Letter to Lord Liszt by Martin Walser

First published:Brief an Lord Liszt, 1982 (English translation, 1985)

Type of work: Social realism

Time of work: Mid-June, the early 1980’s

Locale: Southwest Germany, near Lake Constance

Principal Characters:

• Franz Horn, a department head at Chemnitz Dentures
• Arthur Thiele, the owner of Chemnitz Dentures and Fin Star
• Dr. Horst Liszt, Horn’s colleague and rival

The Novel

Written six years after Jenseits der Liebe (1976; Beyond All Love, 1982), this short novel returns to the main character of that earlier work, Franz Horn. Here and in the previous work, Martin Walser studies the psyche of a moderately successful contemporary businessman. Horn is no economic dynamo; in fact, he considers himself worthless when compared to his more successful rivals—and in this case, everyone is a rival. Horn bemoans the fact that the only two men who could be his friends are his boss, Arthur Thiele, and his rival, Dr. Horst Liszt.

On the Friday before the Whitsuntide holiday, the department heads of Chemnitz Dentures are called together for an announcement of the suicide of their main competitor, Benedikt Stierle. Since Franz Horn hoped to quit his job and apply for a position with Stierle, this event occasions his reflections on his life and work as set forth in a letter (with nineteen separate postscripts) to his colleague and rival, Dr. Liszt.

Expected at his mother’s home for her name-day celebration (his wife and daughters await his arrival), Horn is incapable of movement. He slumps at his desk and begins a letter of apology to Liszt, citing their most recent disagreement at a local inn while waiting for Arthur Thiele to pick them up in his sailboat. From Horn’s behavior and responses on that day, it has become evident to Liszt that Horn has never liked him; as they are leaving the restaurant, Horn insists on separate taxis, an obvious insult to Liszt. Liszt himself must always be in the right, must constantly project his personality over his subordinates and colleagues, hence the appellation “Lord” in the title.

Since Liszt has not responded in the intervening week to Horn’s apologetic note, Horn now wishes to write again, pleading for forgiveness. Yet as night progresses and the letter grows in volume, Horn clarifies for Liszt (and for himself) the true nature of their relationship. They have not been friends, but in the light of the coming merger of their small company with the giant Bayer conglomerate, perhaps they should now band together for their mutual protection and survival.

The letter and its numerous postscripts gradually reveal the recent chronology of Horn’s life: his position at the Internal Revenue Service prior to assuming the new post with Chemnitz Dentures; his immediate rise to favor with Arthur Thiele; his estrangement and departure from his wife and two daughters, followed by an eventual suicide attempt; and, finally, his rehabilitation over the past four years, including the adversarial relationship with Liszt. Now the impending merger and subsequent division of personnel threaten Horn’s vulnerable ego and precarious security. The inner circle will move with Thiele to concentrate on the new factory for surfboards, while the expendables will remain at the present site under the observation of efficiency experts, who will soon discover that Horn sleeps at his desk while Liszt drinks at his; that both will thus soon be replaced is obvious to Horn.

Following this all-night exertion, Horn finds that he can neither send the letter to Liszt nor bring himself to destroy it. He finally files it away in a secret drawer and, relieved, discovers that he can now continue his life. He showers and gets in the car for the early morning drive to his mother’s, ready to celebrate her name day properly.

The Characters

As an isolated work, Letter to Lord Liszt will perplex most readers, for its main, in effect its only, character is briefly sketched here. In Walser’s earlier work Beyond All Love, Franz Horn’s personality was solidly established, his life and increasing difficulties thoroughly portrayed, including the unsuccessful suicide attempt. For a reader without benefit of the earlier novel, Horn’s present dilemma will require attention to detail and nuance; even then, its meaning may escape the reader’s comprehension, for the work is short and the narrative perspective enigmatic.

Franz Horn is a complex character, competent yet full of self-hate. As the product of an unsophisticated, petty bourgeois family, he inherited all the motivation for success but none of the requisite confidence in his abilities. His self-esteem is therefore nonexistent and must be created or substantiated through his work. That this approach has not been successful can be seen in his suicide attempt; on that fateful evening, he was, unfortunately, saved by his boss, Arthur Thiele, and thus is further in Thiele’s debt and in his shadow. In the intervening years since the suicide attempt, Horn seems to have mellowed somewhat, though he can no longer create a positive self-image through achievement. He is pushed aside in the firm, first by Liszt and then by the merger and impending reorganization of the firm; also, with Stierle’s death, a comparable and desirable position has disappeared.

