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P.O.

Enquist, Postmodernism, and the Defense of the Enlightenment


Author(s): Susan Brantly
Source: Scandinavian Studies, Vol. 79, No. 3 (Fall 2007), pp. 319-342
Published by: University of Illinois Press on behalf of the Society for the Advancement
of Scandinavian Study
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/40920758
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P.O. Enquist, Postmodernism,
and the Defense of the
Enlightenment

Susan Brantly
University ofWisconsin, Madison

Enlightenment has become a vexed point of controversy


in the postmodern era. In Dialektik der Aufklärung (1944), Max
Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno argue that the universalisms
and instrumental reason of the Enlightenment lead to the inhumanity
of Auschwitz. Jean-François Lyotard similarly blames Enlightenment
thinking for "the totalitarian and ecological nightmares that have
bedeviled the twentieth century55 (Boyne 3). In contrast, both Jürgen
Habermas and Richard Rorty have defended the emancipatory social
project started by the Enlightenment.1 Historians of the period contest
that the Enlightenment has been made into a caricature of itself, an
"Other55 against which postmodernism seeks to define itself (Baker 1).
Karlis Racevskis concedes, "postmodern thought has not uncovered
anything that the Age of Enlightenment, in its more lucid moments,
did not already know55 (w).2
Naturally, this theoretical controversy is reflected in the postmodern
novel. Postmodern fiction has shown a marked interest in the themes
of history thus prompting Linda Hutcheon to coin the phrase "histo-
riographie metafiction55 to describe the trend (xii). The common thrust

1. See, for example, Jürgen Habermas's Der Philosophische Diskurs der Moderne (1985) or
Rort/s essay in Baker 19-38.
2. Racevskis makes this statement in the context of discussing Foucaulrs reading of
Diderot's Le neveu de Rameau, where he sums up: "For Diderot, the evidence of a moral
existence resides in the material reality of human relations, not in abstract ideals and
slogans that only tend to obfuscate reality or divert attention away from the real condi-
tions of existence" (73).

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32O

of most histori
know of the pa
past prevails ov
quite a number
the Age of En
"enact philosop
modernity," w
originating W
Enquis^sMagnet
and Livläkaren
examples of p
analyze Enquis
novels which br
should clarify
ideas. There is
of the Enlighte
of reason and a

Magnetisörens femte vinter

Magnetisörensfemte vinter is set in 1793 and for the span of several mon
follows events in the life of Friedrich Meisner, a character inspired by, b
not identical to, Friedrich Anton Mesmer. In fact, Mesmer is mention
in the text in order to make the distinction between Mesmer and Meisn
clear to the reader. Other novelists have trodden this historical path
like Brian O'Doherty in The Strange Case of Mademoiselle P*** (1992)
O'Doherty treats Mesmer as a man who considers his methods to
scientific; he is a man of the Enlightenment, who genuinely wishes to h
his patients. The doctors who malign him and his methods are merel
resentful that he has taken their patients away. For O'Doherty, Mesm
is a manifestation of Enlightenment thinking but not a contradiction
it. This particular view of Mesmer is not uncommon; however, Enquist
Meisner is something altogether different.3 Meisner is a self-serving
charlatan and an expert at gaining power over others.

3. See Christiansen for a thorough look at attitudes toward Mesmer over the years. Chr
tiansen notes that Enquist's Meisner goes against the grain of this reception: "We m
conclude that for Enquist, Meisner/Mesmer was neither an Enlightenment thinker
a scientist. He sets a bad example as a doctor, and his politics are suspect" (30).

