Keha ja kehalisuse kujutamine Eduard von Keyserlingi romaani „Lained“ naistegelaste näitel / Representation of the Body and Corporeality on the Example of Female Characters in Eduard von Keyserling’s Novel Waves

Abstract

Teesid: Artikkel käsitleb keha ja kehalisuse kujutamist Eduard von Keyserlingi romaanis „Lained“, keskendudes peategelase Doralice’i kogemustele. Analüüs näitab, kuidas naise keha kirjeldamise kaudu väljendatakse identiteedikriisi, liminaalsust ja ühiskondlike normidega konfliktis olemist. Tuginedes fenomenoloogiale ja feministlikule teooriale, tõlgendatakse kehalisust nii enesetaju kui ka sotsiaalse surve väljendusena. Artikkel eristab kehalisuse kujutamise kolme funktsiooni. Alustatakse meeleseisundite kehaliste väljenduste väljatoomisest, liigutakse liminaalsuse kujutamise juurde ning lõpetatakse loodusega ühtesulamise igatsuse kirjeldamisega.

Eduard von Keyserling (1855–1918), a Baltic German writer originating from Latvia, is regarded as an outstanding representative of German literary impressionism and landscape prose. His works reflected the rapidly changing social reality and spirit of the age and were praised by contemporary German authors. In Estonia, the reception of his works was also positive during his lifetime. Although attitudes towards Baltic German culture among Estonian intellectuals were often reserved at the beginning of the 20th century, Keyserling’s works were translated into Estonian and widely appreciated. This article examines the representation of the body and corporeality in his novel Waves (Wellen, 1911), focusing on the experiences of the protagonist, Doralice.

The analysis demonstrates how descriptions of the female body are used to express identity crisis, liminality, and conflict with social norms. Drawing on phenomenology and feminist theory, corporeality is interpreted as an expression of both self-perception and social pressure. The article identifies three distinct functions of corporeality along a continuum extending from the human to the natural world. It begins by examining bodily expressions of mental states, proceeds to representations of liminality, and concludes with an exploration of the longing for fusion with nature.

Nature occupies a central position in the novel, acting as a continuation of the human body. Life unfolds in waves, and corporeality expresses not only emotions but also the individuals’ place within the surrounding environment and the constraints imposed on them by status and gender. Like the sea that governs the life in the fishing village that serves as the setting, waves shape the lives of the novel’s characters, driving them from fixed states into motion and disrupting established customs and social norms. As in many of his other works, Keyserling uses the protagonist’s experiences to depict the values and social atmosphere of the Baltic German nobility in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The novel is characterised by multilayered symbolism and nuanced psychological portrayal. It presents Doralice’s corporeality as an expression of her aspiration to understand herself and establish for herself a place in society independent of the role assigned to her by her husband. Through Doralice’s body, Keyserling depicts the spiritual atmosphere and social reality of the era. Doralice’s corporeality functions not only as a reflection of her inner experience but also as a means of challenging the social expectations imposed upon her. Through bodily movement and perception, she negotiates the boundaries of the role assigned to her by society. The body functions on several levels in the novel: beyond expressing mental states, it also serves as a metaphorical device and a marker of liminality.

The lives of the Baltic German aristocracy at the turn of the 20th century were characterised by an effort to preserve long-established customs and social structures and to avoid external influences that might disrupt the framework that had endured for centuries. By voluntarily stepping outside this secure framework, Doralice enters a new and uncertain existence. Yet rather than bringing peace of mind or a sense of belonging, this transition leaves her in a liminal space marked by nostalgia and anticipation. The inability to embrace transition gives rise to the characters’ ambivalence and melancholy towards both their present circumstances as well as the past and the future. They are unable to endure the present, yet no clear escape or alternative way of life appears possible.

Liberation from existing conventions represents a vision of the future for Doralice; however, society ultimately fails to support her. Her liminal condition is portrayed as simultaneously expansive and confining: the surrounding social order is experienced as unbearable, yet abandoning it entirely proves equally impossible. This tension extends to the relationship between mind, body, and nature. Encounters with nature transcend bodily perception, yet fusion with nature remains ambivalent, as the crossing of boundaries is accompanied by a fear that is both alluring and unsettling. Like the waves that continuously reshape the shoreline, Doralice is displaced from fixed identities and social positions, remaining in a state of perpetual transition. Doralice’s liminal condition may also be read in a broader historical context. Like Doralice, whose past persistently returned and whose existence was marked by recurring memories, Baltic Germans themselves experienced an enduring sense of liminality in relation to body, space, and time. A few decades later, in 1939, many stood in Baltic harbours awaiting ships that would carry them to territories under German control as part of the Heim ins Reich resettlement programme, leaving behind the lands their families had inhabited for generations and a world that was rapidly disappearing. Resettlement became a transformative storm that could be neither resisted nor controlled, sweeping both individuals and their historical era into the unknown.