GDR Bulletin
Volume 6
Issue 3 Fall
Article 14
1980
Eberhard Panitz: Die Moral der Nixe. Eine
Sommergeschichte
Karen Achberger
St. Olaf College
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Recommended Citation
Achberger, Karen (1980) "Eberhard Panitz: Die Moral der Nixe. Eine Sommergeschichte," GDR Bulletin: Vol. 6: Iss. 3.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4148/gdrb.v6i3.538
This Review is brought to you for free and open access by New Prairie Press. It has been accepted for inclusion in GDR Bulletin by an authorized
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-Iii
Achberger: Eberhard Panitz: Die Moral der Nixe. Eine Sommergeschichte
********
Die ni ntergrtmdsperson oder Versuche zu
l i e b e n . Von C h r i s t i n e W o l t e r . B e r l i n und
Weimar: A u f b a u - V e r l a g . 1979. 7,20 M.
Versuche z u lieben. C h r i s t i n e W o l t e r s
E r k e n n t n i s r o n a n könnte ebensogut "Versuche
zu l e b e n " als U n t e r t i t e l haben. Das Leben
einer D o l m e t s c h e r i n auf e i n e r 10-tägigen
H e i s e w i r d i n diesem Roman aufgedeckt —
sowohl durch u n m i t t e l b a r e Erlebnisse, a l s
auch durch E r i n n e r u n g e n , die auf dieser
R e i s e w i e d e r b e l e b t werden. Karla i s t auf
d i e s e r R e i s e d i e "Hintergrundsperson:" die
u n e r w ü n s c h t e , jedoch notwendige B e g l e i t e r i n ,
d i e den e i n z i g e n V o r t e i l hat, zwei Sprachen
zu b e h e r r s c h e n . Sie steht aber mit ihren
E r i n n e r u n g e n und Überlegungen im Vordergrund des Romans. Die Mitglieder der
Gruppe, d i e K a r l a b e g l e i t e t , spielen keine
große R o l l e i n den Überlegungen Karlas, noch
regen s i e d i e s e innere Reise an. Das
W i c h t i g e an dem Roman hat sehr wenig mit
dessen äußeren Ereignissen zu tun.
I c h habe den Roman als Erkenntnisroman bez e i c h n e t , gerade weil die Hauptfigur, die
a l l e i n und für s i c h steht, ihre Reise hauptsächlich i n Gedanken macht. Sie verbindet
Vergangenheit mit Gegenwart und findet sich
dadurch mit b e i d e n zurecht.
Die e r s t e Etappe des Erkenntnisvorgangs
e r f o l g t auf d i e u n e r w a r t e t e Wiederbegegnung
mit e i n e r ehemaligen Kollegin i n Mailand,
und f i n d e t ihren Ausdruck i n der Form eines
Traums. Der Traum deutet an, daß E r f o l g
im Leben dem Menschen ein Sich-in-das-LebenF ü g e n , e i n Mit-ihm-frei-Fliessen abverlangt.
Dies bedeute jedoch nicht unbedingt die
eigene F r e i h e i t aufopfern zu m ü s s e n . Darin
g l a u b t K a r l a ihre Kollegin zu verstehen.
Der A n l a ß zu der zweiten Etappe solcher
Überlegungen i s t das gegenseitig versprochene Wiedersehen mit Carlo — einem i t a lienischen Geliebten, den sie auf einer
früheren Geschäftsreise kennengelernt hatte.
Ihr Verhältnis zueinander i s t offenbar ein
einmaliges, sehr v e r s t ä n d n i s v o l l e s . Carlo
fungiert hier a l s F r a g e s t e l l e r , der Gedanken
i n Karla v e r a n l a ß t : "Warum haben wir dingen
Drang, diese S c h w ä c h e , das Leben i n der
Vergangenheit zu suchen oder, noch schlimmer,
i n der Zukunft, s t a t t zu leben?" (S. 1^1)
Diese Frage und Carlos l e t z t e Bemerkung
führen zur d r i t t e n Etappe der Erkenntnisr e i s e : "Ich mochte und mag an d i r , daß du
nicht die Sichere b i s t . . . I c h mag, daß du
suchst, daß du zweifelst..." (S. 1*+2)
Published by New Prairie Press, 1980
Diese l e t z t e Etappe der Reise findet b e i
dem "Großen" s t a t t — bei dem Meister des
Films i n Rom, mit dem Karlas Gruppe einen
Termin hat. Er fasst Karlas Überlegungen
zusammen:
"Immer empfinde i c h a l l e s a l s provisorisch;
a l s erregend, chronisch, permanent provis o r i s c h , und so i s t j a die Lage des Menschan.