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Enquistas narrative p
refuge in a grotto after
who wish to punish him
(he has had intercourse
ously injures those who
pursuers. After some
Meisner escapes with
under the spell of Me
new companion make
new clothes and a mone
into the woods, never
abandons a pair of wom
of introduction, the r
murderer, and a sexual
as all that. The complex
up practice in the peace
Enquist has chosen a
to give way to the next
lenged by the new mod
by reports of the Fren
written on the novel ha
binary oppositions given
(Henningsen 51) [art/ir
nal" versus "rational,"
versus "consciousness"
versus "skepsis" "illus
versus knowing, mysti
"den demoniske konstn
kritiska förnuftets ihä
artist and preacher ver
for critical reason]. Enq
tionality in the form o
form of the doctor, Ru
assumes a position som
doubts are the main s
apparently simple opp
Given that Meisner is e
and murderer, one mig
would all reside with th

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322

is complicated
from blindness
famous attemp
Maria, Selinge
marauding sold
paradigm, this
Meisner's char
his patients: "
give them a lie
him, they can
is effective an
rationalism of
The moral high
sand. The doct
Medical science
concoctions. On
ordinerade da g
tre pâ var sida,
det onda stalle
leeches, to be a
bag of belladon
(53)]. Selinger h
patients get w
limitation of t
validity of any
eighteen-year-
reader suspects
volunteers to m
hon var dödsd
certain to die"
saved by the ex
fbrnunftets hä

4. The translation
Austin's The Magn
Visit (2001). All ot
5. The translator h
"The doctor had declared that she was doomed and must die."
6. Unlike Paul Britten Austin, I might have translated "förtjänstful'' in this context
as "worthy" or "beneficial." Her death is being claimed as a gain for science and reason.

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also describes a surgic
lost his nose in battle:
rödblank utsvällning"
shiny red fleshy swelli
the potential of the pr
pain looks like a sides
instrumental reason that Horkheimer and Adorno feared. The desired
goal of scientific results takes precedence over human pain and suffer-
ing. Patients become objects, not people.
Enquist deliberately problematizes the opposition between the two
sides. Rudolph Steiner, Selinger's friend and perhaps future son-in-law,
is a systematic, orderly man of science with no tolerance for religion
or any kind of mysticism or disorder. Meisner represents everything to
which he is opposed, and Steiner vows to expose him. He is at a loss,
however, to account for Maria's cure. Steiner is such a firm believer in
his rational systems, that he will not admit the possibility that Meisner's
methods are effective. Although Claus Selinger admires his friend's
orderliness and rationality, he is attracted by the seemingly miraculous
forces commanded by Meisner. Selinger's defining characteristics are
than he is "dum och hederlig" (215) ["stupid and honest" (196)], as he
himself states. Meisner exploits Selinger's solid sense of honor in order
to recruit him as a scientific observer who lends credibility to Meisner's
methods. Meisner has indisputably cured Selinger's daughter, therefore
his methods are demonstrably effective. Selinger cannot find it in himself
to refuse collaborating with Meisner both because he is intrigued and
feels a moral obligation to assist, if possible, in similar cures. Thus, for
honorable reasons, Selinger abandons his strict, rational friend Steiner,
in order to take up with the compelling Meisner.
This same sense of honor, however, proves to be inconvenient to
Meisner at a later point. Claus Selinger discovers that Meisner's second
most celebrated case is a fraud. Madame Keiser enjoys the attention that
her lengthy, public cure brings her. She claims that a fetus has formed
inside her bowels, has died, and is the cause of her swollen abdomen.
She goes so far as to introduce chicken bones into her rectum, claim-
ing they are the bones of the child. Selinger discovers the fraud, and
his sense of honor compels him to reveal it: "Förtroende byggt pâ
bedrägeri är en illusion: den hâller inte" (197) ['Trust based on fraud
is an illusion: it doesn't last" (180)]. Selinger's revelation unleashes
unexpected violence, both from Meisner and against Meisner. Meisner

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324

strikes Selinger
mesmerism ...
cannot win a
the face is mild
at the hands of
irrational, whi
trol. Meisner n
ends before a v
her own conclu
escape and star

