"Der fürchterliche Lärm der Stummheit": Zur Politik des Hörbaren bei Hermann Broch by Victoria Weidemann (review)

In her study "Der fürchterliche Lärm der Stummheit": Zur Politik des Hörbaren bei Hermann Broch, Victoria Weidemann delivers a compelling case for the role of sound across the oeuvre of the celebrated Austrian modernist. Powered by thorough and lucid close readings that draw primarily—though not exclusively—from Broch's novels Der Tod des Vergils and Die Verzauberung, Weidemann highlights the ubiquity of sound as a key signifier of the tension "zwischen literarischer Aktivität und politischer Realität" (12) at the center of each work. Departing from careful analysis of the primary literary texts, Weidemann asserts that Broch's literary transposition of acoustic stimuli is a self-conscious tactic designed to inspire political modes of reading to combat the mass acoustic propaganda of fascism.

Weidemann's argument unfolds over the course of three chapters, each of which approaches the theme of sound from a distinct perspective. Chapter 1, "Politische Zeichenordnungen: Demokratie, Macht, Gewalt," examines the role of sound—including speech—as a site of identity in crisis for Pasenow, Elisabeth (Die Schlafwandler) and Virgil (Der Tod des Vergils). Guided by Ricoeur's theory of democracy, Weidemann associates sound with the imposition of social order that juxtaposes individual agency against societal consequences. Chapter 2, "Intimität und Politizität des Klangs: Individuum und Gemeinschaft," again stages the tension between the individual and the collective by focusing on the psychological stakes of sound, silence, speaking, and listening for Broch's protagonists Esch (Die Schlafwandler), Richard Hieck (Die unbekannte Größe), and Marius (Die Verzauberung). Weidemann contrasts the subjective desires of Broch's characters with the generalization of their desires in collective language. Broch's translation of sound into text, she argues, parodies the hope of a collective harmony. Chapter 3, "Der hörende Schriftsteller," describes the tension between Broch's own affinity for music, radio, and other acoustic media and his responsibility as an artist. Weidemann emphasizes the author's role as both producer and receiver of acoustic stimuli. Ultimately, Weidemann concludes that Broch's literary treatment of sound is driven by his ethical and political desire to allow the contemporary reader to reflect on the political implementation of acoustic media in interwar Europe.

The strengths of Weidemann's study undoubtedly lie in her productive and lucid close readings, which form the core of her analysis. The careful attention to detail augments existing scholarship on the political dimension of Broch's work by illuminating the pervasiveness of Broch's political critiques. A prime example of this intensification is found in the reading of Pasenow explored in Chapter 1. While Weidemann correctly cites the overdetermined symbol of Joachim von Pasenow's military uniform as a signifier of problematic and restrictive social order, her unpacking of the dinner gong in Elisabeth's country estate demonstrates the suffusion of the symbol into the acoustic realm. The power that the gong wields over daily life dovetails with canonical themes of order and control and enables Weidemann to claim that the order imposed by acoustic phenomena function as a mise-en-abyme for the entirety of the novel (55).

The expansive definition of sound employed by Weidemann also fosters novel insights by refocusing canonical discourses associated with Broch's writings. Given the scholarship on language in both modernism and Austrian literature, the recategorization of language production as sound allows Weidemann to move beyond questions of semiotics. Her assessment in Chapter 3 of the influence of music and radio on both the content and form of Broch's novels is insightful, well supported, and exciting. Guided by the periodical Radio Wien, Weidemann adeptly historicizes Broch's reflections on the medium, while also anchoring her observations in both familiar (Die Verzauberung) and less familiar ("Letzer Ausbruch eines Größenwahnes: Hitlers Abschiedsrede") works.

The efficacy of Weidemann's biographical reading is also indicative of one of the...