Wenn die Menschen i h r Leben mit diesem
starken, dauernden G e f ü h l lebten, wären sie
a k t i v e r , bestimmt s c h ö p f e r i s c h e r , sicher
auch besser." (S. 164)
Es sind diese Worte, die im Ganzen den
Roman bestimmen. S i e geben den Kerngedanken
der Aussage dieser Autorin wieder. Dadurch
erhält der ganze Roman einen Wert, den er
sonst nicht h ä t t e . Jene Einsicht i n das
Leben, die hier Äußerung f i n d e t , macht
Christine Wolters Roman des Lesens wert.
Deborah S. Lund
Washington University
»»»•»*»»
Die Moral der Nixe: Eine Sommergeschichte.
By Eberhard Panitz.
Halle-Leipzig:
Mitteldeutscher Verlag. 1978. 150 pp.
6,20 M.
The book d e s c r i b e s © a e man's mid-life c r i s i s
and f i r s t steps toward becoming human. Not
remarkably, his teachers are women (his wife
and his l o v e r ) . A 40-year-old ethics professor who possesses a l l of the middle-class
values which make for "successful" family
and professional l i f e runs o f f and has a
f l i n g with one of his students. The entire
encounter with her — f i r s t at the verbal
l e v e l i n c l a s s , where she challanged his
moral precepts, then his physical i n t e r course with her (which could be read as a
metaphor for his intense involvement with
a l l that she represents) — leaves him
questioning a l l that he had always held to
be the indisputably Good. When i t i s a l l
over he returns to his l i f e and teaching,
pregnant with contradictions (just as she
i s pregnant with their c h i l d ) and unable to
find words to address his c l a s s . The f r u i t s
of their encounter are not yet born, the
contradictions not yet resolved within him.
The story, which focuses on their weeks
together, describes the meeting of t h e i r
two l i f e - s t y l e s and value systems. His
u t i l i t a r i a n i s m i s confronted with the
hedonism of the water nymph which he s t y l i z e s
her to be; his ordered precepts with her
spontaneity; his possessive monogamy with
her free love without jealousy or strings
attached; his theory ("papierne Moral")
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GDR Bulletin, Vol. 6 [1980], Iss. 3, Art. 14
-15-
with h e r p r a c t i c e . In this moment of
truth the past appears as hypocrisy, a l i e ,
the bonds of marriage and forced f i d e l i t y
as c r i p p l i n g and senseless s e l f - c a s t i g a t i o n
("Verzicht und Selbstkasteiung"). Knowing
the student/mermaid has broken down h i s
wall o f security and self-assuredness,
black and white categories y i e l d to doubt
and reevaluation ("...ich habe meine
Sicherheit eingetauscht" (60),. "Ich erfahre
hier aber nur immer neue U n g e w i ß h e i t e n " ( 8 9 ) .
The imperturbable male has become the
vulnerable human.
Panitz seems to have had trouble (either
from within or without) accepting the
ethics of so much hedonistic individualism
and abandoning r e s p o n s i b i l i t y for sexual
pleasure. He has b u i l t up an elaborate
network of moral j u s t i f i c a t i o n s to vindicate
his hero. We l e a r n , f o r instance, that his
wife before him had once taken o f f f o r
Cape Pizunda and couldn't be reached even
when her mother died; furthermore, the
professor i s c l e a r l y not the i n i t i a t o r of
the a f f a i r , but i s seduced while inebriated
by his student, whom he imagines to be a
mermaid he hooked while innocently f i s h i n g
one evening;
as t h e o r e t i c a l support f o r
a l l that abandon, Panitz even arms h i s
hero with a moral affirmation of the
pleasure p r i n c i p l e i n the words of Spinoza,
whose Mathematik der Moral the student/mermaid happens to f i n d under her professor's
bed.
