From Art as a Science to the Death of Poetry

This article reflects on the contacts and dialogues between literature and scientific thought in the works of Austrian writer Hermann Broch in the first half of the 20th century. His first novel, The Sleepwalkers [Die Schlafwandler] (1931-1932), points to certain interpretations, allusions and similarities in connection with thinkers such as Max Weber, Walter Benjamin and Hannah Arendt, which suggest the incorporation of literature to scientific and philosophical knowledge. Conversely, in his last fiction work, The Death of Virgil [Der Tod des Vergil] (1945), Broch seems to question and even to doubt the importance of literature as a way of reflecting on contemporary life. While prioritizing Broch’s early works, this article follows his trajectory as he incorporates philosophical, scientific, and religious considerations to fiction, while reflecting on the times in which he lived.

Kundera lector de Broch: la novela como forma de conocimiento

El propósito del presente estudio consiste en analizar la noción de "ensayo específicamente novelesco" desarrollada por Milan Kundera en sus ensayos. Dicha noción aparece por primera vez en L'art du roman (1986) ligada a la lectura que Kundera propone de Die Schlafwandler de Hermann Broch y se nutre de la concepción de la novela como instrumento de conocimiento del escritor austríaco. Los desplazamientos semánticos y las modificaciones, operadas por Kundera para adaptar la poética de Broch a su idea de novela, dan lugar a una concepción de la función del ensayo en la novela que permite entender este género como una forma de reflexión alternativa al modelo científico o filosófico de pensamiento.

Krieg, Exil und die Seele des Dichters Hermann Broch und Józef Wittlin im Briefwechsel

This article deals with Hermann Broch (1886–1951) and Józef Wittlin (1896–1976), two writers born in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy who were formed or even stigmatized by the generational experience of World War I. They both struggled with the problem of the representation of the war in their main novels: Die Schlafwandler (Sleepwalker, 1930–32) and Sól ziemi (Salt of the Earth, 1935). The similarity between their protagonists is the starting point for an attempt to compare the biographies and literary works of the authors. The article is based on the source materials – the unpublished letters in German, exchanged between Broch and Wittlin during the years from 1945 to 1951. Their correspondence is stored in two literary archives: Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library (Yale, New Haven) and Houghton Library (Harvard, Cambridge).