Brains by Gottfried Benn
"Brains" is a narrative by Gottfried Benn that explores the psychological struggles of a young doctor named Rönne. Set against the backdrop of southern Germany, Rönne is en route to substitute for a colleague at a clinic after spending two years in pathology, where he has become increasingly disillusioned by the sheer number of bodies he has encountered. His journey is filled with vivid imagery, reflecting a contrast between the natural beauty of the landscape and his internal turmoil.
As he interacts with hospital staff and patients, Rönne grapples with feelings of detachment and exhaustion, often reflecting on his hands—tools of his trade that seem to disconnect him from the humanity of his patients. His perception of reality becomes distorted, leading to a profound existential crisis. The turning point occurs when he witnesses the slaughter of an animal and becomes fixated on the brain, symbolizing his obsession with understanding life and death.
Through Rönne's character, Benn delves into themes of isolation, the limits of scientific inquiry, and the longing for transcendence. The story raises questions about identity, the nature of existence, and the struggle to find meaning within the confines of a clinical environment. Ultimately, Rönne's journey is one of seeking release from the burdens of his profession and the weight of his own thoughts.
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Brains by Gottfried Benn
First published: "Gehirne," 1915 (English translation, 1972)
Type of plot: Psychological
Time of work: 1914
Locale: Germany
Principal Character:
Rönne , a young physician who loses touch with reality
The Story
A young doctor named Rönne is riding a train in southern Germany, on his way north to stand in for a clinic doctor who is going away on holiday. For the past two years, Rönne has worked in pathology. After having two thousand bodies pass through his hands, he feels strangely exhausted.
As he rides the train, he notes such sights as scarlet fields that seem to be on fire with poppies and houses that appear to be propped up by roses. He thinks to himself that he should buy a notebook and pencil with which to record things before they pass out of sight. He cannot remember when things stopped sticking in his mind.
At the hospital precinct, Rönne sees only hospital employees and patients. His mood is solemn as he discusses professional matters with nurses, to whom he leaves such matters as fixing lamps and starting motors. As he works with patients, Rönne becomes both preoccupied with his hands and somehow detached from them. He deals with patients' lungs or fingers but never with whole persons. As Rönne becomes preoccupied with his thoughts, he finds it increasingly difficult to separate the relevant from the irrelevant. All around him, space seems to surge off into infinity. Often he twists his hands and looks at them.
Once a nurse sees Rönne smelling his hands and manipulating them oddly, as though squeezing open a large, soft fruit. One day a large animal is slaughtered in the hospital as Rönne happens to come along. As its head is split open, Rönne takes its brain in his hands and forces it apart. The nurse recognizes his gesture as identical to that which she earlier saw him perform.
Gradually, Rönne becomes irregular in his duties. When he is asked to contribute his opinion, he goes to pieces. In search of mental rest, he walks in the gardens. There he feels the upsurge of life in the earth; however, it stops short of entering him. He retreats to his room, where he locks the door and lies stiffly on his back, allowing the earth to bear him gently and smoothly through the ether and past the stars.
Eventually the doctor in charge of the clinic is recalled. He is kind to Rönne, who tries to explain his obsession with his hands. After having held thousands of "them in these hands of mine . . . some soft, some hard, all ready to dissolve," he is now holding his "own" in his hands and cannot stop probing into the limits of its possibilities. What are brains all about, he asks. Weary, he seeks release. He wishes to be borne aloft by wings into the midday sun.