It must be recalled again (and again) that "Die Resurrection Co." is not the product o f
"Rathenau's pen" and that it instead bears the signature o f someone with the name o f W.
Hartenau 44 For a period o f over a decade, the legal entity called Walther Rathenau played a game o f hide and seek with his own proper name in his journalistic productions that went under the covers o f a number o f assumed identities 45 He did not opt for anonymity in which he would be completely cut off. Instead, the writing subject went underground. In the case at hand, the letters o f the proper name underwent a transmutation to generate anagrammatical effects. This process produces the permutations o f a calculating machine running through a nomenclature o f possible returns. It generates a cryptonomy which asks the readers o f the fixture (Die Zukunft) to crack the linguistic code.
41 "Wir bestatten deinen Leib, aber wir bestatten nicht deinen Geist. Der steigt empor." Walther Rathenau,
"Gedächtnisrede für Emil Rathenau (23. Juni 1915)" in Gesammelte Schriften. Vol. V, Reden und Schriften aus der Kriegszeit, p. 20.
42 "... den letzten Dingen des Daseins, von Leben und Wiedergeburt." Ibid., p. 11.
43 This paraphrases Hughes’ conclusion on p. 28.
44 This was the last of the five separate occasions of the use of the signature in Die Zukunft over a two year period.
43 For a fuller accounting, see the detailed bibliography in Peter Berglar, Walther Rathenau. Ein Leben zwischen Philosophie und Politik (Graz, 1987), pp. 309-310.
Pseudonymity breeds the style o f authorship "proper" to the resurrection company and to the mediated subjectivity o f the age o f the technologically reproducible. Thus, it is a grave error and an evasion o f the problematic o f technological resurrection to attribute the text to the unitary author, Walther Rathenau, and then to construct a system o f explanation based upon this authoritative assumption.46 The resurrection company resists the systematicity o f this static free reading o f the author in its returns. The subterranean telephone network registers a polyphony and cacophony o f voices screaming out o f the hollows o f a cavernous thorax which—perhaps only for the sake o f convenience—have been gathered under the sound o f Walther Rathenau. Or in other words, the cover o f Walther Rathenau would serve as an operator for what his pseudonymous media extensions and doubles perform. "An Essay at Resurrection" insists that one can not overhear what "Die Resurrection Co." has been trans
mitting if one continues to accept the unproblematic author Walther Rathenau as the sole ori
gin o f this pseudonymous text. Thus, it is possible to plug into a network o f pseudonymous callers who constitute the multiplex splitting and splicing o f the body o f A E G 's corporate head: W alter Michael, Renatus, Ernst Rainer, Ernst Reinhart, R , Herwart Raventhal, Nicolaus von der Mühl, etc. They found a limited partnership which has invested in Die Zukunft. These signatures constitute the phantom brotherhood o f a multiple personality.47 Here is the Kafkaesque sibling with the letter R. who rivals brother K.. Here is the long-distance corre
spondent from N orth America by the name o f Walter Michael who taps into "Trans-Atlantic Warning Signals" ("Trans-atlantische Wamungssignale"). Here is the classically trained Renatus who writes on the physiology o f the ethical life ("Zur Physiologie der Moral"). In this regard, the personal pronoun shifts back and forth between the singular and plural uses in the affirmation o f the pseudonym. One begins to wonder who is actually pleased in the following passage. "But the pseudonym (and anagram) Renatus pleases me very much. We have to use it also for the 'Moral' and I want to get accustomed to it for all future cases."48 These cryptic doubles form a pact which lay the corner- and the tombstone for the Resurrection Company as a multi-national corporation.
46 The particular pseudonymous oversight makes for strange bed-fellows in accounts which range from Hughes ("aus Rathenau's Feder") to Kittier ("Rathenaus Erzählung") (in Grammophon, p. 23).
47 Let it be added that Robert Musil would attempt to bring all of these Rathenauesque names together through another pseudonymous (or even fictional) signature, Paul Amheim, in order to achieve or to mock the mystery of the whole ("das Geheimnis des Ganzen") in Der Mann Ohne Eigenschaften (Vol. I, 1930) (Reinbek, 1978). Perhaps Musil's resurrection of the Rathenau-legend reads today as another of his character Ulrich's possibilistic histories. For a recent debate of the themes of identity and wholeness in Ulrich and other Musilian personages, see Peter Berger, "Robert Musil und die Errettung des Ich" in Zeitschrift für Soziologie, 17 (2) 1988 and Bemward Joerges' response, "Berger, Musil und der Dichter Feuermaul" in ZfS, 17 (5), 1988.
48 "Aber das Pseudonym (und Anagramm) Renatus gelallt mir sehr gut. Das müssen wir auch für die "Mo
ral" nehmen, und das will ich mir für alle zukünftigen Fälle angewöhnen." Walther Rathenau to Maximillian Harden, 13 July 1903. I n WRGA. Vol. VI, p. 371.
