technology towards transcendence apocalyptic spiritualities & the genesis of science fiction in ...

367 Pages·2015·13.66 MB·English

TECHNOLOGY TOWARDS TRANSCENDENCE
APOCALYPTIC SPIRITUALITIES & THE GENESIS OF SCIENCE
FICTION IN WEIMAR GERMANY
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A Thesis
presented to
the Faculty of the History Department
at the University of Missouri-Columbia

_______________________________________________________

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Arts

_____________________________________________________

by
COLTON J. OCHSNER
DR. JONATHAN SPERBER, Thesis Supervisor
MAY 2015
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© Copyright by Colton Ochsner 2015
All Rights Reserved!
The undersigned, appointed by the dean of the Graduate School, have examined the
thesis entitled
TECHNOLOGY TOWARDS TRANSCENDENCE:
APOCALYPTIC SPIRITUALITIES & THE GENESIS OF SCIENCE FICTION IN
WEIMAR GERMANY
presented by Colton J. Ochsner, a candidate for the degree of master of history, and
hereby certify that, in their opinion, it is worthy of acceptance.

Professor Jonathan Sperber
Professor John Frymire
Professor Kristin Kopp!
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work is indebted to those scholars at the University of Missouri who, collaborating
from their various expertises, made its assemblage possible. These scholars include Dr.
Jonathan Sperber of the History Department, professor of modern German history and the
author’s advisor; Dr. John Frymire of the History Department, professor of early modern
German history; and Dr. Kristin Kopp of the German & Russian Studies Department,
professor of German literature. Along with the erudite insights each has offered in the
rapid culmination of this work, becoming acquainted with their fields of study has
allowed this work itself to flourish. In addition, this work would not have been possible
without years of private tutelage by my late maternal grandfather, Franklin C. Jared.
Only further research can shed light upon what this work humbly begins to illuminate.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................... ii

INTRODUCTION: AMBIGUOUS DEMARCATIONS .................................................................. iii
Brief Overview of Content & Argument ........................................................................ iv
Methodology & Shortcomings ..................................................................................... viii
Outline of Chapters ...................................................................................................... xvi
CHAPTER ONE: THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF GNOSTICISM ..........................................1
SECULAR UNIVERSITIES & THE HUMAN SCIENCES ............................................................3
The Christ Myth .......................................................................................................6
The “Conflict between Babel & the Bible” ...........................................................11
The Turfan Expeditions .........................................................................................15
The New Perspective .............................................................................................20
ESOTERIC SCHOOLS & THE “SPIRITUAL SCIENCES” .........................................................24
Ordo Templi Orientis .............................................................................................27
The Anthroposophical Society ...............................................................................34
THE APPLICABILITY OF GNOSTICISM IN MODERNITY ......................................................43
CHAPTER TWO: THE RECURRENCE OF THE PAST ................................................................57
THE FANTASTIC AS SCIENTIFIC FACT ..............................................................................60
Thresholds into the Transcendental .......................................................................61
Naturalizing the Supernatural, Supernaturalizing the Natural ...............................72
THE FANTASTIC AS MYSTICAL EXPRESSION ....................................................................82
Illumination of the Page .........................................................................................83
Illumination of the Screen ......................................................................................94
THE LIMITLESSNESS OF REALITY ..................................................................................105
CHAPTER THREE: REVELATIONS OF KNOWLEDGE ............................................................116
QUESTIONS OF IDENTITY ...............................................................................................120
Withdrawing from the World ...............................................................................121
From Belief to Knowledge ...................................................................................131
“THE LIGHT BRINGER” ..................................................................................................144
Out of the Past ......................................................................................................146
Into the Future ......................................................................................................155
INNER SPARK ................................................................................................................174
CHAPTER FOUR: GNOSTIC FORCES IN THE ABSURDITY OF POSTWAR MODERNISM ...........188
FORCES OF DARKNESS ...................................................................................................191
The Demiurge & the Archons ..............................................................................193
Technocratic Transliterations ...............................................................................202
FORCES OF LIGHT ..........................................................................................................214
The Two Sophias & the Christos .........................................................................216
Fantasies of Redemption ......................................................................................233
MICROCOSM, MACROCOSM ...........................................................................................246
As Above, So Below ............................................................................................248
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As Within, So Without .........................................................................................255
CHAPTER FIVE: ASCENT THROUGH THE HEAVENS ............................................................262
THE GOSPEL IN THE SKY ...............................................................................................266
Solar Wisdom of Biblical Myth ...........................................................................267
Esoteric Astrology ...............................................................................................273
ASTRAL MYTHS OF THE FUTURE ...................................................................................280
From Alpha to Omega .........................................................................................282
Heuristic Optics ...................................................................................................286
SIGNS IN THE SKY ABOVE METROPOLIS .........................................................................292
Prelude .................................................................................................................292
Cycle 1: Aries ......................................................................................................294
Cycle 2: Taurus ....................................................................................................300
Cycle 3: Gemini ...................................................................................................309
Cycle 4: Cancer ....................................................................................................320
THE PRIMACY OF ALLEGORY ........................................................................................328
CONCLUSION: LAST THINGS .............................................................................................339
BIBLIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY .....................................................................................346

