eJournals Colloquia Germanica 46/3

Colloquia Germanica
cg
0010-1338
Francke Verlag Tübingen
Es handelt sich um einen Open-Access-Artikel, der unter den Bedingungen der Lizenz CC by 4.0 veröffentlicht wurde.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/91
2013
463

Inside the Oriental Spectacle: Hermann von Pückler-Muskau’s Egyptian Travelogue

91
2013
Daniela Richter
cg4630229
Inside the Oriental Spectacle: Hermann von Pückler-Muskau ’ s Egyptian Travelogue DANIELA RICHTER C ENTRAL M ICHIGAN U NIVERSITY The Orient has been part of German culture as a repository of the imaginary, exotic, and fantastic since the Middle Ages. 1 One only needs to remember Feirefiz, the half-brother of Parzival in Wolfram von Eschenbach ’ s romance with his black and white checkered complexion to see how the Orient has inspired the imagination of German writers and poets. By the nineteenth century, texts on the Orient such as Die Märchen aus Tausendundeiner Nacht (first translated into German in 1824) and Wilhelm Hauff ’ s Märchen Almanach (1825 - 28; with tales such as «Der kleine Muck» and «Kalif Storch») employed the same fantastical tropes and elements as the texts of the Middle Ages, thus implying to readers that Oriental culture was timeless and not part of the same historical progress as the West. In the late nineteenth century, the Orient became a staple within consumer culture and was utilized in the marketing of such goods as tobacco, coffee, and tea. 2 David Ciarlo, in his analysis of German fin-de-siècle advertisement, attests to the power of the Oriental in visual imagery and claims that the Orient with its exotic allure «overshadowed the scientific, nationalistic, religious, and even mercantile missions of official German colonialism» (14). Representations of the Orient also extended to the performative. In the nineteenth century, they featured prominently in the tableaux vivants, a popular form of entertainment at social gatherings entailing live reenactments of famous paintings, sculptures, or dramatic scenes. Karin Wurst states in her analysis of the nineteenth-century tableaux that scenes depicting a harem were especially popular since they allowed for a «mingling of erotic pleasure with the enjoyment of masquerade and cultural knowledge» (216). Later in the century, the Orient became a staple in circus programs leading to the concept of Völkerschauen, which toured Germany around the time of the fin de siécle. Suzanne Marchand ascribes great relevance to these representations and states: «It is probably the case that more Central Europeans learned [. . .] about the Orient by way of theater and material culture [. . .] than even through travelogues [. . .]. But in these media, it is clear that the Orient with the greatest appeal was a decorative, picturesque, exotic and sensuous Orient, one of costumes, colors, weapons and exotic animals» («Popularizing» 180). 3 In his travelogue on Egypt entitled Aus Mehemed Alis Reich (1844), Fürst Hermann von Pückler-Muskau (1785 - 1871) showed how the elements of popular Oriental spectacle could be adapted to create a travel text that transcended the established boundaries of the travel genre in order to become part of nineteenth-century popular entertainment culture. Considering Pückler ’ s travelogue within the context of spectacle and entertainment culture provides a new and, I would argue, better context for reading his text than has been the case before. Aus Mehemed Alis Reich, besides coopting sensational and spectacular style elements for its scenic descriptions, is in itself part of entertainment culture, dramatizing and fictionalizing the writer ’ s experiences for his readers ’ enjoyment. It is moreover significant that it is an aristocratic writer who breaches the limits of a genre which by the nineteenth century had become very much associated with the middle class and its values of education, utility, and self-improvement. This analysis therefore also provides relevant information on the development of the travelogue as a literary genre. Within the general Oriental discourse, Egypt with its rich Biblical connotations had been playing a central role in German cultural production, especially in the realm of popular and entertainment culture. In the academic realm, Egypt attracted scholars with its imposing ancient monuments and challenged them with its hitherto undecipherable writing system, the key to this formidable cultural heritage. As Abbas Amin claims, Egypt is a Gedächtnisort, a place whose culture had always played a central role in Western Europe ’ s own cultural past (1). Travelling to Egypt, therefore, had always been an oscillation between familiarity and alienation, a rediscovery of a part of European history to which one did not have direct access before (Amin 15). Initially it was this vision of Egypt as the locus of European and especially religious culture that inspired travelers to make the long journey south. Prior to the nineteenth century, most European travelers to Egypt were pilgrims on their way to the Holy Land (Berman 149; Melman 108). In the early nineteenth century there was a revival of pilgrimage travels as a result of the perception of the Middle East