There is a great deal o f literal indebtedness to be found in the signature o f W. Hartenau.
It is not only an anagram for the name Rathenau. In this case, the pseudonym is haunted by the bonds o f personal friendship and linguistic chance in its doubling. With the exception o f only a quite similar sounding consonant ("d" and "t"), it also incorporates the last name o f the most important role model o f a young and impressionable Walther Rathenau—Maximillian Harden. As the story goes: "Contemporaries like Albert Kerr and Moritz de Jonge already noticed Harden's influence on Rathenau's style o f speech and mode o f representation in the early years o f their friendship. Indeed, even Rathenau himself acknowledged his literary model through his first pseudonym 'W. Hartenau'."49 Thus, when Harden bursts in the triply exclamatory utterance ("O dieser Hartenau!!!"), he is addressing himself (as his own name comes back through the other) as well as the resurrected name o f his pseudonymous friend.
But these pseudonymous chains o f borrowed nomenclature go even further. It must be recalled that Felix Ernst Witkowski himself to o k up the pseudonym Maximillian Harden in answer to the call o f the theater. Thus, in the transposition o f the name Hartenau, the name giver/taker pays homage to the pseudonym itself.
The social psychological reading o f these assumed names concentrates on the Jewish question. This historical interpretation reads Rathenau's pseudonyms as an attempt at Ger- manization to evade the potential name calling o f a Jewish identity in printed form.50 This rationale turns out to be the same for both Ernst and Max Reinhardt (no relation) in their joint response to the growth o f Anti-Semitism. "Under the influence o f the strengthening Anti- Semitism in Vienna, he (Max) adopted the hyper-Germanic artistic name o f Reinhardt, which, typically enough, Rathenau also employed as a pseudonym in the Zukunft during the years 1904-1905 in line with the same assimilatory viewpoint."51 But the logic o f Anti-Semitic avoidance does not make complete sense when one thinks o f a piece like "Höre Israel!" which could only offend the Jewish community by bending over backwards in its assimilationist ten
dencies. "That I am discrete, you believe" ("Daß ich diskret bin, glauben Sie"), as Harden writes to Rathenau in their very first letter regarding its possible publication.52 However, these 49
50
51
52
"Schon Zeitgenossen wie Alfred Kerr und Moritz de Jonge fiel der Hardensche Einfluß auf Rathenaus Sprachduktus und Darstellungsform während der ersten Jahre der Freundschaft auf, ja Rathenau selbt bekannte sich mit seinem ersten Pseudonym 'W. Hartenau' wohl seinem literarischen Vorbild." Hans-Dieter Heilige, "Rathenau und Harden in der Gesellschaft des Deutschen Kaiserreichs. Eine sozialgeschichtlich
biographische Studie zur Entstehung neokonservativer Positionen bei Unternehmern und Intellektuellen," in WRGA, Vol. VI, p. 174.
Heilige elaborates: "As Rathenau's anagram was too well known, he opted for the pseudonyms 'Walter Michael', 'Renatus', and 'Ernst Reinhart' for Die Zukunft, all of whom allow us to recognize the 'adaptive tendency' towards Germanization in the assimilated Jews." ("Als Rathenaus Anagramm allzubekannt wurde, legte er sich für Die Zukunft die Pseudonyme 'Walter Michael', 'Renatus', 'Emst Reinhart' zu, die alle die germanisierende 'Anartungstendenz' der Assimilationsiuden erkennen lassen,'") Ibid., p. 295.
"Unter dem Eindruck des erstarkten Antisemitismus in Wien nahm er (Max) 1890 den deutschtümelnden Künstlernamen Reinhardt an, den bezeichnenderweise auch Rathenau unter den gleichen assimilatorischen Gesichtspunkten 1904/1905 als Pseudonym in der Zukunft verwendete." Ibid., p. 444.
Walther Rathenau to Maximillian Harden, 15 January 1897. In WRGA, Vol. VI, p. 303.
indiscretions could only be against the names o f the (estranged) father and not the names o f the (adopted) host.