The book does not offer a utcpian glimpse
at what a relationship between the sexes
might look l i k e , as the f i r s t chapter a l most leads one to hope. Nor does i t depict
woman as anything more than a nymph, a
fantastic vehicle to man's self-knowledge
and personal growth. Nor i s the imagery
t e r r i b l y subtle (most obviously the water
metaphors: r i s k - t a k i n g as diving into cool
water, o r breaking away from the f a m i l i a r
s o l i d world as plunging into the water
world:
"Sprung ins Ungewisse" (120 ) . To
the feminist reader, to the i n t e l l e c t u a l
reader, the book cannot help but be somewhat disappointing. However, the problem
of repressive marital relationships based
on f e a r , possessiveness, jealousy, s e l f denial ("eingesargte W ü n s c h e " (100) i s one
which continues to have relevance — perhaps
p a r t i c u l a r l y i n the s o c i a l i s t c o u n t r i e s .
Karen Achberger
S t . Olaf College
http://newprairiepress.org/gdr/vol6/iss3/14
DOI: 10.4148/gdrb.v6i3.538
Die S c h m ä h s c h r i f t oder die K ö n i g i n gegen
Defoe. By Stefan Heym. B e r l i n :
Buchverlag
der Morgen. 1978.
90 pp. 8 , 8 0 M.
Published f i r s t i n English under the t i t l e
The Queen Against Defoe ( 1 9 7 0 ) , Stefan Heym*G
short prose work did not appear i n the GDR
u n t i l 1978.
S t i l l , given the r e s t r i c t i v e
c u l t u r a l - p o l i t i c a l climate that prevailed
a f t e r the "expatriation" of dissident author
Wolf Biermann i n November 1976, i t i s remarkable that Heym's story was ever approved for
p u b l i c a t i o n i n his own country.
Die S c h m ä h s c h r i f t recounts Daniel Defoe's
clash with n o b i l i t y and clergy during the
reign of Queen Anne following the anonymous
publication of his pamphlet, The Shortest
Way with the Dissenters ( 1 7 0 2 ) . Appearing to
support the English Establishment i n the
most exaggerated terms, Defoe s a t i r i z e d the
extremist position of many high churchmen
and Tories on the question of how to deal with
r e l i g i o u s d i s s e n t . Unfortunately, the trenchant humor i n his treatment of t h i s ecclesiast i c a l / p o l i t i c a l problem was l o s t on most
readers, and the anonymous author was denounced as an enemy of Church and S t a t e . When
Defoe's identity was discovered, a reward was
offered f o r information leading to h i s capture, and after several months he was apprehended. At the Old Bailey t r i a l Defoe's defense was poorly managed, and he was persuaded
to plead g u i l t y . Consequently, he was fined
200 marks, condemned to be p i l l o r i e d three
times, and sentenced to i n d e f i n i t e imprisonment. His exposure i n the p i l l o r y , however,
was more a triumph than a physical punishment
or public humiliation, f o r the people (aroused
i n Heym's account by Defoe's r e c i t a t i o n of
passages from his Hymn to the P i l l o r y ) took
his side and protected him from bodily harm.
Heym's h i s t o r i c a l novella i s concerned c h i e f l y
with the role of l i t e r a t u r e and the problems
facing writers i n states which attempt to
r e s t r i c t a r t i s t i c freedom. Not only i s Defoe
portrayed as a p i l l a r of strength i n the b a t t l
against h i s oppressors, but he i s also shown
to achieve that elusive s o c i a l i s t goal — the
s o l i d a r i t y of p r o l e t a r i a t and i n t e l l e c t u a l s —
through h i s courageous defiance of the Establishment. Told i n a manner reminiscent of the
early 18th century, and based on the notes of
the f i c t i t i o u s police agent Josiah Creech,
Heym's tale has the ring of a u t h e n t i c i t y .
In f a c t , i t sounds so convincing that a professor of English at a well-known American uni v e r s i t y once asked Heym to help him locate
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