Ideal, Conflict, Destruction. Lovers' Dreams in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries (Wieland's Don Sylvio von Rosalva, Hoffmann's Die Elixiere des Teufels and Bachmann's Malina)

Abstract

This essay looks at novels from three different centuries – Christoph Martin Wieland’s Don Sylvio de Rosalva (1764), E.T.A. Hoffmann’s The Devil’s Elixirs (1815/16) and Ingeborg Bachmann’s Malina (1971) – each of which poses challenges to the notions of love and subjectivity of their day, with dreams having a pivotal function in this challenge. I examine how the lov-ers’ dreams map their respective historically different relationships to the world, themselves and their beloved, as well as their diverse notions of love. Furthermore, I will explore how the presentation of dreams in these three novels reveals both hidden continuities as well as ruptures in the literary tradition of dream presentation.