Ars amandi: A thematic inquiry into sexual and erotic exceptions in the early tales of Thomas Mann and the works of Marguerite Duras

Sexuality and creativity derive from the same source: both exist in some unknowable recesses of the mind which may never reveal some of its secrets. The overpowering correlation between aestheticism and eroticism is reflected upon by Thomas Mann in his essay "Die Erotik Michelangelos," which he wrote in 1950. The writer adds a third element to aestheticism and eroticism, namely productivity.Thomas Mann, while suffering all his life from his ambiguous sexuality, was aware that his erotic preference (homosexuality) was also his main source of inspiration. Without it he would not have become the writer of world-wide renown. Marguerite Duras, at age seventy-seven, spoke for the first time openly--under the disguised form of yet another novel, L'Amant de la Chine du Nord,--about her incestuous relationship with her younger brother. Some of her earlier works make also her interest in narcissism, sadomasochism and lesbianism evident. In neither writer does sexuality appear in its crude form but is converted into eroticism. Eroticism is a state of mind whose sexual origin has evolved into an often barely visible form in which the aesthetic appeal becomes the dominant factor.Chapters one through five of this study are a comparison between Thomas Mann's Walsungenblut and Marguerite Duras's Agatha. Within these two works and across five chapters the underlying currents of narcissism and incest that implicate two pairs of siblings are revealed. In this analysis of narcissism, incest and other forms of "desire", the emphasis is not on ethics rather, the attempt is made to give an objective evaluation of the psychological damage that occurs when four human beings Siegmund and Sieglind Aarenhold on the one hand, and Agatha and her brother on the other imprison each other voluntarily and are capable of viewing the world only through the enmeshments of their own psyche. Throughout these five chapters the erotic significance inherent in both works is assessed with reference especially to visual, audible, tactile and olfactory stimuli.Chapters six, seven and eight focus on sadomasochistic and narcissistic aspects in Thomas Mann's tale Der kleine Herr Friedemann and Marguerite Duras's novel Le Vice-consul.Chapter nine concentrates on homosexuality and lesbianism in Mann's Der Tod in Venedig and several of Duras's novels and film scripts.