Infectious wishes. On projection and transference in Thomas Mann's "Dr. Faustus"

  • If projection and transference represent similar terms that imply a fundamental form of ignorance, the aim of this investigation can not be to draw a sharp distinction between projection and transference. Of course, the dialectic of inside and outside doesn't play the central role in transference like it does in projection. In a certain way, the notion of projection concerns all forms of perception and seems to be wider than the notion of transference. But on the other hand, the notion of transference as a poetic act of creating metaphorical analogies seems to be wider than that of projection. My interest in the following lines lies not in the attempt to draw a valuable distinction between both terms, but to look at their interplay in a novel that discusses all forms of archaism, primitivism and regression, commonly linked with projection, a novel, that at the same time tries to give an explanation of the foundation of modern art. Thomas Mann's Doktor Faustus offers an insight not only into the combination of projection and love, but also into ignorance as the common ground of projection and transference. I will therefore first try to determine the modernity of Thomas Mann's novel in regard to the abounding intertextual dimension that characterizes the text, and then closely examine the central scene of the novel, the confrontation between Adrian Leverkühn and the obscure figure of the devil.

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Metadaten
Author:Achim GeisenhanslükeORCiDGND
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-571781
ISBN:978-3-7705-5389-1
Parent Title (German):Thomas Mann : neue kulturwissenschaftliche Lektüren
Publisher:Fink
Place of publication:Paderborn
Document Type:Preprint
Language:English
Date of Publication (online):2021/03/29
Year of first Publication:2012
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:2021/03/29
GND Keyword:Mann, Thomas; Doktor Faustus; Projektion <Psychologie>; Übertragung <Psychologie>
Page Number:12
Note:
Preprint, auch in: Thomas Mann : neue kulturwissenschaftliche Lektüren ; Paderborn : Fink, 2012, ISBN 978-3-7705-5389-1
HeBIS-PPN:509802443
Dewey Decimal Classification:8 Literatur / 80 Literatur, Rhetorik, Literaturwissenschaft / 800 Literatur und Rhetorik
8 Literatur / 83 Deutsche und verwandte Literaturen / 830 Literaturen germanischer Sprachen; Deutsche Literatur
Sammlungen:Germanistik / GiNDok
CompaRe | Allgemeine und Vergleichende Literaturwissenschaft
BDSL-Klassifikation:16.00.00 Jahrhundertwende (1880-1914) / BDSL-Klassifikation: 16.00.00 Jahrhundertwende (1880-1914) > 16.15.00 Zu einzelnen Autoren
Licence (German):License LogoDeutsches Urheberrecht