Josef Messner (writer)

Josef Messner

Josef Messner (also Josef Meßner ; born March 3, 1822 in Prachatitz , Bohemia ; † January 4, 1862 there ) was a German writer and poet .

Life

The poet came from a wealthy Prachatitz bourgeois family and was born on February 3, 1822. After completing six high school classes in Budweis , he lost interest in studying and was enlisted in the 1st Artillery Regiment in Prague. But since obedience and subordination were an abomination for the youth thirsty for freedom, he quit military service as an "invalid". After a brief interlude as a draftsman in railway construction, he joined master Franz Praxl in Prachatitz in 1845 as an apprentice white tanner and was acquitted after barely two years of training. He then went on a journey for a long time, which was reflected in his self-biographical work Handwerksburschen . Finally, in 1851, he was persuaded to settle in his hometown and practice the profession he had learned as a white tanner.

Literary work

His literary work began during his wanderings with the publication of smaller works in the Prague newspaper Bohemia and the Budweiser Anzeiger from southern Bohemia . A middle-class life now seemed to lie ahead of the poet, but hardly a year had passed when he followed his wanderlust, abandoned his existence and set out on the road again. In the same year a serious illness forced him to return to Prachatitz. Physically battered, he found a completely different situation: his parents had separated from him for good, and so he, sick and penniless, was left with nothing.

The incurable quarrel with his parents and the increasingly noticeable consequences of his unsound way of life had such a lasting effect on his sensitive soul that he only now rose to become a gifted poet. During this period his most important works were created, most of which dealt with topics from the Bohemian Forest .

Messner knew exactly that his life clock would expire prematurely. His work “My Last Walk in the Forest” remained unfinished. He died of pneumonia on January 4, 1862.

Fonts

Josef Messner left a rich, poetic legacy, consisting of numerous poems, stories and novels:

• The cat Raphael , artist anecdote, Bohemia 1846
• Fatum , novella, Bohemia 1848
• Viola d'amour , novella, Bohemia 1848
• The Primator , a novel from the past of the city of Prachatitz, Kober Album, 1852; - newly published by Heimatkreis Prachatitz in 1972
• Two brothers , a historical three-volume novel about father Radetzky, album 1853
• Faithful , a Simple Tale, Album 1854
• Jan von Wartenberg , historical story, album of memories 1855
• Margarethe Maultasch , cultural and moral painting from the 14th century. Album 1855
• Little gods , novella, Bohemia 1855
• Jens Trutz , novella, album of memories 1856
• Handlers in Böhmerwalde , Scenes from Forest Life, New Illustrated Folk Calendar (Vienna) 1856 ( Contents: Handlers in Böhmerwalde, Forest Stories and Craftsmen Online  - Internet Archive )
• Forest stories, village stories from the forest, album 1857
• Haus am Weiher , a story of the Bohemian Forest, Bohemia 1858
• Handwerksburschen , an autobiography, album 1858

• Selected works , edited by Paul Meßner. Tempsky, Prague and Vienna / Freytag, Leipzig 1897, online

Further novels: The guardian of the house honor, The French in Böhmerwalde, An Austrian Admiral, The Emperor Helps, The Counterfeiters, The Rose of the Schreinerwaldes

Descriptions of the country and people in the Bohemian Forest: Wallern and the Wallerer, Die Maderhäuser, Maidstein, Kugelweit, Bad Grindschädel, Alt-Budweis

literature

• Constantin von Wurzbach : Messner, Joseph . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 17th part. Imperial-Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1867, p. 453 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Paul Meßner: Three German Bohemian Forest poets , Prachatitz 1901.
• Hofbauer, Robert: Josef Meßner, a lost Bohemian Forest writer ; in German work: Journal of the Volksbund for Germanness abroad - 12 (1912/13), pp. 302–308.
• Paul Messner: Josef Messner. A picture of life . Self-published, Prachatitz 1926.
• Friedrich Weiß: A genius from Prachatitz - Josef Meßner (on the 150th anniversary of his death). In: Böhmerwäldler Heimatbrief , January 2012.

Web links

• Works by Josef Messner in the Gutenberg-DE project