Anima Rising

The narrative returns to 1911.

Wally and Ella, a pregnant 15-year-old model, find a huge dog at the door of Klimt’s studio. Judith recognizes it as Geoff, but she doesn’t remember how she knows this Malamute dog. Klimt sends Wally and Ella to the store for pastries and cigarettes. Ella asks Wally if Judith is Klimt’s new favorite. Wally reassures Ella that Klimt finds Judith fascinating but doesn’t sleep with her like he does his other models, Wally and Ella included. Klimt falls in love with every woman he sees naked, so Ella worries Klimt doesn’t love her anymore. Wally reminds her that Klimt pays her even when she doesn’t model. Wally thinks Klimt views the women the way he views his cats: He loves them, but “doesn’t know their names” (93).

Ella and Wally notice Van Beek, a malevolent fixer and former Dutch police officer, watching them. Van Beek seeks to capture Judith alive and without Geoff. He followed Thiessen, the decapitated Dutch police officer, across Vienna. Thiessen had Geoff with him when someone murdered him. Van Beek tried to intervene but found him dead with an empty dog leash.

Wally and Ella return to the studio and tell Klimt that Van Beek stalked them. Klimt wants to help Judith recover her memories, so he agrees to send a message to Freud to request his help. He also plans to meet the police commandant for a round of fencing.

Klimt and Judith take a horse-drawn cab to Freud’s office as carriages and automobiles whizz by them. Klimt tells Judith to lie to Freud about how Klimt found her. They concoct a story in which Klimt found Judith after a horse ran her down. He also tells Judith to speak only in German and to keep the Dutch police officer a secret. Judith agrees.

In Freud’s clinic, Ian Bauman, the young man Freud dined with at Café Landtmann, brings them upstairs to Freud’s office. As Klimt and Freud talk privately, Judith notes Freud’s collection of figurines, one of which she recognizes: a man with a dog’s head and golden walking staff. Judith wonders if Freud will help her understand the voices in her head: One guides her to help and feed others, inspiring her to steal and distribute the trout; another guides her toward “mischief and trickery”; the third comprises “raw and unarticulated” (104) feelings that Judith thinks must be who she once was.

Freud takes Judith into a smaller room and begins a free association exercise. He hopes to reach Judith’s subconscious, as he thinks trauma or fear is suppressing Judith’s memories of who she is. Freud says words and asks Judith to respond with whatever comes to mind. She repeats violent words like “kill” and the word “sandwich” repeatedly (109). Freud asks why, so she admits she’s hungry and that she hoped to disturb him with her desire for violence because she thinks he looks down on her. Freud believes she resents men, including Klimt, who named her after a Jewish heroine from the Bible who seduced and beheaded the Assyrian general Holofernes to save her people. Freud also believes Judith has penis envy.

Judith finds the penis envy theory ridiculous. Klimt takes her back to the studio and plans to paint her, but she first needs a gown. Klimt informs Judith that he will spend the rest of the summer with his friend Emilie at Attersea Lake. Judith will remain in the studio with Wally and Egon while completing sessions with Freud.

Emilie Flöge is Klimt’s romantic “companion” (115). Klimt’s models find her fascinating because she’s old, tall, and successful. She’s 37 and owns Schwestern Flöge, a renowned fashion house that makes Reform-style gowns. Klimt’s models imagine that she and Klimt have a BDSM relationship, which isn’t true. Wally, Judith, and Geoff head to Emilie’s studio for Judith’s gown. Wally tells Judith to keep Klimt’s sexual relationships with his models a secret, as Emilie doesn’t know the truth.

At the studio, Emilie initially assumes they’re sex workers or “street urchins” (117). Wally introduces them as Klimt’s models, and Emilie takes them upstairs for a fitting; Geoff remains tied up outside. While measuring Judith, Emilie reveals that she knows about Klimt sleeping with his models, including the four women he’s had children with, four boys all named Gustav. Emilie and Klimt, whom she calls Gus, “adore” each other even though she knows he’s a “dog” (119).