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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
CHAPTER TWO ............................................................................................................ 57-112
Fig. 2.1: Wunder der Schöpfung, Pyramid ...................................................................113
Fig. 2.2: Wunder der Schöpfung, Spaceship launch .....................................................113
Fig. 2.3: Metropolis, Astrologer-Priests .......................................................................113
Fig. 2.4: Metropolis, Tower of Babel destroyed ..........................................................113
Fig. 2.5: Lemuria, Book Cover ....................................................................................114
Fig. 2.6: Albin Grau’s film poster for Nosferatu ..........................................................114
Fig. 2.7: Saturn-Gnosis, Albin Grau’s artwork ............................................................114
Fig. 2.8: Werner Graul’s film poster for Metropolis ....................................................114
Fig. 2.9: Werner Graul’s illustration for Moses Entlarvt .............................................115
Fig. 2.10: Publicity photo of Fritz Lang and Thea von Harbou at their apartment ......115
CHAPTER THREE ....................................................................................................... 116-183
Fig. 3.1: Algol, Robert’s horror at the “Algol Machine” ..............................................184
Fig. 3.2: Algol, Robert’s mastery of Algol technology ................................................184
Fig. 3.3: Wunder der Schöpfung, the Einstein Tower ..................................................184
Fig. 3.4: Wunder der Schöpfung, the Primal Man ........................................................184
Fig. 3.5: Metropolis, the M-Machine transforms into Moloch ....................................185
Fig. 3.6: The diagram of Schrenck-Notzing’s detector ................................................185
Fig. 3.7: Ejner Nielsen before a mediumistic recording instrument ............................185
Fig. 3.8: Der müde Tod, the girl as Gnostic soul-flame ...............................................185
Fig. 3.9: Schatten, the Shadow Player and the Woman Servant ..................................186
Fig. 3.10: Die Nibelungen, Siegfried and Alberich in the cave ...................................186
Fig. 3.11: Faust, Faust, Mephisto, and the vision ........................................................186
Fig. 3.12: Metropolis, Rotwang’s laboratory ...............................................................186
Fig. 3.13: Algol, a factory machine transforms into Algol ...........................................187
Fig. 3.14: Metropolis, Rotwang’s “rape” of Maria ......................................................187
Fig. 3.15: Algol, the euphoria after the coup ................................................................187
Fig. 3.16: Metropolis, Yoshiwara after the city’s blackout ..........................................187
CHAPTER FOUR ......................................................................................................... 188-259
Fig. 4.1: Algol, Herne overlooking his city ..................................................................260
Fig. 4.2: Metropolis, Fredersen overlooking his city ...................................................260
Fig. 4.3: Metropolis, Fredersen with compass .............................................................260
Fig. 4.4: Algol, Robert with the key to the “Hall of Eternal Power” ............................260
Fig. 4.5: Algol, Robert, Leonora, and the prototype .....................................................261
Fig. 4.6: Metropolis, Maria at the gong ........................................................................261
CHAPTER FIVE .......................................................................................................... 262-329
Dia. 5.1: Erbt’s zodiacal layout of the Gospel of Mark ...............................................330
Dia. 5.2: The Zodiacal Schema in Three Weimar Films ...................................... 331-333
Fig. 5.1: Niemojewski’s illustration of Atlas ...............................................................334
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Fig. 5.2: Poster for Metropolis, evoking Atlas .............................................................334
Fig. 5.3: Die Nibelungen, the church as the glyph of Libra .........................................334
Fig. 5.4: Die Nibelungen, Siegfried the glyph of Sagittarius .......................................334
Fig. 5.5: Metropolis, Rotwang as the glyph of Cancer ................................................335
Fig. 5.6: Metropolis, Maria as the sign of Virgo ..........................................................335
Fig. 5.7: Niemojewski’s illustration of St. Andrew as Cancer .....................................335
Fig. 5.8: Niemojewski’s illustration of the Madonna in the vesica pisces ...................335
Fig. 5.9: Metropolis, Freder’s flight through the city as Bellerophon .........................336
Fig. 5.10: Film poster for Die Nibelungen ...................................................................336
Fig. 5.11: Metropolis, the courtesan as the glyph of Aires ..........................................336
Fig. 5.12: Metropolis, the Fountain as the sign of Aries ..............................................336
Fig. 5.13: Metropolis, the New Tower of Babel as the glyph of Taurus ......................337
Fig. 5.14: Metropolis, Fredersen as Orion ...................................................................337
Fig. 5.15: Metropolis, the Pater-Noster Machine as the glyph of Gemini ...................337
Fig. 5.16: Metropolis, Freder and Georgi as Castor and Pollux ...................................337
Fig. 5.17: Metropolis, Hel as the Elder Sophia ............................................................338
Fig. 5.18: Metropolis, the Machine-Man as the perversion of Sophia’s wisdom ........338

