The paradox of time in Hermann Broch's die Schlafwandler

Beginning with the contentious question as to whether Hermann Broch's 'Die Schlafwandler' belongs to the genre of the 'Zeitroman', i.e. the period novel, this article discusses modes of time representation in the trilogy. Instead of proving or disproving mimetic representation of reality, the article proposes taking the genre literally and asking what 'Zeit' is in the novel. Exploring time and representations thereof in Broch's monumental novel, the reader often encounters instances in which time is obliterated or the general progression of time is interrupted, most notably during the characters' moments of sleepwalking. These instances, however, are paradoxical in that they are not absolute, but always connected with the time outside these bubbles of timelessness, with universal time, or with the measurable time of clocks. The article proposes a discussion of time or epoch representation, and ultimately probes the question of the 'Zeitroman' in light of these paradoxical moments of time obliteration.