INTERTEXTUAL PALLETTE IN WILLIAM HOWARD GASS’S “THE TUNNEL”: RAINER MARIA RILKE’S LITERARY PARALLELS IN THE NOVEL

Abstract

The given article presents an overview and initial analysis of the manifold influences of R. M. Rilke’s poetry and prose on William H. Gass’s “The Tunnel”. The American writer and literary scholar W. H. Gass repeatedly acknowledged Rilke’s profound impact on his novel. Undertaking our research of the particular manifestations of Rilke’s “presence” in “The Tunnel”, we are naturally guided, and motivated, by a challenging task of specifying those fragments and chunks of the text as well as underlying ideas and concepts which were borrowed from Rilke, which could be traced back to his works. Our opening research into the problem specified has brought forth the following results. Intertextual links of “The Tunnel” are manifold, the Rilkean parallels being profound, versatile and fruitful. The core of Rilkean influence is formed by sharing much from the poetics of Rilke’s novel “The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge” — an artist’s vision, forms of delineating things (Dinge), some plot lines and narratives, a device of inserted stories, auto fictionality, philosophically charged, reflexive prose writing, autobiographical narrative. Besides, “The Tunnel” features dozens of parallels with Rilke’s poetical works.