DER MAGISCHE REALISMUS ALS AUSDRUCKSFORM IN KRISENZUSTÄNDEN: MARLEN HAUSHOFERS ROMAN DIE WAND
MAGICAL REALISM AS A FORM OF EXPRESSION IN CRISES: MARLEN HAUSHOFER’S NOVEL THE WALL

Summary/Abstract: The article deals with Magical Realism, which depicts a literary expression in times of crisis and upheaval. According to Michael Scheffel, Magical Realism is a narrative style that finds expression in times of boundless disorder. Scheffel sees the unlimited disorder as a result of a dual world view (rational/irrational), which usually comes to light through a crisis (identity crisis, war, threat). On this theoretical basis, this article examines Marlen Haushofer's novel The Wall as a literary example of a time of crisis. In the course of the narrative, which almost has the character of a documentary, the report of a forty-year-old nameless first person is described chronologically in a consistently realistic manner. The protagonist writes down her everyday experiences, assuming that she is the only surviving person. The catastrophe that caused the devastation of the world and the creation of the invisible wall happens overnight. Only parts of the earth were spared, namely the limited space around the hunting lodge where the unnamed protagonist resides. To keep her sanity, she uses writing in search of an answer to the question: Why did the man kill Lynx? Interestingly, her core problem is not the invisible wall, but the search to explain the unnecessary human deed that escapes any rational understanding. Unable to find an answer, the protagonist ends her narrative, due to running out of paper to write it onto. In this seemingly trivial outer plot, the reader always finds the opportunity to pursue various interpretations. The novel The Wall offers a multitude of possible interpretations, depending on the reader's approach and the expectations one has of the work. The exceptional value of this prose work lies precisely in the complexity of interpretation. Science fiction, (female) Robinsonade, adventure prose, utopia, women's novel, post-apocalyptic novel, latent autobiography, or dystopia - these are the previous perceptions of the narrative. However, the prose work harbors other unexplored meanings and is open to new interpretations. In the epilogue to the novel The Wall, Klaus Antes praises its Magical Realism without any argument or analysis. Haushofer's contemporary, the writer and translator Oskar Jan Tauschinski, states without justifying that The Wall fully meets the demands of Magical Realism. Since there are still no research approaches to the novel in the context of Magical Realism, the attempt is made in this article to prove the magical-realistic elements in the novel. The focus is on the illustration and analysis of individual magical-realistic elements. The search aims to determine how Magical Realism in the novel The Wall is narratively transformed, which is supposed to contribute to expanding the corpus of Magical Realism. Although the concept of Magical Realism is complex, under-established (particularly in German language literature), and subject to various interpretations, theorists in the field agree that one of the basic premises of magical-realist literature is the introduction of a fantastical element known as fait accompli, which is considered as part of objective reality. The article shows that all fantastical elements of the novel are treated in the manner appropriate to Magical Realism - as something common, as an unarguable fact that is accepted without any admiration. In addition, it refers to other magical-realistic elements such as objectivity, fragments from the author's childhood, motives of endangered existence, generality and imprecision of the framework information, as well as the principles of humanity and relativization. The plot is latently implemented in a recognizable socio-political context and embodies a critique of historical and factual reality in the spirit of Magical Realism. The time perspective of the novel is realistic, actual, and historical despite fantastic elements. Interpreted in the context of magicalrealistic poetics, Haushofer's prose work should prove to be a latent critique of the destructive human potential and its ever-repeating bestiality. The novel The Wall thus becomes a metaphor for a civilization steeped in irrationality and absurdity. At the heart of the novel stands the struggle for the dominance of reason over chaos, over man's unbridled drive for war and destruction, often under the catchphrase of pseudo-humanity. The storytelling process of Magical Realism is characterized in the novel in the narrative integration of fantastical elements and particularly in their narrative treatment, be it the existence of the invisible wall, the scene of petrified people and animals, or the white crow. In this context, the method used in the novel corresponds to the characteristics of Magical Realism, in which the impossible is accepted as part of every day, rationalistic-material reality. Despite the presence of supernatural elements, the novel is rich in the objective narrative in the manner of traditional realism. Exaggerated sentimentality and subjectivity are rejected with the aim of better understanding socio-political reality and adopting a critical attitude towards history and imposed models of reality. Interpreted in the context of Magical Realism, the novel represents an artistic critique of socio-political decisions that are generally made under the motto of humanistic endeavors (war for peace and prosperity, nuclear war to prevent war). Through the magical-realistic process, a narrative structure was realized that encourages the reader to reconsider the ideas of reality that surround him daily. In doing so, Haushofer leaves the reader no opportunity to think about supernatural circumstances, while she is amazed at the objective reality. She is not surprised at the existence of the transparent wall but is looking for an answer to why the man killed the dog named Lynx and why people had to take the wrong path. This novel emphasizes the absurdity and irrationality of human action and strives for a universal historical diagnosis. As a model of Magical Realism, this prose work expands on the conception of realism in the traditional sense. The influx of fantastical elements into every day, rationalistic-empirical reality contributes to their symbolization. The juxtaposition of the fantastic and the real, aimed at the transgression of the concepts of the real and the true, rejects the one-sided acceptance of reality and points to its questioning. Marlen Haushofer succeeded in giving physical form to the Cold War era state of mind in what at first glance seemed a simple, unadorned story. Viewed through the magical-realistic prism, the novel The Wall represents a latent critique of the socio-political reality of the Cold War era, while at the same time, thanks to its narrative structure, it has a universal and timeless meaning whose relevance extends to the present day.

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