‘The still point of the turning world': a comparative investigation of the portrayal of cyclical time and rebirth in T. S. Eliot’s 'The Waste Land' and Thomas Mann’s 'Der Zauberberg'.

Young, Primrose (2013). ‘The still point of the turning world': a comparative investigation of the portrayal of cyclical time and rebirth in T. S. Eliot’s 'The Waste Land' and Thomas Mann’s 'Der Zauberberg'. University of Birmingham. M.Phil.

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Abstract

This thesis presents a comparative analysis of Thomas Mann’s Der Zauberberg and T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land. Composed during, and published shortly after, the First World War, the two texts present overwhelming atmospheres of destruction, stagnancy and decay. This thesis aims to establish how the employment of popular time concepts in contemporary philosophy, most notably of Bergson and Nietzsche, portray the inadequacy of both linear ‘clocktime’ and subjective ‘durée’ when searching for a form of rebirth from the decaying worlds which both texts present. Through a deconstruction of forms of rebirth, namely narrative, psychological, sexual, religious, supernatural, natural, and rebirth after death, a clearer picture of the complex relationship between rebirth and time concepts will be established. Finally, an analogy of the shared motif of thunder in the endings of both texts will prove how the onset of war forces a shift in perspective, illuminating the futility of the temporal realm and revealing how the irreducible complexities presented in the works are, in fact, core to their meanings. Neither text offers an alternative time system to counter the failures of clocktime and durée, yet both demonstrate how there is hope for humanity through art or union with God.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Masters by Research > M.Phil.)

Award Type:

Masters by Research > M.Phil.

Supervisor(s):