as a virtually unchanged Biblical landscape (Melman 110). By the early nineteenth century, however, only few members of the German middle class had journeyed to Egypt. Most of the German travel writers in the Middle East were men travelling in their capacity as diplomats, scholars, or artists. Early examples are the «father» of Oriental studies, Joseph Freiherr von Hammer-Purgstall, who published his trave- 230 Daniela Richter logue in 1801, as well as the Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, who published the accounts of his journeys to the Middle East in the 1830s. Since German travels to Egypt and the Middle East were still a rare occasion, it was predominantly French and British works on Egypt which were read in Germany. Especially the Description de l ’ Égypte (1809 - 28), an account of Napoleon ’ s campaign in Egypt published by a commission of French scholars and scientists, provided German readers with a first impression of the Egyptian ancient landscape (Berman 157). By the middle of the nineteenth century the numbers of German travelers had increased, and we also find among them a small number of women, most prominently Ida von Hahn-Hahn, Luise Mühlbach, and Ida Pfeiffer, who traveled to the Middle East and wrote about their experiences (Berman 156). As Gert Sautermeister explains: «Gegenüber dem europäischen Süden mit seinen allzu populären Italien-Bildern hatte eine noch fast jungfräuliche Landschaft magischen Reiz gewonnen: der lichtdurchflutete Orient mit seinen uralten Tempeln und Pyramiden» (138). Overall however, travel to Egypt remained a privilege of the affluent until later in the century. 4 Fürst Hermann von Pückler-Muskau (1785 - 1871) was definitely part of those privileged few who were able to travel to Egypt solely for pleasure. At least that was how he portrayed his journey in his travelogue Aus Mehemed Alis Reich, a text which also benefited from Egypt ’ s status as a yet relatively unknown and mysterious land. Pückler himself was born in 1785 in Muskau, at today ’ s border to Poland, and grew up rather wild and independent with his parents divorced and not much invested in his upbringing. As a young man he dropped out of law school in Leipzig in order to join the prestigious Garde du Corps in Dresden (Shookman 235). Soon, however, Pückler gave up his military career in order to pursue a life of leisure and traveling. In this pursuit, he faced a major challenge: for most of his life Pückler lived well beyond his financial means. In hopes of financing his travels, he divorced his wife Lucie von Pappenheim in 1826 with the aim of making a more advantageous match in England. This plan failed and Pückler returned to his paternal estate in Muskau which he set out to transform into an English landscape park, a project which, together with his gambling, eventually bankrupted him. It was, however, in the area of landscape and park design where Pückler finally achieved lasting fame, particularly with his 1834 work Andeutungen über die Landschaftsgärtnerei, which made him an authority to this day. After selling Muskau and retiring to his mother ’ s estate in Branitz, Pückler was able to return to his life of traveling, financially supported by the sale of Muskau and the publication of his more than twenty-five travel texts. His Egyptian travelogue Aus Mehemed Alis Reich: Ägypten und der Sudan 231 Inside the Oriental Spectacle um 1840 was his ninth travel text and his fourth travelogue on North Africa and the Middle East. Due to his financial needs, he had previously published parts of the text as an ongoing column in Cotta ’ s Allgemeine Zeitung (Flake 761). As the critical reception of Pückler ’ s travel writing indicates, however, his literary fame as a travel writer did not endure into the second half of the nineteenth century (Fischer 221). Pückler had published his first travelogue, Briefe eines Verstorbenen: Ein fragmentarisches Tagebuch aus England, Wales, Irland und Frankreich, in 1828, and it had quickly made him a bestselling author. 5 A brief look at Pückler ’ s conception of the narrative voice in this travelogue reveals the way in which he set his text apart from other travel texts of the time. 6 Pückler ’ s text offered something new. His travelogue, a mix of diary entries and personal letters, was more entertaining than educating, in parts even scandalous, as the narrator provided his readers not only with adventurous stories, but also with intimate gossip about members of the English aristocracy and high society to which he, as a prince, had access. Another unique aspect of Pückler ’ s travel writing was his creation of a cohesive literary oeuvre of travel narratives all centered on his signature narrator persona. Following the publication of his first book, Pückler ’ s travel texts henceforth identify their author as the «Verfasser der Briefe eines Verstorbenen.» His narrator is clearly meant to be a constant throughout all his travel texts, akin to a trademark. The countries featured in the different travel texts are thereby rendered less important than the flamboyant narrator himself. This referencing of the first travelogue not only aimed at creating cohesion among the various texts, but it also aimed at masking the identity of the writer himself. 