The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge

Brigge is a writer. As well as writing the notebook that constitutes the novel, he claims to have written other works that were, by his own admission, poorly received. Brigge believes that these attempts at writing failed because he lacks the knowledge and maturity needed to tackle the impossible complexity of life. The more he learns about the world and the more he tries to infuse this knowledge into his writing, the more he comes to realize that life is so incredibly complicated that there is no possible way for his writing to be a truly accurate portrayal of the world. Brigge’s notes are his attempt to deal with this issue. Rather than fitting this complexity into a conventional narrative with a beginning, middle and end, Brigge simply catalogues every thought and observation that comes to him without regard to their order or cohesiveness.

Rilke was one of Europe’s foremost Modernist poets, and the style of The Notebooks reflects the Modernist concept that life and experience are nonlinear; language must break its traditional narrative and linguistic constraints to create an authentic expression. Brigge’s failure as an author is as much a commentary on the failure of traditional narrative as it is on Brigge’s lack of literary skill. The Notebooks enacts the Modernist philosophy that everything constitutes life. As such, Brigge’s experiences in the poor slums of Paris must be included next to the stories of his mother reading to him. The stories of his trip to a Roman amphitheater must be included next to his discussions of parables from the Bible. Each entry in the notebook is important, and none is more important than the others. Imposing an order on the notes would destroy their authenticity because they would no longer represent Brigge’s lived, emotional experience. The sheer complexity of life means that everything must be included but this necessity makes traditional literary narrative impossible.

Rilke, via Brigge, sets himself the task of accurately portraying the complexity of life. Brigge believes that this is the only credible goal of a writer, but as he continues to fail, he becomes increasingly frustrated. As with Modernist aesthetics, the emotion dictates the form. The nature and style of Brigge’s entries change to reflect his growing frustration. Brigge becomes exhausted with documenting every horrific detail of his life in Paris. Rather than telling the audience about the depths of his suffering, he turns to the periods in his life which have led him to this point. His memories begin to dominate the text, and he vanishes into nostalgia in an attempt to escape his present. Here, again, he encounters the problem of impossible complexity. Much like his present situation, Brigge's childhood is filled with alienating and unknowable experiences. He suffers traumatic losses of family members, he sees ghosts pass by the dinner table, and falls in love with his aunt. In these memories, he is searching for some tangible connection to the world that he might be able to replicate in his present. Unfortunately for Brigge, each memory only prompts more questions. The more he remembers his mother, for example, the more he remembers the pain of her death. Each thought begets more thoughts, until his memories spiral out of control and leave him deeply unsatisfied and no surer of himself than before. Rilke shows that traditional narrative is unequipped to deal with this level emotional, psychological, and experiential complexity. The form of The Notebooks is more akin to poetry than novelistic fiction; poetry makes connections through language, image, and inference rather than through causally connected plot points. Brigge is unable to find the cause of his present state, and therefore he cannot create a narrative of his life.

Brigge’s turn to the Bible and history solidifies his inability to represent his own story through conventional narrative. The entries in which he describes the life of King Charles VI and discusses the story of the prodigal son are examples of Brigge turning to already formed narratives to frame his story because portraying his life experience has become too overwhelming. He looks to major works of history, culture, and religion to understand himself and others, but in doing so, he changes the trajectory of the entries, destroying the possibility of narrative cohesion. Even though Brigge desperately tries to discover the emotional truth of his life and connect with others, each attempt takes him on a different tangent, further from the center of his original concern. This is the ultimate problem of Brigge's project: Until he understands himself, he will never understand the world around him, but his inner life is infinitely complex. Until then, every search will only lead him back to himself. Brigge's attempt to understand the lives of others only reveals to him how little he knows about his own life.