Tarot History Forum

Bd. 2. Maskenspiel der Genien. 1958
Tarockanische Miniaturen. Graz u. a. 1964
Tarockanische Geheimnisse. Wien 1974
Perle und Tarockanien. München 1980 (zusammen mit Alfred Kubin)

Fritz von Herzmanovsky-Orlando
Das Maskenspiel der Genien
Roman
....

Durch eine Kastentür gelangt der verwaiste, ledige Cyriak von Pizzicolli, der sein Leben lang nie weit von Graz weggekommen ist, auf Traumpfaden in die Tarockei, „das einzige Nachbarland der Welt“, ein magisch bevölkertes Phantasiegebilde eines österreichisch-byzantinischen Utopia, dessen Verfassung auf den Regeln des Tarockspiels gründet. Was ihm dort widerfährt, nachdem er der atemberaubend schönen Cyparis ansichtig wird, und warum er am Ende ein Hirschgeweih auf dem Kopf trägt, kann Ihnen nur dieses Buch erzählen und niemand anderer als Fritz von Herzmanovsky-Orlando.

„Maskenspiel der Genien“ ist sein Hauptwerk und zugleich ein Hauptwerk der österreichischen Literatur des 20. Jahrhunderts – die phantastische Schwester von Musils „Mann ohne Eigenschaften“, eine Alice im Wunderland, die durch Kafkas Schloss stolpert, ein von Einfällen und Witz überquellender, wunderschöner Alptraum!

Der dritte Teil, "Das Maskenspiel der Genien", ist eigentlich ein utopischer Roman, der 1966 spielt, in dem noch zu erfindenden Königreich "Tarockei". Die Könige werden auf Grund von Ähnlichkeiten der Könige im Tarockspiel gewählt.

Herzmanovsky-Orlando stattet seine Texte immer mit antiken Grundmustern aus. Der Protagonist, der in Sticksenstein - erinnert an den antiken Unterweltfluss Styx - geboren wurde, verlässt seine Heimat, fährt in die Tarockei und erlebt skurrile Abenteuer. Hier spielt auch das Androgyne eine Rolle, die Zweideutigkeit der Geschlechter, das noch ein weites Feld für die Genderforschung bereithält. Diese Bilder riefen eine sittliche Entrüstung hervor.

Der Protagonist ist eine moderne Figuration des Akteon, dem Held aus den Metamorphosen Ovids, der unschuldig von der Göttin Artemis in einen Hirschen verwandelt wird und von seinen eigenen Hunden zerfleischt wird. Herzmanovsky-Orlando greift immer wieder die Thematik von der Präsenz der Antike in der Gegenwart auf und treibt somit sein mythologisches Spiel mit der Realität.

Bereits Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts lernte Herzmanovsky-Orlando Karl Wolfskehl, Oskar A. H. Schmitz, Gustav Meyrink, Alfred Kubin und den Linzer Sammler und Kulturhistoriker Anton Maria Pachinger kennen, mit denen ihn lebenslange Freundschaft verband. Nach dem Ende des Zweiten Weltkriegs bemühte er sich etwa um die Rückkehr Wolfskehls aus dem neuseeländischen Exil.
...
Zahlreiche Erzählungen widmen sich dem anekdotischen Umfeld seines Bekanntenkreises ("Dem Andenken der großen Naiven Stella Hohenfels", "Don Carlos", "Kleine Geschichten um Gustav Meyrink", "Beethovens letzte Magd" und andere)

In 1889, together with the nephew of poet Christian Morgenstern, Meyrink established his own banking company, named "Meier & Morgenstern".

At that time Meyrink also was a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in London. This is evidenced by the letter from William Wynn Westcott (1893), which has remained in Meyrink's private archives. He was also member of the Theosophical Society, but only temporarily.

"Another World and Yet the Same: Bishop Joseph Hall's "Mundus Alter et Idem" (Yale studies in English)
Obviously, as the translator and editor of this book I am prejudiced in its favor, but I do think it's a book that more people should know about. Written in Latin in 1605, it attempts to show that travel may not lead one to more wonderful lands; in fact, many of the lands one visits may actually be repulsive places. Mercurius Britannicus, the narrator of this book, travels to four very repulsive lands, including a land of gluttons and drunkards, a land of fools, and a land of thieves and mountebanks. In each place he visits, there are recognizable parallels to places rather close to home, places Europeans would know rather well. For example, in the first land he visits, the ruler is chosen by weight and the circumference of his stomach. Should he at any time lose weight, he is immediately deposed, and the crown handed to the next most corpulent leader. Americans, who have been subjected to senators, governors, and presidents who have little to recommend them, should see this hyperbole as applicable to our own government. (And the parallels to Germany's Oktoberfest are obviously intentional.) Written some 89 years after More's Utopia, it is the first dystopia--a genre that has led to such wonderful modern works as Brave New World and 1984. Generally available only in libraries (only 800 copies were printed), it's worth reading if you can find it.

from
http://www.amazon.com/Another-World-Yet ... 0300026137

mikeh wrote:For a fairly lengthy quote from the English translation of Hall's book (uncredited, unfortunately), see

http://www.associazioneletarot.it/page. ... 52&lng=ENG

The English translation of the book is in a couple of libraries where I have borrowing privileges, so if there's anything of particular interest not answered in Vitali's essay, let me know. I did read much of it.

None of these men ventures anywhere except when loaded down with weapons, so that even he who may have few clothes will, nevertheless, not be without all sorts of arms. That man, no less than if he had been hired as Mars's porter, carries a musket on his right arm, a cudgel to on his left, a sword on one side, a dagger on the other, and a bow and a quiver on his back wherever he travels. Anyone who meets him going along the road, unless he yield the road a long way off, must prepare himself for battle, or death is inevitable. It is a rare trip without a wound or even a murder; and once someone kills a person he tears him to pieces most ravenously, for the citizens always feed on raw flesh, usually human, which they reckon among the most splendid of feasts, and they intoxicate themselves with the drained-off blood. There are no laws there: by force and by arms are all things decided. An injury suffered is either revenged or endured. Only this one rule governs, obtained from ancient law: "Conquer and enjoy".

Dueling is permitted either to seek revenge, or to recover what is yours, or to seize what is someone else's. But if more than two assemble and join in the struggle, whoever remains alive is bound over into the Duke's custody. It is evident that this is an astute decree from the Duke, since it opportunely guards against the seeds of conspiracies, and under this pretext he procures better food for his table. The Duke's seat is called Tarochium, a vast city but completely made of wood, for the tyrant would permit it to be constructed from no other material, lest it be impossible to have it burned at his whim when the citizens have offended.

"No one lives here, except blacksmiths, executioners, and butchers in whose shops hang the legs of men, no differently than the legs of swine or cattle hang with us. To this city flows the torrential River Zornus (4), which they say runs even in the middle of winter, emanating heat like a mineral spring and giving off ill-smelling vapors. (Book Three: Moronia. Chapter 5: Orgilia, the Second Province of Moronia Aspera. Verses 6-34).

mikeh wrote:Hall's text is of interest because it shows the popular meaning of "tarocch-", as "crazy person, hot-head", etc., a suitable description of the inhabitants. There is nothing in the book about card playing that I remember (I'll check next time I'm at the library). He might have learned that meaning from acquaintances observing the game of tarocchi with him, but we don't know.