Death in Rome

Death in Rome
Book cover
Author Wolfgang Koeppen
Original title Der Tod in Rom: Roman
Country Germany
Language German
Genre Novel
Set in Rome, post-WWII
Publisher Stuttgart: Scherz und Goverts Verlag
Publication date
 1954
Media type Print: Hardback
Pages 187
ISBN 9783518019146
OCLC 907595620

Death in Rome (German: Der Tod in Rom: Roman) is a 1954 German novel by Wolfgang Koeppen, who belonged to the literary generation of West Germany which had to revive the devastated cultural landscape after twelve years of the "brown plague" and the ruin of the war, and, was one of the first artists to embroider the new social and political realities of the country when the wave of chauvinistic and revanchist psychosis broke out. An exploration of themes associated with the Holocaust, German guilt, conflict between generations, and, the silencing of the past, it is, after Pigeons on the Grass (German: Tauben im Gras: Roman, 1951, which recreates a typical day in Munich in 1948) and The Hothouse (German: Das Treibhaus: Roman, 1953, which deals with the corruption of the Bonn government), the third work of the so-called Trilogy of Failure (German: Trilogie des Scheiterns), about postwar life in West Germany, with which Koeppen established himself as an important figure in German post-war literature. It opens with a quotation from Dante Alighieri's Inferno: Il mal seme d'Adamo, followed by the last sentence from Death in Venice: Und noch desselben Tages empfing eine respektvoll erschütterte Welt die Nachricht von seinem Tode.

Synopsis

The novel, which contains the worst accusations against German militarism, and, reveals the dangerous influence of fascist ideology on certain social strata in West Germany, warns and prophesies. It deals with the careers of former National Socialists after World War II. Against the backdrop of Rome, which assumes the function of a metaphor and at the same time is a specific decor of the events described, as, its ancient monuments predispose to reflection on the fate of the world, the nature of good and evil, war and peace, past and future, wealth and poverty, and, justice and social oppression, victims and perpetrators from the time of National Socialism meet during the post-war period. In a kind of literary choreography, the author composes new groups of figures from the members of two families and their surrounding environment in several parallel lines of action. In an artistic network of dialogues and inner monologues, the present is problematized and the past uncovered. The characters show the opportunism and the adaptability of the followers, as well as the unbroken violence of the perpetrators, like the torn-upness and escapism of the next generation. The background is the still unsolved problem of overcoming the National Socialist past in the time of the Wirtschaftswunder. The novel has a peculiar connection with Thomas Mann's Death in Venice (German: Der Tod in Venedig: Novelle, 1912), most notably by addressing the problems of artistic creativity against the background of moral decay. Stylistically, Death in Rome is similar to the other two novels of Wolfgang Koeppen. Here, too, the writer manifests himself as the master of the metaphorically rich, richly associative prose. Koeppen uses, with great skill, the stylistic means of cinema – the installation, the constant change of view and the distance to the depicted event, and, the simultaneous performance of the action. The epic narrative is coupled with the internal monologue of the characters, which, according to the writer, "best suits our perception, our consciousness, and, our bitter experience." The author presents himself with his novel Death in Rome as a politically- and socially-engaged writer. In his speech, given in 1962, when he received the Georg Büchner Prize, he stated: "I saw the poet, the writer of those who were rejected by the public, I saw him as suffering and sympathetic to the alien grief. Later, I heard about engaging literature, and, it struck me that something of a self-worth, something like breathing, wants to make an artistic stance or a fashion." He never advocated a certain ideology or political program. His works are the words he puts in the mouth of one of the heroes of the novel Death in Rome: "I ask questions, yet, I do not know the answer, I cannot answer." Koeppen called his works "a monologue attempt against the world." However, by virtue of a particular paradox, his protest against existence is also a plea for new, more humane form of life. It for this reason that he was called, by Alfred Andersch, a "humanistic pessimist." And this hidden humanistic pathos outside the resignation inspires a lasting literary life, and, the novel Death in Rome. Koeppen said of his novel: "We all live with politics, we are all its subjects or even victims of it. How can the writer behave like the ostrich, and, who, if not the writer, must take on the role of Cassandra in our society?"

Characters

One of the main characters is a Nazi criminal, General Gottlieb Judejahn of the Schutzstaffel and the Freikorps. He was sentenced in absentia to death at the Nuremberg trials, yet, has escaped retribution. He is a professional executioner, he embodies all the misdeeds, the whole barbarity of fascism. Judejahn is still convinced that he did the right thing by killing and destroying people. With sadistic delight, he recalls the images of his victims in memory – in these memories he finds refuge when he is unhappy with his present life. Judejahn believes he is a hero, bearer of all German virtues, the embodiment of the duty fulfilled to the "deity of power" Adolf Hitler. He escaped to an Arab country whose military he is trying to build up in order to defeat Israel. He is in Rome to buy weapons and to meet members of his family, including his wife, Eva. His wife, Eva, is portrayed as some "Nordic Erinye," dreaming of the revival of the Third Reich, the triumph of the "millennial empire," and, the German domination over the world. Even her husband, whom she blindly worshiped, prefers to socialize with the "fallen heroes," with the "martyrs" of Nazism, not with the survivors, however, they have lost their power and majesty. The meeting between the two husbands, between the two Nazi monsters, was conveyed by the writer with extraordinary power and artistic impetus.