Magnetisören and Postmodernism

Although postmodernism has been and still is a hot topic in America


literary criticism, it is a term not highly thought of in Scandinavian
academic circles. In Sweden in particular, it seems associated with diff
ult-to-grasp French philosophy. Although Horace Engdahl is credi
with introducing the concept in the 1980s, he did so in "svartillgänglig
artiklar [som] vände sig till en fatalig, initierad publik" (Olsson 5
[inaccessible articles (that) appealed to a small, initiated public]. Bernt
Olsson and Ingemar Augulin's Littemturens historia i Sverige (198
Literature's History in Sweden) does not actually even use the wo
"postmodernism." The term is introduced late in the sixth volume of
Den svenska littemturen (1997; The Literature of Sweden), edited
Lars Lönnroth and Sverker Göransson and then only briefly without
much approval. Novellist Stig Larsson is, however, anointed as
postmodernistiska dagarnas söndagsbarn" (283) [the Sunday child
the postmodern era]. Danish critic Morten Kyndrup, writing on pan-
Scandinavian postmodernism, similarly mentions Stig Larsson as t
single representative of postmodern writing in Sweden. Kyndrup note
"In Sweden an explicit postmodernist tendency is less easy to fin
implying that it is a stronger presence in Norway and Denmark (379
Kynderup seems quite prepared to pronounce postmodernism "dea
its popularity having "faded away with lightning speed, just about as
fast as it had risen" (377).
Mqgnetisörens fimU vinter appeared in 1964 as a late fruit of trolö
hetsdebatten [the disenchantment debate] during the early sixties, ab
documented and analyzed by Birgitta Jansson in her book on the subje

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After the abuses of Wor
ism, there was a general
of belief/faith] has been
the somewhat paler ter
one of the major partic
like "naivitetens bankrut
"delvis d nâgot liknande
(as quoted in Jansson 2
called the "death of ideo
The End of Ideology (i96
Anglo-American critici
and others. As Boyne a
theorists, the power of
on the wane. By the mid
capitalism, communism
to inspire Western peop
the world555 (Boyne 13
to note that this thesis
metanarratives55 which
postmodernism (Boyn
Thus, for a moment
American criticism w
postmodernism. The ra
in the late sixties caus
two theoretical camps
resistance to the term
cultural value placed o
the perception that pos
in collusion with neoco
in the Swedish heart fo
the Enlightenment. Alt
question whether, given
debates surrounding trol

7. Both objections have been


for example, levels the char
finds Foucault and Derrida t
project." Yet, postcolonial the
its political potential.

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326

generation of n
P.C. Jersild, an
quite profitabl
her wish to dis
modernism, Be
and historiogra
of the sixties,
(1993; The No
as Novel). Thes
the United Sta
when applied t
term might ye
of a specificall
to reject the E
ity with Enligh
postmodern m
"Postmodernis
systems: quest
critical accepta
In an interview
the release of M
in trolöshetsdebatten and what he tried to address in his novel:

Men jag vili komma at en skepsis och trolöshet som drivits till sin spets,
och slutat i ett slags apati. Sã här, till exempel: alia politiska ideologier är
värdelösa och tomma, alltsâ kan jag inte engagera miß ipolitik. Verkligheten
är mãngtydig-jag kan aldrig avgöra vad som är sont. Osv.
Det, tyckerjag, är en utomordentlig harnslighet. Hur ihalig, mangtydig
och skiftande vãr verklighet an är, sa tvingas man som människa i alla fall
ta stäüning, varje dag, varje timma. (Cornell 464)

8. One must acknowledge that the definition of postmodernism can vary widely depending
on who is speaking. Lyotard writes of epistemological postmodernism, a sort of critical
stance toward modernity that has existed since the birth of modernity. Therefore, one
can speak of postmodernism in Tristam Shandy, for example. Historians and philosophers
tend to refer to modernity as generally extending from Descartes to Nietzsche, therefore
postmodernity is everything after and including Nietzsche. According to this, both liter-
ary modernism and postmodernism belong to postmodernity. In terms of literary study,
postmodernism especially begins to take shape in the 1960s. It is this literary postmodern-
ism with which the present essay primarily concerns itself, though it is unwise to ignore
the other two. See Amy Elias's introduction to Sublime Desire for a particularly lucid
presentation of these three faces of postmodernism (xx-xxviii).

