Contents

Acknowledgements

List of Abbreviations

Introduction

Viennese Types and Habsburg Nostalgia

The Ambivalent Problem of Modernity

Destiny as Defence Mechanism

Stereotypes as Defence Mechanism and Destiny

Stereotype and Destiny and the Risk of Failure

The Gothic Horror of Stereotype and Destiny

A Psycho-Sociological Reading

1    Stereotypes and Physiognomy in Der Weg ins Freie (Road into the Open)

Stereotypes and Images of ‘Normality’

Physiognomy and Destiny

Stereotypes and Performative Speech Acts

Recognitions and Repetitions

2    Madness and Investiture in Flucht in die Finsternis (Flight into Darkness)

A Crisis of Investiture

Diagnosis as Destiny

Seductive Stereotypes of Madness

Signs of Destiny

Romantic Madness

3    Race and Destiny in Die Weissagung (The Prophecy) and Andreas Thameyers letzter Brief (Andreas Thameyer’s Last Letter)

Destiny and Stereotypes of Jewishness in Die Weissagung (The Prophecy)

Male Suicide as Destiny and Stereotypes of Blackness in Andreas Thameyers letzter Brief (Andreas Thameyer’s Last Letter)

4    Love as Destiny and Cliché in Die Fremde (The Stranger), Das Schicksal des Freiherrn von Leisenbohg (Baron Leisenbohg’s Destiny) and Das neue Lied (The New Song)

Destiny and Stereotypes of Enigmatic Femininity in Die Fremde (The Stranger)

Courtly Love and Seriality in Das Schicksal des Freiherrn von Leisenbohg (Baron Leisenbohg’s Destiny)

Seriality and Performance in Das neue Lied (The New Song)

5    Dream, Destiny and Infectious Alterity in Traumnovelle (Dream Story)

Failing Recognitions

Coping Mechanisms

Infection of the Norm

Infected Performance

Purification

Conclusion

Bibliography

Index