Got the dog (Loriot)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Drawings by the German humorist Loriot that deal with the reversal of roles between humans and dogs are summarized under the title Come to the Dog. Loriot's first drawings with this motif were published in Stern in 1951 under the title People must be kept on a leash . Two years later, the series Auf den Hund appeared in the same magazine , the pilot episode of which was still entitled Auf den Menschen . Larger protests by the readership of the star caused their termination after only nine episodes. Selected drawings from the series as well as previously unpublished material appeared in 1954 in the book On the Dog , with which Loriot's lifelong collaboration with Diogenes Verlag began. In addition, drawings on the subject are also included in other publications by Loriot.

content

The drawings show dogs and people in everyday situations, with their roles being reversed. The dogs walk on two legs and are significantly larger than humans. The people who also walk on two legs are usually depicted as typical Loriot males who wear a black cutaway and striped trousers and usually a black hat. In the first drawings from 1951, her nose is still slender; Loriot's typical bulbous nose only appears in the later drawings. A few drawings also show women wearing dresses. The dogs have their say in the subtitles with which most of the drawings are provided.

publication

star

The first five drawings by Loriot, which dealt with the exchange of roles between humans and dogs, appeared on February 4, 1951 on the humor page of the star under the title People are to be kept on a leash . They are introduced by a text that reports that in Stockholm dogs whose chromosome numbers have been increased by scientists show the expected giant stature. The saying “people are to be kept on a leash” is presented as a prophecy of Loriot.

Two years later, on February 8, 1953, another page of humor with drawings on this topic appeared in Stern under the title Auf den Menschen haben. In addition to scaled-down reprints of the five drawings from 1951, it also shows five new, larger drawings. These ten drawings took up a full page instead of the half-page usual for humor pages of the star and were again accompanied by a text probably written by Loriot. He reports that a 1.91-meter-tall Doberman pinscher wanted to visit the ladies' room in the Hotel Excelsior, but left the hotel barking protest when he was prevented from visiting by the toilet woman. In addition, explicit reference is made to the accompanying text from 1951, which claims that Loriot's visions have become reality after two years. Between May 24 and July 12, 1953, a total of eight further episodes of the series appeared weekly under the title Come on the dog . These episodes were not part of the humor page, but appeared in the editorial section.

In contrast to the contributions People are to be kept on a leash and Come to the People , this concentrated publication of the series triggered violent reactions from the readership of the star . In letters to the editor, which Loriot published in his autobiographical work Möpse und Menschen , the series was described as “disgusting and inhumane”, “disgusting”, “shamefully hideous”, “tasteless and primitive” and “a strong disparagement of 'homo sapiens' '" designated. They also threatened to stop buying the magazine until the series was canceled.

The protests apparently had an effect and the series was discontinued. In the following four months, no further drawings by Loriot appeared in Stern . The week in the children's supplement from June 1953 asterisk appearing series Reinhold the rhinoceros was exempt.

book

In 1953, Loriot began looking for a publisher where he could publish parts of Auf den Hund haben in book form. After Rowohlt Verlag had refused, an acquaintance of Loriot put him in touch with Daniel Keel , who had founded Diogenes Verlag in Zurich two years earlier . He was looking for a modern, German comic artist. The two got into business, the book was published in 1954, making Loriot the publisher's first German draftsman. It was Loriot's second publication after Reinhold das Nashorn , which appeared in the same year by Blüchert Verlag . Diogenes subsequently became Loriot's regular publisher and worked with him until his death.

The book contained only about half of the drawings previously published in Stern , which made up about half of the book. The other half had not yet been released. On the basis of a statement by Loriot that he never made original drawings for books, the Germanist Stefan Neumann assumes that they were also intended for the Stern , but could no longer be published there due to the early cancellation of the series. All captions are set in contrast to the hand-lettered star publications. In addition, further changes have been made to some drawings. So the sometimes cheeky tone of the dogs gave way to the star in the book of a clean language. In addition, the drawing quality of the drawings published in 1951 was brought into line with that of the more recent drawings, and small details such as the background of the pictures were changed. However, some drawings have also been changed to a large extent. Thus, in People Are on a Leash, a picture appeared in which a dog is sitting with a person on a chair and crying into a handkerchief. The drawing was subtitled: "And now you want to move him in as a reporting person ...". In the book, the caption was omitted and the handkerchief was replaced by a paw thoughtfully held to the face. Another drawing shows a person performing tricks in a circus arena. In the audience, in which only dogs sit, two dogs comment on man's feats. While the subtitle in the star is “I've seen that better.” And caricatures the nagging viewer, the drawing in the book is subtitled “One of the smartest people I've ever seen.”. In doing so, she takes up the behavior of people to describe obedient or skillful dogs as clever.

Part of the book was a foreword by the writer Wolfgang Hildesheimer , who two years earlier had become famous for his loveless legends . The text is written from the point of view of a dog and continues the role reversal of human and dog drawn by Loriot. Hildesheimer prefers the preface with a twisted quote from Goethe's Faust : "A person, if he is well educated, / even a wise dog is weighed."