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(I wanted to get at a sk
taken to its utmost and e
All political ideologies
become engaged in poli
what is true, etc.
That, is I
incredib think,
and transitory our reali
stand, every day, every h

Enquist accepts our ep


but pragmatically main
make political decision
Aiagnetisören: "Ingent
han tvingas ta ställning
dag och han tar rationa
(Cornell 464) [Nothin
he is forced to take a stand. And he does what we are all forced to do
every day, and he takes the side of rationalism, but with sorrow and
bitterness]. The tools of rationalism are limited and flawed, but, Enquist
argues here, they are the best tools we have. We must do the best we
can and make the best judgments we can.
Authority, in many senses of the word, is a particular issue within
both postmodernism and Enquisfs novel. People in general tend to
want to have faith in authority, but this constitutes an abdication of
each person's obligation to evaluate evidence and decide for her or
himself. The pitfalls of this attraction to authority are illustrated in the
patients5 relationship to Meisner. Under the pretext of curing their ills,
Meisner takes their money (his patients are all wealthy) and sexually
exploits one of his female patients. He is in the business for his own
sake, out of self-interest, not for the sake of his patients5 well-being:
"Alia dessa hederliga, lättrörda, lättförförda, osäkra människor som
längtar efter en förförare55 (209) [UA11 these honest, these easily moved
and easily seduced people, so unsure of themselves and of everything
else, who long for a seducer55 (191)]. The core of Meisner's power is that
his patients believe he can cure them, and his power crumbles instantly
when this faith is shaken. Meisner is an illusionist whose power and
authority are invested in him by the people he deceives.
Enquist also expressed a desire to reflect these problematic issues of
authority in the construction of the novel itself. The result is historio-
graphie metafiction that undermines its own authority and truth claims,

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328

even while it t
for the novel as follows:

Den är uppbyggd pa dokument, nagra belt autentiska, men manga


hopljugna.Jagförsökte konstruera en bera'ttelse medskenbarauktoritet, med
skenbar historisk tyngd-men en bera'ttelse som vid närmare granskning
visar sig vara artificiell, konstruerad, ohistorisk. Jag ville lura lasaren in i
engodtrogenhet med autentiska dokument- och sticka honom i ryggen med
defalska. (Cornell 463)

(It is built up of documents, some completely authentic, but many


fabricated. I tried to construa a narrative with apparent authority, with
apparent historic weight- but a narrative that upon close scrutiny turns
out to be artificial, constructed, unhistorical. I wanted to trick the reader
into trusting [the narrative] with authentic documents- and stab him
in the back with the false ones.)

The documents to which our narrator refers include letters, Claus


Selinger's journal, trial records, biographies, and marginalia from
Meisner's own library. Such documents invest the story with historical
plausibility, but the narrator also presents us with contradictions and
draws attention to his interpretive moves. Steiner describes Meisner as
tall and thin, adding, "Han är inte uppväxt bland bonder55 (81) ["He
hasn't grown up among peasants55 (72)]. The next paragraph quotes
trial records from Nürnberg which describe him as plump, noting
his "lantliga satt att sig skickas55 (81) ["rustic behavior55 (72)]. Which
is the truth? Not only are there contradictions, there are holes in the
historical record subject to disputes governed by bias: "De försök som
gjorts att fylla ut denna lucka har for det mesta señare avfárdats som
osannfárdiga, som konstruktioner av Meisners fiender55 (10) ["Most of
the attempts that have been made to fill in this gap have subsequently
been dismissed as mere fabrications by his enemies55 (4)]. There is an
irrelevant digression about a bridge Meisner does not cross (45), lead-
ing the reader to wonder what critera are used in selecting "facts55 to
be included and excluded in this narrative. The text deliberately draws
attention to history as construction and interpretation: "Och ocksâ pa
denna punkt överger oss historien: den ger oss fakta med uttryckslös
min, och överlater till oss at tyda dem. Det kliniska fallet som gissnings-

9. It is baffling to me ho»v Ake Lundkvist could write of this novel "Dess form är den
historiska realismens" (160) [Its form is that of historical realism]. Enquist does everything
he can to expose this historical reality as neither historical, nor reality.

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lek, som spegel av berät
too, history fails us: sto
to interpret them. The
narrator and listener55 (
gestures, Enquist under
the limits of historical n
Meisner is compared i
sion for his patients, of
berättelser är sanna, bar
are true; only more or l
can be seduced by the au
to an author's construct
mesmerist. Whereas Mei
because of the consequen
metafiction, on the con
and rejects its own auth
between the reader an
his readers into acceptin
have been tricked. The l
metanarratives, which o
in the novel is yet anoth
verdict is not given, fo
ments. Enquist ultimat
not tell the reader what t
In an essay from 1967,
his novel about Meisner:

J]ag vet var nagonstans Magnetisören fiddes: langt tilbaka i den rniljö
dar jag växte upp, bland bönhus och andaktsstunder, bland ma'nniskorsom
klängde sig intill iron som om de varit blomrankor. Jag hade kunnat ta
mig loss, men vad had blivit kvar? Kunde man ta bort stödenfran dem?
Magnetisören fóddes i ett fotografi som jag sag, fr an trettiotalets Tyskland,
ett partimöte i Nürnberg, med uppatva'nda ansikten som plötsligt tycktes
mig välbekanta, en massa i hängiven ext as, beredd att g a med pâ allt.
(Tryckpunkter 102)

(I know where The Magnetist was born: Way back in the environment
in which I grew up, amid chapels and prayer meetings, amid people
who clung to faith like clinging vines. I could have torn myself loose,
but what would have been left? Could one take the supports away
from themi The Magnetist was born in a photograph that I saw, from
Germany of the 1930s, a party meeting in Nürnberg, with upturned

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33O

faces that sudd


ecstasy, ready t

Enquist was str


toreligious aut
ofthe latter ar
century quest
Horkheimer and Adorno found that it was the instrumental reason
of the Enlightenment that evolved into the systematic slaughter of mil-
lions: "Die Aufklärung verhält sich zu den Dingen wie der Diktator zu
den Menschen. Er kennt sie, insofern er sie manipuliernen kann" (12)
[Enlightenment behaves toward things as a dictator toward men. He
knows them in so far as he can manipulate them (9)]. Enquist proposes
another suggestion. For him, the culprit is unreasoning faith in author-
ity and the human tendency to relinquish individual responsibility to
a strong leader.10 It is not reason that caused the Holocaust, but the
absence of it. There is one moment in Enquistas text, where he points
to this connection: uRedogörelsen for den vinter som följde mäste
naturligtvis inte börja just här; den är en vâg som ständigt âtertar sin
form, som är fixerad och beständig. Derma vâgdal börjar alltsâ sin
uppâtstigning sensommaren 1793. Den künde även ha inträffat 1932"
(21) ["Naturally, there's no reason why my account of the winter that
followed should necessarily begin just here. It's all a wave; a wave inces-
santly resuming its own form, a form fixed and permanent. This trough,
then, begins its climb in the late summer of 1793. It could equally well
have happened in 1932" (15)]. Thomas Bredsdorffsays that this state-
ment stands out "som en flugskit pâ en blänkande spegel" (79) [like
a fly speck on a shiny mirror] because of this abrupt reference to the
twentieth century in a novel about the eighteenth. At several points in
the book, history is presented as a series of repeating patterns, waves
that occur with some regularity. Meisner's own carreer is character-
ized by repetition: "Sedan slâr pendeln tillbaka: katastrof, startpunkt,
framgang, katastrof. Genom aren, upprepat, genom tiderna. Vision,
korruption" (105) ["Then the pendulum swings back: catastrophe,
starting point, success, catastrophe. Repeatedly through the years,
through the ages. Vision, corruption" (95)]. The pattern that is being

10. Erik Henningsen claims that Enquistas novel supports Horkeheimer and Adorno's
thesis, but I disagree.

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repeated is the ascendan
power, followed by ca
this an Ironic or Satiric
to be favored by postm
skepticism about hum
the same mistakes are m
Despite Enquisfs skep
awareness of the limits
preferred alternative.
looks toward a future in
disastrously, eclipsed by
again sets a novel in th
what came before the
This too, makes the En

Livläkarens besök

Forty-five years scparatcAfygnetisorensfemte vinter and Livläkarens be


but the two works are linked by more than their engagement with
Enlightenment. A slight echo runs from one to the other. On one o
sion, Claus Selinger contemplates Meisner's achievements: "Han h
som han själv uttryckte det, verkligen satt sin hävstang under värl
hus55 (229) ["As he put it, he has put his lever under the house of t
world55 (210) ].n It is an image used to describe someone with the po
to change the world. Ove Hoeg-Guldberg, the representative of
servative forces in Livläkarens besök, fears that the power lies with
men of the Enlightenment: "Det var som om de sökte sätta en hävs
under världens hus: och världen gungade till och oro och kvalm
ângor flöt upp55 (29) ["It was as if they were trying to put a lever u
the house of the world: and the world was teetering, and anxiety a
nausea and fumes drifted up55 (26)]. This expression is repeated ano
four times in the novel in conjunction with Struensee5s activities.
echo alerts the reader to a common thread connecting the two nove
issues of power and social change.
The focus of Livläkarens besök is the four-year period from 1768
1772 when Johann Friedrich Struensee served as Royal Physicia

11. 1 find it necessary to doctor Austin's translation, so that the echo is not obscured

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332

King Christia
entrenched, de
ened by the r
champion of t
name as a schol
"Pa detta satt
relationen mell
var Miltons 'Pa
career: through
evidenced in th
Losf* (19)]. In o
dogmatic and h
rule over his su
an imbecile. In
the king, and a
has become som
course of his u
tion involves r
kuvad, och med
den till sina u
with shattered
to relinquish it
Contrary to p
to step into thi
the unstable ki
good picture of

Planema, som snar


religionsfrihet, a
staten, bondefra
till olönsamma i
sundhetsväsendet
lokaler iAmalieg

The plans that


dom of the pres
the state instea
question and th
unprofitable ind
services, as wel
church facilitie
orphanage. (142

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Under the old regime,
nyism flourished, the
services were nonexiste
political project of th
Rorty. Enquist too, mak
Enlightenment: uOm u
som är förnunftstron
fysiken och astronomi
som tankefrihet, toler
a rational and hard fac
within medicine, mat
soft face, which is the
and liberty35 (97)]. inMa
awareness of the short
still supports the side
the somewhat easier ca
conflict between the t
Magnetisörens femte v
attractions as well as di
reader who would cho
Struensee's power is gi
to approve of his love a
renders Struensee vul
the relationship into an
During a conversation
that is then repeated a

-Min van Voltaire brukar


en unik spinga in ifram
-Ja?
-Da far man tra'nga sig ingenom den. (143)

-My friend Voltaire is in the habit of saying that sometimes, by chance,


history opens up a unique ... aperture to the future.
-Is that so>
-And then one should step through. (115)

Tiina Nunnaüys fine translation does not allow for the erotic double-
entendre in the Swedish. Had she chosen to write of a slit in history that

12. Although Guldberg's world is outmoded and belongs to the past, with a little imagina-
tion, one can find parallels in today's world, so perhaps the threat has not passed.

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334

must be pushed
consummating
into a love tri
conceives the f
The consumm
tions, Roussea
tyska upplysn
men of the En
reads passages
Holberg, the N
with Enlighten
old regime, ope
and Struensee p
Augusta, and
Struensee, she
avlat framtiden
you.... We have
Struensee and Caroline Mathilde is doomed. Struensee is executed in
the most horrible way, and in the short run, it seems that Guldberg^s
forces have won. In the long run, of course, the Enlightenment ideals
of Struensee will prevail: "orden och tankarna gick inte att halshugga,55
(385) ["words and thoughts could not be decapitated55 (310)]. Enquist
makes a point of tracing the fate of Louise Augusta: "Det finns idag
knappast nâgot europeiskt kungahus, ej heller det svenska, som inte
kan räkna sina anor tillbaka till Johann Friedrich Struensee, hans
engelska princessa och deras lilla filcka55 (386) ["Today there is hardly
any European royal house, including the Swedish, that cannot trace
its lineage back to Johann Friedrich Struensee, his English Princess,
and their little girl55 (311)]. The future belongs to Struensee.
Even so, Struensee is not perfect. He does have his shortcomings.
His skills as a physician are no more impressive than those of Rudolph
Steiner and Claus Selinger. He secures his post because he has experience
with cupping. Struensee is prone to bouts of cowardice and fears pain.
He is more of an idealist than a politician, and he pushes his reforms
through perhaps too swiftly, leaving the people little time to adjust. He
does not pay enough attention to "the great game,55 the power politics
of court. He creates too many enemies. Because he is an idealist, he is
deprived of methods that his opponents are free to use: "De renhjärtade
var dömda till undergâng55 (265) ["The pure-hearted were doomed to