Moreover, the theory o f the signatures o f assimilation can not account for its every resurrection. For instance, there is the pseudonymous politician with the name o f Nicolaus von der Mühl who is the assumed author o f the "Physiology o f Business" ("Physiologie des Geschäfts"). Here, any attempt at Germanization is counteracted by the strong parodic under
tones which can not be assimilated to strict conformity. In fact, the homophonic play o f this signature delivers the garbage that can not be assimilated to the body politic when it is run through the mill. In an astounding exchange o f letters, a Viennese journalist by the name o f Theodor Herzl took a liking to this article and wanted to reprint it in his own Zionist publica
tion. (In the mirror refractions o f pseudonymity, Herzl thought at first that the piece was writ
ten by Harden.) In response, Rathenau directs and diverts the attention o f the unknowing paternity o f the resurrected political entity dubbed Israel to his own doppelganger with the following self-confession and dispossessing disclaimer. "I am Budget Commissioner Nicolaus von der Mühl. In regards to everything that you say which is good and generous about my doppelganger, I dare to claim only very little for myself."53 The refusal o f the authoritative signature did not pass unnoticed in Herzl’s reply. He suggested publishing the essay in a man
ner that would compound the problematic o f assimilation even further—"Out o f the papers left behind by von der Mühl" ("Aus den hinterlassenen Papieren des von der Mühl.").54
This haunting reference to the mechanism o f the doppelganger in relation to Rathenau's writing gives expression to one technological presupposition o f pseudonymous writing. The figure o f the doppelgänger stages the quintessence o f media subjectivity which opens the shadow space o f simulation and doubling (reproduced by the technological apparatus. With the installation o f the resurrection company, it reaches the point where it is very hard to say
"Ich" any more. It is as if the splitting subject were possessed by a foreign power issuing out
rageous demands and determined to have its way with you. These phantasmatic divisions are underscored in a piece o f personal correspondence. At the same time as the invasion o f the doppelgänger in Germany through the new filmic medium, our multi-track recording studio writes about another invasion o f "the other" ("der Andere") in a letter to an anonymous friend.
In the breakdown between a small I and a large ego, a modem "master" o f pseudonymity and role playing gives expression to what "I may hardly name I anymore."
It is as if tw o people lived in me, one o f whom grows and the other o f whom dies.
The desiring one—the one who was liable to be pleased from the outside—dies, and with him some liveliness, colorfulness, talkativeness, and joy. And the other—
53 "Etatsrat Nicolaus von der Mühl bin ich. Von all dem, was Sie Gütiges und Gutes über meinen Doppelgänger sagen, wage ich nur sehr wenig flir mich in Anspruch zu nehmen." Ibid., p. 351. Walther Rathenau to Theodor Herzl, 31 July 1901.
54 Ibid,, p. 361.
whom I can hardly name I anym ore-grows. Because this other one hardly cares about my fate anymore. He obtains things which are impersonal and takes me into the service o f forces which offer me no account. The other is like a part o f a for
eign power which helps itself to my poor being for a long time to do with it what pleases it.55
Coupled with the dynamic o f the doppelganger, there is also a readymade explanation to be found in the telephonic medium itself which follows the logic o f the pseudonym in the "Die Resurrection Co ". Pseudonymity places a call to the telephonic age in the generation o f the media subject. Assuming identity, Rathenau has tapped into the pseudonymous structure o f telephone talk in general. For electric speech poses a threat to an immediate presence which guarantees the truth o f the experience or which authenticates the identity o f the speakers. But in the next best thing to being there, the telephone signals to the pseudo. One recalls the Greek etymology o f pseudo gives up the (word) ghost as well as false in its appearance.
Marshall McLuhan has insisted that an understanding o f the long-distanced medium demands the risk o f falsity or the transformation o f the phone into the phoney. Rather than a mere play on words, this notice appeared on the wire services only a few years after the publication o f Hartenau's report in the New York Herald. McLuhan records: "The readers o f the New York Evening Telegram were told in 1904: 'Phoney implies that a thing so qualified has no more stages nothing less than another resurrection o f Walther Rathenau.58 In Gravity's Rainbow, one experiments with how Hartenau's machine for communicating with the dead sounds like 55
56 57 58
"Es ist, als ob in mir zwei Menschen lebten, von denen der eine erwächst, der andere stirbt. Es stirbt der Begehrende, der von aussen zu Erfreuende, und mit ihm manche Lebendigkeit. Buntheit Mitteilsamkeit und Freude, und es erwächst der Andere, den ich kaum mehr Ich nennen darf. Denn dieser kümmert sich kaum mehr um mein Schicksal, er verlangt nach Dingen, die unpersönlich sind, und macht mich zum Diener von Mächten, die mir keine Rechenschaft zu geben haben. Der Andere ist wie ein Teil einer fremden Macht, die sich eine Zeitlang meines armen Daseins bedient, um zu tun, was ihr gefallt." Quoted in Harry Graf Kessler, Walther Rathenau. Sein Leben und sein Werk (Berlin, 1928; Frankfurt, 1988), p.
222. The letter is from sometime in 1914.
Marshall Me Luhan, Understanding Media (New York, 1964), p. 233.
Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow (New York, 1973), p. 163.
On a more personal note, I am haunted by the extraordinary invocatory powers of Rich Doyle who summoned these passages to underscore the technology of history as a ghost regenerating apparatus at the final seance of the second annual Walther Rathenau Post-Doctoral Fellows Symposium on the question of
"Writing Science" at the Verbund für Wissensgeschichte in Berlin-Grunewald during July of 1991.