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CHAPTER ONE
THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF GNOSTICISM

The intrigue which Hans Werckmeister, Hans Brennert, Frieda Köhne, Hans Walter
Kornblum, Fritz Lang, Thea von Harbou, and especially Henrik Galeen, exhibited in the
ancient Orient, the occult, and especially Gnosticism is most evident in their personal
lives, filmographies, and publications that appeared during their fulltime careers as
filmmakers during the Weimar Republic. While to what extent each filmmaker was
personally engaged in esotericism exceeds the scope of this study, they would have
certainly become familiar with these heterodox spiritualities through the intellectual and
cultural hype surrounding Gnosticism in the decade before the Great War. Given their
educated upbringings in the cosmopolitan centers of Germany and Austria-Hungary,
there is no doubt that they had known about the controversies between 1900 and 1918
surrounding the excavations in the Orient by archaeologists, the investigation of Gnostic
texts by philologists, and, most of all, the unexpected uproar that these discoveries
incurred as scholars and mystics utilized these fresh sources to undermine everything
assumed about the spiritual heritage of the modern West.
So profound was their knowledge that, by the Weimar era, these filmmakers must
have pulled from a wide variety of sources for their inspiration. Apparently, many of
these sources were a product of the modern occult movement. Treatises, lectures, and
other publications on ancient wisdom were easily accessible throughout the first third of
the twentieth century, and it is certainly inconceivable that as bourgeois citizens they
could have ignored the myriad of Theosophical, Rosicrucian, and other occult that
pervaded the upper echelons of European society during the years before the Great War.
Less obviously, however, these sources included scholarly publications relating the
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newest discoveries about the spiritual mysteries of ancient civilizations, especially in the
Orient. While pinpointing the exact sources from which these filmmakers is a near-
impossible task, it is reasonable to assert that the controversial ideas within the cultural
milieu of prewar Europe may be traced, both explicitly and implicitly, to the narratives
and themes of Algol: Eine Tragödie der Macht, Wunder der Schöpfung, Metropolis,
Alraune, and Frau im Mond.
Born between 1870 and 1890, none of them were over 30 by the turn of the twentieth
century, and these heterodox ideas would have certainly fascinated the impressionable
minds of these young people. This is because, between 1900 and 1918, avant-garde
mystics, clairvoyants, and occultists on the one hand and cutting-edge philologists,
archaeologists, and historians on the other, busied themselves in bursting asunder
treasured presumptions that Europeans had always held about the ancient world and its
heritage in the modern West.1 However, the key moments that most rocked the
worldview of scholars and lay people, Germans, Europeans, and Americans alike,
occurred within the first years of the twentieth century. Because each of these moments
split further an ideological controversy where the intellectual and cultural clashed in an
indistinguishable mishmash, an investigation of these events is necessary before
demonstrating the likelihood that Galeen, Werckmeister, Köhne, Brennert, Kornblum,
Lang, and von Harbou were aware of their heterodox spiritualities when creating their
films, and that they understood the agenda behind these movements threatened the way
Europeans had come to perceive themselves collectively as the world leader in scientific
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1 This is also the thesis, albeit with a focus on German philologists, as stated in Suzanne Marchand, “German
Orientalism and the Decline of the West,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 145, 4 (Dec. 2001):
465. For a more eloquent elucidation on this argument with a particular focus on German biblical scholars, see
“Chapter Four: The History of Religions School” in Karen L. King, What is Gnosticism? (Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, 2003): 71-109.