Emil Staiger

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Emil Staiger (1908–1987) Professor of German Studies, grave in the Witikon cemetery, Zurich
Grave in the Witikon cemetery , Zurich

Emil Staiger (born February 8, 1908 in Kreuzlingen , † April 28, 1987 in Horgen ) was a Swiss professor of German studies at the University of Zurich .

Live and act

After graduating from high school, Emil Staiger first studied theology, but then switched to German and classical philology. After studying in Geneva, Zurich and Munich, he received his doctorate in Zurich in 1932 with a thesis on Annette von Droste-Hülshoff . From 1932 to 1934 he was a member of the National Front (Switzerland) , from which he publicly distanced himself in 1935. In 1934 he completed his habilitation at the University of Zurich with a thesis on Schelling , Hegel and Hölderlin and in the same year became a private lecturer in German literature at the University of Zurich. In 1943 he was appointed full professor. Staiger's professional importance was founded in his widely acclaimed publications Die Zeit als Einbildkraft des Dichters (1939), Basic Concepts of Poetics (1946), The Art of Interpretation (1955) and in his three-volume Goethe Studies (1952–1959).

In the 1940s Staiger advanced to become one of the most respected German-speaking literary scholars. He made a significant contribution to making the so - called work - immanent interpretation the leading method in German studies for a certain period of time (although he himself rejected this characterization of his method). As opposed to non-literary concepts such as positivism and intellectual history , sociology or psychoanalysis , he advocated a concentration on the literary texts themselves. As far as literary studies were concerned, “the poet's word, the word for its own sake, nothing behind it, about or below is ». Staiger's text-based, sensitive interpretation method, often described with the formula "understand what grabs us", developed into a Germanic trademark.

Staiger's thinking is strongly influenced by the philosophy of Martin Heidegger , which sometimes has an impact on the linguistic style . In particular, Heidegger's existential concept of time was incorporated into Staiger's hermeneutics . Despite this intellectual closeness, their opinions could diverge again on detailed issues. Staiger's interpretive duel with Heidegger over the last line of Eduard Mörike's poem Auf eine Lampe , in which different attitudes towards the motif of vanitas are expressed, became famous in specialist Germanic circles . "But what is beautiful, it seems blissful in itself" understood Staiger in the sense of a mere appearance (videtur) , while Heidegger understood it as actual inner illumination (lucet) .

His 11 o'clock lectures, which inspired students from all over Europe as well as the literary public, became known far beyond the University of Zurich. Staiger was also a renowned translator of ancient and modern languages, who translated Aeschylus , Sophocles , Euripides , Virgil , Tasso , Poliziano and Milton into German. As a controversial theater and music critic as well as a columnist, he influenced Zurich's cultural life for decades.

In 1966, Staiger triggered the Zurich literary controversy with the acceptance speech on the occasion of the award of the literature prize of the city of Zurich . In that speech entitled Literature and the Public, Staiger expressed a vehement criticism of contemporary literature, to which Max Frisch , among others, publicly took a counter-position. This scandal cast a shadow over Staiger's reputation and gradually faded his fame. His pioneering achievements were increasingly forgotten, although some well-known names have emerged from the number of his students:

On the occasion of Emil Staiger's 100th birthday , the exhibition Admired Much and Much Scolded - The Germanist Emil Staiger (1908–1987) took place in the Zurich Central Library from February 5 to May 29, 2008 . The written estate of Emil Staiger can also be found in the Zurich Central Library.

Awards and honors (extract)

Publications (selection)

  • Annette von Droste-Hülshoff. Diss. 1933
  • The spirit of love and destiny. Schelling, Hegel and Holderlin. 1935
  • Time as the poet's imagination. Investigations into poems by Brentano, Goethe and Keller. 1939
  • Adalbert Stifter as a poet of awe. 1943
  • German language masterpieces from the 19th century. 1943
  • Basic concepts of poetics. 1946
  • Music and poetry. 1947
  • Goethe. 3 volumes. 1952 ff.
  • The art of interpretation. Studies on German literary history. 1955; 5th, unchanged edition, Zurich 1967.
  • Style change. Studies on the prehistory of the Goethe era. 1963
  • Spirit and Zeitgeist. 1964
  • Friedrich Schiller. 1967
  • Late period. Studies on German Literature. 1973
  • Peak of time. Studies on world literature. Sophocles, Horace, Shakespeare, Manzoni. 1979.

literature

  • Ingrid Brunecker: General validity or historical conditionality of the poetic genres: a main problem of modern poetics, worked out by Dilthey, Unger and Staiger. Philosophical dissertation, Kiel 1954.
  • Manfred Jurgensen: German literary theory of the present. Georg Lukács , Hans Mayer , Emil Staiger, Fritz Strich . Francke, Munich 1973 (= UTB , 215), ISBN 3-7720-1008-3
  • Joachim Rickes; Volker Ladenthin ; Michael Baum (Ed.): 1955-2005. Emil Staiger and “The Art of Interpretation” today . Lang, Bern a. a. 2007 (= publications for the journal for German studies; N. F., 16), ISBN 3-03-911171-X
  • Joachim Rickes: Admired a lot and scolded a lot. The Germanist Emil Staiger (1908–1987) (Lectures at the international research colloquium and the exhibition on Staiger's 100th birthday) Königshausen and Neumann, Würzburg 2009. ISBN 978-3-8260-4122-8 .
  • Peter Salm: Three directions in literary studies. Scherer , Walzel , Staiger. Niemeyer, Tübingen 1970 (= concepts of linguistics and literary studies, 2), ISBN 3-484-22002-3
  • Peter von Matt : Carried and embittered. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , February 8, 2008, p. 47. Carried away and bitter. (on-line)
  • Klaus Weimar : Conceptual literary studies and political engagement. A case study about Emil Ermatinger and Emil Staiger. In: Literary Studies and National Socialism , ed. v. Holger Dainat u. Lutz Danneberg. Niemeyer, Tübingen 2003, pp. 271–286 (= studies and texts on the social history of literature, 99), ISBN 3-484-35099-7

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Joachim Rickes (Ed.): Admired a lot and scolded a lot. The Germanist Emil Staiger (1908–1987) . Würzburg 2009, p. 13 ff.
  2. ↑ "In which circles do they circulate?" Emil Staiger's infamous speech from 1966 as a sound document , NZZ Online , June 10, 2008, accessed on January 4, 2012.
  3. ^ Fellows: Emil Staiger. British Academy, accessed August 1, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Staiger, Emil
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss Germanist
DATE OF BIRTH February 8, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Kreuzlingen
DATE OF DEATH April 28, 1987
Place of death Horgen