47. Idols and Confessions

Stuttgart 1898, Fromanns Verlag

One of the most interesting developments in the intellectual evolution of recent decades has undoubtedly been the change in our appreciation of “ideals”. Unconditional veneration has given way to doubt. Today we perceive this veneration as prejudice and ask about the conditions in the human organization that cause us to turn our feelings to a field that in reality corresponds to nothing. Even the highest of ideals, the concept of God, has become questionable to us. In her novel “In the Struggle for God”, which touches on the deepest tasks of contemporary culture, Lou Andreas-Salome& said: “The highest of human creativity is that it is able to create beyond itself, looking upwards.” The education of past centuries has worked hard to prevent the realization that the world of ideals is a creation of man. This world was to have an untouchable existence alongside and above natural reality, and the spiritual struggles were presented as humanity's striving to find harmony between ideal and reality. Indeed, if a conflict between these two realms arose, the ideal was always given the right of way and reality was expected to become more and more like it. Schiller, for example, felt the greatest happiness in fleeing from common reality into the lofty, pure realm of ideals. This has now changed. Reality has proven itself the victor in our consciousness. We only understand the ideal insofar as we can find its roots in the pure and natural. If such roots cannot be found, then the ideal appears to us as a lie or as an idol that the human spirit invents because it has a tendency to seek satisfaction in the illusory sphere that it cannot find in direct life. Truth is more important to us today than anything else. We want to reveal it without reservation, even if it means destroying goods that have been considered sacred to mankind for centuries.

Women are making a major contribution to this revelation in our time. They have had to turn their minds away from the true nature of life for the longest time and have attached their feelings to goods that reveal themselves as a sham when viewed impartially. Two books that have just been published are proof that women have revelations to make to us from the depths of their being: Rosa Mayreder's “Idole” (Berlin 1899) and Adele Gerhard's “Beichte” (Berlin 1899). Anyone who delves into these two books will feel, above all, that important things are being said here, because the courage exists to express, without reservation, what is going on at the bottom of the female soul. And the second thing we feel is the insight we gain from these works into the lives of noble women who lead a hard, honest and energetic struggle in life. Rosa Mayreder told us about this struggle in her earlier collections of short stories, “Aus meiner Jugend” and “Übergänge”. The only way to describe what is expressed here is to say that the heroic confronts us in the special way that it must take on in the highly-intelligent woman of the present day. In the “Idols” the essence of love is revealed, with the clarity of the psychologist and with the sincerity of the bold seeker of truth. Rosa Mayreder has the gift of seeing the world in terms of its greatness. Her writing is like a psychological discovery. We follow everything she says with open ears, because we soon realize that only she can tell us what she says. Adele Gerhard is of a different nature. She has no great revelations to make. Anyone who has looked around in life will have experienced countless times what she is talking about. But we have probably never looked at these things with the same degree of attention as this woman does. We are less interested in what she sees, but in how she looks at it. Much more interesting than these little stories that we have encountered everywhere, in contrast to which - we cannot deny it - we suffer from a certain blasé attitude, is the author's attitude towards things. We imagine we see the author's eyes, which look at the world very differently from our own. A free soul who finds it difficult to be free stands before us. For Rosa Mayreder, telling the truth seems to be a form of salvation, for Adele Gerhard a form of martyrdom.

I would like to suggest how the psychology of the modern woman's soul is revealed in the two books in a second article.

II

Rosa Mayreder's “Idols” are the product of the sentiment expressed in the old saying: “Man's most excellent study is man.” The value of this book lies in the fact that it presents the inner life of woman from the point of view from which the philosopher would most like to view the whole world. This point of view has often been expressed in the words: “from the point of view of the eternal”. But it would be better to say: “from the point of view of the meaningful”. Rosa Mayreder's own life is the source of deep riddles for her. And the answers she seeks open up perspectives into the abysses of human nature. On every page it becomes clear that this is a woman who has used a significant amount of strength to come to terms with her own experiences. But who also possesses this strength. As a result, the work exudes a peculiar ethical atmosphere that bears witness to the seriousness and dignity of life.

The secret that lies in the sexual relationship is at the center. It is the relationship that becomes so puzzling to those who reflect on the relationship between individuality and the whole. What is it in the opposite sex that draws us to it, in order to seek in it the completion of our own being? Rosa Mayreder presents the attraction to the opposite sex in all its power; but at the same time she shows the element that intervenes between the souls of man and woman. At bottom, individuality cannot go beyond itself. There is something that opposes the assimilation of the alien soul. It is the image of the other that comes to life in our own being. What happens when the cool, sober observer of the world compares his idea of a man loved by a woman with the image that presents itself in the female psyche itself as the reason for her love? This love awakens in one man, and it does not stir in countless others. That cool observer knows nothing of the cause of this love. And he cannot know anything about it. For what the woman loves is not an object of cool observation; it is a being that is born out of her love, it is not the strange man, it is the idol, the image of this man. Gisa loves Dr. Lamaris. “When this man entered, yes, the moment I saw him for the first time, he seemed so strangely familiar to me, so familiar, as if I had known him for a long time. And after he had spoken to me for a few minutes, polite, meaningless words, like any young man addresses to any young girl, I suddenly got the impression that I was having a great time, that the whole company, which was standing and sitting around rather leathery, was animated as never before. And how different the real Dr. Lamaris was from the idol Gisas! What a contrast there was between the two natures in all the moments in which they met! The “idea” of a radiant inner life often returned later, but never in his presence. It could not tolerate contact with reality. Reality stared at him with hurtful impressions that “burrowed into my soul like pinpricks.”

