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  • Schreibweisen der Unschärfe: Zur Ästhetik und Poetik der visuellen Unschärfe bei Robert Musil und W.G. Sebald by Philipp Alexander Ostrowicz
  • Margarete J. Landwehr
Philipp Alexander Ostrowicz, Schreibweisen der Unschärfe: Zur Ästhetik und Poetik der visuellen Unschärfe bei Robert Musil und W.G. Sebald. Würzburg: Königshausen und Neumann, 2017. 333 pp.

This interdisciplinary study situates the aesthetics of Unschärfe in Musil's early works and Sebald's prose works in the context of the scientific discoveries in perception and the movement away from an objective, detailed portrayal of reality to a subjective one in painting, photography, and literature of the nineteenth century. The work consists of three segments: (1) The scientific understanding of human perception and the increasingly subjective point of view presented in the arts, for example, from Realism to Impressionism; (2) The early prose works of Musil, with a particular focus on Young Törless, that present the fictional world primarily through the figural viewpoint of its protagonist; and (3) Sebald's Iconotexts, which not only present a variety of highly subjective perspectives (the protagonist, the narrator) but also include images, primarily photographs, that at times subvert the text's claims.

Ostrowicz begins with an overview of the path-breaking discoveries of Johannes Müller and Hermann von Helmholtz in the physiology of perception, which constituted a paradigm shift away from the traditional model with its emphasis on the perception of concrete objects through external stimuli to the neural activity of particular nerves and the brain in the act of perception. Müller's student Helmholtz emphasizes limitations of perception that go beyond the short-sightedness or astigmatism, such as the lack of attention or focus that limits his/her perception. Eventually, Unschärfe was viewed as a fundamental aspect of human perception. In contrast, the camera, an invention of the mid-nineteenth century, is able to present details in various dimensions with equal clarity. The camera's sharp, detailed images of reality contributed to the shift away from mimesis, as the goal of artworks, to a more subjective presentation of external reality in painting such as in French Impressionism, German Expressionism, and, later, Cubism and Abstract painting. This shift from an objective portrayal of reality to a subjective perspective filtered through the eyes of the artist also found its parallel in literature, for example, in the "Impressionistic" style of writing described by Hermann Bahr and found in the works of such fin-de-siècle Viennese writers as Arthur Schnitzler and Robert Musil.

Musil's theoretical discussion of visual perception and sensations in his essay "Apperceptor" finds its literary application in his early works, particularly [End Page 96] in Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törless. The fictional reality of this work is portrayed through Törless's viewpoint. Thus, descriptions of foggy landscapes and dark architectural spaces reflect the student's lonely, forlorn state of mind and constitute Musil's attempt to present his protagonist's perception of the world, rather than an accurate, realistic portrayal of setting and the other characters. For example, Basini and Božena, whose significance centers on their effect on Törless's maturation, represent his encounter with the "dark" realm of "sin" and sexuality that leads to his discovery of his own repressed impulses and potential for transgression, even cruelty. The protagonist's attempt to understand himself reflects readers' striving to interpret his evolution. The Unschärfe of Musil's complex writing style, in which the boundaries between the protagonist's internal states of mind and external (fictional) reality are blurred, both engage and impede readers' quest for understanding.

Ostrowicz interprets Sebald's "iconotexts," his hybrid narratives of text and images, which present history through the unreliable memories of individuals, as a further stage in the subjective perspective and polyvalence of modern prose works. Not only are Sebald's works a fusion of several genres including autobiography, biography, history, travel literature, and fiction, but they also contain images, mostly photographs, that frequently subvert the claims made in the text. Moreover, the multiplicity of perspectives and the recurrent blurring of boundaries among protagonist/narrator/author call attention to the subjective nature of...

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