Franz Karl Biberkopf als sein-zum-tode. Das 'lied des todes' in Alfred Dôblins Berlin Alexanderplatz als vorlaufendes todesbewusstsein Heideggers

Abstract

The critical literature on Alfred Doblin's Berlin Alexanderplatz offers many different readings of the novel's ending. Thus the question, whether the protagonist Franz Biberkopf follows a new individualism or finally fits into an understood community in the last chapters has not satisfactorily been answered. Yet there is agreement on two things. First, that a fundamental change takes place within Biberkopf and leads him to an elementary insight. Second, it is undoubtedly his encounter with death that gives rise to this insight. Proceeding from these assumptions, this article investigates the similarities of Berlin Alexanderplatz and Heidegger's philosophical theory. An existential-ontologic approach to the figure of death enables us to explain how Franz Biberkopf can survive his own death. Furthermore, this reading of the novel helps to clarify the seemingly inconsistent ending and tries to solve the antagonism between individualistic and collective interpretations.