The book became a commercial success. In 1962, Diogenes Verlag announced a print run of 52,000 copies. In a 1993 interview, Loriot spoke of a few thousand pieces that were sold annually at that time. The book was also published in Dutch , Italian and Swedish . In addition, various anthologies contain part of the drawings.

analysis

For Stefan Neumann Auf den Hund haben represents the beginning of Loriot's career as a well-known and outstanding draftsman. The first drawings in People Are On a Leash deviated noticeably from the mostly harmless and funny mainstream drawing that Loriot had before tried to copy. With the role reversal between humans and animals, he takes up a motif with a long literary and pictorial tradition, which is also one of the basic elements of satire. Since the real social roles of dog and human are so deeply internalized, the comedy that results from this role reversal in Loriot works even if the viewer accepts the role reversal. In addition, Neumann points out that the role reversal can ultimately also be understood as an exaggeration of the typical human attempt to empathize with one's pets.

Dietrich Grünewald sees the strong rejection of the drawings as an after-effect of the National Socialist era . The series is a prime example of ironic comedy about human hubris and requires the audience to be able to self-irony . At the time of publication, this was still difficult for many Germans, on the one hand out of shame in front of what had happened, and on the other hand due to the National Socialist ideology that portrayed the Germans as members of a “ master race ”.

expenditure

star

  • People are to be kept on a leash . In: Stern . No. 5 , February 4, 1951, p. 27 .
  • Got to the people . In: Stern . No. 6 , February 8, 1953, p. 37 .
  • Got to the dog. Episode 2 . In: Stern . No. 21 , May 24, 1953, p. 27 .
  • Got to the dog. Episode 3 . In: Stern . No. 22 , May 31, 1953, pp. 21 .
  • Got to the dog. Episode 4 . In: Stern . No. 23 , June 7, 1953, pp. 20-21 .
  • Got to the dog. Episode 5 . In: Stern . No. 24 , June 14, 1953, pp. 24-25 .
  • Got to the dog. Episode 6 . In: Stern . No. 25 , June 21, 1953, pp. 26-27 .
  • Got to the dog. Episode 7 . In: Stern . No. 26 , June 28, 1953, pp. 22-23 .
  • Got to the dog. Episode 7 . In: Stern . No. 27 , July 5, 1953, pp. 20-21 .
  • Got to the dog. Episode 9 . In: Stern . No. 28 , July 12, 1953, pp. 22-23 .

Books (selection)

  • Got to the dog. 44 loveless drawings . Diogenes, Zurich 1954.
  • Honds affirmative. 38 randeloze tekeningen . Donker, Rotterdam 1956 (Dutch).
  • Vita da cani . Baldini & Castoldi, Milan 1961 (Italian).
  • Loriot's great advisor . Diogenes, Zurich 1968, p. 289-302 .
  • Det bästa hos dogs. respectlösa teckningar . Bergh, Malmö / Tübingen / Zurich 1980 (Swedish).
  • People, animals, disasters . Reclam, Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-15-008820-8 , pp. 153-154 .
  • Collected picture stories . Diogenes, Zurich 2008, ISBN 978-3-257-06621-0 , pp. 175-200 .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Stefan Neumann: Loriot and the high comedy . 2011, pp. 93, 97.
  2. ^ Stefan Neumann: Loriot and the high comedy . 2011, p. 94.
  3. ^ Stefan Neumann: Loriot and the high comedy . 2011, p. 96.
  4. ^ Stefan Neumann: Loriot and the high comedy . 2011, p. 93.
  5. ^ Stefan Neumann: Loriot and the high comedy . 2011, p. 363.
  6. ↑ Loriot: Pugs & People. Kind of a biography . Diogenes, Zurich 1983, ISBN 3-257-01653-0 , p. 48 .
  7. ^ Stefan Neumann: Loriot and the high comedy . 2011, pp. 31–32.
  8. ↑ Loriot: Pugs & People. Kind of a biography . Diogenes, Zurich 1983, ISBN 3-257-01653-0 , p. 49 .
  9. ↑ a b Stefan Neumann: Loriot and the high comedy . 2011, p. 97.
  10. ↑ Peter Paul Kubitz, Gerlinde Waz (Ed.): Loriot. What! Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern 2009, ISBN 978-3-7757-2367-1 , p. 35 .
  11. ↑ a b Stefan Neumann: Loriot and the high comedy . 2011, p. 138.
  12. ^ Stefan Neumann: Loriot and the high comedy . 2011, pp. 138-140.
  13. ^ Stefan Neumann: Loriot and the high comedy . 2011, pp. 140-141.
  14. ↑ Rolf Karrer-Kharberg: Who draws how? A "who's who" of a number of very funny artists from Addams to Zimninik . Diogenes, Zurich 1963, p. 158 . Quoted in: Stefan Neumann: Loriot and the high comedy . 2011, p. 142.
  15. ↑ Robert Gernhardt : A gentleman with a deep meaning. Interview with Loriot . In: Stern . No. 45 , November 4, 1993, pp. 50–60, here: 50 . Quoted in: Stefan Neumann: Loriot and the high comedy . 2011, p. 142.
  16. ^ Stefan Neumann: Loriot and the high comedy . 2011, pp. 94-95.
  17. ^ Stefan Neumann: Loriot and the high comedy . 2011, p. 96.
  18. ↑ Dietrich Grünewald: Loriot and the art of drawing irony. 2019, p. 43.