L’ispirazione e i limiti della legge. Thomas Mann e un processo per oltraggio

Abstract

In the essay Bilse und ich (1905) Thomas Mann, who would utilize the literary essay repeatedly to clarify fundamental aspects of his own poetry, makes his first attempt at working out in a systematic manner the supporting principles for his personal conception of writing. The opportunity presents itself with a trial regarding giving offence, in which The Buddenbrooks (1901) was compared by the public prosecutor to works by Fritz Oswald Bilse, a soldier, who, some time previously, had gained a certain notoriety for publishing a roman à clef in which unpleasant events taking place in the military unit where he was serving, had been revealed. Rejecting this comparison, Mann reflects on certain paradigms conventionally associated with the sphere of aesthetic creativity, discussing critically the nexus between invention and narrative effectiveness.