined from the per-
spective of the relationship of visuality to narrative. In this study of
Mann’s reworking of the biblical account of Jacob, father of Joseph,
the author examines the ways the novel’s protagonists frame their
environment through knowledge and meaning gained via specific acts
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of seeing. While considering Mann’s oft-stated intent to refunctionalize
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myth by means of psychology for humane and progressive purposes, the
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book explores the lavish narrative attention Mann gives to visual detail,
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visual stimulation, the protagonists’ eyes, ways of seeing, and even to a
staging and performance in anticipation of another’s way of seeing. r
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The results reveal that the plot of the first Joseph novel is carried and
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propelled by a series of visual encounters during which the narrative
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draws attention to the protagonists’ eyes and acts of looking. L

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David L. Tingey, Jr. received his PhD in German from Washington M
University in St. Louis. He is an assistant professor at the University

of Tulsa where he teaches German language, literature and culture. n
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Seeing Jaakob
Studies in Modern German Literature
Peter D.G. Brown, SUNY New Paltz
General Editor
Vol. 111
PETER LANG
Oxford • Bern • Berlin • Bruxelles • Frankfurt am Main • New York • Wien
David L. Tingey, Jr.
Seeing Jaakob
The Poetics of Visuality
in Thomas Mann’s
Die Geschichten Jaakobs
PETER LANG
Oxford • Bern • Berlin • Bruxelles • Frankfurt am Main • New York • Wien
Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche
National bibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet
at http://dnb.d-nb.de.
A catalogue record for this book is available from The British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data:
Tingey, David L., 1969-
Seeing Jaakob : the poetics of visuality in Thomas Mann’s Die
Geschichten Jaakobs / David L. Tingey, Jr.
p. cm. -- (Studies in modern German literature, ISSN 0888-3904 ;
v. 111)
Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Mann, Thomas, 1875-1955. Geschichten Jaakobs. 2. Visual perception
in literature. I. Title.
PT2625.A44G43 2009
641.5943--dc22
2009029044
ISSN 0888-3904
ISBN 978-3-0353-0029-1
© Peter Lang AG, International Academic Publishers, Bern 2010
Hochfeldstrasse 32, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland
[email protected], www.peterlang.com, www.peterlang.net
All rights reserved.
All parts of this publication are protected by copyright.
Any utilisation outside the strict limits of the copyright law, without
the permission of the publisher, is forbidden and liable to prosecution.
This applies in particular to reproductions, translations, microfilming,
and storage and processing in electronic retrieval systems.
Printed in Germany
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
Introduction 1
Part 1
“Am Brunnen”: Mann’s Introduction to Joseph’s Poetics of Visuality 11
Chapter 1
A Cinematographic Introduction of Joseph and Jaakob 19
Chapter 2
Forbidden Looking: Joseph and His Brothers, Jaakob and His Sons 43
Chapter 3
“Augenfälliges Sinnen”: Ischtar and Hermes 67
Part 2
Eyes and Looking: Intersection of Myth and Psychology 97
Chapter 4
Their Eyes Met: The Encounter at the Well 101
“At First Sight”: The Myth of the First Encounter 112
“Hübsch und schön”:
The Myth and Psychology of Rachel’s Gaze 116
The Stone, the Phallus, and the Dream-Vision:
Jaakob’s Head Is Lifted Up 125
God vs. Rachel: Jaakob’s Oedipus Complex 135
Rachel and Lea: Eyes and Bodies 146
vi
Chapter 5
Sichtbarkeit, Moons, and Underworlds: Jaakob and Laban’s Family 157
Jaakob’s Underworld: Astral-Mythological Motifs and Eyes 164
The Underworldly Moon-God and His Family 174
The Underworldly City: Temples and Contracts 185
Chapter 6
Jaakob’s Discovery of the Spring:
The Great Mother and the Father-God 195
Ea, Marduk, and the Matriarchy 201
Bachofen’s Mutterrecht and Freud’s Father Principle 209
Jaakob and the Father-God Story 215
Ea Reveals the Spring 219
Rachel-Ischtar and the Eye-Spring 228
Chapter 7
Fear of the Evil Eye 231
Definitions 236
Joseph und seine Brüder and the Origins of the Evil Eye Belief 238
Apotropaic Amulets and Envy:
Protection, the Who and the Why 240
Lebenswasser: Alan Dundes and the Cause of the Evil Eye 245
Myth and Psychology:
Lawrence Di Stasi and the Great Mother 249
Laban and Jaakob: Fascinator and Victim 252
Conclusion 261
Notes 267
Bibliography 277
Index 293
Acknowledgements
I am indebted to several people for making this book possible. Dr. Thomas
Sprecher and the staff of the Thomas-Mann-Archiv in Zürich allowed me
to study Mann’s notes, sources, and manuscripts for the Joseph novels, and
especially Gabi Hollender generously assisted me and offered helpful advice
as I worked with the materials. The University of Tulsa provided financial
support for this project through several Summer Fellowships, a travel grant,
and a generous award from the University of Tulsa Faculty Research Grant
Program. This book began as my dissertation at Washington University in
St. Louis. Mike Lützeler, my advisor, gave me invaluable encouragement,
advice, and direction, and has continued to provide assistance as the project
transformed into a book. I am likewise grateful to Lynne Tatlock for her
careful and critical reading of the dissertation, particularly her consistent
view of my project as a future book.
I would like to express my thanks to my colleagues at the University
of Tulsa for their guidance and encouragement as I have worked on this
project. In particular, I need to single out Vic Udwin for his helpful and
insightful readings and criticisms of various stages of the manuscript, as
well as his indispensable advice and support. My appreciation must also go
to Toni Zuccarini Ackley and Katie Bradford who critiqued and proofread
many drafts of the manuscript. My sincerest thanks go also to Peter Brown,
the editor of this series, and to Shirley Walker Werrett at Peter Lang.
Finally, I am grateful to my parents, who have supported all of my
aspirations; I am particularly grateful to my wife, Heidi Tingey, without
whose help, support, and cheerful patience this book would not exist; and
last but not least I am grateful to our two sons, Davy and Joey, to whom
I dedicate this book.