V
A lengthy excursus gives us better insight into Z.’s state of mind and his complex relationship to national socialism. We also learn about L.’s early education at the hands of schoolmaster Michelsen, who gives him his first lessons in imitative counterpoint.
Time of composition: July 8–July 13, 1943. Time of narration: Summer 1943. Narrated time: 1893–1895.
| | An allusion to Fidelio (1805), the only opera by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827). |
| fate has squeezed the German | More evidence of Z.’s conflicted nature as a narrator. He clearly longs for the defeat of his country but is unable to articulate why it is necessary, attributing the current “awful straits” to “fate” rather than to German crimes. |
| those who have brought such good people | Z. blames the Nazi elite for the downtrodden condition of the German people, but not the ordinary citizens even though they, after all, enthusiastically supported the Nazis. He even speaks of the Germans as “hopelessly [estranged] from themselves.” In this, he echoes the views of many émigré intellectuals (especially from the Marxist left) but notably not those of TM, who had to endure significant abuse from Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) and others because of his public insistence that all Germans bore responsibility for the crimes of the Third Reich. |
| | Latin: “innate quality, intrinsic intelligence.” |
| nine bars of horizontal melody | An early lesson in counterpoint that also establishes a link between Hanne’s musical rounds and the “magic square,” which will later inspire L.’s invention of the twelve-tone technique. |
| first grade of higher education | The Quinta would actually have been the second grade in a Gymnasium, equivalent to sixth grade in the U.S. educational system. |