Heinz Schlaffer

Heinz Schlaffer (born June 21, 1939 in Elhotten , West Bohemia ) is a German Germanist and professor emeritus for literary studies at the University of Stuttgart . He came out particularly with essays such as "The Brief History of German Literature". He is married to Hannelore Schlaffer .

Life

Schlaffer's habilitation thesis was suggested by Kurt Wölfel . In 1972 he received his first professorship in literature at the Philipps University of Marburg and moved to Stuttgart in 1975. He held the chair there from 1975 until his retirement in 2004.

He wrote books a. a. on poetry in realism , the citizen as heroes, aesthetic historicism, Goethe's Faust , poetry and knowledge , as well as scientific essays as well as essays and literary reviews in daily newspapers.

"Pointed judgments and linguistic elegance, brevity and flavor are typical features of his books that do not need any academic jargon."

- Alexander Camman in the daily newspaper (taz) on April 5, 2008

The short history of German literature

Schlaffer comes to the following provocative periodization of German literary history: 8th century to early 18th century: unsuccessful beginnings, state of latency; 18th century: a successful beginning; 1770–1830: 1st climax; Stagnation in the further course of the 19th century; 1900–1950: 2nd peak; After 1950: weakened progress.

Schlaffer starts from several premises in his book.

European context. In the “competition of nations” for cultural supremacy in Europe, Germany is almost always characterized by cultural lateness, backwardness and cultural inferiority. In the High and High Middle Ages (12th / 13th centuries) France was the leader, from the 14th to the 16th century Italy was the leader, Spain had its Siglo d'Oro in the 16th and 17th centuries. Century, the rise of England took place in the 16th century, under Louis XIV. France had its classics . As the last of the Western European literatures, Germany was able to draw level with the other European nations with German Classics around 1800, only to then fall back again immediately ( realism and naturalism emerged in France and England 20 years earlier than in Germany). If one understands by national literature the connection of the works that have remained alive in the literary memory of a nation, an effective literary tradition has existed in Italy since the 14th century ( Dante , Petrarca , Boccaccio ), in France, England, and Spain since the 15th and 16th centuries. Century ( Rabelais , Chaucer , Lope de Vega ), in Germany since the 18th century ( Lessing , Wieland , Klopstock ). Conclusion: The secular culture in Germany did not come close to the ancient and western models.

Discontinuity. One phenomenon in German literary history is the break with tradition. Knowledge of Old High German poetry was lost after 1150, that of Middle High German after 1450, and that of the early modern period after 1770. The history of German literature consists of a series of lost beginnings before a beginning that should endure.

Term of literature. Schlaffer basically uses our “modern concept of literature” as an absolute standard (“literature in the strict sense is only that which gives an aesthetic pleasure”). Everything that does not meet this standard (functional literature, casual poetry, daily literature) appears to be inferior from this high perspective: "German literature did not meet European standards until 1750"

The German special way. Schlaffer makes something specifically German in German literary history: the changing, but never indifferent relationship between German literature and the Christian religion, v. a. to their mystical, Protestant and pietistic directions. No other intellectual attitude has determined the educational history of the German intelligentsia since the Middle Ages and, in particular, since the Reformation, as lastingly as religiosity.

Middle Ages: unsuccessful beginnings

Schlaffer sees the history of German literature in the Middle Ages under the aspect of the “head start of the West”: cultural takeover from France, backwardness, cultural inferiority.

Court literature. The knight novel ( Arthurian novel ) and Minnesang are purely a cultural takeover from France: "It would not be easy to state what, apart from the language, one could call German about these imported materials and styles". The chivalric novels had no effect on the subsequent period, they were not read later, they were quickly forgotten. The new mystical spirituality also came from France. Schlaffer explains his judgment by comparing the situation in Germany and Italy: While in Germany even the main works ( Wolfram von Eschenbach , Gottfried von Straßburg , Walther von der Vogelweide ) later "fell into oblivion", the main works of Italian literature ( Dante , Petrarca , Boccaccio ) to the classical texts of Italian and European literature without interruption from the time of their creation to the present. While the Italian works were disseminated through the new medium immediately after the introduction of the printing press, the German works (e.g. Minnesang , Nibelungenlied ) do not reach the “saving banks of printing”. While in Italy the authors were integrated into the new audience of the patrician merchants of the Italian city-states, Middle High German literature is class poetry of the nobility. The nobility in Germany not only got into crisis in the late Middle Ages, but the court and nobility explicitly turned away from literary culture and preferred non-literary arts (architecture, music, festivals). High medieval German poetry fell into oblivion as early as the late Middle Ages. The fact that medieval literature was forgotten in Germany can also be seen in the fact that it was rediscovered in the 18th century as something completely foreign ( Hildebrandslied , Minnesang, Nibelungenlied).

