Bargfeld messenger

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Bargfeld messenger. Materials on the work of Arno Schmidt (abbreviated to BB ) is a German literary journal that deals with the work and life of the German writer Arno Schmidt (1914–1979). Founded in 1972 by Jörg Drews and since his death in 2009 published by Friedhelm Rathjen , the Bargfelder Bote is today the most important organ of Schmidt research.

history

Gasthof Bangemann, Bargfeld, 2006. This is where the Bargfelder Bote began

The Bargfelder Bote was founded in 1972 after the publication of Schmidt's monumental main work Zettel's Traum . The use of coded comments, allusions and quotations, which had already distinguished Schmidt's texts, was taken to extremes here on 1330 three-column A3 pages. In order to exchange ideas about Schmidt and above all about Zettel's dream , a group of accomplished Schmidt readers met at the invitation of the Munich literary critic Jörg Drews in May 1970 and again in October 1971 in Heidedorf Bargfeld , Schmidt's place of residence and work, where they lived in the inn Bangemann tried to decipher parts of Schmidt's work together. The participants self-ironically named themselves the "Arno-Schmidt-Dechiffrier-Syndikat" and decided, at Drews 'suggestion, to exchange information in the future by means of a magazine, which they wanted to call "Bargfelder Bote" - among other things, alluding to Matthias Claudius ' Wandsbecker Bothen .

Jörg Drews acted as the publisher from the beginning, a publisher was found in Berndt Oesterhelt of edition text + kritik , so that the first delivery of the Bargfelder Bote could appear in September 1972. At first, the magazine, like the Wake Newslitter by Clive Hart and Fritz Senn , who deals with James Joyce's Finnegans Wake , was only intended as a collection of material, as a "philological auxiliary organ" that did not contain any literary essays or interpretative essays, but only deciphering aids for individuals Text passages should provide. That is why the first edition did not contain any essays, but short citations, and was also printed on one side so that it could be put in boxes (the second issue was then printed on both sides). The publication was open to everyone, contributions could simply be sent to the editor, who then included them in one of the next deliveries. An editorial advisory board has also been available to him since 1980. The first deliveries met with a remarkable response, sometimes appreciative, sometimes mocking, when Klaus Podak , for example, remarked in the Stuttgarter Zeitung : "Note: The BARGFELDER BOTE explains every grumpy". Arno Schmidt himself is said to have remarked about the first deliveries that it was "very little" and "insufficient".

Cows in half mourning. Etching by the German draftsman Jens Rusch for Arno Schmidt's story Kühe in Halbtrauer .

Soon, however, Drews published more extensive works, and delivery 3 already contains a longer essay by Robert Wohlleben on Schmidt's Caliban about Setebos . The deciphering of individual passages initially took up a large amount of space, but gradually gave way to extensive essays and essays. The Bargfelder Bote also often published smaller documents that were supposed to provide more information about Schmidt's life or person, such as letters or biographical remarks and memories. Increasingly, the Bargfelder Bote became the organ of an emerging Schmidt research by bringing reviews and bibliographical references to publications that had Schmidt on the topic or were somehow connected with him. But, as Drews sent afterwards in 2007, things didn't necessarily have to be serious:

“I have to admit that I have actually always wished that the articles would be more unconventional, the authors would 'experiment' more, there would be a greater amount of fun and bizarre and calculated philological foolishness as a spice for the serious whole in one part of the contributions ... After all, Arno Schmidt was one of the great comic authors of German literature of the 20th century! "

Since 1980 monographs and collections of articles by well-known Schmidt researchers have been published as special deliveries by the Bargfelder Bote. The 40 or so books include commentary volumes on numerous works by Schmidt, extensive and in some cases quite influential literary studies and important anthologies, but also polemical essays or picture albums suggested by Schmidt. The messenger mostly moved away from literary fashions, which arose above all from its relative independence from university science, which Arno Schmidt appreciated relatively late.

After every 50 or 100 deliveries, Günther Flemming worked out a register that should open up the previous work in the Bargfelder Bote. The readership grew relatively quickly to around 1000 subscribers, but today there are fewer again. Above all, the initial focus on deciphering individual digits, but also the openness to lay contributions, led to repeated criticism of the messenger , which, according to the allegation, steers Schmidt research in the wrong direction: the individual decipherments would not advance Schmidt's understanding as long as it was would not be put into a general context in the context of genuine literary studies. Drews himself warned several times that the contributions should detach themselves more from the orientation towards the framework of interpretation given by Schmidt himself. In this regard, he was only gradually able to notice any real improvement, starting around the mid-1990s.

