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Der Roman erzählt die Geschehnisse weniger Tage hinter den Kulissen der großen Politik, an deren Ende ein Ministersturz und ein weiterer Selbstmord einer Politikergattin stehen, in Dialogen und Selbstgesprächen. Obgleich Böll auf wahre Ereignisse Ende der 70er, Anfang der 80er Jahre (Flick-Affäre) anspielt, schrieb er keinen Schlüsselroman. Er inszenierte vielmehr zeitlos gültig politische Ränkespiele als absurdes Theater.
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keine bessere Voraussetzung für die Beschreibung, den Ausdruck, den die Liebe finden kann, als die religiöse.
Die Routine einer durch nichts gefährdeten, in nichts mehr gespannten Promiskuität, das Klischee einer Lustspieleva, einer Lustspielmagdalena -da sind Wunden, durch Pralinenschachteln oder Pelzmäntel zu heilen…
Böll perceived love as Eros. This includes the whole person and should be clearly distinguished from sexual love. Undoubtedly, in this sense, Böll is a traditionalist. So, he creates protagonists as bearers of traditionally female attributes with characteristics such as ability to love, intuition, emotionalism, and altruism. For Böll sexuality and love should be wholistically comprehended. So one can no longer talk of physical or incorporal, moral or immoral. He illustrates his theological debate about love and sexuality with the Magisterium of the Church (1964:110) as follows:
[…] die Kirchen haben noch nicht begriffen, was Liebe ist, obwohl Ihnen Texte genug zur Verfügung stehen, die sie gegeneinanderstellen könnten: die großartigen Texte- was übrig geblieben ist, ist eine vertrackte juristische Spitzfindigkeit, um so etwas zu regeln wie Liebe und Ehe.
Böll shows his unconditional solidarity to the common and powerless people. Such a love is missing in the Church according to Böll. He made this clear in his novels and short stories, as well as in his interviews and other writings. Such a view is supported by Völkl (2005:37) in the
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interpretation of the story Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum, the Lost Honour of Katharina Blum:
Die Kirche wird kritisiert, weil sie nicht hilft. Ihr ist der ideologische Gegner wichtiger als die Nächstenliebe.
Dabei kann der Priester überhaupt nicht begründen, warum er Katharinas Vater als Kommunisten einschätzt. Bezeichnenderweise ist der Priester der einzige, der behauptet, von der ZEITUNG richtig zitiert worden zu sein. Katharina, die ursprünglich ein frommes Mädchen gewesen ist, geht auf Distanz zur Kirche, seit sie vom Pfarrer schlecht behandelt wird, weil ihre Mutter mit dem Küster in der Sakristei eine Flasche Messwein getrunken hat.
Böll creates characters who can be his foot soldiers show casing similar values as his in his literary work. Figures like Leni, who make empties herself so as to assist other people. Böll’s version of humanism is expressed as purely religious humanism. Basically many ideological movements of the 20th century, whether literary or philosophical, aligned on humanism (cf.
Orjinta 2009:15). But there are three sub divisions of humanism: atheist, non-partisan and religious humanism. Böll distinguishes himself as a committed religious humanist. In Littérature française du XXe siècle (2009:16) I defined religious humanism as follows:
[…]un humaniste religieux tend à défendre l`homme contre les maux de la société humaine mais sans perdre la foi soit en Dieu soit en religion. Même dans une situation compliquée dans laquelle il est coincé, dans sa
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préoccupation humaniste, par une force surnaturelle, il ne perd point la foi. On voit l‟ exemple de cet humaniste chez Père Panèloux dans le Peste d‟ Albert Camus.
The case of Böll is to be clarified here. Among the humanists, three subgroups differ: the enthusiasts or the philanthropic humanists, selfish or fake humanists and the dedicated humanists. Heinrich Böll finds himself among the latter group. I have already defined this group in the above mentioned book:
C’est un humaniste qui s’engage soit à la littérature soit à la philosophie; il peut être Essayiste, Romancier, Dramaturge, Critique général ou Philosophe. Il utilise ses oeuvres (soit littéraires soit philosophiques) pour prêcher sa conception de l’humanisme. Il est humaniste pratiquant ou révolutionnaire. La plupart des écrivains de ce siècle font partie de ce groupe.
Committed humanism shares boundary with the ideals of Womanism.
