Has there ever been a work of fiction that revolves primarily around the menstrual cycle and menopause? Much less one written by a male author? Thomas Mann's late novella Die Betrogene ("The Deceived One" - published in English as The Black Swan) is an astonishing bookend to his more famous Der Tod in Venedig - written 42 years earlier. Both works deal with familiar Mann themes: the pathology of erotic love ("Liebestod"), the dualism of Body and Soul (Seele), of Geist and Nature, the mythological references. But in Betrogene the gender of the central figure is reversed. In Venedig Gustav von Aschenbach is a famous writer in his fifties; Rosalie von Tümmler is a rather shallow widow also in her fifties. Both become enthralled by much younger male figures: Aschenbach by the adolescent Tadzio, Rosalie by the young American Ken Keaton in his early twenties. In both cases, the unconsummated erotic infatuation results in death.
Early on in Betrogene the dialogue turns to the topic of menstruation. Rosalie is out for a stroll in the garden with her daughter Anna, when Anna experiences cramps and wants to return home. The mother gently chastises Anna, insinuating that Anna's discomfort is due to her intellectualism (Anna is an accomplished abstract painter) - she is too disconnected from her body (Natur). But Rosalie is also jealous of her daughter, since she herself is going through menopause, and sees the menstrual cycle as an essential component of her femininity:
"...seit zwei Monaten schon ist es überhaupt nicht mehr eingetreten [...] dann sind wir eben kein Weib mehr, sondern nur noch die vertrocknete Hūlle con einem solchen, verbraucht, untauglich, ausgeschieden aus der Natur."
What draws Rosalie out her post-menopausal funk is the appearance of the young American English tutor - Ken Keaton - a decorated war veteran (having lost a kidney in combat), and a history buff with respect to the Rhineland (the story takes place in Düsseldorf. Thomas Mann, an aficionado of male beauty, offers a detailed physical description: "jugendlich kräftig, mit langen Beinen und schmalen Hüften." Roslie's sexual attraction is heightened by Keaton's reputation as a ladies man (er habe viel Glück bei Frauen). Anna is horrified by her mother's erotic interest and urges her to take a more maternal approach in her relationship with Keaton. The story takes place in the 1920s - during the Weimar Republic - and it is interesting that Rosalie points to the more relaxed sexual mores in Germany as a justification for her desire to sleep with Keaton: "Wir haben jetzt die Republik, wir haben die Freiheit, und die Begriffe haben sich sehr verāndert zum Légèren."
At the high point of the novella a joyful Rosalie announces to her daughter the apparent "resurrection" ("Ostern der Weiblichkeit") of her menstrual period. She sees this miracle as a sign that she can now consummate her sexual desire for Keaton. The von Tümmler family and Keaton undertake an excursion to Holterhof Castle where Rosalie symbolically "eats" her would-be lover by eating the bread warmed by Keaton's body that was meant for the black swans. The two manage to leave the others through a hidden door leading to a crypt-like alcove where Rosalie confesses her love and desire to Keaton. Shortly after this, Rosalie collapses: the "miracle" of the reappearing menstrual period turns out to be a sympton of advanced uterine cancer. Nature had performed a massive deception. What follows is a highly clinical description of her cancer and the treatment. Surgery determines that the cancer has metastasized and death is imminent. The doctor infers that Rosalie's sexual passion may have accelerated the growth of the tumor:
"„Da wird denn der Organismus post festum, wenn sie so wollen, mit estrogenen Hormonen überschüttet, überströmt, überschwemmt, was zur hormonalen Hyperplasie der Gebärmutter-Schleimhaut mit obligaten Blutungen führt“, doziert Dr. Muthesius."
The social philosopher Theodor Adorno wrote a long letter to Thomas Mann praising his "nasty" (fiese) depiction of death in Betrogene, which he contrasted to the "bourgeois" tendency to either glorify death or to sanitize it beyond all recognition. Mann may have been very well thinking about his own death in writing the novella: a little over a year after publication he died of arteriosclerosis in Zurich.
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