Friedhelm Rathjen, 2010

The 300th delivery of the Bargfelder Boten appeared in June 2007, and shortly afterwards the first 300 deliveries with a full-text search function were published on CD-ROM. In March 2009 the founder and longtime editor Jörg Drews died. At Drews' request, the editor was taken over by the literary critic and scholar Friedhelm Rathjen . He is supported by Axel Dunker , Kurt Jauslin , Sabine Kyora , Doris Plöschberger , Rudi Schweikert and Robert Weninger as editorial consultants .

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ See for example Jörg Drews, Editorial. A salute to the numbers 1 to 300! The “Bargfelder Bote” once, now and hopefully in the future , in: Bargfelder Bote 1–300, CD edition, June 2007. For the first, still very small meeting, Wolfram Schütte , The crazy idea at Bangemann. Quodlibet for Jörg Drews on the 300th BB , in: Bargfelder Bote , Liefer 300, June 3, 2007, pp. 63–66; on the second meeting cf. about a fence makes king . In: Der Spiegel . No. 43 , 1971, p. 180 f . ( online ). The "Arno-Schmidt-Dechiffrier-Syndikat" appeared in the imprint of the Bargfelder Bote up to the 50th delivery, then it was deleted, cf. Jörg Drews, On the 50th delivery of the Bargfelder Bote , in: Bargfelder Bote , Liefer 50, January 1, 1981, p. 3f., Here p. 4.
  2. ↑ Cf. Jörg Drews, Zum first Heft , in: Bargfelder Bote , Liefer 1, September 1, 1972, p. 3f .: “The deliveries are not intended to publish more extensive, critical-interpretative work, they should not be essays and Publish interpretations, but only offer the small building blocks necessary for interpretation ”. The other quote there too.
  3. ↑ Cf. Jörg Drews, Mitteilungen des Editor , in: Bargfelder Bote , Liefer 46–48, June 1, 1980, pp. 45f. with some names.
  4. ↑ See the collected press reviews in: Bargfelder Bote , Liefer 3, June 1, 1973, p. 16, among other things, comments in the world and in: Schlüssel zu Noah Poke . In: Der Spiegel . No. 45 , 1972, p. 194-196 ( online ).
  5. ↑ hawked by Jörg Drews, "Keep on truckin ', man!", Or: "And so from now on!" To number 300 of "Bargfelder messenger" , in: Bargfelder messenger , delivery 300, June 3, 2007, p. 3
  6. ^ Robert Wohlleben, Gods and Heroes in Lower Saxony. About the mythological substrate of the staff in “Caliban over Setebos” , in: Bargfelder Bote , Liefer 3, June 1, 1973, pp. 3-14 ( online ).
  7. ↑ a b c Jörg Drews, editorial. A salute to the numbers 1 to 300! The “Bargfelder Bote” once, now and hopefully in the future , in: Bargfelder Bote 1–300, CD edition, June 2007.
  8. ↑ See overview ( Memento of the original from January 2, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the website of edition text + kritik. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.boorberg.de
  9. ↑ For example with Michael Schneider, History and Priorities of Arno Schmidt Research , in: Michael Matthias Schardt, Hartmut Vollmer (eds.), Arno Schmidt. Life - work - effect , Rowohlt, Reinbek 1990, pp. 306-318, here p. 311.
  10. ↑ So already in the foreword to the 50th delivery: Jörg Drews, On the 50th delivery of the Bargfelder Boten , in: Bargfelder Bote , Liefer 50, January 1, 1981, p. 3f., Here p. 3, also later: Jörg Drews , A toast for number 100. On the anniversary delivery of the “Bargfelder Boten” , in: Bargfelder Bote , Liefer 100, January 18, 1986, p. 3f. Later he noticed an improvement: Jörg Drews, A Toast for Number 200. On the anniversary delivery of the "Bargfelder Boten" , in: Bargfelder Bote , Liefer 200, June 16, 1995, p. 3, and Jörg Drews, Editorial. A salute to the numbers 1 to 300! The “Bargfelder Bote” once, now and hopefully in the future , in: Bargfelder Bote 1–300, CD edition, June 2007.