The school of the atheists

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The School of Atheists (subtitle: Novellas = Comedy in 6 Acts ) is a work by the German writer Arno Schmidt with 80 highly commented scenic chapters.

The work was first published in 1972 by S. Fischer Verlag , Frankfurt am Main. In 1994 it appeared in the Bargfelder edition, work group IV, volume 2 as an edition of the Arno Schmidt Foundation by Haffmans Verlag .

Emergence

By far the funniest of Schmidt's late works was conceived and written down in the years 1969 to 1971. Schmidt was able to draw on local research that he carried out during a visit to Tellingstedt and in Dithmarschen in Schleswig-Holstein, on several trips with the Michels couple, had collected. The catastrophic scenario of the fall of Europe through a third world war , which he had previously repeatedly, z. B. in Black Mirror , The Scholarly Republic and KAFF also Mare Crisium , received a completely new and - surprisingly for Schmidt - light-hearted and cheerful turn. In the end, there is the deceptive appearance of hope in the continued existence of the reservation, which is tolerated by the great powers. The use of the most "diverse" language avoids all the torments that can be found in Zettel's dream . In Zettel's dream there is a first reference to the following work:

"(-: what do you know vd 'SCHOOL OF ATHEISTS'!: - héh!? -))"

- Zettel's dream : p. 222, center right
".... to us, of
all places , after Tellingstedt" Vernis mou- etching by Jens Rusch

action

The USA (as a matriarchy ) and China (as a patriarchy ) survived the nuclear war as competing great powers , but in Europe only one reservation on the Eider , located in the North German plains typical of Schmidt . It is intended to preserve the culture, customs and traditions of the past of old Europe as a tourist attraction in a museum. The area is ruled by the seventy-five year old Senator and Justice of the Peace William T. Kolderup. In October 2014, the US Secretary of State, Nicole Kennan, known as Isis, announced that she was going on a sightseeing tour and disrupted the idyll. A dissolution of the reserve could be imminent.

The political difficulties and tensions between the remaining great powers take a sudden turn when UFOs are sighted. Suddenly there is a need to hold a conference with a Chinese delegation on the neutral ground of the reservation in order to prevent the next, threatening war. Survival, not only of the reservation, depends on a positive outcome of the meeting. In order for this meeting to be a complete success, the old Kolderup uses all the tricks common in Kolportage novels. Many years ago he and the mother of the current US Secretary of State survived a shipwreck off Spenser Island . Moved by the events of that time, the minister is weighed for him. A treasure find (think of Schmidt's Das Steinerne Herz ) in the form of tiles with Chinese inscriptions, which turn out to be an important part of an ancestral shrine , a reminiscence of the author's father's stay in China (a procedure practiced by Schmidt in many of his books) is here action-bearing. For the Chinese negotiator Yuan Schi Kai, the tiles represent valuable gifts. Kolderup's skillful action leads to an agreement between the great powers and the reserve receives a (temporary) guarantee of existence.

A shipwrecked sea voyage is cleverly woven into the first level of action, as an "in-between game", at the end like a finely spun dream that, like a calculated television production with tricks behind the scenes, causes confusion. This is the report of the sea voyage of three atheists whose convictions are being tested by a missionary society. This is based on the real report about the mission ship Candace . A young pharmacist straight out of the Kolportage novels by Karl May , who is allowed to give to youthful heroes in “school”, is representative of the May references that are present in several of Schmidt's works.

The “secret passages” and wallpaper doors built into the text of the “school” are not yet explained. You are the object of your own exploration.

Influences and sources

In The School of Atheists , Schmidt makes use of the operetta and, as the title suggests, also the comedy The School of Women by the French playwright Molière . The main story is the novel The School of the Robinsons , written by Jules Verne , and the travelogue From Rotterdam to Copenhagen , written by his brother Paul Verne . Both books were therefore in 1978 in a volume in the series Haidnische antiquities at Zweitausendeins reissued, as well as the novel on two planets of Kurd Lasswitz , the influence on the science fiction -Handlung the book had. The works of Theodor Storm , Klaus Groth and Gustav Frenssen served as additional sources .

Schmidt's recourse to novels by Jean Paul and Ludwig Tieck , but also to older forms of literature, such as the magic fairy tales of the Rococo , probably conveyed through Christoph Martin Wieland , make the school appear as Schmidt's most conciliatory work - moreover like Wilhelm Raabe's late work.

literature

  • Bettina Clausen (among others): Completely correct in gray. "The School of Atheists" at first glance . In: Paper Box 1 (1984), ISSN  0176-7887 , pp 210 et seq. - Völlich correct in gray. "The School of Atheists" in continued reading . In: Zettelkasten 3 (1984), p. 34 ff.
  • Horst Denkler (Ed.): Everything = turned. To Arno Schmidt's “The School of Atheists” . Aisthesis, Bielefeld 2000, ISBN 3-89528-278-2 .
  • Jochen Hengst: Pacing the school of atheists. Wort-Werk bleach like a spawn (= series of publications by the Society of Arno Schmidt readers 5). Bangert & Metzler, Wiesenbach 2002, ISBN 3-924147-49-3 .
  • Kai U. Jürgens: "We're not modern here!" Arno Schmidt's "School of Atheists" as a science fiction novel. In: Bargfelder Bote Lfg. 393–394, October 2015, ISSN  0342-8036 , pp. 15–25.
  • Ulrich Klappstein, Heiko Thomsen (ed.): "Tellingstedt & the way there" Texts and materials on Arno Schmidt's The School of Atheists . Neisse, Dresden 2016, ISBN 978-3-86276-185-2 (hardcover); ISBN 978-3-86276-188-3 (study edition with monochrome images).
  • Horst Meesenburg: Fanø, Manø and Rømø, islands in the mudflats . Meesenburg, Esbjerg 1970 (Schmidt's main source for the topographical details of the island).
  • The mission ship Kandaze . Reprint from: Prayer & Service , 1977/78.
  • Dietmar Noering: Oh, Mr. Exarch. The Exarchate of Ravenna and the reservation on the Eider in Arno Schmidt's "The School of Atheists" . In: Zettelkasten, Vol. 1. (1984), ISSN  0176-7887 , pp. 202-209.
  • Dietmar Noering: "O Capri, whoever loves kisses rushes to you!" An island motif in Arno Schmidt's novellas = comedy "The School of Atheists" with the following trip to the card boxes . In: Schauerfeld. Communications of the Society of Arno Schmidt Readers, 1st vol., Issue 3, 1988, ISSN  0935-5650 , pp. 2-7.
  • Friedhelm Rathjen: Arno Schmidt on Fanø . The atheist's school trip. Edition Rejoyce, Scheeßel 2005, ISBN 3-00-017456-7 .
  • Leibl Rosenberg: The house ghost. An accompanying manual to Arno Schmidt's “The School of Atheists” . 2 vols., Edition Text u. Criticism, Munich 1977–79, ISBN 3-921402-43-3 / ISBN 3-88377-021-3 .

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