7 However, given the very particular insights Pückler offered in his first texts in terms of high society gossip, his true identity only remained a secret for about two years (Fischer 182). The narrator and author in Pückler ’ s texts are generally conflated. His identity as a bon vivant and member of the German aristocracy was central to his particular style of travel writing. I would argue, however, that the narrator, while sharing most of his features with Pückler ’ s actual person and personality, remained a construct insofar as the narrator never allows his readers access to his emotions and is completely devoid of self-reflection. The fact that the narrator ’ s voice does not alter throughout the over twenty-five travel texts is further evidence of its essentially constructed nature. As the key to his success, this particular narrator enabled Pückler to create a niche for his writing among the many other travelogues. Travelogues of the nineteenth century clearly had what Fischer terms «einen aufklärerischen Nimbus» (189) and did not belong nor wanted to be 232 Daniela Richter associated with the world of the aristocracy. Sautermeister ’ s overview over the different types of travel texts in the nineteenth century demonstrates that «alles Reisen geht einher mit dem Zweck der Bildung oder auch individuellen Selbstfindung» (128). Pückler ’ s Egyptian travelogue flies in the face of these conventions. Pückler is not travelling to educate himself; on the contrary, he often demonstrates his high degree of education as superior by far to what he finds among the people in this country. He also does not undergo any kind of personal development or change, as mentioned above, and appears generally unfazed by all his experiences. Aus Mehemed Alis Reich traces Pückler ’ s journey through Egypt and the Sudan in 1837 - 38. In the course of the text, he engages with a great variety of themes, from Egypt ’ s current political situation, its diplomatic position visà-vis France and Britain, the educational reform of its ruler Mohammed Ali Pasha, its ancient monuments, to the more frivolous such as Pückler ’ s personal adventures breaking and entering into a harem garden and his purchase of a female slave. Pückler moves from topic to topic with incredible ease, sometimes offering highly nuanced and insightful information - such as in the case of Egypt ’ s current political situation - while at other times indulging in the most superficial rendition of some escapade. At all times, however, the first-person narrator remains constant while these disparate elements revolve around him. A biographical essay from 1888 further emphasizes the central role that this narrator plays in Pückler ’ s narrative: Diese Reisen verfolgen kein wissenschaftliches Ziel, suchen auch keine Erholung, und wenn der Drang, die Welt zu sehen und den Blick zu weiten oder auch die ritterliche Liebe zu Gefahren und Abenteuern, überhaupt die Unternehmungslust, als Motive mächtig wirken, so steht doch in vorderster Reihe die Sucht, das Erlebte pikant darzustellen, im Glanz der Schilderung sein eigenes Ich zu spiegeln, jedes Objekt in den leuchtenden Brennpunkt des beschauenden Subjekts zu fassen; das Interessanteste an allen Erlebnissen, in jeder Lage und Umgebung soll aber, nach der Absicht dieser Schilderer, ihre eigene Persönlichkeit sein. (Mähly 694) This paragraph not only demonstrates that travel writing as such had become an established literary genre infused with values such as the desire for education and scientific exploration, but also possessing a moral aspect, hinting at the medieval concept of the quest as indicated by the term «ritterlich.» Pückler ’ s lack of ambition in these areas had quickly made him a most controversial figure among literary critics of his time. Among the majority of them, Pückler, according to Robert Prutz, had quickly become known as the author of «Klatschliteratur» and the purveyor of «Zötchen und Anekdötchen» (43 - 45). On the other hand his writing garnered the support and admiration of such illustrious writers as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 233 Inside the Oriental Spectacle and Karl August Varnhagen von Ense, who appreciated the erudite parts of his discourse and the degree to which his education and intellectual sensibilities were divorced from any consideration of middle-class usefulness and employment. They saw in Pückler an individual who pursued and appreciated knowledge and art for its own sake (Fischer 193 - 94). The depictions of exterior spaces in particular mark his narrative as cognizant of and participating in popular treatments of the Orient. In this aspect, Pückler shows himself not to be confined by realism, but instead presents the scenery in a stylized manner, mimicking the effect of popular visual entertainment media of his time such as the panorama and diorama displays. Given the particular nature of the panorama and diorama, notions of exercising control over the foreign scenery play a significant role. Pückler consciously models his scenic depictions on these forms of entertainment because it allows his readership to integrate the