Charles Brasch

Charles Orwell Brasch (born July 27, 1909 in Dunedin ; † May 20, 1973 ibid) was a New Zealand poet , author , teacher , lecturer and translator of German descent who was the founder of the literary magazine Landfall , which he published between 1947 and 1966 and thus played a key role in shaping New Zealand culture. He also organized the promotion of young authors and was instrumental in the foundation of the renowned Robert Burns Fellowship .

Life

Family origins and relationship with grandfather

Brasch came from a wealthy Jewish family of merchants and was the son of the lawyer Hyam Brasch, who later changed his name to Henry Brash for fear of prejudice. His mother, Helene Mary Fels, who was born in Germany , was a relative of Bendix Hallenstein , whose family settled in Otago as gold merchants in the 1860s and later founded a nationwide chain of clothing stores. The de Beer entrepreneurial family also belonged to the family.

After the birth of the younger sister Lesley Mary Brasch in 1911, the mother became pregnant for the third time in early 1914, but suddenly died of a bleeding . Brasch later described this event as the end of his “childhood proper” at the age of four.

He grew up in his father's household in Dunedin and was raised by aunts and domestic servants. But he spent a lot of time in Manono , the big red brick house of his maternal grandfather, Willi Fels . He was not only a businessman, but also a traveler and art collector, whose influence on Brasch developed a lifelong interest in European culture. Later on, despite the strong resistance of his father, Fels also supported the grandson's decision to embark on an artistic career. He was ultimately “rock and center” for Brasch in the years between childhood and middle age.

Attended school and studied at the University of Oxford

At the end of 1923 Brasch was sent to boarding school at the renowned Waitaki Boys' High School in Oamaru . During his three-year residency there, he began writing poetry, which was published in the school newspaper The Waitakian . He was supported by the headmaster Frank Milner and began a lifelong friendship with James Munro Bertram , who later also became a recognized writer, literary critic and university lecturer .

After graduating from Waitaki Boys's High School and six months of preparation by Willi Fels, Brasch began studying at St John's College at the University of Oxford in October 1927 . The three-year study period was shaped by the father's expectations, which were exactly the opposite. Instead of studying law and showing an interest in rowing, he graduated in 1930 from a degree in contemporary history with an “ignominious third” and intended to start a career as a writer. His fellow students at the University of Oxford included WH Auden , Cecil Day-Lewis , Stephen Spender and Louis MacNeice , whose example he followed and also published poems in well-known student magazines. During this time he traveled with relatives from the de Beer family to Italy , where his cousin Esmond Samuel de Beer helped to develop his understanding of literature and art.

Archaeological excavations in Egypt and studies at the University of London

A friendship with another fellow student, Colin Roberts, shaped his interest in another subject that he dealt with for three years: archeology . In 1931, however, he returned to Dunedin for a short time to work in the family business, but felt that his future would lie in England.

In 1932 he took part in an excavation in Egypt under the direction of the young British archaeologist John Pendlebury and returned to Tell el-Amarna in the Nile Valley for two more excavation times. Between the excavations he lived in the London borough of Primrose Hill and studied Arabic and Egyptian history at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London . He also traveled around Europe before eventually becoming disillusioned with the idea of ​​a career in archeology. However, his first two volumes of poetry and some unpublished short stories testify to the existing influence of Egypt on his writing.

Poetic beginnings and teachers

The poetry he wrote in the 1930s, which he described as his first "true" poetry, is marked by his separate loyalties to two countries. The poems, written in England, appeared in New Zealand magazines such as Phoenix and Tomorrow . Together with James Munro Bertram and Milner's son, Ian Milner , Brasch discussed for the first time in 1932 the possibility of publishing an extensive cultural magazine as the successor to Phoenix, which was only published for a short time .

His exploration of the paradoxes of European colonization in New Zealand was a topic he shared with other authors of his generation such as ARD Fairburn and RAK Mason . The restless, elegiac tone in his first two volumes of poetry became a hallmark of his poetry. Due to the family fortune, it was possible for him to go on long journeys and spent stays in Italy, whose culture he adopted as an artistic ideal, France , Germany , Greece , Palestine , the Soviet Union and the USA . The problem of identity, which was central to his poems, plagued him in everyday life.

In 1937 Brasch took on a teaching position at a school for problem children, which, in his view, justified its existence for the first time. The Abbey School , founded on the principle of the radical Summerhill School in Suffolk , was in Little Missenden in Chiltern Hills . There he taught English and history until 1939 and visited New Zealand again in 1939.

