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Integration, Subversion, and the Rape of Europa: Heinrich Boll's "Er kam als Biefrahrer"

Integration, Subversion, and the Rape of Europa: Heinrich Boll's "Er kam als Biefrahrer" HE MYTH OF EUROPA holds a cardinal promise. The girl beloved by Zeus relinquishes her past life for the sake of future survival in cultural memory. The familiar scheme is here underwritten by the myth’s conflation of maiden and continent. In moving from virginity to geopolitics, from Europa to Europe, the story rehearses a narrative of idealization, whereby difference is converted into communal identity. Europa is at risk the moment she falls prey to the allure of a god disguised as a bull. Enticed by the beast’s brilliant white form, she is first comforted by its apparent gentleness; then suddenly, compelled by violence, she finds herself embarking on a maiden voyage that will tear her away from all she has known. Her individual, ephemeral existence is to be exchanged for stable settlement within the refuge of the universal. Mortal in body, she becomes immortal in name. The argument for sublimation always persuades by emphasizing the threat of death. An individual’s life, no less than an individual moment, is that which is on the verge of passing away. The fatality of difference is redeemed by the immortality of an identity maintained by culture, by that which outlives each life. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Comparative Literature Duke University Press

Integration, Subversion, and the Rape of Europa: Heinrich Boll's "Er kam als Biefrahrer"

HAMILTON, JOHN T.
Comparative Literature , Volume 58 (4) – Jan 1, 2006
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Publisher
Duke University Press
Copyright
Copyright 2006 by University of Oregon
ISSN
0010-4124
eISSN
1945-8517
DOI
10.1215/-58-4-387
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

HE MYTH OF EUROPA holds a cardinal promise. The girl beloved by Zeus relinquishes her past life for the sake of future survival in cultural memory. The familiar scheme is here underwritten by the myth’s conflation of maiden and continent. In moving from virginity to geopolitics, from Europa to Europe, the story rehearses a narrative of idealization, whereby difference is converted into communal identity. Europa is at risk the moment she falls prey to the allure of a god disguised as a bull. Enticed by the beast’s brilliant white form, she is first comforted by its apparent gentleness; then suddenly, compelled by violence, she finds herself embarking on a maiden voyage that will tear her away from all she has known. Her individual, ephemeral existence is to be exchanged for stable settlement within the refuge of the universal. Mortal in body, she becomes immortal in name. The argument for sublimation always persuades by emphasizing the threat of death. An individual’s life, no less than an individual moment, is that which is on the verge of passing away. The fatality of difference is redeemed by the immortality of an identity maintained by culture, by that which outlives each life.

Journal

Comparative Literature – Duke University Press

Published: Jan 1, 2006

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