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destruction" (215)]. The
a tool used against hi
scruples are in danger
Struensee's Enlightenm
novel, Enquist remain
face in the world of po
eloquent testimony to
Just as Claus Selinge
Magnetisörens f ernte
what he believes mus
As an epigraph to Liv
Immanuel Kant:

Upplysning är människans seger over hennés självförvallade omyndighet.


Omyndighet är avsaknaden avfirmâga att använda sitt egetfórstând utan
nagon annas leaning. Självfijrvallad är denna omyndighet, nur orsaken
inte är brist pà fòrstànd, men brist pâ mod att andvända firstãndet. Till
upplysning kräves intet annat änfrihet, denfrihet some innebär att i varje
avseendegöra oñentligt bruk av sitt firnunfi. Ty det är varje människas
kail att tänka själv. (5)

Enlightenment is the triumph of the human being over his self-imposed


immaturity. Immaturity is the lack of ability to make use of one's own
intellect without the guidance of someone else. This immaturity is self-
imposed when the cause is not a lack of intellect but a lack of courage
to make use ofthat intellect. Enlightenment demands nothing more
than freedom- the freedom that consists in making public use, under
all circumstances, of one's reason. For it is the birthright of every human
being to think for himself. (7)13

The admonition to show courage and think for oneself could just as
well serve as an epigraph to Magnetisörens fernte vinter as to Livläkarens
besök. There is nothing fundamentally at odds with postmodernism
in this quotation from the Enlightenment. Possessing a distrust of
metanarratives is not far from employing one's own reason without
the guidance of an authority. It is tempting to let others decide, mis-
takes are inevitable, the world is complex, but we must make the best
decisions we can.

13. Here I would have preferred to translate "kail" as "calling" instead of "birthright."
The distinction is between what one has a right to do, and what one has an obligation
to do. As Enquist said, everyone must take a stand.

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336

Making History

Livläkarens besök is not as obviously a piece of historiographie metaf


tion as Magnetis&rens femte vinter. In the latter novel, Enquist made
distancing move by deliberately disassociating his tale with real, histor
cal characters, and creating a fictional world. Meisner was not Mesme
Livläkarens besök not only deals with real historical figures, but its foc
is on generally known public history. It was evidently not Enquis
purpose this time to introduce false documents in order to trick the
reader, and he has done his research so that the reader's attention
not distracted by faulty dates or details. There are frequent referenc
to dates and verifiable memoirs and documents, resulting in a rather
more authoritative narrative. Moreover, like the omniscient narrator
of old, Enquisr's narrator can peer into the minds of his characters a
even their most intimate moments. It would not be difficult to make
a case for Livläkarens besök as a conventional historical novel. Even so
the postmodern self-reflective moments are still present.
A critique of the project of transforming historical documents int
a novel is curiously embedded in the description of Guldberg's critiqu
of Paradise Lost: "Dikten far ej förvanska dokumenten. Dikten är
dokuments besmutsare" (19) ["The poem (poetry) should not disto
the document. The poem (poetry) is a défiler of the document" (19
Any retelling that varies in the slightest from the original is a disto
tion. Turning history into art requires manipulations. It is ironic tha
the novel's strongest advocate for authority undermines the authorit
of the novel itself. Guldberg has also written history himself, shaped b
his strong ideological biases which, for him, are identical with the trut
He is something of a dark mirror of the novel's narrator, who lets h
own preferences for Struensee shine through. If bias is acknowledged
then the reader can factor it in. Guldberg is not adverse to editin
history so that it conforms with his idea of what should be, which h
reveals in these reflections about Hirshholm: "Slottet var en skamfläc
besmittat av bastarden och hans älskarinna, det mäste bort, som när et
misshagligt ansikte utraderas frân ett fotografi, sa att historian befria
frân nâgot motbjudande, som aldrig funnits, aldrig borde ha funnits
(243-4) ["The castle was a disgrace, tainted by the bastard and his mis
tress; it had to be removed, as when an undesirable face is erased fro
a photograph, so that history could be freed of something despicable
something that never existed, should never have existed" (197)]- Such

