Sabba elettrici. Corpo, mente e visione nel fantastico tedesco del primo Novecento

The revival of the Schauerroman in the 1910s is marked by a mixture of elements resulting, on one hand, from the 19th century romantic, irrational and occultist-esoteric traditions and, on the other one, from positivistic culture and concepts, i.e. the scientific and technological innovations and the psychical and psychological analytical investigations at the beginning of the century. In the works of authors like Hanns Heinz Ewers, (1871-1943), Karl Hans Strobl (1877-1946), or the group who edited Der Orchideengarten (1918-1921), fantastic impulses gathered and prompted ‘deceptive’ visions of reality. The goal of such writers was to grasp the sensation of other realms of reality where to get in touch beyond the common perception of the world, through an enhancement of artificial, chemical, alchemical or technological nature, and whereby the Modern and the Premodern conflated into each other. This contribution aims at analyzing Strobl’s 1900s and 1910s works as well as some short stories by other authors of the same period.