Womanism goes beyond the Women’s rights activism. Instead of always coming forward to confront the men as the feminists do, the Womanist engage men in dialogue, avoiding confrontation with the or fighting to push men out of the way. The Womanists are committed to the interests of women, and also to the interests of the whole society: men, children, and families. This sense of solidarity marks the Womanist as a social Crusader for all humanity and in particular for the genuinely common people. In this sense, the Narrator tries to bring the novel forward and to expand it by treating literary themes, which have wider social significance than the feminist sensibilities. Such an attitude does not go down well with the
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feminists. The womanist artist and novelist try to expand the boundary of the feminist novel beyond the female mouth piece anyway. Elsewhere, as already mentioned, the womanist Narrator was harshly criticized by feminists. In the following, Aminata Sow Fall, even as anti feminist literary figure states:
En tant qu'écrivain femme, Fall projette une voix masculine et des valeurs sociales et littéraires masculines. Elle ne propose aucune solution au conflit culturel, à part une reprise rétrograde du voile. Son oeuvre préconise un retour aux valeurs domestiques et patriarcales d‟ un âge d‟ or pré-coloniale idéalisé. Elle semble tenter d‟ imposera la femme en mutation un retour vers les moules du passé.
As a Womanist, Heinrich Böll is no exception. Böll as a traditionalist sees the woman as the embodiment of his philosophy of humanity. So, the woman is at the center of life: manager of the home, neighbourhood relations, family, love, meals and religion. Böll praises the hands of a woman which symbolize the skills of women in the above mentioned areas for him. So, the womanis recognized as the administrator of the family as well as a "Genius of sensuality" and champion of tenderness:
Frauenhände sind schon fast keine Hände mehr: ob sie Butter aufs Brot oder Haare aus der Stirn streichen. Kein Theologe ist je auf die Idee gekommen über Frauenhände im Evangelium zu predigen: Veronika,
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Magdalena, Marie und Martha-lauter Frauenhände, die Christus Zärtlichkeit erwiesen.
This argument of Böll is consistent with the ideals of Womanism. Namely, Womanism is of the view that it would be a boring, one-sided, negative and miserable commitment if feminism concerns itself only with complaints, quarrels and emancipation. The feminist discourse should not only center on women harassment and victim syndrome. This approach is also used by Aduke Adebayo in Feminism & black Women's Creative Wring; Theory. Practice.
Criticism (1996:4-6):
It is a bad feminism, an undesirable discourse that which insists solely on […] women's victimization and their helplessness in the hands of their men. It is also a stigmatized and narcissist feminism that which cannot see beyond itself and project into a larger society.
To refine the ideals of Womanism in this context, Ogundipe Lesilie developed the idea of sozialer Ausgeglichenheit, which is produced by writers such as Flora Nwapa, and Mariama Bâ. Earlier Alice Walker in In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose (1984: ppxi/xii) did formulate the characteristics of female figures of womanism:
-[...] willful behavior, courageous, audacious, - acting grown up, responsible, in-charge, serious. - a woman who loves other women, sexually and/or non sexually.
Appreciates and prefers women's culture, women's emotional flexibility... and women's strength. Sometimes loves individual men, sexually and/or nonsexually.
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Committed to survival and wholeness of entire people, male and female. Not a separatist, except periodically, for health. Traditionally universalist... Loves Music.
Loves Dance. Loves the moon. Loves the folk. Loves herself. Regardless. Womanist is to feminist as purple is to Lavender.
All the protagonists and bearers of Böll’s “Aesthetics of the human” - Catherine (Lost Honor of Katharina Blum), Leni (Group Portrait with Lady) and Elisabeth (Women in front of river landscape) - undoubtedly profile the above characteristics. The character of Marie (The clown) falls out of the frame.
Marie Derkum was bereft of any real love affair for her partner because she allowed herself to be pulled by the nose by external influence.She lacks self will and maturity. She betrays Böll’s ideals by leaving Hans Schnier. The dispute of the two turns out that it makes no sense to Hans Schnier to expose their love affair in front of the Church or at the Registrar's Office, to obtain an official authorisation (The Clown 100). Although Hans Schnier is agnostic (The Clown), he has fulfilled Maries wishes yet again. First she wants to go to Cologne, because of her affinity with the Catholic Church.
So far, Hans Schnier granted everything to her (see The Clown 78).
The difficulties start mounting when Marie actually insisted only on a civil wedding ceremony; also that Hans should commit himself in writing to raise the future children in the catholic faith:
Ich hatte tatsächlich nicht gewusst, dass man sich staatlich trauen muss, bevor man kirchlich getraut wird.[...] Ich wurde richtig böse, als ich erfuhr, dass man dorthin musste, bevor man kirchlich getraut werden
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könnte, und als Marie dann noch davon anfing, dass ich mich schriftlich verpflichten müsse, unsere Kinder katholisch zu erziehen, bekamen wir Streit. Das kam mir wie Erpressung vor, und es gefiel mir nicht, dass Marie so ganz und gar einverstanden mit dieser Forderung nach schriftlicher Abmachung war. (AeC 79)
Although Schnier agrees, given his metaphysical horror, to do what she wanted, she is still not satisfied:
Es ging ihr schlecht an diesem Abend, sie war blass und müde, sprach ziemlich laut mit mir, und als ich dann sagte, ja, gut, ich würde alles tun, auch diese Sachen unterschreiben, wurde sie böse und sagte>Das tust du jetzt nur aus Faulheit, und nicht, weil du von der Berechtigung abstrakter Ordnungsprinzipien überzeugt bist<, und ich sagte, ja, ich täte es tatsächlich aus Faulheit und weil ich sie gern mein ganzes Leben lang bei mir haben möchte, und ich würde sogar regelrecht zur katholischen Kirche übertreten, wenn es nötig sei, um sie zu behalten. (AeC. 79).
