Ethnicity and gender in Else Lasker-Schuler's "Oriental" stories: "Der Amoklaufer" ("Tschandragupta") and "Ached Bey".

In her two prose works Die Nachte Tino von Bagdads (The Nights of Tino of Baghdad, 1907) and Der Prinz yon Theben (The Prince of Thebes, 1914) Else Lasker-Schuler thematizes the connection of ethnicity, gender, and art in an imaginary Oriental setting. An examination of these two stories shows the sophistication with which she undermines any notion of unambiguous identity, whether ethnic or sexual, and the implications of her challenge to images of Jewish femininity for her conception of art and her position within the avant-garde of classical modernity. Lasker-Schuler's productive intertextual connection to Heine and her critical distance to cultural Zionism (Martin Buber) are analyzed with regard to the German-Jewish history of ideas. (HU)

**********

In her two prose works Die Nachte Tino von Bagdads (The Nights of Tino of Baghdad, 1907) and Der Prinz von Theben (The Prince of Thebes, 1914) Else Lasker-Schuler thematizes the connection of ethnicity, gender, and art in an imaginary Oriental setting. Her stories are marked by a high degree of intertextuality and allusion, play and disguise, as well as an irony that is at times playful or painful. While these characteristics complicate any interpretation of the texts, they also create the unique tone that characterizes her prose.

Recent scholarship, in particular studies by Atterholt, Berman, Hedgepeth, Heizer, O'Brien, and Redmann, has read Lasker-Schuler's oeuvre both as an investigation of representations of gender, especially femininity, and as a contribution to a Jewish minority discourse. My argument proceeds from these presuppositions. With an eye toward the stories "Der Amoklaufer" (The Madman, 1910) and "Ached Bey" (1907), I examine the overlap of ethnicity and gender: to what extent does Lasker-Schuler probe images of Jewish femininity and what can we conclude from this with regard to her views on art? (1) Common to both stories--indeed a frequent configuration in Lasker-Schuler's texts--is a narrated world initially dominated by a father figure. He represents a patriarchal order whose limit(ation)s are dissolved when a female figure within the father's "domain" is conjoined with a "foreigner" from a different culture.

"Der Amoklaufer"

At first glance, "Der Amoklaufer" seems to be a straightforward story: Tschandragupta, a heathen king, feels a longing for the Jews ("Sehnsucht nach den Juden," 129); he visits them and wants to make a sacrifice to Jehovah, but is hindered by the high priest. As a result, the foreigner goes berserk and only stops when Schlome, the daughter of the high priest, becomes one of his victims. On closer inspection, however, the situation becomes more confusing. Tschandragupta is not just a "heathen": son of a Jewish mother, he is also a Jew, and while some hail him as an "angel," others condemn him as "Schaitan" (129), the Arab word for devil. Schlome, in turn, is not just his victim, but also the driving force of the events, and ultimately her death seems not only a demise, but also the fulfillment she has wished for. As in many of her narratives, Lasker-Schuler here creates ambiguities by changing configurations, overlaying oppositions, and neglecting the characters' motivation. Questions that then arise are: Whose point of view is this? Is there even a unified narrative point of view? This confusing game with oppositions is joined by a host of intertextual references. The theme of the story, however, remains relatively insignificant; of central importance is her concern with stereotypes that combine antisemitism and sexual phantasies in a number of intertexts. (2)

Thus the name of the female protagonist refers to the Salome tradition: "Schlome" is historically a hybrid reconstruction of "Salome" (3) as is the configuration of the three characters: the opposition between the holy stranger ("heiliger Fremdling," 129), on the one hand, and the threatened leader of the Jews (the father figure) and his daughter, on the other. Furthermore, Salome's eroticism and passionate dancing play a key role in Lasker-Schuler's story. In fact, Schlome appears three times in an erotic pose: first before Jehovah; then before the people, showing them her unveiled face for the first time (131) and goading them to revolt against the high priest; and finally approaching, "smilingly, ever closer to the deadly kiss" (132)--another characteristic detail of the Salome tradition.