Maria Menz

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Maria Menz (born June 19, 1903 in Oberessendorf ; † March 7, 1996 there ) was a poet and writer.

Life

Maria Menz's house (2008)

Maria Menz, the oldest daughter of a farmer , wrote her first poems at the age of 14. Since studying to be a teacher was not possible, she became a nurse in Stuttgart in 1925 and worked in Berlin, Leipzig and Wangen im Allgäu . In 1942 she returned to her father's farm for health reasons. First publications in newspapers followed; But it wasn't until the age of 64 that she gave a first public reading of her poems in front of the then newly founded, now renowned Literary Forum Oberschwaben in Wangen im Allgäu, and received a lot of recognition, especially from the forum's co-founder, Martin Walser . As a result, various volumes of poetry were published (the introduction by the Germanist Wilhelm Gössmann on the inner world and the afterword by the writer Josef W. Janker on Ahnungen indicate the literary quality), at the encouragement of Walser - who was co-editor - a complete edition in 1981 that as a whole Contains 614 poems. Since the Oberland volume , Menz has also published in Swabian dialect .

Menz and Walser

The correspondence between Menz and Walser, published in 2005, reveals the trusting relationship between the two “fellow writers”: “Demanding and encouraging, criticizing and praising, Walser helps the vulnerable and strong, headstrong Menz to“ bring in a beautiful and rich harvest ””. Without Walser's support, Maria Menz would certainly have only written “for the drawer”; The writer, who was at the zenith of his reputation at the time, also campaigned for regional literature, from which Arnold Stadler and Karl-Heinz Ott also benefited. Menz thematized rural life, nature, but also the struggle to experience God as a "trail". The Walser, who was a quarter of a century younger, had a different worldview than the gaunt Catholic “farmer's daughter” who lived on the farm with her sisters: Walser admired Maria Menz's serious religiosity and mystical beliefs as well as her deep roots in the Upper Swabian landscape. He was fascinated by Maria Menz's unshakable focus on the problem of God, which he could not share. That is why he even called her our most beautifully exalted Seuse sister (after the Upper Swabian mystic Heinrich Seuse ).

Awards

In the early eighties the higher honors of the poet fall; evidently they had waited for a "round date". The “eulogy” at the awarding of the Johann-Peter-Hebel-Preis was held by Walter Münch , who as district administrator in Wangen im Allgäu (1950–1972) was a strong advocate for the regions of Upper Swabia and Allgäu, and for a long time he headed the Upper Swabian Literature Forum at the time, Maria Menz had moved her poems to go public for the first time. At the age of 85 she received the Federal Cross of Merit, 1st class. In her old age, Maria Menz published eleven cozy animal stories in addition to poems with the Rescue Collection ; her mental agitation lasted until shortly before her death: in 1994 she published in the literary magazine Allende . Martin Walser gave the eulogy for his 90th birthday.

Maria Menz died very old on March 7, 1996 in Oberessendorf, her burial was there on March 12, 1996. The poet's estate is now being looked after by the German Literature Archive in Marbach . In the Mettenberg district of Biberach, a small street is named after her.

evaluation

When I first met this poet ten years ago with Dr. When I heard Münch's Upper Swabian Literature Forum read, I thought: at last Pentecost. Martin Walser

The "high tone" that this now very old lyric poet intoned in her religious verses, as well as the experience-rich and language-preserving art of her dialect "Oberlendischen verse" really made the forum sit up and take notice for the first time and nourished the idea of ​​the great linguistic talent, which also could slumber in this rural region. Literature forum Oberschwaben

Works

Menz grave site (2008)
  • Inner world . Poems. With an introduction by Wilhelm Gössmann. Munich 1968.
  • Appearances. Poems. Afterword by Josef W. Janker. Cheeks 1969.
  • Oberland: Swabian poems . With six pictures by Jakob Bräckle . Biberach 1979. 2., ext. Edition with 26 pictures by Horst Reichle . With record. Biberach 1985. ISBN 978-3-924489-32-8
  • Poems . Complete edition in three volumes. Vol. 1: God shell threshold . Vol. 2: Man, World, Nature . Vol. 3: Oberlendische Verse (!). With a supplement by Martin Walser: Highest School - About Maria Menz . Sigmaringen 1981. ISBN 978-3-7995-1616-7
  • Lines . Together with Maria Beig , Reinhard Gröper , Johannes Hösle , Gisela Linder , Maria Müller-Gögler . Karlsruhe 1985.
  • What lifts your wings . Thoughts. Poems. self-published in 1987.
  • Thoughts. Poems. Stuttgart 1989. ISBN 978-3-7995-1680-8
  • Rescues . Stories [together with:] thoughts. Poems. Selection of works for the 90th birthday. Stuttgart 1993. ISBN 978-3-7995-1691-4
  • Letters 1. Correspondence with Martin Walser . Edited by Claus-Wilhelm Hoffmann. Eggingen 2005. ISBN 3-86142-362-6

Awards

literature

  • Hannelore Nussbaum: The open door. Encounters with the poet Maria Menz. Biberach 2002. ISBN 978-3-933614-14-8
  • Erentraud Wild: Maria Menz - poet from Upper Swabia: Traces of the road. Biberach 2000. ISBN 978-3-933614-04-9
  • Hannelore Nussbaum: “Keep writing. Come again! ”. Thoughts on the 100th from Maria Menz. in: Schöne Schwaben 2003, Heft 6, 33ff.
  • Gerhard Reischmann: Human children - Notes from Upper Swabia . 2nd edition Lindenberg 2008. ISBN 978-3-89870-465-6
  • Walter Münch: Eulogy in honor of Maria Menz, Oberessendorf: held at the award ceremony of the 1982 Lever Prize (...) on May 10, 1983 in the Hebel home in Zeil in Wiesental; Annual gift to the members of the association on the occasion of the 80th birthday of the award winner on June 19, 1983. Weingarten 1983.

Web links

Commons : Maria Menz  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Anton Philipp Knittel: “Seel-Sorger” of his people. in: www.literaturkritik.de
  2. ^ Announcement by edition.isele on the publication of the correspondence; (please look up under "Menz")
  3. ↑ Announcement on the exchange of letters
  4. ^ History of the Upper Swabian Literature Forum
  5. ^ History of the Upper Swabian Literature Forum
  6. ^ History of the Upper Swabian Literature Forum
personal data
SURNAME Menz, Maria
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German writer
DATE OF BIRTH June 19, 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH Oberessendorf
DATE OF DEATH March 7, 1996
Place of death Oberessendorf