Glauben, Wissen und Sagen. Studien zu Wissen und Wissenskritik im "Zauberberg", in den "Schlafwandlern" und im "Mann ohne Eigenschaften" (review)

Andreas Dittrich's dissertation attempts to demonstrate via linguistic analysis how three of the foundational texts of Classical Modernism engage in and react to larger contemporary philosophical discussions of the limits of knowledge. Dittrich's aim is to interpret "erkenntnistheoretisch relevante Strukturen in den Texten Manns, Brochs und Musils als Weisen der kritischen und popularisierten Auseinandersetzung mit bestimmten Konstellationen der zeitgenössischen Erkenntnisphilosophie" (v).

The study is divided into three main sections: in the first, Dittrich sets out to clarify the concepts with which he operates in his readings of Mann, Broch, and Musil—delineating first the epistemological boundaries of 'Glauben,' 'Wissen,' and 'Erkennen'; then those of 'Wissen,' 'Für-Wahr-Halten,' and 'Wahrheit'; followed by 'Wissen,' 'Rationalität,' and 'Rechtfertigung'; and finally 'Wissen,' 'Bewusstsein,' and 'Selbst-Wissen.' Dittrich then devotes sub-chapters of the study's second section to examinations of each of these terminological constellations as they manifest themselves in Mann's Zauberberg, Broch's Schlafwandler, and Musil's Mann ohne Eigenschaften. The study culminates in the third section with three comparative studies; they set the novels into a dialogue with philosophical treatises that take on some of the same questions on the nature of knowledge and its relationship to language with which their literary counterparts engage on the level of what Dittrich terms the "Text-epistêmê." Mann's Zauberberg is paired in this context with Ernst Haeckel's Die Welträtsel; Broch's Schlafwandler is examined vis-à-vis Hermann Cohen's Logik der reinen Erkenntnis; Musil's Mann ohne Eigenschaften is brought together with Wittgenstein's Tractatus logico-philosophicus. A brief summary concludes with a nod to ways in which the novels possibly transcend the limits of their own epoch's theories of knowledge.

The study's modus operandi is a revealing of the novels' respective "epistêmê (i.e. "epistemisches Feld")" by means of a linguistic analysis that allows for their situation within a reconstruction of the epistemological framework of a particular historical era (à la Foucault's archéologie du savoir), namely that of Classical Modernism. Dittrich argues that the three novels in question, in the sense that they are "metanovels" (i.e., works that demonstrate a "vielfältige Bezugnahme auf Diskurse, Wissensmengen sowie ideologische und erkenntnistheoretische Positionen der Epoche," 2), occupy a privileged position as sources of knowledge in that they not only engage with questions of epistemology in ways that philosophy does not and cannot, but also reflect and comment on the epistemological theorizing of their time (29).

This volume essentially comprises three studies in one, in that it 1) provides a mainly synchronic, deeply differentiated view onto the epistemological landscape of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (it should be noted in this vein that it is also a veritable bibliographical treasure trove for scholars working in the field of historical epistemology); 2) demonstrates the myriad ways in which three of the twentieth century's most important novels engage on their own with contemporary epistemological dialogues, revealing new interpretative angles from which to approach them as works of literature; and 3) offers an articulate contextualization of the novels within these dialogues as juxtaposed against relevant contemporary philosophical approaches.

Dittrich has produced a fascinating, exquisitely researched hybrid work of literary scholarship and historical epistemology that should appeal to any scholar working at the intersections of literature and philosophy. One of the volume's few flaws, and one that may limit its otherwise well-earned readership, is a rather dense, encumbered style and frequent deployment of what can only be termed leaden prose, as exemplified on page 72, which exhibits no less than four instances of the formulation "nicht nur . . . sondern auch," to name just one example. The reader who perseveres in the face of the volume's characteristic German dissertation style will be rewarded by a host of new insights into three of the key...