Between the lines of Alfred Döblin´s novel Der blaue Tiger: a world of knowledge

Abstract

Alfred Döblin dealt theoretically with the relationship between history and literature, stating in Der historische Roman und wir (The Historical Novel and Us) that a novel presupposes a background of reality, that it is first and foremost a novel and not history, that it does distort history, falsifies it, misrepresents it, and that a writer is a special kind of scientist. He is a mixture of psychologist, philosopher, and social observer, and like an emigrant who lacks a present, his desire is to find historical parallels, to justify the need for memories, the tendency to console oneself and seek revenge, at least in an imaginary way. This essay starts from these theoretical positions of Alfred Döblin and shows the coherence between them and their poetic realization in the novel Der blaue Tiger (The Blue Jaguar). Embedded in the axis of the novel, which has a background of historical reality, are several micro-stories that falsify/invent history and a wealth of information that constructs true historical parallels that promote the author's imaginary identification with well-known figures and establishes bridges not only with the various levels of the past, but above all with the present, which makes the novel uniquely relevant today.