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of the other, and the historical and contextual analysis of modernity by Walter
Benjamin, which is based on a reading of the modern metropolis, its
structures and institutions, e.g. the brothel, which results in a characterization
of the modern subject. My analysis will show how a certain representation of
reality is related to certain phenomenological topoi, which are connected not
only to the metropolis, but also to a mystical understanding of the world, and
how these topoi contribute to the modern conception of the self.
Since the novel is not viewed in a genre theoretical or historical
perspective the selected passages demonstrate the analysed topoi’s ability to
transcend the traditional understanding of individuality. That leads to a
palimpsestic understanding of both the novel and the world, whereby
fragments mutually overlap, (re)interpret and efface each other. Hence, the
modern novel is a very radical, eclectic representation of reality, whose
referentiality is based on abstraction rather than imitation.
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