Literature in the late medieval city. The inhabitants of the late medieval cities hope for rough entertainment, moral advice and pious help from their writing. Literature serves subliterary and extra literary purposes: spiritual and secular performances, didactic, satirical, amusing stories, sermons and edification books, songs for all occasions. On the basis of Schlaffer's high concept of poetry, these are “works of modest craftsmanship”. Schlaffer concludes: The judgment that the German literature of the late Middle Ages and the early modern period is of inferior quality does not need to be corrected.

16./17. Century: step backwards

European context. The turmoil of the Reformation (16th century) and the Thirty Years War (17th century) intensified Germany's cultural relapse. Schlaffer sums up: "Not much has come of the German literature of this era". The cultural inferiority of Germany is shown by the fact that Germany has no counterpart to France ( Ronsard , Rabelais , Montaigne ), Italy ( Ariost , Tasso ), England ( Shakespeare ). In France, England and Italy the epoch was the age of the beginning absolutism : the courts promote writers / literature. In Germany, on the other hand, there is a disinterest of the upper class, indeed a downright contempt for German literature on the part of the ruling class. German poetry of the 17th century, even if it is written in German, is supposed to demonstrate its origin from non-German sources. Many works proudly present themselves as translations or imitations. Tragedy is borrowed from Roman, Oriental, and even English history, only not from German, because this is not recognized as being worthy of poetry.

Language. These relationships are reflected in the conception of language. While French and English scholars mainly use the vernacular for scientific subjects, Latin dominates in Germany. This made it difficult to develop a national literary language in Germany. The cultural inferiority of Germany is reflected not only in the contempt for the German language by foreigners, but in a self-contempt for the German language on the part of the Germans themselves. In Germany, French was the professional language of the aristocrats, Latin the language of scholars, and German was "part of the conversation the service staff ”. The famous saying of Emperor Karl V is eloquent testimony to these conditions: “With God I speak Spanish, with women Italian, with men French, but I speak German with my horse”. It was not until the beginning of the 18th century that Gottsched was able to establish a uniform German literary language.

Literature. Italian humanism was unable to gain a foothold in Germany for religious reasons. In the entire 16th century, almost all publications are in the service of the religious struggle (Reformation). The purpose of the polemical daily literature of pamphlets , satires , dialogues, songs, fables , and pranks is to praise one's own cause and insult the opposing cause . Here too, Schlaffer's dictum applies that these are "works of modest craftsmanship". The only bright spot in Germany was the sacred poetry of the 17th century ( Friedrich Spee , P. Fleming , P. Gerhardt , Angelus Silesius ). It shows the beginnings of a specific tone in poetry that can be heard from the beginning of the 17th to the end of the 19th century. The hymn sung in the vernacular is in the 16./17. Century a custom v. a. the Protestants .

18th century: the successful beginning

European context. The other European nations had all had their classics. As the last of the European countries, Germany finds its classical age. The concept of a “German classic” was introduced in the 19th century to document that German literature (finally) had caught up with the literatures of other European countries.

First high point of German literature (1770–1830). In a span of less than 50 years, German literature is enjoying an unexpected upswing. Germany remains locked in its religious ties. No other intellectual attitude has determined the educational history of the German intelligentsia since the Reformation as lastingly as religiosity. According to Schlaffer, the upswing in German literature culminates in the “replacement of religion by art”. The starting point is not religion in general, but Protestantism in particular . The Protestant rectory functions as an educational path for its children (there is no counterpart among Catholics due to celibacy). In the 18th century, the majority of German writers are Protestants. Catholic authors only emerged around 1800 (Brentano, Eichendorff). A balance between Protestants and Catholics was only reached around 1900. The Protestant parsonage is followed by the Protestant university (Halle, Göttingen, Jena), which replace a missing center in Germany. Some important motifs of the poetry of the time derive from the world of the university: the role of the student; the motif of the negatively viewed Philistine / philistine is only revealed from the student's perspective; the student motive of hiking.

