From Ritual Dance to Flight
Glimmers of the Fantastic in Robert Müller’s Tropen: Der Mythos der Reise
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22345156 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Wesley Lim (0000-0001-6797-9397, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2015 |
| Volume | 48 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 101-120 |
| Publication date | 2015-06-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Austrian Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2165-669X • E-ISSN: 2327-1809 |
| Publisher | Project MUSE (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1353/oas.2015.0035 |
| OpenAlex | W2280363099 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 8 |
In this article, I examine how the Austrian writer Robert Müller—in his novel Tropen: Der Mythos der Reise from 1915—depicts the protagonist Brandlberger’s experience of watching ritual dances of the Dumara tribe in the Amazon. Brandlberger observes two series of dances: first, the tribesmen in a communal dance and second, the priestess Zana in a series of solos and duets. His dance depictions continually hint at developing fantastical and intensifying animalistic elements such as the tribesmen Moki donning wings and flying—as a result of Zana’s ecstatic dancing—as well as her multiple transformations into animals. Likely aware of the expressionist dance movement ( Ausdruckstanz )—represented by Rudolf Laban, Mary Wigman, and others, Müller, I argue, depicts similar literary dance forms but also departs from these styles by demonstrating how humans can attain fantastic qualities through dance
Aesthetics · Art · Art history · Contemporary dance · Dance · Folk dance · Literature · Sociology · Tribe · Anthropology · Arts, Culture, and Music Studies · German Colonialism and Identity Studies · German Literature and Culture Studies · Philosophy
| Citations per year | 0.11 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2017 - 2017 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |