El ruido y el trabajo

Cuando yo ya era adulto, y había pasado por varios empleos en relación de dependencia, mi viejo glosó para mí las que eran, a su criterio, las tres condiciones fundamentales de un buen trabajo. La…

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German Literature

Germany is a Western European country, having a population of just over eighty-million people and has been involved in more than one world war. German languages and culture can date back to 50BCE when Julius Caesar brought the Romans into contact with the Germanic tribes and Celtic peoples that inhabited what is now known as modern-day Germany. After the Franco-Prussian war (1870–71), Otto von Bismarck, a Prussian statesman united the German states under one empire, creating the German Empire which would last until the end of the First World War. Berlin is the nation’s capital and the country is separated into 16 federal states.

The oldest literary Germanic language, a written form of Gothic was created in circa. 350AD by Ulfilas (this was mainly influenced by the Roman Empire). Germany’s most famous writer from the 18th century is Johann Wolfgang von Goethe who has written more than twenty novels and poems, with his most famous piece of literature being ‘The Sorrows of Young Werther,’ an autobiographical epistolary novel. Probably Germany’s most infamous and controversial book that has ever been released is ‘Mein Kampf’ (My Struggle) by Adolf Hitler. Written during his short time in prison after his failed ‘Coup d’état’ his ideology and personal values were displayed to the world and not only did it engulf Germany at the time, but it shocked the entire world, making Adolf Hitler a household name and a greater influence during the 1930’s. Erich Maria Remarque is also one of Germany’s most famous writers, documenting and creating many works about the horrors of war. Remarque’s experiences during the Great War helped him develop and tell these stories in books such as ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ and ‘Three Comrades’ giving valuable insight into what life was like on the battlefield.

‘Hansel and Gretel’ by the Grimm Brothers is probably one of, if not the most famous short story from German literature. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were the writers of ‘Hansel and Gretel’ which is a part of ‘The Grimms’ Fairy Tales’ a collection of children fairy tales which has been a part of German literature and culture for two centuries. ‘Hansel and Gretel’ follows two children, Hansel and Gretel, who are left wondering the woods after their parents can not afford to feed them, so they leave them stranded in the woods. The two children eventually come across a large cottage made of gingerbread and candy. Hungry and tired, the children begin to eat the roof of the house until a hideous old hag comes out and lures them into the house with more food. Long story short, the old hag is actually a witch who wants to turn the children into pies, however they manage to trick the witch and throw her into the oven while stealing all of her treasure and jewels. This short story has remained to be the most memorable short story from Germany and has been an influence all around the world, being adapted into cartoons, movies and spoofed in television shows. The story is beloved by people of all ages (despite the themes of violence and bad parenting).

Another German short story (or novella in this case), is ‘The Metamorphosis’ by Franz Kafka. ‘The Metamorphosis’ was first published in 1915 and is a story with themes relating to alienation, loneliness and the ‘modern’ changing of people. It is the story of a salesman called Gregor Samsa who wakes up one morning to find himself completely transformed into a huge insect (basically a beetle) and struggles to adjust to his new body. He is quickly rejected and shut out by friends and family and leaves him feeling useless, stuck in his new unattractive body. The narrative is not a joyful one with a happy ending, unlike Hansel and Gretel, instead telling an overall message to the reader and giving them something to think about for a long time. The story focuses on how trustworthy and faithful the closest people around Gregor are and the more he spends time with his family, the more they relent him because of the way he looks. ‘The Metamorphosis’ has been a part of German literature for over a century and includes relatable themes that are still relevant today.

Germany is no stranger to poetry, with famous poets such as Rainer Maria Rilke and Wolfram von Eschenbach being the most well known world wide. Rainer Maria Rilke’s poem called ‘Der Panther’ (The Panther) is one of his most famous poems, with the short poem centred around a panther who is trapped within a cage and wonders of what lies on the outside of the cage. ‘Der Panther’ has been translated by many translators, each of them having their own style of writing, yet remaining within the context of the story. The poems surrounds the idea of forever being trapped and the inevitability of never escaping to find what is really on the outside.

‘Der Panther’ (translation by J.B Leishman)

In the Jardin des Plantes, Paris

His gaze those bars keep passing is so misted
with tiredness, it can take in nothing more.
He feels as though a thousand bars existed,
and no more world beyond them before.

Those supply-powerful paddings, turning there
in the tiniest of circles, well might be
the dance of forces round a center where
some mighty will stands paralyticly.

Just now and then the pupil’s noiseless shutter
is lifted. — Then an image will indart,
down through the limbs’ intensive stillness flutter,
and end its being in the heart.

‘Nibelungenlied’ (The Song of the Nibelungs) is one of Germany’s oldest poems, dating back to around 1200 written in Middle High German by an anonymous poet. It is likely that the poem was written by someone form the region of Passau, southern Germany. The poem plays out like a melodrama, following a prince from the Netherlands, Siegfried, who seeks to marry princess Kriemhild and soon a conflict between royalty and family arise. Siegfried is later destroyed by the ones he thought he could’ve trusted. The poem was one of the first heroic tales from Germany and is often compared to epics such as ‘Beowulf.’

(Extract from ‘Nibelungenlied’, translated by GradeSaver Community)

“Over the sea there dwelt a queen whose like was never known,

for she was of vast strength and surpassing beauty.