Gisa's entire world of perception is rooted in the view that the right person relates to the world in a way that corresponds to the most fundamental inclinations of his or her nature. The doctor, on the other hand, views all relationships from a different perspective. A girl should be pious because it is the best way for her to adapt to life. Gisa says: “You are religious or irreligious because of an inner state; but not because you should or shouldn't. So what does it mean to say that a girl should be pious?” The doctor, however, says: “It means that it is not beneficial for a female psyche to do without the aids that religion provides.” “So religion from the point of view of soul diet, of psychic hygiene?” the girl replies. This point of view is hateful to her. “It makes everything flat and philistine!” Lamaris knows only one thing: ”Nevertheless, civilized humanity will have to learn, if it is not to fall into complete ruin, to look at life exclusively from this point of view; it will have to re-evaluate all emotions from this point of view. Love too, and love in the first place. For since it is love that usually decides the fate of future generations, it happens all too often that the union of two people based on a love affair is something positively outrageous. It is a sentimental aberration to present love as the most desirable basis for marriage. The illusory character of this affection makes those who are affected by it completely incapable of making their choice according to rational reasons, namely in the sense of racial improvement.” One sees a second idol. The woman, whose sexual instincts have become spiritualized into a love fantasy, places her fantasy image between herself and the man she seeks. The man with the culture of reason places an abstract cultural idea in the same place. The rest of the story shows that Lamaris also has a deep affection for Gisa. However, he does not follow this inclination. This is because he comes from a family that includes mentally deranged members, and he himself has a profession that particularly demands his intellect. The spirit that lives in his organism must not be allowed to unite with that of a girl who also strives for spiritualization. That is why he marries a healthy girl with little education. It is precisely his principle that “men who live strongly at the expense of the brain should marry women from spared social classes – for the sake of the offspring.” The best way to see how this idol relates to his real emotional life is to see that his wife bears a striking resemblance to Gisa. His mind sought Gisa; his intellect determines his life.

The magic of Rosa Mayreder's book lies in the way the poet knows how to place human experiences in the great context of the world. Her artistic intuition always leads her to see a detail within a whole in a way that allows us to perceive the depths of life. The truly noble soul must be recognized in this. This is how I would like to justify saying that Rosa Mayreder sees things with greatness. The way she captures the problem of love seems to me to be different from that of other poets. Usually, we are presented with the external manifestations of love; Rosa Mayreder goes to the essence of love, one might say to its “thing in itself”. The enlightenment she has given herself about her own heart has sharpened her view of humanity as such. In the history of the development of the mind, one will no longer be able to ignore the form that this artist has given to human experiences.

III

Adele Gerhard's tasks are different. The four sketches “Beichte”, “Gönnt mir goldene Tageshelle”,¹ “Ebbe” and “Der Ring an meinem Finger” show that her interest is not in the colorfulness of life, but in the contours. These short novellas seem like [charcoal drawings]. And the intellectual conscience of the woman gave birth to them. The tragedy of female love is expressed in them. It arises from the contradiction between the situation in which women find themselves by virtue of their nature and the demands that life experiences awaken in them. Love draws women to men; they become attached. They impose duties on them that undermine their individuality. The woman described in the last story is the most significant from this point of view. “I am constantly looking for a way out, but I can't find it. The nights torment me with their heavy, exciting dreams. The ring on my hand starts to pinch me. I look at my child, it grabs my hand: Mama stays with Johanne. I kiss it. But I am also here, something inside me calls urgently, and I want my right - my right, which you call wrong.” Women who had to enter into a relationship as much as they had to long for it after they had experienced it are portrayed here. The author is a woman who recognizes the profession of woman as a way of life and who constantly feels the barriers that limit this profession. Here, nature seems to be hostile to man as a demon.

The poignant nature of this thought arises from the fact that there is no way to resolve the contradiction that has been identified. Has nature assigned the role of eternal martyr to women? I see that in these novellas this contradiction appears as terrible and tragic as possible; but I do not see any indication that would allow us to hope for a solution. Schopenhauer's philosophy, applied to the consciousness of women, is brought to life in this little book. Rosa Mayreder seeks to reveal the essence of love; Adele Gerhard portrays the catastrophes of the love idol. The fact that both books appeared at almost the same time is characteristic of the culture of the time. The “Idols” seem like an explanation of “Confession”. Is it any wonder that the “idea of a radiant inner life” cannot tolerate contact with reality and that the “hurtful impressions” of this reality bore into the soul “like pinpricks”? Dr. Lamaris finds: “For since it is love that usually decides the fate of future generations, it happens all too often that the union of two people based on a love affair is something downright outrageous.” Adele Gerhard starts from the point of view that such principled views appear shallow and philistine to women before they are married, because they are completely dominated by their idols. After marriage, reality pushes the idol back in two ways. The idol, to which the female personality has become completely lost, is destroyed, and the right of one's own individuality asserts itself again; and the prospect of the next generation, which before could only be a matter of the mind, then, when this generation enters life, becomes a matter of the heart. The duties towards one's offspring are now not only demanded by reason, but felt by the heart. And women are faced with the necessity of sacrificing their individuality to a foreign entity once again.

Laura Marholm has claimed that the women's issue is essentially a men's issue. She claims that women are naturally drawn to men in order to fulfill their essence. Rosa Mayreder shows that this search is influenced by an idol, thereby putting the “men's issue” in its place. Adele Gerhard speaks of the tragedy that the idol of love leads to; and with that it would be clear that men are an unsatisfactory solution to the women's issue.