In 1939, The Land and the People was published under the direction of Denis Glover at the publishing house Caxton Press in Christchurch, his first volume of poetry.

Second World War, return to New Zealand and founding of the literary magazine Landfall

When the Second World War broke out , Brasch was in Hawaii with his father and felt obliged to return to England. For the next six years he lived in the London area. Due to a slight emphysema , he was exempted from military service and spent six months with the observation of fire before he end of the war in the Intelligence Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ( Foreign Office ) worked.

In 1946 he returned to Dunedin and founded the bi-annual literary magazine Landfall in 1947 , which he published for almost 20 years until 1966. In this position he had a significant influence on the way art developed in New Zealand. A meticulous and precise editor, he made Landfall not only a literary magazine but also a forum for critical commentary on life and culture in New Zealand. He insisted that the arts in New Zealand "must ... depend on the European tradition" and defended them against the highest standards of that tradition. His exclusion from work that did not meet his precise criteria of craftsmanship led some to condemn landfall as elitist, although his endeavor was always the foundation of a worthy native culture.

Poetry collections and promoters of New Zealand culture

In New Zealand he also received more recognition as a poet than in England. Except for a few poems in journals and magazines, his only work published in England was a little-noticed drama. After The Land and the People published in 1939 , Caxton Press published his second volume of poetry Disputed Ground under Denis Glover in 1948 . In 1951 he also took a part-time position as a lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Otago .

The lyrics in Brasch's third anthology , The Estate (1957), revealed a preoccupation with the rediscovery of his homeland. In 1958, he was the alleged main initiator of the Robert Burns Fellowship Foundation at the University of Otago.

The search for identity, both global and personal, remained at the heart of his fourth collection of poems, Ambulando (1964), although his style was now more condensed than lyrical. His contributions as editor, poet and promoter of New Zealand culture was recognized in May 1963 when the University of Otago awarded him an honorary doctorate.

After the publication of Landfall in 1966, Brasch found the time for a series of occupations, including studying the Russian language , translating the works of the Punjabi poet Amrita Pritam after various trips to India and briefly managing the publishing house with Janet Paul Square and Circle Press included. He was also involved in a number of organizations such as the Dunedin Public Library Association , the Otago Museum Management Committee , the Hocken Library Committee and the Arts Advisory Council , which earned him recognition as the patron of New Zealand culture brought in. He also gave guest lectures at various universities and institutions. He also organized anonymous financial aid for artists and writers, many of whom were personal friends.

Despite his numerous public positions, Brasch remained a man of deep reserve, both personally and poetically, which was reflected in his intense, sometimes bitter appearance. At times he lived with the artist and theater producer Rodney Kennedy .

Late literary work and death

His final works continue to reflect the difficulties of the defined but still protected inner self, which became the focus of his extensive fifth collection of poems, Not far off (1969). His last volume of poetry, Home ground , published posthumously in 1974, was again more personal, speaking in a newly modernist language of emerging topics such as age and illness. In the last years of his life he also continued work on his memoirs, which were also published posthumously under the title Indirections in 1980 and spanned the period between his birth and 1947.

During a two-month trip to Europe he also appeared at the International Poetry Festival in Rotterdam in April 1972 . After returning to New Zealand, Brasch developed cancer . After Hodgkin's lymphoma was also diagnosed in March 1973 , he went to Wakari Hospital for medical treatment from his close friend Dr. Deirdre Airey. He returned home in May 1973, where he was cared for by writers Ruth Dallas and Margaret Scott . He died on May 20, 1973 at his home in Dunedin.

He left behind an extensive collection of books, paintings and personal papers, which he left with the Hocken Library in Dunedin and the Otago Library , which set up a Charles Brasch Hall .

Publications

• The Land and the People , 1939
• Disputed ground , 1948
• The estate , 1957
• Ambulando, poems , 1964
• Present company , 1966
• Not far off; poems , 1969
• Home ground , 1974

posthumously

• Indirections: A Memoir 1909-1947 , Autobiography, 1980
• The universal dance , 1981
• Collected poem , 1984
• Charles Brasch in Egypt , autobiography, 2007
• Journals 1938-1945 , contributions by Rachel Barrowman, Margaret Scott, and Andrew Parsloe, 2013, ISBN 978-1-877372-84-1

Web links

• Sarah Quigley: Brasch, Charles Orwell , in: Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand , Update June 5, 2013, accessed March 25, 2015
• Biography in Poetry Archive
• Biography in New Zealand Book Council
• Biography in the Jewish Online Museum
• Entry in NZETC
• Bibliography in the Open Library

Individual evidence

1. ^ Bibliography in Otago University Press