With her love as the prize, she vied with brave warriors at throwing the javelin,

and the noble lady also hurled the weight to a great distance and followed with a long leap;

and whoever aspired to her love had, without fail, to win these three tests against her,

or else, if he lost but one, he forfeited his head.”

‘Without You’ is a romantic but also tragic poem by famous German poet, Hermann Hesse, who writes a short poem in first person of a nameless character, describing the agony of not being able to live with another woman who he most dearly loves. The poem begins with the typical romantic cliches of love and being connective, however the reader quickly sees that this character is dreaming about this woman, who he implies has died and he cannot bare her death. Hesse uses particular poetic techniques, such as imagery and similes to display characteristic moods to show how distraught this character is. This poem does not tell or show anything of German culture, however it is a poem that tells the tragedy of love and death.

‘Without You’ (Translation by James Wright)

My Pillow gazes upon me at night

Empty as a gravestone;

I never thought it would be so bitter

To be alone,

Not to lie down asleep in your hair.

I lie alone in a silent house,

The hanging lamp darkened,

And gently stretch out my hands

To gather in yours,

And softly press my warm mouth

Toward you, and kiss myself, exhausted and weak-

Then suddenly I’m awake

And all around me the cold night grows still.

The star in the window shines clearly-

Where is your blond hair,

Where your sweet mouth?

Now I drink pain in every delight

And poison in every wine;

I never knew it would be so bitter

To be alone,

Alone, without you.

One of Lisel Mueller’s most famous poems is ‘Alive Together’ from her book ‘Alive Together: New & Selected Poems’ which was released in 1996. The one stanza poem describes how she could’ve been anyone at any time in history, though she ended up being who she is now and the poem questions whether this is random or it was destined. Mueller has talked about the poem and said that it,”is a kind of catalogue of all the people I was thinking of who I might have been at various times in history, and the miracle and the accident that it is that any of us are who we are.” The poem has become a huge part of German poetry and Mueller has written other collections such as ‘The Private Life’ (1975) and ‘The Need to Hold Still’ (1980).

‘Alive Together’

Speaking of marvels, I am alive

together with you, when I might have been

alive with anyone under the sun,

when I might have been Abelard’s woman

or the whore of a Renaissance pope

or a peasant wife with not enough food

and not enough love, with my children

dead of the plague. I might have slept

in an alcove next to the man

with the golden nose, who poked it

into the business of stars,

or sewn a starry flag

for a general with wooden teeth.

I might have been the exemplary Pocahontas

or a woman without a name

weeping in Master’s bed

for my husband, exchanged for a mule,

my daughter, lost in a drunken bet.

I might have been stretched on a totem pole

to appease a vindictive god

or left, a useless girl-child,

to die on a cliff. I like to think

I might have been Mary Shelley

in love with a wrongheaded angel,

or Mary’s friend, I might have been you.

This poem is endless, the odds against us are endless,

our chances of being alive together

statistically nonexistent;

still we have made it, alive in a time

when rationalists in square hats

and hatless Jehovah’s Witnesses

agree it is almost over,

alive with our lively children

who–but for endless ifs–

might have missed out on being alive

together with marvels and follies

and longings and lies and wishes

and error and humor and mercy

and journeys and voices and faces

and colors and summers and mornings

and knowledge and tears and chance.

Peter Huchel is a lesser known German poet, however he has written poems from his experience living through most of twentieth century Germany. His poem ‘Eastern River’ uses imagery to create a natural atmosphere and bring the river he is talking about and its surroundings to life. Huchel wrote the poem during his time in East Germany when the Berlin Wall was first put up and this poem is the result of that event. Though ‘Eastern River’ is not one of Germany’s most famous poems, it does display some imagery and relatable topics from the ‘Berlin Wall era’ as the overall message and narrative of the poem is unclear.

‘Eastern River’

Do not look for the stones

in water above the mud,

the boat is gone.

No longer with nets and baskets

the river is dotted.

The sun wick,

the marsh marigold flickered out in rain.

Only the willow still bears witness,

in its roots

the secrets of tramps lie hidden,

their paltry treasures,

a rusty fishhook,

a bottle full of sand,

a tine with no bottom,

in which to preserve

conversations long forgotten.

On the boughs,

empty nests of the penduline titmice,

shoes light as birds.

No one slips them

over children’s feet.

One of German literature’s most well known eras is the ‘age of Goethe’ which occurred at the turn of the eighteenth to the nineteenth century with the most famous writer coming from that era being Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who was mentioned before. German literature is not as well known as other European literature, however it has a huge impact on the world, where schools in North America, Europe and Australia are still teaching the stories of the ‘Brother’s Grimm’ and Adolf Hitler’s infamous ‘Mein Kampf’ has been forever cemented into the world of literature. In doing more research on German literature and authors, I have found that Germany has a huge and diverse range of novels, poems, biographies and fairytales. Books that I have thought originated from either England or the United States have actually turned out to be the works of German writers, such as ‘The Metamorphosis’ by Franz Kafka. German literature is a lot bigger than I had intended it to be.

Bibliography

‘Hansel and Gretel’ from ‘Grimms’ Fairy Tales’ by Jacob and Willhelm Grimm

El ruido y el trabajo

German Literature

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