From Ritual Dance to Flight?: Glimmers of the Fantastic in Robert Müller’s Tropen: Der Mythos der Reise

In this article, I examine how the Austrian writer Robert Müller—in his novel Tropen: Der Mythos der Reise from 1915—depicts the protagonist Brandlberger’s experience of watching ritual dances of the Dumara tribe in the Amazon. Brandlberger observes two series of dances: first, the tribesmen in a communal dance and second, the priestess Zana in a series of solos and duets. His dance depictions continually hint at developing fantastical and intensifying animalistic elements such as the tribesmen Moki donning wings and flying—as a result of Zana’s ecstatic dancing—as well as her multiple transformations into animals. Likely aware of the expressionist dance movement (Ausdruckstanz)—represented by Rudolf Laban, Mary Wigman, and others, Müller, I argue, depicts similar literary dance forms but also departs from these styles by demonstrating how humans can attain fantastic qualities through dance.