new information they are receiving about the Orient in ways that are not only familiar to them, but, more importantly, entertaining. Throughout the text, the narrator ’ s gaze tends to render landscape scenery as limited and possessing a clear circumference. This tendency towards boundedness refers directly to the visual media popular in Europe at that time, particularly the panorama and, later, the diorama. These forms of entertainment offered the illusion of vast and unbounded sceneries, while at the same time framing the whole experience by the confines of the building, so that the audience was reassured that the potentially overwhelming display was aimed at their entertainment and ultimately under their control. Derek Gregory refers to this as «scripting,» a process of commodification which turns a given country and culture into a display tailored towards the expectations and pleasures of the reader, who functions «as spectator-voyeur, as consumer-collector and above all, as sovereign-subject» (146). In Pückler ’ s narrative in particular, there is no sense of wide expanses; the unforeseen or the mysterious do not threaten to overpower the individual. It is all neatly contained in the form of displays or tableaus with the narrator in a dominating position. Pückler ’ s narrative depiction of Oriental space is therefore reminiscent of Edward Said ’ s famous dictum that «the Orient is the stage on which the whole East is confined [. . .]. The Orient then seems to be, not unlimited extension beyond the familiar European world, but rather a closed field, a theatrical stage affixed to Europe» (63). Pückler ’ s visual perspective, which is based on the conflicting sensations of being at the center of any given scene while at the same time being safely detached from it, is at the heart of the early nineteenth-century forms of 234 Daniela Richter visual entertainment, especially the panorama and the diorama. According to Laurie Garrison, the nineteenth century saw a rapid development in the field of visual entertainment leading ultimately to the invention of photography and film. The popular success of these visual technologies relied both on the degree of realism with which they displayed a given scenario and on the concept of illusion, by manipulating the viewer ’ s perception of movement and perspective. The history of the panorama began in 1792 in Leicester Square, London, from where it quickly spread to other major cities in Europe. The panorama consisted of large paintings which were mounted in a circle around a raised platform so that a person standing in the middle could successively take in the entire painting by turning around. 8 According to Wurst, this «artifice allowed for the creation of virtual nature made available for the convenient consumption in the safety and comfort of an enclosed space» (332). Landscapes and famous European cityscapes were most often depicted, but historic scenes were in vogue as well. From the beginning, the Orient was a staple among panoramic displays. By 1820 the London panorama thus featured scenarios depicting Cairo and the Colossi of Memnon (Wurst 336). The diorama was the successor of the panorama and was first introduced in Paris in 1822. It trumped the panoramic display by the added illusion of movement. Technically more complex, the diorama diminished the allenveloping sensation of the panorama in favor of using a complicated setup of light sources to simulate effects, such as sunrise and sunset (Buddemeier 26). 9 Among the intelligentsia, both forms of visual spectacle were regarded as inferior forms of entertainment because they appealed first and foremost to the senses, not the mind. The fact that the panorama and diorama were commercial venues and therefore open to the general public was another reason for their disrepute. Even though paintings for the panorama as well as the diorama were rendered in a realistic manner, they still constituted a socalled ‹ superspace › with aspects considered less attractive omitted or improved upon (Wurst 332 - 33). At the heart of these visual spectacles was the desire on the part of the audience to feel transported into the midst of the individual scenarios, while at the same time feeling safe and superior in the knowledge of looking at an artificial world (Buddemeier 24). The spectator enjoyed the simultaneous awareness of artificiality and visual illusion. Spatial descriptions in Aus Mehemed Alis Reich show inherent similarities to the panoramic and dioramic forms of display. Among the key features are the positioning of the narrator and the reader within the described scenery as well as the notion of staging, which underlies most of Pückler ’ s scenic depictions. One constant feature throughout the text is the narrator ’ s lack of 235 Inside the Oriental Spectacle direct engagement with his surroundings and its people. They mostly feature as objects of his gaze. The gaze then becomes the main instrument for creating a given scenic display, spreading it out in front of the reader while at the same time neatly enclosing it within his gaze, thus exerting control over the image created. Rather than presenting realistic impressions, the narrator literally designs idealized versions of the various sites visited in the course of his travels, creating thus the ‹ superspace › referred to earlier. One example of this is Pückler ’ s description of the temple in Thebes: Zwei andere Höfe des kolossalen Palasttempels sind ganz verschüttet und nichts als die rechte Außenmauer derselben voll herrlicher Skulpturen noch sichtbar [. . .]