Literature as a substitute for religion. The new poetic language that emerged in Germany around the middle of the 18th century can be derived from the tradition of the Protestant faith, especially from Pietism (central term: heart). The rise of German literature came to an end with the “replacement of religion by art”. The poets increasingly hide the ideas that are reminiscent of the Christian religion behind the images of the Greek myth. In no other European culture is in the 18th and 19th In the 19th century, enthusiasm for Greece was greater than in Germany ( Winckelmann , Schiller , Goethe , Hölderlin ) because here it took the place of religion among the educated. Poetry is about the ultimate things for which religion should actually be responsible. The vocabulary of poetry around 1800 makes lavish use of nouns and adjectives: soul, eternity, immortality, infinity, divine, holy. But poetic idealism was limited. The historical climax of German literature could only last a short time because it was based on an overestimation and overestimation of literature.

19th century: stagnation

European context. The epoch name "classical" was first used in some literary stories from the 19th century to document the pride that German literature had drawn level with other European countries in the competition of nations. The German classics were stylized up to larger-than-life monument figures that shine in the splendor of the classic editions. The German literature of the 18th century appeared to the "epigones" to be oversized. The next generation will realize that their intellectual achievements are not at the level of the earlier epoch. The historical climax of German literature only lasted a short time. With realism and naturalism , which set in in Germany 20 years later than in France and England, Germany is falling back into its old role of cultural lateness.

Literature. The global success of French, English and Russian novels from this period contrasts with a failure of German novels among international readers. While French and English novels are characterized by exciting plot, love stories, images of the times and their society, German novels suffer from a "lack of entertainment": memories of childhood, discussions of ideas, descriptions of places and states of loneliness, initiation into Stages of life. According to Schlaffer, this trait can also be derived from the Germans' attachment to religion. The seriousness of German literature stems from the seriousness that theology once opposed to poetic play. Hence the German type of reflective, philosophizing writer. The high concept of art / literature also explains other peculiarities of German culture: literature as "pure entertainment" or as "literary technology" never really caught on in Germany; the Germans have a problematic relationship with rhetoric. The origin of literature as a substitute for religion in Germany can also be seen in the behavior of the public that continued into the 20th century: the art admirers as a “community”; The places of art (theater, concert hall, museum) are not places of entertainment, but serve for inner collection; the art performances resemble a church service; Audience behavior: festive attire, solemnity, emotion. According to Schlaffer, the most progressive tendencies in 19th century literature were the criticism of ideology in Karl Marx's early writings and the break with literary conventions in Georg Büchner's work . According to Schlaffer, the second half of the 19th century was characterized by stagnation. In the second half of the 19th century, an aging of the German elite can be felt down to the physical level. Old men determine German politics (Bismarck, Wilhelm I.), the German scholarly world ( Ranke , Mommsen ), the German novel ( Keller , Raabe , Fontane ).

20th century: 2nd climax and end

1900–1950: Second high point

The following writers belong to the canon of "classical modernism": Schnitzler , Hofmannsthal , Karl Kraus , Joseph Roth , Musil , Broch , Rilke , George , Borchardt , E. Jünger , R. Walser , Kafka , Trakl , Benn , Th. Mann , Döblin , Brecht , Benjamin . The appearance of modern literature is tied to a surprising topography, to two cities, Vienna and Prague, both Catholic cities with a Jewish minority. Half of the writers mentioned are Jews. According to Schlaffer, the constellation around 1900, Catholics and Jews, is comparable to the constellation around 1750: “Once again, on a regional scale, the effect of a delay that was effective in the 18th century is noticeable, the intense need to catch up quickly triggers ".

The delay is due to a different history for Catholics and Jews. Bavaria and Austria, the most important Catholic states in the German Empire, were empty spaces on the map of German literature from the 16th to the 19th centuries: the prohibition and censorship of books from Protestant countries; In 1794 the works of Klopstock, Goethe and Schiller were confiscated in Passau. Such restrictions then increased the need to catch up. The entry of the Jews into German literature was different. Around 1800, as a result of the French Revolution, the legal and political restrictions against Jews were lifted, as a result of which teaching in Jewish schools switched to secular subjects. The desire of the Jews for integration into German society was expressed in the fact that they elevated the canon of classical German literature to an ideal. The commitment to German education took on the character of a religious conviction among the ruling class of the Jews. They believed in this culture, which was new to them, as if it were a religion. What all these authors, Catholics and Jews, strived for was a repetition and continuation of the classical-romantic epoch of German literature. But a return to the classical age had to remain an illusion: hence the theme of downfall, decay, and parting. Since the poetic depiction of collapse preceded the political one since 1914, Schlaffer interprets the process as an "aesthetic catastrophe" that was only interpreted politically afterwards.

