The Female Principle in a Woman: Clavdia Chauchat

Abstract

Clavdia Chauchat—the name arouses and provokes the reader as it provokes Hans Castorp when he first hears it. As he does, one might well ask: is she French? She is not, though her absent husband might be. We never find out. But knowing Mann’s care, wit, and subtlety in choosing names for his characters, we attend to the sound and meaning of first name and surname. In contrast to the soft sibilance of the last name, “Clavdia”, especially in its Slavic variant, sounds harsh. With his sense for words, Mann must have known the commonly accepted etymology of the name. “Clavdia” means “the lame one”. If we equate lameness with disease, we can see that, like her vaunted freedom, Clavdia’s erotic attraction derives precisely from this quality. Why, however, a last name like “Chauchat” for a woman who seems to stand for the East, for the holy barbarism of Russia? First of all, what does it mean? Warm cat. The catlike quality of Clavdia is again and again confirmed by her catlike movements and her noiseless walk. Her feline grace is constantly emphasized. Even her speech is likened by Doctor Behrens to the miauwing of a kitten.¹