. Der ganze Tempel ist übrigens durchgängig mit den neueren Ruinen des koptischen Fleckens durchwirkt und überdeckt, so daß eine gründliche Wegräumung des Schuttes und Niederreißung jener schändenden Anhängsel diese prachtvollen Gebäude gewiß noch an den meisten Stellen wohlerhalten zeigen und wenigstens den Totaleffekt ihrer einstigen imposanten Schönheit wiederherstellen würden. [. . .] Von der Plattform, zu der eine enge, aber sanft ansteigende Treppe führt, hat man eine umfassende Aussicht auf den weiten Raum, den das alte Theben auf beiden Seiten des Nils einnahm. In der Nähe rechts nach Süden hin erblickt man zuerst die Spuren hoher Erdaufwürfe gleich den Ufern eines großen, künstlichen Sees, vielleicht desselben, über welchen die Toten gefahren wurden. [. . .] An die Dämme schließt sich eine reiche Flur, durch die der Nil gewunden strömt, aus einem Kranz blauer Berge herkommend, hinter denen noch in so weiter unbekannter Ferne seine geheimnisvollen Quellen sich bergen (348 - 49). The narrator ’ s ascent to the top of the temple can be read as a gesture of conquest. Mary Louise Pratt refers to this as the «monarch of all I survey» perspective (202). This mode of landscape depiction aims at conveying in writing the process by which the European traveler takes possession of a given foreign landscape through the act of discovery or exploration. Even though Pückler is not a discoverer per se, he still masters the imposing temple by climbing to its rooftop. From there he surveys not only present-day Thebes, but recreates the historical grandeur of this city, a city which served as the religious hub of ancient Egypt, the gateway to the underworld for most of its pharaohs. This is what Pratt refers to as a description rich in semantics, encompassing not only the natural, but also the cultural and mythological dimensions of any given locale. Another mark of this perspective is its aesthetic quality, achieved by describing an environment as if it were a static painting (Pratt 204). Both in his climb to the top of the temple and through his panoramic description, Pückler essentially converts the foreign natural and cultural landscape into a European aesthetic discourse of conquest. In this instance the production of the idealized scenario is actually disclosed to the reader. While describing the site as is, the narrator is at 236 Daniela Richter the same time conjuring up an idealized, improved version of the temple, speculating on what it would look like without the more recent remains of settlement. Pückler, as many other Egypt travelers, seems to only value the country for the remnants of its ancient culture. It is a static and homogenous mirage that he seeks, perceives, and recreates, an image diminished by remnants of other historic periods. Remarkable in Pückler ’ s scenic depictions is the relative lack of the native population. Apart from Mohammed Ali Pasha, Egypt ’ s ruler at the time, a man whom Pückler clearly admired, he overlooks the general Egyptian population. In most instances, he simply refrains from including people in his descriptions. When he does mention them, it is often by way of ridicule, comparing them to animals, for example squirrels (105) or horses (104). The overall lack of people in Pückler ’ s narrative greatly contributes to the display-like character of these passages. 10 The description of the narrator ’ s walk through the streets of Cairo is a case in point: Viele Stunden irrte ich in den Straßen der endlosen Stadt umher, und ich kann meine Empfindungen dabei nicht besser schildern, als wenn ich sagte: Es kam mir fortwährend vor, als wenn ich in der Tausendundeinennacht [sic] läse oder vielmehr als wenn ihre bunten Szenen in lebenden Bildern jetzt vor mir aufgeführt würden. (156) His further discussion then focuses exclusively on the architecture of the inner city, the residences, plazas, fountains, etc. The lack of people and the absence of actual encounters is striking, as well as the constant referral to European Oriental imagery. As Timothy Mitchell claims, the Orient was by the nineteenth century «something one only ever rediscovered. To be grasped representationally, as the picture of something, it was inevitably to be grasped as the reoccurrence of a picture one had seen before» (30). The uniqueness of Pückler ’ s travelogue lies therefore not in providing new impressions of Egypt, but in reinforcing preexisting European imagery of the Orient. By omitting the people who actually lived and moved in Cairo ’ s streets, Pückler moreover conveys the impression of ownership over this scene. It remains, despite all the allusions to color and vibrancy, still an empty stage, waiting to be filled with the readers ’ own imagination. In some scenes, however, Pückler cannot avoid depicting people; as in his portrayal of an Egyptian bazaar and the slave market. The bazaar is a location where people by definition interact. In her article on depictions of market scenes in travel literature, Emily Haddad maintains that markets forced an interaction between the traveler as customer and the local merchant, albeit an often very uncomfortable one for the traveler unaccustomed to the language and social customs of the country he was visiting. 