The Red Room · Chapter
XVIII: Nihilism explained
Arvid Falk is visited by Struve, who asks for a dress-coat for his child's funeral and reveals he is unmarried and his child was unbaptized.
What happens
Arvid Falk is visited by Struve, who asks for a dress-coat for his child's funeral and reveals he is unmarried and his child was unbaptized. Struve also mentions his wife's religious anxieties. Later, Falk reads a letter from Olle Montanus describing the farcical creation of a statue of Unbelief for a church, exposing the hypocrisy and commercialism behind religious art. The chapter ends with Falk returning to his own writing.
Themes in this chapter
Hypocrisy and Corruption
Struve's defense of official Christianity in his newspaper contrasts with his personal life and willingness to deny the faith for his wife's comfort; Montanus's letter exposes the hypocrisy of religious art created by cynical artists and scholars.
Artistic Integrity vs. Commercialism
Montanus describes how he and Lundell created religious art for money and reputation, using friends as models and mocking the pretensions of the church and academy.
Illusion vs. Reality
Falk's writing on the visible world as a delusion echoes the chapter's theme; the church art is a facade hiding the true motives of the artists and clergy.
Death and Existential Despair
The funeral of Struve's unbaptized child and the wife's fear about the child's salvation reflect existential anxieties about death and the afterlife.
Characters to notice
- Arvid Falk
Visited by Struve; agrees to lend his dress-coat and attend the funeral; later reads Montanus's letter and returns to his writing.
- Struve
Asks Falk for a dress-coat for his child's funeral; reveals he is unmarried and his child was unbaptized; discusses his wife's religious scruples.
- Olle Montanus
Author of a letter to Falk describing the making of a statue of Unbelief and the hypocrisy of the church art project.
- Charles Nicholas Falk
Mentioned by Struve as being seen at a church council and having a promising future.
- Falander
Mentioned in Montanus's letter as the model for the statue of Unbelief and as a Roman centurion in Lundell's altarpiece.
- Rehnhjelm
Mentioned in Montanus's letter as the model for Christ in Lundell's altarpiece.
- Lundell
Mentioned in Montanus's letter as the painter of the altarpiece, including a self-portrait as the repenting thief.
- Isaac Levi
Mentioned by Struve as a fellow mourner at the funeral; an employee of the Triton and a decent man.
Key passages
“I want to ask you whether you would come with me to the churchyard.”
Struve asks Falk to accompany him to his child's funeral.
Struve reveals his personal troubles and seeks Falk's support.
“I am the landlord's deputy—Smith owns the property—I live there rent free on condition that I collect the rents; whenever the rents are not forthcoming, the people talk nonsense which he has put into their heads about capital and labour, and other things which fill the columns of the Socialistic press.”
Struve explains his role as Smith's rent collector and blames socialist ideas for tenants' complaints.
Highlights Struve's compromised position and the class tensions in the city.
“It was my task to make a statue of Unbelief, as a companion to the figure of Faith, in accordance with the directions of the professors.”
Montanus was commissioned to create a statue representing Unbelief to match an existing Faith statue.
Illustrates the artificial and academic nature of the religious art project.
