Der pikareske Roman als Katalysator in geschichtlichen Abläufen : erzählerische Kommunikationsmodelle in Das Leben des Lazarillo von Tormes, bei Thomas Mann und in einigen finnischen Romanen

Abstract

Anna-Riitta Tunturi tutki väitöskirjassaan pikareski- eli veijariromaanin eri ilmenemismuotoja historiallisena läpileikkauksena, sosiologisena ilmiönä ja romaanitaiteen osa-alueena. Sana ”pícaro” tulee kastiliankielen verbistä ”picar”, joka tarkoittaa alempiarvoisten ammattien harjoittamista, kuten picador de toros, pikadori härkätaistelussa, toreadorin avustaja. Saksaksi sana on Schelm, joten oma sanamme kelmi on saksalaista lainaa. Lisäksi suomen kielessä on veijari, huijari, heittiö tai hulttio, ja lisääkin varmasti löytyy.

This dissertation in comparative literature examines several Finnish picaresque novels of 20th century in relation to some classical continental European novels such as: La vida de Lazarillo de Tormes from the Spanish Renaissance, 1554 and Thomas Mann’s Confessions of the Swindler Felix Krull, 1954; and achieves some new insights on account of the narratological communication models developed by Seymour Chatman, Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan and Umberto Eco. The significant question is: who wrote these autobiographical novels for whom? I conclude that the Finnish picaresque novels do not possess the autobiographical feature of the classical genre and proceed to analyse the perspectives and the focus of each novel. In the process I have compiled a list of the “sentences” in Thomas Mann’s novel Felix Krull and demonstrated how he parodied the classical literature with these so-called “sentences” as well as used them to criticize the society of his time.The approach of this thesis is innovative, because it is the first attempt to examine Finnish novels in the context of the classical continental picaresque theory of literature. The comparative approach enables me to modify as well as enrich the classical framework of analysis. Some of these Finnish novels, first published between 1909 and 1977, had been translated into German before, but parts of some are translated for the first time in this work. (Maria Jotuni: Everyday Life; Joel Lehtonen: The Fight of the Spirits; Pentti Haanpää: The Actor from Taivalvaara, The Boots of the Nine; Mika Waltari: The Egyptian; Oiva Paloheimo: The Mirror; Veijo Meri: The Cotton Rope, Quit; Erno Paasilinna: The Lost Army). All these works dealt with an ideologically critical period: the early 1930’s and the second world war. Because of their picaresque nature, these novels were in sharp contrast with the “heroic” novels of the wartime. I conclude that they constituted a counter-genre. In this sense they mirror the historical processes of their times