11 Thus depictions of market 237 Inside the Oriental Spectacle scenes present an exception to the distanced depiction of the foreign culture, because the act of purchasing and bargaining in particular constitutes an «incorporation of the European observer into the scene [which] prevents him or her from occupying the disengaged position» (76). Pückler ’ s market scene, however, maintains the narrator ’ s distance: Den reinorientalischen Beisatz zu solchen europäischen Anklängen gewährten indes bald hundert andere Gegenstände, zum Beispiel die [. . .] überwölbten Basare voll der glänzendsten Produkte Asiens und Afrikas, geschwängert mit dem Dufte aller Spezereien Arabiens; die Grandezza und Ruhe der Muselmänner mitten in einem Gewühl, dem auch der volkreichste Ort bei uns nicht gleichkommt. Und wie reich staffiert sind diese Szenen! Hier ein Haufe sich rücksichtslos zwischen Kaufbuden und auf der Straße arbeitenden Handwerkern hindurchdrängender Reiter mit ihrem goldgestickten Pferdezeug, in malerisch glänzender Kleidung; dort ein Harem, der sich ins Bad begibt, schwarz verhüllte Damen mit weißer Leinwandmaske, aus der nur die dunklen Augen herausblitzen, und die gleich Phantomen auf schnellfüßigen Eseln geräuschlos vorübergleiten; [. . .]. (157) With its richness in detail, its lack of a clear focus, and its emphasis on conventional Oriental tropes - such as the wild riders, the shimmering clothes, the mysteriously veiled harem women, the crowdedness of the scene with its abundance of products and scents - this scene is clearly marked as a panoramic spectacle. Though lacking a focal or center point, the scene is yet clearly contoured and framed by the vaulting. Thus even this chaotic scene of outdoor activity is framed and rendered as an interior scene, thereby creating a sense of security and containment. Control over this scene is maintained by the lack of depiction of the narrator ’ s active engagement in the scene itself. In this description, Pückler remains disembodied: a voice and a gaze capturing and describing what he witnesses. This distance is also maintained in Pückler ’ s depiction of the slave market, which he reports having visited twice, the second time as a customer. He narrates his first visit with great detail, obviously relishing the sexual aspects of viewing the mostly nude female slaves (194). But even in this scenario where the focus is clearly on people rather than architecture or landscape, the narrator does not engage personally but only reports the actions of his local guide who is actually engaging with the slaves, evaluating and handling them like objects: he is the one negotiating with the merchants while the narrator is depicted as a bystander. The narrator, however, later returns to the market and purchases a young female slave for himself. Interestingly enough though, narrative distance is maintained, and the narrator reports on the transaction in passing as an occurrence in the past. He admits to not having bargained, thereby avoiding 238 Daniela Richter any closer personal contact, and instead having paid the price demanded by the merchant (244). The narrator is evidently aware of the fact that his lack of bargaining constitutes a deficiency of control and mastery of this situation, and this is the reason why it does not feature dominantly in the narrative itself. Yet the purchase of another human being is in itself an act of mastery and control, and he therefore cannot resist a cursory mentioning. The narrator thus quickly glosses over this instance of his cultural impotence and proceeds to describe his interaction with the young slave girl, the «appetizing savage» as he calls her (269). In this scenario he can clearly assert his dominant position, both as a man and her master: Den Charakter dieses originellen Mädchens zu studieren, an der die Zivilisation noch nichts hatte verderben noch verbessern können, war im Verfolg der Reise eine unerschöpfliche Quelle von Vergnügen für mich, und es tat diesem Studium durchaus keinen Abbruch, daß der Gegenstand desselben zugleich an Schönheit der Formen die treueste Kopie einer Venus von Tizian war, nur in schwarzer Manier. (244) He obviously relishes portraying her in objectifying terms and claims to study her as an exotic trophy, thereby reinforcing his position of dominance and power opposite the Oriental female Other. This passage further illustrates that Pückler ’ s focus as a travel writer is on the spectacular rather than the educational. The quote above clearly alludes to the discourse of exploration with terms such as «Zivilisation» and «Studium» (244). Referring to the girl, whose name is Machbuba, as «Gegenstand» and comparing her to a painting by Titian, however, not only casts her into the role of object, but it also subjects her to European aesthetics. Taking