Copyright by Laura Mareike Sager 2006 - The University of Texas at ...

creatures of the artist’s imagination, the middle part shifts the setting to a social
one: the action here takes place in offices, houses, and on the streets. Moreover,
the parallel structure of the beginning verses of most stanzas (“Aus dem finsteren
Hintergrund“ [“From the dark background”]; “Aus den Ämtern” [“From the
offices”]; “An den Ecken” [“In the corners”]; “Unter Bäumen” [“Under trees”])
emphasizes the continuity between the aquatint and the ensuing dramatization or
animation of capricho-like images that represent the externalized oppression and
fear of Goya’s Capricho.
But here, the threat encompasses people’s everyday life, invading their
houses, rooms, doors, and cooking pots, and imprisoning people. Moreover, the
monsters are now endowed with human characteristics yet retain their
inhumanity: they are “voll von Neugier, eiseskalter” (“filled with a curiosity, ice-
cold,” l.16). This inhumanity is further highlighted by the lack of any human
subjects even when human beings are referred to: in “Auf der Straße fällt wer um”
(“On the street someone collapses,” l.17) the use of the pronoun “wer” (e.g.
instead of “jemand”) dehumanizes the subject. Likewise the passive mode
(“Wird…aufgeschnitten” “is cut open,” l. 18) and the impersonal pronoun “man”
of the next sentence erase the human subject. The total passivity and absence of
human action contrast with the threatening actions of the invading monsters, thus
pinpointing the threat to human existence by unreason. This threat to human
enlightenment is also underlined by the pink, cigarette smoking dogs whose
“immer gleiches / Wedeln” (“ever same / Wagging” ll.25-26) represents the
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