Womanist do not fancy such a figure like Marie. The womanist program fits together with the ideals of the postmodern feminism. It does not really matter much if postmodern refers to other terms such as Stiwanism, Motherism, "Beyond feminism," feminism, "Gender mutuality", "Gender Complementarity", or "Accommodationism", the agenda and goal are
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always the same. In my book: Women in World Religions and Literatures (2008) I coined the terms gender-mutuality, accommodationism and gender complementarity. Rosemary Hennessy, Materialist Feminism and the Politics of Discourse New York: (1993:106) explains how she understands the womanist form:
She is prefigured as the professional career woman(sic), often juggling work with the domestic responsibilities of ,,home and Family“. One of the functions of this new woman professional is to offer women an image of themselves, which will help them perform successfully in this dual workplace.
When I speak of woman’s honor, I actually mean that, which accords women some genuine dignity. A feminine honor is peculiar und unique to the female gender. The honor of the woman must be different from that of the man. In this context, honor is associated with dignity, recognition, prestige, respect and a good reputation. Of course, a general understanding of honor exists but real honour has contexts. Gottlieb Fichte (1762-1814) had his say in this context:
Es gibt etwas, das mir über alles gilt und dem ich alles andere nach setze, von dessen Behauptung ich mich durch keine möglichere Folge abhalten lasse, für dass ich mein ganzes irdisches Wohl, meinen guten Ruf, mein Leben das ganze Wohl des Weltalls, wenn es damit in Streit kommen könnte, ohne Bedenken aufopfern wurde.
Ich will es Ehre nennen. Diese Ehre setze ich keineswegs
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in das Urteil anderer über meine Handlungen[...]
sondern in das jenige, das ich selbst über sie fällen kann.
Apart from this, the honour of the woman is gauged especially through the maternal vocation, nostalgic attachment to the roots, value for the virtue of charity, love for the community, tenderness and sexual morality, loyalty in the partnership, openness, hospitality, humor and straightforwardness.
These values are highly valued in the African philosophy as well as in the womanist ideology. Therefore, the massive smear campaign against Katharina Blum is a sexual moral defamation in der verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum. Even her strongest reaction takes place when the word
"Fuck", which is expressed by Tötges was uttered. Even in consentual sexual situation, action tends to speak louder than words. Raw pronouncements of sexual parlance in form of the dishing out of order evokes prostitution, sex object or chattel.The largest slander is the designation of the wife as a whore, as in the case of the ZEITUNG. The parish priest of Gemmelsbroich was strongly criticized, because he tells the newspaper defamatory stories about the mother of Katharina (vEKB 36; cf.
64, 120). Similar obscenity was also committed by the police ruthlessly during the interrogation against Katharina. Before that she had been named nun due to her purity (vEKB33). The loyalty of the partnership should be clarified at this point. The womanist women’s images are mature and responsible women, as already mentioned. They know when they have no more desire in the partnership. Elizabeth in Frauen vor Flusslandschaft distinguishes herself as a Prophetess of justice and honor and would prefer to be dead than be the wife of a wicked Minister. She also refused to have children for her husband, Fritz Blaukrämer (FvF154, cf. 170-171). To do this would be to perpetuate the bad bllod and evil gene in the community.
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Children are the continuation of tribe in Africa and it is the responsibility of the mother, to ensure that good and pure children were born and brought up. A brave child is the pride of the family and also the community. Frank Dietschreit, Kultur radio (25.09.2009) commented the civil courage of these Bonn women as follows:
Die Frauen sind in dieser von machtgeilen Männern beherrschten Politikerwelt die „Hüterinnen der Erinnerung“, sie haben nicht vergessen, woher sie kommen, was sie einmal aus ihrem Leben machen wollten, welche Ziele und Wünsche sie hatten. Sie sitzen zwar untätig und melancholisch in ihren Villen mit schönem Blick auf den Rhein zwischen Bonn und Bad Godesberg, aber sie widersetzen sich dem Opportunismus ihrer Ehemänner, sagen ihnen auch unbequeme Wahrheiten, wollen die Lügen und Intrigen nicht mehr länger mitmachen. Wegen ihrer Aufmüpfigkeit werden sie von ihren Männern abgestraft und in eine als Sanatorium getarnte Psychiatrie abgeschoben. Dort sollen ihre Erinnerungen korrigiert werden, damit man sie wieder in der Öffentlichkeit vorzeigen kann. Doch die Frauen spielen nicht mehr mit: eine weigert sich, ihren Mann weiterhin als Dekoration auf Empfänge und Staatsbesuch zu begleiten, eine Andere erhängt sich, als sie erfährt, dass ihr intriganter und korrupter Mann zum Minister ernannt wurde.