later passages about Machbuba into consideration, there can be no doubt about the sexual nature of Pückler ’ s relationship with her and the fact that the narration of his interactions with her is aimed at entertaining the reader. Still, it is not only through the objects of his gaze that the narrator provides entertainment for his readers but also through the relative position of the narrator and the reader vis-à-vis the depicted scenarios. In most of his landscape descriptions, particularly the ones which describe wide open vistas, Pückler positions his reader right next to him, thereby creating the illusion of immediacy. And since he is always at the center of his scenarios, so is the reader, as if he were on that central platform in the middle of the panorama. When he reaches Thebes by boat, the narrator thus remarks: «Ich lade den Leser daher ein, jetzt mit mir am linken Nilufer bei den Hütten des Dorfes Gurneth unter einer Gruppe Palmen ans Land zu steigen. Eine Viertelstunde vor uns im Westen sehen wir über grün besaatete Felder hinweg» (330). Not only is Pückler addressing the reader directly, drawing 239 Inside the Oriental Spectacle him into the act of stepping ashore, but he also uses the pronoun «wir» here (as in other places) to incorporate the reader into the narrator ’ s adventurous excursions. He brings the excitement of the exotic environment into the domestic setting where his reader is situated. As the reader is explicitly invited by the narrator to walk with him, the narrator also explicitly directs the reader ’ s gaze. In the quote above, just as in a panoramic display, the narrator unfolds the vista of the landscape around Thebes. It is marked by vastness, as the mentioning of the sites visible a «Viertelstunde vor uns» implies, while at the same time conveying a sense of boundedness, as the narrator is clearly able to encompass this vastness within his gaze and thereby his control. In another part of the text, the narrator continues: «Es schien mir bei der Besichtigung Thebens sehr wesentlich, daß der Beschauer stufenweise vom Geringeren zum Höheren fortschreite, das Gegenteil würde ihm die Hälfte des Genusses rauben» (330). Here, Thebes is objectified as something neatly portioned out according to different degrees of enjoyment. The experience of visiting and touring Thebes is presented as a commodity complete with its own manual to ensure that the consumer gets the most out of this experience. Pückler ’ s preferred mode of traveling by way of the dahabiyah, the passenger sailboat which was popular among Egypt travelers until the end of the nineteenth century, represents a central aspect of his scenic descriptions. First and foremost it constitutes a middle ground, a space in which the traveler can enjoy European comfort and convenience while gliding through a threateningly different Oriental environment. Traveling by dahabiyah is, according to Pückler, akin to experiencing Egypt remotely «wo man in seiner Stube und von aller gewohnten Häuslichkeit umgeben, so gemächlich auf dem alten Nil hingleitet, daß man kaum des Schiffes Bewegung bemerkt» (98). Egypt itself is removed from reality, reduced to what he later describes as «die vorüberziehenden Bilder nur durch die Fenster betrachtend» (108). The actual landscape is turned into a display: «Oft, wenn ich mich an dieser nicht abbrechenden Reihe exotischer Bilder ergötzte und dann meinen Blick auf das hohe kühle Laubdach über mir warf, [. . .] kam es mir vor, als sei ich noch in Europa und betrachte nur aus einer Allee des Wiener Praters oder Berliner Tiergartens ein gemaltes Diorama Ägyptens» (167). The framing of the cabin window and the frame of the overhanging foliage create a barrier which is emphasized by the contrast in levels of comfort and luxury between the ship and life on the river banks. Both the position of the spectator in the cabin and the landscape outside are perceived as interior, bounded spaces, a circumstance which not only creates a safety buffer for the traveler, but also renders the surrounding landscape as a series of harmless, passive vistas. 240 Daniela Richter Looking at the parallels between Pückler ’ s scenic depictions on the one hand and visual spectacles such as the panorama and diorama on the other highlights the importance of control and dominance for European travelers and readers when confronted with the Orient and particularly with contemporary Oriental culture. Whereas today ’ s travel culture aims at immersing the traveler within the respective foreign culture, this is clearly not the case here. Experiences in the Middle East such as the ones made by the British Richard Burton and T. E. Lawrence and the German Carl Raswan who immersed themselves in Middle Eastern culture begin to appear only towards the end of the nineteenth century. The first half of that century, however, reveals an initial approach towards the region that still holds fast to established European concepts of the Orient. The simultaneous attraction and fear of the Oriental Other is conveyed through the framing of the travel experience, a framing that encloses the traveler as well as the landscape and sites he traverses into a space of their own. The