Horn rationalizes that it is not ability but attitude and personality that determine success in business. One must willingly defer to one’s superior so that the individual’s successes are primarily attributed to the boss. One must also have a personality in harmony with the expectations of those with whom one works. Horn has long been troubled by the disparity between his own sense of himself and the image that his fellow workers have constructed of him; his strongest desire is to cultivate a personality that reflects his innate attitudes while simultaneously mirroring those traits perceived by his colleagues.

Yet self-realization and economic competition do not lend themselves to a harmonious resolution. Horn can find no way out of his dilemma; in fact, he is paralyzed by its growing intensity. He is no longer capable of suicide, yet he can find no viable alternative. Instinctively, he grasps for paper and pen, initially to grovel once again at Liszt’s feet. With each succeeding page, however, he gains perspective and courage, while describing his problems more accurately. He is, moreover, not alone, for Liszt will soon be in the same predicament within the firm.

Finally, Horn arrives at the letter’s conclusion, or at least at the final postscript. With each addendum, he has more clearly defined his life. He gradually gains the strength to curse, to revolt, and to hate as well as to love—and eventually to accept his existence, come what may. His letter to Liszt serves several purposes: It is an apology and an explanation of what has occurred and what is about to occur within their professional lives; consequently, it is Horn’s personal enlightenment and, perhaps, salvation; and, ultimately, it is an attempt to reach out, as an equal, to his longstanding rival, so that they can brave the storm together.

Critical Context

Martin Walser has admitted that all of his fictional works are located in his native region (approximately the triangle between Stuttgart, Zurich, and Munich) and therefore could justifiably be considered “regional literature.” Among the most notable are several novel cycles, each revolving arounda recurring main character, such as the so-called Kristlein trilogy, which features Anselm Kristlein and comprises Halbzeit (1960; half-time), Das Einhorn (1966; The Unicorn, 1971), and Der Sturz (1973; the crash). The work at hand belongs to yet another cycle, which portrays three male relatives as they grapple with their respective mid-life crises: Gottlieb Zurn of Das Schwanenhaus (1980; The Swan Villa, 1982), Xavier Zurn in Seelenarbeit (1979; The Inner Man, 1984), and Franz Horn of Beyond All Love and Letter to Lord Liszt. Since Walser frequently describes aspects of his own life in his fiction, the reader should be alert to—and may possibly be amused by—autobiographical details.

While both Xavier and Gottlieb Zurn struggle successfully to overcome their insecurities, constipation, and inertia, Franz Horn must deal with an existential crisis of great magnitude, as evidenced by his suicide attempt. Because his self-hate is so extensive and his attitude so pessimistic, the two works in which he is the main character have not received as much popular or critical acclaim as the others. These two works are so extreme that they preclude most readers’ identification with Horn’s fate. Because of their unremitting seriousness, Walser’s immensely successful use of irony, his optimism, and his light sense of humor are absent here.

Not politically active like his contemporaries Heinrich Boll and Gunter Grass, Martin Walser has, in fact, subdued his early social criticism; as a result, several critics have declared that Walser does not want to risk his popularity as a writer of politically harmless best-sellers. In spite of these attacks, Walser is arguably one of the most widely known contemporary German writers, especially for his recent depictions of middle-aged males and their inner lives. Since the mid-1970’s, Walser’s fiction has grown increasingly popular, while spawning a growing body of critical literature as well. His insights into human nature have produced many unforgettable characters, and his almost casual narrative style has attracted an international audience. Several of his works have been adapted for the screen, and his novella Ein fliehendes Pferd (1978; Runaway Horse, 1980) is already considered a classic of the genre.

Bibliography

Doane, Heike A. “Martin Walsers Ironiebegriff,” in Monatshefte. LXXVII (1985), pp. 195-212.

Kaes, Anton. “Portrat Martin Walser,” in The German Quarterly. LVII (1984), pp. 432-449.

Parkes, K.S. “Crisis and New Ways: The Recent Development of Martin Walser,” in New German Studies. I (1973), pp. 85-98.

Parkes, Stuart. “Martin Walser: Social Critic or Heimatkunstler?” in New German Studies. X (1982), pp. 67-82.

Thomas, R. Hinton. “Martin Walser: The Nietzsche Connection,” in German Life and Letters. XXXV (1982), pp. 319-328.

Waine, Anthony Edward. Martin Walser, 1980.