After 1950: weakened progress

According to Schlaffer, there is a general consensus among competent readers, critics and literary historians that literature has had weaknesses since 1950 (or the representative authors have not yet been discovered). The reasons for the decline of literature lie in the discontinuity typical of Germany: National Socialism silenced all previous attitudes in Germany, the Jewish, the Marxist, the liberal and the Christian. The writers have to atone for the political sins of National Socialism with a loss of quality. Floppy summarizes the negative points that block the real poetic power, under the name of "open as covert moralism" together: Negative impact of the re-education (re-education) in 1945 (check for moral and political reliability); German writers are committed publicists with literary ambitions; they felt obliged to a social and moral task; they felt obliged to political engagement; many poems, plays, and stories read like newspaper articles in poetic disguise. Seen from Schlaffer's high concept of poetry, these are all negative points. Schlaffer concludes: German literature after 1950 can neither compete with the contemporary literature of other countries nor with the classical literature of its own past.

Works

• Ghost language. Purpose and means of poetry . Carl Hanser, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-446-23882-4 .
• The word unleashed: Nietzsche's style and its consequences . Hanser, Munich 2007, ISBN 3-446-20946-8 .
• Poetry and knowledge: the emergence of aesthetic awareness and philological knowledge . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1990, ISBN 3-518-58023-X ;

Paperback edition: Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 2005, ISBN 3-518-29379-6 .

• The short history of German literature . Hanser, Munich; Vienna 2002.
  • La brève histoire de la littérature allemande. Translated by Marianne Rocher-Jacquin, Daniel Rocher. Editions de la Maison des sciences de l'homme, Paris 2004, ISBN 2-7351-1024-9 .
• Faust second part: the allegory of the 19th century . Metzler, Stuttgart 1989.
• The citizen as a hero: socio-historical resolution of literary contradictions . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt (am Main) 1973.
  • The bourgeois as hero. Translated by James Lynn. Barnes and Noble, Savage, Md. 1989, ISBN 0-389-20889-2 .
• Musa iocosa. Genre poetics and genre history of erotic poetry in Germany. Metzler, Stuttgart 1971, ISBN 3-476-00190-3 .
• Poetry in Realism: Studies on Space and Time in the Poems of Mörike , Der Droste and Liliencron . Bouvier, Bonn 1966.

Awards (selection)

• 2008 Heinrich Mann Prize for essays from the Berlin Academy of the Arts.
• 2012 Johann Heinrich Merck Prize for literary criticism.

literature

• Patrick Bahners , our life is short. For Heinz Schlaffer's 70th birthday. In: FAZ, June 15, 2009, p. 32.

Web links

• Literature by and about Heinz Schlaffer in the catalog of the German National Library
• Short biography and reviews of works by Heinz Schlaffer at perlentaucher.de
• Laudation for Schlaffer for the Merck Prize from Ingeborg Harms

Individual references, sources

1. ↑ ^{a b} The provocateur and unleashed stylist (taz of April 5, 2008)
2. ↑ Heinz Schlaffer, The Brief History of German Literature , Hanser (2002), p. 21
3. ↑ p. 18
4. ↑ p. 19
5. ↑ p. 27
6. ↑ p. 16
7. ↑ This program remains vulnerable to logic. In the history of physics, one could just as easily declare Einstein to be the absolute standard and then criticize Newton for not knowing the theory of relativity.
8. ↑ p. 20f.
9. ↑ p. 23
10. ↑ p. 23
11. ↑ p. 32
12. ↑ p. 26
13. ↑ p. 26
14. ↑ p. 36
15. ↑ p. 40
16. ↑ p. 36; Schlaffer does not mention Grimmelshausen at this point
17. ↑ p. 46
18. ↑ p. 43
19. ↑ p. 41
20. ↑ p. 26
21. ↑ p. 50
22. ↑ p. 108; However, Schlaffer considers the concept of a German classical music to be inappropriate
23. ↑ p. 93
24. ↑ p. 54
25. ↑ p. 65
26. ↑ p. 93
27. ↑ p. 98
28. ↑ p. 99
29. ↑ p. 114f.
30. ↑ p. 123
31. ↑ p. 106
32. ↑ p. 104
33. ↑ p. 130
34. ↑ p. 132
35. ↑ p. 134
36. ↑ p. 136
37. ↑ p. 135f.
38. ↑ p. 138
39. ↑ p. 139; Until recently, you could see that in Marcel Reich-Ranicki.
40. ↑ p. 146
41. ↑ p. 133
42. ↑ p. 147
43. ↑ p. 150
44. ↑ p. 151
45. ↑ p. 151