Alfred Döblin e a questão da mímesis em Berlim Alexanderplatz

Abstract

There are many discussions about the representation of reality in Western literature. However, theoretical aspects about the notion of mimesis still present themselves as a field to be explored. This work aims to discuss the notion of mimesis at play in the work Berlin Alexanderplatz by German author Alfred Döblin. Taking, initially, Erich Auerbach's analysis of the representation of reality in the modernist period, it will be evident that the author of Mimesis, when considering the techniques used at the time to represent a more genuine reality, will exclude the appropriation of cinematographic resources by the romance. This would justify Auerbach's silence in relation to the work Berlin Alexanderplatz, which features as its main stylistic mark the use of montage and the so-called Kinostil. We will demonstrate how such resources not only broaden the notion of mimesis on a theoretical level but also help to measure the originality of Döblin's novel in light of the stylistic innovations analyzed by Auerbach in the last chapter of Mimesis. We will seek, using Luiz Costa Lima's reflections on mimesis as theoretical support, to demonstrate that, in Döblin, a broader and more complex notion of “representation of reality” is presented than the traditional notion endorsed by Auerbach. Analyzing the Döblinian theory on the production of the epic work and revisiting the author's essays, we will show that in Berlin Alexanderplatz the Döblinian style corroborates Döblin's great originality and the theoretical limitation of Auerbach's analysis of the “representation of reality” in the European modernist novel. Finally, based on analyzes of the work, it will be possible to see how Döblin combines theory and practice, contributing to expanding the notion of mimesis in the 20th century