Decomposition [Dekomposition]

Abstract

The twinned processes of decomposition and re-composition are recurrent motifs in Gottfried Keller’s Der grüne Heinrich (1854–55). The basic blueprint of the motif is captured by a science experiment the protagonist conducts as a child, in which he shakes a jar containing water, oil, sand, and air, watching as the materials separate into distinct layers according to their densities. Throughout the novel, both the narrator and Heinrich describe works of literature, art, and architecture in such elemental terms, the constitutive parts briefly merging, only to immediately separate, dissolve, and crystallize into new forms. This article contends that Heinrich’s artistic failures are ultimately attributable to his adherence to this recombinatorial elemental logic, which resembles the processes of coming-into-form central to Keller’s views of literary production. Simultaneously, the disconnect between Heinrich’s activities of formation, on the one hand, and meaning and existence on the other, allows for Keller’s realist principles to emerge ex negativo.