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In addition, Böll explains in his Frankfurt lectures (S. 101), what he meant by the female Trinity – trinität des weiblichen. He outlines his aesthetics of love on the basis of the three biblical women:
[...]- eine weitere Spannung theologisch gut zu bestimmen durch drei Namen: Eva, Maria und Magdalena, die sich nie rein, nie getrennt zeigen in der weiblichen Natur. Ich sehe keine bessere ästhetische Voraussetzung für die Beschreibung, den Ausdruck, den Liebe finden kann, also die religiöse.
Böll demonstrates this notion clearly through the protagonist Leni, in Gruppenbild mit Dame. Leni symbolizes the above Biblical figures, who are also her mentors and role models. Leni is pure as the mother of God. She is derogatory as Mary Magdalene, and she is beautiful and seductive like Eve.
Similarly the three characters in the novel, Leni, Rahel and Margret are identified as the case may be with Eve, Mary, and Mary Magdalene. The love and generosity which these women figures have for their fellow human beings fit in very well with the ideals of Womanism. On the side of the male figures in Böll’s work, you can find in my opinion, striking similarities of Leni’s generosity with that of Dr. Blorna figure in the Verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum. Dr. Blorna shows Katharina Blum his generosity. His figure is an example of the expectations of Womanists. He procured a job for Katharina. He and his wife still helped her at the purchase of a private apartment. In addition, he even had to defend Katharina in the court of justice. As a result of the defamatory campaign of Die Zeitung, as well as the murder case, Katharina's apartment becomes neither rentable nor marketable. Dr. Blorna assumes all costs and bears the losses. The last straw that breaks the carmels back is the loss of all his clients; he defended the
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killer bride, Die Zeitung writes. Völkl (2005:17) describes his condition in the following:
Die Wohnung der Katharina Blum wird auf Veranlassung von Dr. Blorna von den Folgen des Mordes gereinigt. Was mit der noch nicht abgezahlten Wohnung weiter geschehen wird, ist ungewiss. Sie lässt sich jedenfalls weder vermieten noch verkaufen, weil sie als Blut-befleckt gilt. Dies stürzt Blorna, der für alle Kosten aufkommen muss, in zusätzliche finanzielle Schwierigkeiten, denn von seinen bisherigen Auftraggebern werden ihm nur noch unbedeutende, wenig lukrative Fälle übertragen. Weil er die Verteidigung Katharinas und Göttens übernommen hat[...] wird er von Tötges„ Nachfolger in der ZEITUNG weiterhin verunglimpft. Blornas beruflicher Abstieg wird auch daran sichtbar, dass er sein Äußeres vernachlässigt und weniger auf Körperhygiene achtet.
It demonstrates gender complement. This time, we shall describe an example of a male figure, an international lawyer, Dr. Blorna who defended the interests of a female figure. As an accomplished international lawyer, he invested all that he has so as to defend the cause of justice, and as a result he ended up as poor as achurch rat. The womanist, even if he were to be a man, should profile himself as a humanist. Selfish interests must be put aside. His goal is always to put a smile on the faces of his fellow human beings: man, woman, partner, or child. This kind of an extended family system, in which no one is individualist, is a top priority in the womanist ideology. The analogy of the body, in which the individual parts play,
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depending on the component and needs, the indispensable role of building and maintenance of the body, is contextualized here. The legs should not feel disadvantaged and prefer the task of the head.Like in a team, one must assign different roles to each member according to talent, setting, ability, interest, and versatility. Thus, Mariama Bâ (1979:88), a Womanist, in her narrative une si longue lettre emphasizes this through her protangonist :
I remain persuaded of the inevitable and necessary complementarity of man and woman. Love, imperfect as it may be in its content and expression, remains the natural link between these two Beings. To love one another! If one partner could move sincerely towards the other!
Mariama Bâ was not the only Womanist with such a notion; Zaynab Alkali (The Stillborn. Interview :1997) a writer and also a Womanist has previously stated in an interview:
All I am advocating in The Stillborn is understanding between man and woman, togetherness between husband and wife, but some people don't understand this. My Intention is to uphold God's Law of Mutuality, co-existence. Equality between men and women doesn't arise at all. Men are like the brain and women the heart.