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elisions are common i
what to include and wh
same issue when conte
mörker som är ljus, ell
är det med historien, m
och mörker55 (377) [ccIs
is dark? A choice mus
choose what to see, wha
and interpretation are e
Guldberg imagines h
common enough metap
can be interpreted, and
will into the swirling
mind set that he believe
it, authorized by a divi
postmodern reader sees
are an imposition of th
insistence upon his abil
history is another cautio
Guldberg5s interpretive
so clearly gets things "
and that his actions wi
tion "Guldbergs tid55 [G
becomes the common e
Guldbergs tid sedan int
would remain55 (310)].
Enquist indulges in an
the labyrinth. Struense

Han hadepapekat att denn


punktvarifrân logiken ipar
gator, ¿fangar som löpte
frãn en endapunkt blev ed
balkong dar de nu satt. D

He pointed out that th


was only one point from
Down there everything

14. See my article, "Painting

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338

dead ends, cul-d


became clear, lo
now sat. It was

The park itsel


point outside t
It is precisely t
itself, that po
postmodernism
periphery" (59)
he enters the l
farms ingen k
taggiga. Han s
I centrum skul
sense of clarit
stopped. He ha
was clarity55 (
caught in one o
han, men infan
that, but impr
as ruler, the o
postmodernis
neither answer
In Livläkarens
urge for closure
out about Meis
judgment of hi
besök. The effe
program, despi
is a strangely h
recant his Enli
makes no effor
moral weight o
upon whether
triumph of ev
Enquist allows
curious feature
endings in hist
for some pur
the victor. Ima

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it ended with Streunsee
then be read as all ideal
Enquist cared to make

Conclusion

In considering Enquist's engagement with the Enlightenment i


two novels, it is useful to make a distinction between the "hard" a
"soft55 faces of the Enlightenment, as Enquist did himself. The ha
face is that of reason and empiricism, a totalizing scientific w
view that sought to subject all of nature to its paradigms. This is
part of the Enlightenment program which has received the strong
criticisms from postmodern theorists. Enquist would seem to c
with these criticisms, but with reservations. Enquist shares with p
modernism an epistemological skepticism that doubts our abili
know the world in any but the most subjective and provisional wa
Instrumental reason is indeed prone to abuses, but to abdicate r
altogether is to open the door to Machiavellian power manipula
Reason as a tool may be flawed, but it is the best means we h
countering those with authoritarian claims to the "Truth.55 Reaso
Enquist's novels is not the disinterested pursuit of truth perfo
by an autonomous reasoning subject, which is the now comprom
model of the Enlightenment. Enquist's reasoning subject is part
complex social network where nothing is clear and self-interest pe
meates all motivations. Even so, reason is a tool that can recog
and respond to the workings of power. Enquisfs critical eye fo
workings of power and abuses of authority is one of his most
modern traits.
If Enquist exhibits a healthy ambivalence toward the hard fa
the Enlightenment, he seems in little doubt about its soft face
Enlightenment political project of advancing toward a cruelty
society has not grown obsolete. The path is not smooth and freque
relapses into oppressive modes of governance are perhaps inevi
Nonetheless, a cruelty-free society is a political goal Enquist s
prepared to endorse. This idea is implicit in many postmodern
ments against universalizing, totalizing, and hierarchical syste
but the concern about what this leads to a cruel society is not alw
made explicit. The conflation of Enlightenment thinking with

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34O

Holocaust has m
Enlightenment
as diametricall
femte vinter an
postmodern sk
Enlightenment
reason and the
features into a
the binary op
as most binary

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The Defense of the Enlightenment

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