A few kilometers eastward from Trento, at the height of the town of Pergine, the Valle dei Mocheni opens up like a fan. The valley, surrounded by the westernmost peaks of the Lagorai range, is known to be the cradle of a German-speaking language community of medieval origin. This valley, which the local tourist office describes as “enchanted,” is the setting for Robert Musil’s novella “Grigia,” desigend by the Austrian writer during the months he spent in Valsugana as a lieutenant in the Austro-Hungarian army (1915), and finally published in 1921. At the center of Musil’s tale is the experience of self-dissolution of Homo, the short story’s enigmatic protagonist, caused by an unexpected entanglement of natural and human elements. In my essay, I make use of the themes that emerge asystematically from his tale (the ambivalent character of mountain enchantment, the transformative power of the uplands, the conflict between modern activism and the tenacious passivity of mountain people, the experience of helplessness and its consequences for personal identity, more generally the struggle to come to terms with the otherness of the mountain form of life and landscape) in order to investigate contemporary varieties of secular spirituality, which are inextricably linked to alpine environments. My end goal is to understand why elements that in Musil appear surrounded by an aura of decadence and metaphysical disquiet resurface today in an opposing light of rebirth and re-enchantment.
Der wiederverzauberte Berg. Von Musil bis der zeitgnössischen Suche nach dem Wesentlichen
Costa P.
2024-01-01
Abstract
A few kilometers eastward from Trento, at the height of the town of Pergine, the Valle dei Mocheni opens up like a fan. The valley, surrounded by the westernmost peaks of the Lagorai range, is known to be the cradle of a German-speaking language community of medieval origin. This valley, which the local tourist office describes as “enchanted,” is the setting for Robert Musil’s novella “Grigia,” desigend by the Austrian writer during the months he spent in Valsugana as a lieutenant in the Austro-Hungarian army (1915), and finally published in 1921. At the center of Musil’s tale is the experience of self-dissolution of Homo, the short story’s enigmatic protagonist, caused by an unexpected entanglement of natural and human elements. In my essay, I make use of the themes that emerge asystematically from his tale (the ambivalent character of mountain enchantment, the transformative power of the uplands, the conflict between modern activism and the tenacious passivity of mountain people, the experience of helplessness and its consequences for personal identity, more generally the struggle to come to terms with the otherness of the mountain form of life and landscape) in order to investigate contemporary varieties of secular spirituality, which are inextricably linked to alpine environments. My end goal is to understand why elements that in Musil appear surrounded by an aura of decadence and metaphysical disquiet resurface today in an opposing light of rebirth and re-enchantment.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
