| Description |
This thesis begins with references to One Thousand and One Nights in two similarly plotted stories from Viennese Modernism (Wiener Moderne): Hugo von Hofmannsthal's "Das Märchen der 672. Nacht" ‘The Tale of 672nd Night' and Arthur Schnitzler's Traumnovelle (Dream Story). Scheherazade, the narrator of One Thousand and One Nights, is caught in a struggle of Eros and Thanatos, the life and death drives. She is perpetually trapped between her wedding night and death. Similarly, the male protagonists of both "Das Märchen" and Traumnovelle are propelled through Viennese streets by erotic and thanatic figures. This thesis analyzes these figures and their relations to each other. An introduction is followed by a chapter devoted to an exploration of each text individually. Using the psychoanalytic frameworks of both Sigmund Freud and Georges Bataille, as well as much of my own close reading, the piece as a whole explores how Eros and Thanatos intersect with each other, the authors' protagonists, and ultimately Viennese Modernism itself. |