Their son, Adolf, has replaced the SS with the cassock. With the collapse of the fascist myth, he lost all sorts of omnipresent stands and sought support and salvation in the Catholic Church. Fearing to make any personal decisions, he tries to rise above all parties and fronts in the name of "all-human tolerance." Still, the young man cannot free himself from the thought that the Church has been linked to fascist doctrine, and, has, in fact, been supporting this "assassin gang." Both Gottlieb and Adolf pursue a Jewish barmaid named Laura who works in a gay bar, and, Gottlieb eventually rapes her.

Another significant character in the novel is the kinsman of the Essen general, Friedrich Wilhelm Pfaffrath. He is, at first glance, a distinctly orderly person. Although he was once a president and manager of large Nazi properties, although he was part of the German bourgeoisie who unconditionally assumed Hitler's authority, he is now a high-ranking public official – he was elected the first mayor and head of his town. There are many people like him, they have penetrated to all the corners of the Bonn state apparatus, occupying leadership positions, they redefine the destiny of the country. Pfaffrath is real, devoid of demonism, yet, no less ominous than Judejahn. He is filled with the desire to help the former hangmen return to the Federal Republic with impunity, to integrate into the Bonn political system. Pfaffrath believes that the West German society is mature enough to accept the "prodigal son" who has escaped the gallows. Thus, Pfaffrath embodies the vitality of nationalism in the country. Eva's sister, Anna, is married to Friedrich Pfaffrath.

The inescapableness of his stratum is confirmed by the image of the youngest member of his family – the law student Dietrich Pfaffrath. He is a promising careerist who does not worry about moral problems or thoughts about his father's fascist past. Even Judejahn does not interfere with his life – the calculating Dietrich well appreciated that it is not far off the time when his kinship with the former general may be honorable and profitable. Koeppen has conceived the image of Dietrich as a symbol of the resurgent loyalty, which finds its roots in order, the state, and, the mighty power.

Opposed to all these bright negative images, the writer opposes a hero, who can be called the chief one, mostly because he carries some autobiographical traits. The composer Siegfried Pfaffrath, a homosexual and pederast who frequents boy prostitutes, lives after the end of the war in Rome to distance himself from his German relatives and leave behind his father's house. He seeks to express his worldview and musicality by using Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, blasted in the Third Reich. Siegfried loves Rome because he feels alien here. However, he is infinitely lonely and constantly lives on the brink of despair. This is his gut feeling that fills his music. He composed works, deliberately deprived of harmony, expressing his image of the world over which he has overcome the danger of an irreparable crash. For Siegfried, music is an expression of the horror of man in the era of gas chambers and mass murders. His works are a "rebellion against the surrounding reality," against his fatherland, against the war, for whom people like his parents are responsible.

Ilse Kürenberg, wife of the world-renowned conductor, Kürenberg, who presents the first symphony of Siegfried in front of the audience, perceives the dissonant work as a "no-goal search,", conquered by despair. However, she cannot explain whether Siegfried is desperate because he cannot find a way to a meaningful life, or, even if his despair hinders him all the way. And, the conductor, who feels the artist's dissatisfaction with his work, protects him from the danger of closing himself in an "ivory tower" because of the world's disappointment. Siegfried's music is a mockery of the eloquent taste of the self-styled patrons and connoisseurs of art who occupy the ground floor of the concert hall. He dreams of understanding and accepting the young people, the workers, and, the students to whom the future belongs. However, at the concert, the gallery does not accept the composer – it does not perceive in his symphony a resonance of life. This music reflects the tragedy of a talented artist who is unable to break the limits of the denial and develop constructive ideas. Siegfried, although receiving a prize at a modern music competition, is unhappy with the result – he does not applaud his symphony, only the rich snobs from the ground floor do so. And the young composer places great hopes on the music – maybe it is judged "with time to contribute to great changes." Ilse, who is Jewish, survived the Holocaust as she and her Gentile husband could afford to live outside Germany during the war. Siegfried and Adolf are representatives of the generation of sons who do not want to inherit their fathers, and every succession – both the composer and the cleric – seeks new goals and a new meaning for their lives. Both know the exalted suffering of loneliness. From this loneliness Siegfried finds a way out of Rome and leaves for Africa. He hopes to return from there to New York City, with a "black symphony" – a symbol of commitment to the inborn problems of mankind. Gottlieb shoots and kills Ilse, whose father had been victimized by the Nazis, at the novel's end, before suffering a heart attack

Influence

In Marian Dora's 2009 film, Melancholie der Engel, a dying man, Katze, is shown reading the book, and, upon dying, is buried with it.

References

Further reading

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