Sex, Metaphorical Drugs, and the Dissolution of Boundaries in the Perception of Time: Robert Muller’s Tropen: Der Mythos Der Reise (Tropics. The Myth of Travel) From 1915 Serves as an almost Forgotten Example

Authors: Gunter Wolf*

DOI: 10.23880/abca-16000285

Volume 9, Issue 2

Abstract

Mental disorders are characterized by changes in the subjective structure of time (duration, speed, continuity, past/future reference). Examples include the time slowdown experienced in depression and the accelerated perception of time in mania and certain forms of schizophrenia. Other disturbances of time perception, such as blackouts, memory gaps, feelings of being “outside of time,” or interruptions in the linearity of time, have been described in various psychiatric diseases. Not surprisingly, these phenomena have provided raw material for many authors. A classic literary example is Sylvia Plath’s 1953 autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar, in which the days drag on and action seems suspended, revealing a narrowing of the future horizon due to the protagonist's severe depression. A less well-known literary example of mental alteration associated with pathological perceptions of time, partly induced by the tropical environment, is the Tropen by Viennese expressionist author Robert Müller (1887–1924), who, similar to Sylvia Plath, committed suicide. Müller's novel is not widely recognized in English-speaking countries, and only excerpts have been translated into English thus far. The purpose of this article is to familiarize interested readers with Müllers’ life and describe the various characters and their mental disturbances found in the novel.

Keywords: Changes in the Subjective Structure of Time; Mental Disorders; Robert Müller; Tropics; Literary Expressionism; Austrian Autho

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