Judith tells Emilie the truth about how Klimt found her, her missing memories and sessions with Freud, and the murdered Dutch man. Emilie knows Freud’s work and scorns his mistaken assumptions about how all lower-class women experienced abuse as infants or feel jealousy about their parents’ relationships. Emilie tells Judith that Freud fears trains. The fitting finishes. Judith sees Geoff chasing Van Beek outside the studio’s window. Judith runs after them. Before Wally follows, Emilie offers Wally a job at the studio. Wally agrees to consider it.

Klimt fences with Commandant Kruger. Afterward, over drinks, Klimt questions Kruger about the decapitated Dutch man. Kruger reveals he was a police officer named Thiessen who was pursuing a series of unsolved murders and had taken a leave of absence to follow a lead to Switzerland. Thiessen was after a woman and a dog. Kruger thinks someone hired Thiessen to find an errant wife who’d run off with a lover. Klimt doesn’t buy this theory.

Judith has another session with Freud. Judith assumes Klimt is paying, but Freud is doing the sessions as a favor to Klimt. Judith then assumes Freud wants her to have sex with him, but Freud refuses. He hypnotizes Judith and asks her to recall her earliest memory. She remembers being in a box with a man named Adam, her “brother and murderer,” raping her while dogs whimper outside (131).

The narrative transitions to Judith’s backstory.

Judith opened her eyes and saw Adam. She called him a “butt puddle” (132), the same thing she’d called Walton when he’d peeked in her crate. Adam noted that Judith said that to him before he’d murdered her. She sat up in her box, no longer trapped in the inner compartment Frankenstein built: Adam had taken her out to rape her. Judith became upset that Adam had killed Geoff. Adam said that he’d killed Frankenstein and her husband, too. Judith didn’t remember having a husband; Adam wasn’t certain the man was Judith’s husband, but he’d died defending Judith. Adam had killed Judith the first time because she was the tallest woman he’d ever seen.

Judith remained in the box as Adam dragged her north. Adam raped her daily, and she insulted him during each traumatic ordeal. Judith realized she could read, so she and Adam read Shakespeare and Chaucer to each other. Judith convinced Adam to untie her. Adam forced her to help pull the sledge, beating her until she complied. Frankenstein’s elixir gave both of them incredible strength but ravenous hunger. They continued north until they saw an Indigenous person. Adam abandoned the sledge and dragged Judith after the man, finding him again on an island. Adam told Judith they must hide and watch the Inuit man. Judith noticed a giant icicle, ripped it free, and stabbed Adam in the eye, but he knocked her out.

The narrative returns to 1911.

Freud asks Judith what she sees in the darkness. She says “Akhlut” and “Tulugaak” and then adds, “Raven […] I am dead and we are Raven” (143).

Van Beek decides to stop using Mother Hagen’s cough syrup, which contains opium, until after he captures Judith. He believes the opium makes Geoff appear much larger and scarier. Geoff chases Van Beek away from the fashion studio. Van Beek hides between buildings until he hears a woman say “Aakka, Akhlut! Aakka!” (145). He looks, and Geoff appears to be a normal dog again. Van Beek runs away, drinks more cough syrup, and sends a telegram to another fixer in Amsterdam, requesting more money and reinforcements to catch Judith.

Judith tells Wally about the memories she uncovered with Freud. Wally, Judith, and Egon will soon travel to Krumau, a medieval town where Egon’s mother was born. Egon has rented a house for them. Also coming are artist Anton Peschka and Gertie, who will model for Anton. Wally thinks she’s falling for Egon, whom she has sex with after he draws her nude. Judith, remembering her sexual trauma, asks if Egon hurts Wally. Wally assures her that he doesn’t and promises to protect Judith from further pain. Judith remembers that she’s English, yet she can somehow speak all languages. She doesn’t know her name but recalls a tall, feathered man saying, “We were raven” (148), which makes Wally worry about Judith’s mental health.

Klimt and Egon meet in a café before they’re interrupted by Adolf Hitler, a minor artist who wants advice from Klimt. Hitler has failed to gain admittance to art school twice. Klimt refuses to give him any critique, and Hitler goes on an antisemitic tirade before leaving. Hitler reveals that famous composer Gustav Mahler is dead. Egon tells Klimt about his summer plans, and Klimt asks him to protect Judith as her traumatic memories continue resurfacing, including protecting her from Anton. Egon agrees. Klimt reminds him of the story of Icarus.