traveler is cocooned inside his boat, surrounded by European comforts, allowing for a selective exposure to the Egyptian landscape, which in turn remains distant and unobtrusive at all times. In his travelogue Aus Mehemed Alis Reich, then, Pückler clearly offers his reader much more than a truthful report of his journey. In a text replete with suspense, variation, and transitions between scenic overviews and detailed illustrations he constructed his Egyptian experiences as exotic adventures. As Frederick N. Bohrer observes, «exoticism is a process. It is constituted by, and cannot be seen apart from, a system of circulation. [. . .] exoticist artifacts, whether visual or verbal, are not created in a vacuum, but rather employ terms of reference from the particular, historically specific, Western audiences they address» (11). Locating Pückler within this larger frame of reference and reading his travelogue as a verbal construction of the exotic helps us understand how he utilized and interwove popular culture aspects of the Orient, a conglomerate of visual, textual, and performative elements, with his travel experiences to create his own unique style of travel writing. Notes 1 Throughout this article I shall use the term «Orient» to refer to the region and culture of the Middle East. In the nineteenth century the term denoted a much wider cultural and geographical area, encompassing Asia and its cultures as well. 2 See Lemke for photographs of his collection of nineteenthand early twentiethcentury advertisements and postcards depicting consumer goods such as coffee and cigarettes being marketed using Oriental imagery. 241 Inside the Oriental Spectacle 3 Parallel to the Orient as a topos in popular and entertainment culture, there was also an increased scholarly engagement with the Middle East, in particular with its ancient culture. In her seminal work Orientalism in the Age of Empire, Marchand outlines in great detail the development of Orientalism as an academic field, a development which has its roots in the German Romantic movement. Orientalism was initially dedicated solely to the study of Oriental languages and later branched out into fields such as archaeology, Sinology and Egyptology. 4 Along with the development in general travels to Egypt, we see the first travel guides being published in 1830 by J. J. Rifaud (Tableau de l ’ Égypte, de la Nubie et des lieux circonvoisins) and in 1847 by Gardner Wilkinson (Handbook for Travellers in Egypt). German tourism to the region develops more slowly, and hence Baedeker published its guide on Egypt only in 1877 (Reid 71; Gregory 118). 5 Pückler ’ s other popular works include: Briefe eines Verstorbenen: Ein fragmentarisches Tagebuch aus Deutschland, Holland und England (1832); Tutti Frutti: Aus den Papieren des Verstorbenen (1834); Vorletzter Weltgang von Semilasso: Traum und Wachen. Aus den Papieren des Verstorbenen (1835); and Südöstlicher Bildersaal: Herausgegeben vom Verfasser der Briefe eines Verstorbenen (1840 - 41). 6 For a more detailed discussion of the narrator in Pückler ’ s Aus Mehemed Alis Reich see Daniela Richter «Oriental flânerie: Fürst Pückler-Muskau ’ s Aus Mehemed Alis Reich» (to be published in the 2015 winter issue of German Quarterly). 7 In fact, all of his works, with the exception of his Andeutungen über Landschaftsgärtnerei (1834), were published anonymously, showing that Pückler preferred to continue his popular streak with the subsequent publication of more entertaining travelogues. This was undoubtedly tied to the financial necessity behind Pückler ’ s writing which he admits in a letter to fellow writer Ida von Hahn-Hahn: «Ich glaube, Sie geben mir eine Ohrfeige, wenn ich die Aufrichtigkeit so weit treibe Ihnen zu gestehen, daß ich sogar ein wenig um ’ s Geld schreibe» (Fischer 184). 8 The initial inspiration for this form of visual entertainment came from English landscape gardening with its «carefully orchestrated sequence of vistas and events,» a technique of which Pückler was himself not only an admirer, but also a specialist (Wurst 332). 9 Towards the end of the century, the term «diorama» was used in connection with museum exhibitions to denote large, often life-sized, displays, featuring a panoramic background painting with artifacts, figurines, or mounted animals in the front. This kind of diorama, while not simulating movement, still allows for the illusion of depth because of the panoramic background paintings. 10 Portraying the temples and monuments in isolation from all forms of contemporary Egyptian life and culture was common in the visual arts of the time as well, as engravings and drawings of these monuments from the nineteenth century demonstrate. The 1985 edition of Pückler ’ s travelogue features engravings from Richard Lepsius ’ s Egypt expedition, which took place only a few years after Pückler ’ s own. These pictures show the temples as situated in the desert, without any human figures or traces of human settlement nearby. 11 According to Haddad, bargaining with its inherent instability of price and value was - and still is today - a source of anxiety for most northern European travelers. 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