Vladimír Holan

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Vladimír Holan (born September 16, 1905 in Prague; † March 31, 1980 there ) was one of the most important Czech lyric poets of the 20th century .

His poetic career under the sign of the Bohemian avant-garde flow began for Holan in 1926. The collected works of his creative period comprise fourteen volumes, which are also published in German.

His hermetic poems of the thirties brought his own, unmistakable poetics to development and Holan was one of the most important representatives of poetism . During the time of the occupation of his country, he became an accuser of nationalism and, after the liberation, an avid supporter of the Soviet Union .

Nevertheless, the communists banned it from publishing. He wrote down his great disappointment in his work Night with Hamlet . After the Prague Spring , Holan's works became known internationally and were translated into several languages.

Early work

Lyric 1: 1932-1937

Vladimír Holan's so-called early canonical work comprises the volumes Das Wehen ( Vanutí , 1932), Der Bogen ( Oblouk , 1934) and Stein, kommst du… ( Kameni, přicházíš… , 1937). The volume of poetry Das Wehen ( Vanutí ) is actually Holan's third collection of poems, but the first that, in retrospect, can stand before the poet's self-criticism. He later distanced himself from the two previous poetry books The Enthusiastic Fan ( Blouznivý vějíř , 1926) and Triumph of Death ( Triumf smrti , 1930). With his early work, Holan inherits the symbolists and their successors and rejects the poetism , which is still the symbol of his debut. His verses are no longer easy, optimistic, erotic and dedicated to aesthetics without a purpose, but are characterized by strictness of form, metaphysical seriousness, darkness and tragedy. With this, Holan rediscovers poésie pure and ties in with poets such as Stéphane Mallarmé , Rainer Maria Rilke and Paul Valéry .

The next avant-garde trend following poetism , Czech surrealism , cannot win the poet over either. Holan tries, like other poets, e.g. B. František Halas , Bohuslav Reynek etc., created a new anti-avant-garde poetics. In doing so, he ties in with symbolism , but does not completely surrender to it. Some of his poems, which in terms of form and diction seem to be inspired by the Symbolists, reflect that Holan is already moving away from this trend. While the symbolists search for the truth behind the illusion, which they perceive as a deceptive obstacle to the actual essence of things, Holan admits the appearance of being a power to maintain. In this way he ties in with Nietzsche and makes the god of appearances, Apollon , his entourage and symbols into motifs within his poetry. This development begins in the second volume The Arch ( Oblouk ) and is continued in stone, you come ... ( Kameni, přicházíš ...).

The third volume of poetry also brings new content. Holan expresses himself on the gloomy political situation in Europe and lays the foundation stone for his later political poetry. There are also innovations in terms of form: the verses become shorter, free rhythms reappear and the entire ductus becomes tighter and more transparent. The development within Holan's early work is gradual, it is not as erratic as it was at the beginning of his work, whereby the dark, as unfathomable and as gloom, is at the center of his poetics at all times .

Late poetry

Sbohem? - With God? (1972-1977)

The poetry book With God? (Sbohem?) Was created between 1972 and 1977 as the last volume of poetry by Vladimír Holan and was published posthumously in 1982. After 1977 the poet stopped writing. The later work is primarily characterized by formal simplification. With minimal resources, Holan achieves maximum impact through his artistic skills. The puzzling, difficult-to-resolve metaphors and labyrinthine compositions disappear. The poems become shorter, they consist of one, sometimes two inconsistent, free rhythmic stanzas with simple statements, dialogues and direct speech.

Sbohem? has no central theme or motto, it is rather a collection of all themes and techniques used by Holan in the course of his work. However, the volume does not merely present the results of a long career as a poet, but rather formulates doubts and asks questions. It is noticeable that not only the title of some poems, but also the headline of the entire collection is provided with a question mark. The content of Sbohem? are very diverse. Numerous poems have interpersonal relationships on the subject - everyday situations of lovers, failed partnerships or casual acquaintances. The people of Sbohem? represent stages of a whole life: children, adults and old people appear on the scene. But other topics such as natural events, ancient motifs, abstract thoughts, historical and autobiographical issues are given enough space.

The poems with political motifs represent a special feature of this variety of topics. One cannot speak of political poetry as Holan wrote in the 30s and 40s, because the political motifs form only a fraction of the collection. What makes it remarkable, however, is the fact that the poet takes a position here for the first time after a long period of silence on the political situation. Although the political issue is usually only hinted at, can Sbohem? only with the sacrifice of the poems Vlci (wolves) and 1974 pass the censorship . After the Velvet Revolution, the two poems first appeared in magazines and were then included in their original place in the Czech Complete Edition of Holan's Works (2001).

Political poetry

Holan's political poetry makes up only a fraction of his total oeuvre, but it is precisely this that can perhaps most clearly mediate between the symbolic world of Holan poems and reality.

