Revolution gegen den Geist. Über die Struktur der Umkehrung in Franz Werfels Der Abituriententag

Abstract

The article points out that inversions are of great importance in Franz Werfel's »Class Reunion«. These inversions mostly concern the protagonists Adler and Sebastian who both epitomize dualism as in mind and body, Jew and anti-Semite, Christ and the devil. Werfel here refers to Gnostic ideas as well as to anti-Semite stereotypes, but he turns them against the anti-Semite Sebastian. Furthermore, he criticizes the inner-Jewish conception that the Jews could only survive the struggle for existence by training their muscles intensely. In Werfel's novella Adler seems to be the exact opposite of such a »muscular Jew«. His degeneration is enhanced by the fact that his body gradually begins to dominate his mind. Last but not least, the main conflict of the novella reflects Werfel's mental reservations about Friedrich Nietzsche's later moral philosophy. With his book, Werfel wanted to show the reader that the ›re-evaluation of all values‹, that Nietzsche had called for, would harm the mind and plunge the world into anarchy.