Born in 1899
Born in 1899 is a poem written by Erich Kästner , which can be assigned to the New Objectivity . It deals with the generation of fraud in those born between 1897 and 1901 in the wake of the First World War and its socio-political impact, which was perceived as painful in private life.
Emergence
Although Erich Kästner is better known today as a children's book author, his first publication was the volume of poems Herz auf Taille , which was published in 1928 and also included the year 1899 . His utility poetry, published as part of Neue Sachlichkeit, soon made him a central figure in German literature of the time.
shape
Year 1899 is divided into nine stanzas, each with four lines, which almost all follow the same cross rhyme scheme. Only in the last, five-line stanza is an additional anaphor used to build up tension . “Just a moment. Soon [...] “ represents an increase. And this just before the last, almost threatening-sounding line.
The author uses a very common language and uses numerous expressions of the colloquial language of the time. Language and style remain “common” without sounding derogatory (“bureau-employed”, “calculating with percentages”). The tone of the poem is in a common "Gymnasialdeutsch" (Pennälerdeutsch), simple but typical of the milieu in its technical specification. The choice of words reinforces the impression of the author's personal experience. In this way, too, the reflective review of what has been lyrically experienced is made tangible. This milieu-specific mode of expression is a central feature of the new objectivity, which tries to set itself apart from a more academic expressionism , above all from its strict ego dissociation .
interpretation
The lyrical self of the text under “We” summarizes the years from around 1897 to 1901, who were not yet old enough to have contributed to the causes of the First World War, but nevertheless already had to / wanted to do military service and thus to count among the youngest victims of this first industrialized war. (The 1899 class was drafted on all fronts due to the high casualties, in some cases as early as 1916 ( Battle of Verdun ); occasionally young people from the 1897–99 age group who had been gripped by general enthusiasm for war tried to come to the front on all sides as early as 1914, giving false data which mostly failed.).
These birth cohorts include a. high-ranking National Socialists such as Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945) or Joseph Goebbels (1897–1945), as well as their opponents Erich Maria Remarque and, in a broader sense, Ernst Jünger . It can be assumed that the following events in Germany and Europe must be viewed from the point of view that large groups of political and societal determinants in the 1930s and 1940s suffered from the long-term effects of post-traumatic stress disorders . To a large extent, these were implemented and (exploited) positively and negatively in politics and propaganda. From this point of view, the threatening last line: “Then we'll show you what we learned!” Anticipates the actions and decisions of European societies, which were bipolar in all warring parties .
Born in 1899 tries to present the fate of a young generation of the German people in a catchy language. The young men were robbed of their childhood by the horrors of the war and many of them - if they survived the war - suffered severe mental and physical damage (see above).
Many of the stanzas deal with a certain aspect in the life of the generation of the nearly thirty-year-olds around 1928. The individual stanzas describe in almost chronological order the life and the memories of the generations until the late 1920s. The "look in the rear-view mirror" promises a distance, which, however, is portrayed as painful and hurtful and perceived as close due to its effect on the present. The past forms the self-image of a year, a youth.
The first stanza describes the First World War, in which the supposed "father" generation served in the Reichswehr. Young people follow their fathers in the traditional way and only realize at the age of thirty how and what they have been cheated out of. Male adolescents of this age should gain initial experience with women. This is followed by Kästner's own military service (2nd stanza), and finally the days of the November Revolution in 1918 (3rd stanza). Stanzas 4 to 6 deal with inflation at the beginning of the 1920s, Kästner's studies in Leipzig, his office work as a student trainee and disillusioning life experiences (abortion, unemployment). The Battle of Ypres (7th stanza) is mentioned in retrospect as a loss-making battle of the First World War, to commemorate the human losses of this generation. Verses 7–9 reflect and generalize the experiences described, which end in a sibylline outlook.
literature
- text
- Secondary literature
- Dirk Walter: Poetry as a substitute? To Erich Kästner's role poem "Born in 1899" . In: Harald Hartung (Ed.): Poems and Interpretations, Volume 5: From Naturalism to the Middle of the Century . Reclam, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-15-007894-5 , pp. 309-319.