At the time of the Spanish Civil War, Holan ventured into Europe 1936 ( Evropa 1936 ), To the Spanish Workers ( Španělským dělníkům ), Madrid I / II (all in stone, you come ...; Kameni, přicházíš ..., 1937) for the first time on politically explosive terrain. He processed the Munich Agreement in response to France ( Odpověd Francii ), September 1938 ( Září 1938 ), Dreikönigsgesang ( Zpěv tříkrálový ) (all in Mit der Rabenfeder ( Havraním brkem ), 1946).

During the occupation he wrote a. a. Traum ( Sen ) 1939, choir (Chór), published 1964, walk in the park ( Procházka v parku ) 1939.

He commemorated the liberation by the Red Army in his hymn of thanks to the Soviet Union ( Dík Sovětskému svazu ) 1945, also in Panychida 1945, Die Rotarmisten ( Rudoarmějci ) 1947, letters to the English and American poets ( List anglickým a americkým básníkům ) 1948, as well as in some poems from the Dir ( Tobě ) cycle 1947.

In 1949 Holan was imposed a de facto publication ban that was to last for 13 years. Poems such as Böhmen AD 1969 ( Čechy LP 1969 ), Wölfe ( Vlci ) and 1974 show that he nevertheless continued to follow political events as a poet (all in The Abyss of the Abyss ( Propast propasti )).

The poems about the Spanish Civil War are short and clear, but almost incomprehensible to the reader who is looking for political explosiveness. Holan's love for language games, especially for symbolism, is much more pronounced in his early work (until 1937) than a generally understandable representation or analysis of what happened.

This changes suddenly from 1938. The Munich Agreement , which reorganized the German-Czech border in favor of Germany as part of the appeasement policy , hit Czechoslovakia from ambush. On the one hand, this led to a poet like Holan, who until then “only” worked on aesthetic forms , began to be interested in current politics . On the other hand, the stronger presence of the Germans was reflected in the censorship : Holan's answer to France , written on September 30, 1938, d. H. one day after the announcement of the agreement, was not allowed to appear.

The game of symbolism gained a new attraction during the occupation period because it could now also be used politically. The skillful use of poetic stylistic devices could get a poem through the censors. Holan's accustomed gloomy poetics coincided well with the dark chapter of the Nazi era . This is how he expresses the omnipresent threat in Walk in the Park through the Night; in dreams he uses the cipher of nothingness, whereas in the cycle of poems in September 1938 he draws on analogies to more distant epochs. In One Night from the Iliad ( Noc z Íliady ) he alludes to Homer , while in The Homecoming of Máchas ( Návrat Máchův ) he pays homage to the Czech national hero of Romanticism . Such and similar borrowings from literature , history and Czech tradition provided a kind of refuge during the threat from the National Socialists, appealing to the cohesion of all Czech citizens. Holan continues to alienate reality to such an extent that reading it once does not usually lead to an understanding of the text. His poems thus remain works of art that are not only a political program, but above all want to be understood in an aesthetic sense.

The Czechs received the Red Army enthusiastically in 1945. The invasion of the Soviets was gratefully felt as liberation from National Socialist rule, as Holan's works also attest. His poetry became more prosaic and therefore more realistic after the war. As for the hymns of praise for the Stalinist army, one can even assume that his claim was less artistic than ideological. From today's perspective, his enthusiasm for the Red Army borders on naivete. There are worlds between the hermetic wartime lyric poetry and the unencrypted, even euphemistic message of post-war poetry. The fact that Holan wrote another hymn of praise of this kind after the Soviet Union finally seized power in February 1948, with his letter to the English and American poets, shows how connected he felt to his “brother” in the East.

Nevertheless, in 1949 the communist government also imposed a de facto ban on Holan, not because of unsuitable poetry, but because of private statements made by the poet. The restriction against Holan was partially lifted in 1955, so that Babaja could appear. These are completely apolitical children's poems that revolve around his daughter Kateřina. Holan was only allowed to publish again in 1963, but no longer commented on political events.

It should be noted, however, that three of his posthumously published poems ( Böhmen AD 1969, Die Wölfe, 1974 ) initially fell victim to censorship. They are politically explosive and at the same time testify to a very personal Holan. In 1974, the poet even allowed himself a (self-) ironic look at the exaggerated veneration of Mácha and at the same time settled with the dubious love of the country.

Works (in German translation)

  • Night with Hamlet . Transferred by Reiner Kunze . Merlin, Gifkendorf 1969
  • Return. Selected poems . Wilhelm Schmitz, Wettenberg-Launsbach 1980
  • The jaw. Autumn 3. Two poems, in Bernhard Setzwein , Edith Ecker, eds .: Czech contemporary literature. Issue 27–28 by Passauer Pegasus. Journal of Literature. 14th year Karl Krieg, Passau 1996 ISSN  0724-0708 p. 63f., Transl. Christa Rothmeier
  • Collected works in 14 volumes, Mutabene, Cologne 2003; Again or continued at Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, Heidelberg from 2009

See also

Web links

notes

  1. ↑ bilingual German-Czech
personal data
SURNAME Holan, Vladimír
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Czech writer
DATE OF BIRTH September 16, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Prague
DATE OF DEATH March 31, 1980
Place of death Prague