Oscar AH Schmitz

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Oscar Adolf Hermann Schmitz (also: Oscar AH Schmitz ; born April 16, 1873 in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe , Hessen-Nassau ; † December 17, 1931 in Frankfurt am Main ) was a German society writer and member of the Munich bohemian community . In his writings, which were quite popular at the time, he described, analyzed, parodied and reflected on the upper class - zeitgeist of Wilhelmine Germany and its crisis after the First World War . There is also a comprehensive opus of travel and advice literature , as well as numerous writings in which he promoted astrology and psychoanalysis .

Life

Schmitz was born in 1873 as the first of four children to a bourgeois family in Homburg vor der Höhe, Hesse. After his parents moved to Frankfurt am Main , he attended the municipal high school there , but had to leave it due to a lack of discipline. In 1892, however, he passed the Abitur at the Philippinum grammar school in Weilburg , albeit with difficulty . This was followed by unsteady studies in law , economics , philosophy and art history in Heidelberg , Leipzig , Munich and Berlin .

In 1894 Schmitz studied art history in Rome for six months , then traveled back to Munich via Sicily , Tunis , Naples , Budapest and Vienna and began one after the other doctoral theses in the subjects of economics and literary history , but in 1895, after the death of his father, he broke his studies as a whole from, as a substantial pension ensured him permanent prosperity, so that he could devote himself entirely to the search for adventure, his travels and his literary work. Through Karl Wolfskehl he met the poet Stefan George in Paris in 1897 , and Schmitz published his first own poems in his journals for the arts . Nevertheless, Schmitz forfeited George's favor by frankly criticizing his follower Melchior Lechter .

In Munich he later met the writer Countess Fanny zu Reventlow and Ludwig Klages . Schmitz became an enthusiastic participant in the hustle and bustle of the Schwabing Bohème , among other things in the circle of cosmists . In a novel inspired by his own experiences, which was first published under the title When we women awake and later published under the main title Bürgerliche Bohème , Schmitz drew a satirical image of the morals of the Munich upper class of that time.

With his short story Haschisch , published in 1902 , Schmitz made a significant contribution to the development of fantastic literature. It plays with taboo subjects such as eroticism , satanism , sadism , religion , death and intoxication .

With his brother-in-law, the graphic artist and illustrator Alfred Kubin , he traveled all over Europe, North Africa and Russia. Longer stopovers were Munich, Salzburg, Rome, Paris and Berlin.

When the First World War broke out , he panicked and allowed himself to be written unfit for military service. In the following years, however, Schmitz dealt intensively with topics from politics and society.

Caused by his psychological interest, but also by his own psychological crises, Schmitz turned to psychoanalysis and psychotherapy at an early stage , in particular CG Jung and Alfred Adler . He was also attached to Count Keyserling's “wisdom school” . Long before psychologists referred to personality concepts in astrology , Schmitz foresaw the development of an "astro-psychology" in his writing Geist der Astrologie (1922), which still occupies a central and topical position in esotericism .

In 1931 Schmitz died of a liver disease and left behind numerous cultural-political writings, essays, plays and novels. Although Thomas Mann considered him to be an "excellent, intelligent writer", Schmitz is no longer too present in the public consciousness.

In addition to his autobiographies (1925–1927), which were published in three volumes, the diaries published by Wolfgang Martynkewicz in 2006–2007, also in three volumes, have recently come into consideration as biographical sources . The German Literature Archive in Marbach manages part of Schmitz's literary estate .

Schmitz himself was married three times, mostly for a very short time, but remained childless. His sister Hedwig married the graphic artist Alfred Kubin in 1904 . One of Schmitz's nephews (son of sister Mathilde) was the literary scholar Richard Alewyn .

Works

As an author

Essays
  • Sexual Character Psychology . In: Ehrhard F. Eberhard (Hrsg.): Gender character and people strength. Basic problems of feminism . Hofmann publishing house, Darmstadt 1930.
Autobiographical
  • The ghosts of the house. Memories of the youth Müller, Munich 1926.
  • Demon world. Years of development . Müller, Munich 1926.
  • Ergo sum. Years of maturation . Müller, Munich 1927.
Letters
  • Search for meaning or psychoanalysis, correspondence with Count Hermann Keyserling from the days of the school of wisdom . Society of Hessian Literature Friends, Darmstadt 1970.
stories
  • Hashish. Stories (EA Poe's Fantastic Library; Vol. 7). Edition Blitz, Windeck 2006, ISBN 3-89840-927-9 (reprint of the Berlin 1902 edition).
  • Half mask . Juncker, Stuttgart 1903.
  • Herr von Pepinster and his bogeyman . Tales of double life . Müller, Munich 1915 (illustrated by Alfred Kubin ).
  • Dawn of mankind. Fairytale story . Müller, Munich 1918.
  • Tales in the twilight . Müller, Munich 1927.
  • Fairy tales from the unconscious . Hanser, Munich 1932.
Essays
  • Breviary for people of the world. Essays on society, fashion, women, travel, the art of living, art, philosophy . Müller, Munich 1923 (reprint of the Stuttgart 1911 edition).
  • Don Juan, Casanova and other erotic characters. An attempt . Juncker, Stuttgart 1913.
  • The country without music. English social problems . 4th edition Müller, Munich 1914.
  • What France was to us. The land of reality . 5th edition. Müller, Munich 1914 (former title: French social problems ).
  • The worldview of the semi-educated . Müller, Munich 1914.
  • Real Germany. The rebirth through the war . Müller, Munich 1915.
  • England's Political Legacy to Germany through Benjamin Disraeli , Lord Beaconsfield . Müller, Munich 1916 (former title: The Art of Politics ).
  • Enigmatic Germany . Müller, Munich 1920.
  • Headlights over Europe, Russia, Scandinavia, Southeast Europe, Italy, France . Müller, Munich 1920.
  • The Dionysian Secret. Experiences and knowledge of a deserter . Müller, Munich 1921.
  • The spirit of astrology . 4th edition Uranus-Verlag, Hamburg 1937 (reprinted by EA Hamburg 1922).
  • Psychoanalysis and Yoga (Leuchter books). Reichl-Verlag, Darmstadt 1923.
  • Breviary for the lonely. Pointers to new life . Müller, Munich 1923.
  • Breviary for the apolitical. Guide to public life . Müller, Munich 1923.
  • The Austrian man. For object lessons for Europeans, especially for Reich Germans . Literary Institute, Vienna 1924.
  • Essays about people, countries and peoples (countries and people). Müller, Munich 1928.
  • The tragic comedy of the sexes or the alienation between man and woman . Hanser, Munich 1931.
  • Paths to maturity. The end of the youth economy . Kampmann-Verlag, Freiburg / B. 1931.
Poetry
  • Orpheus. Songs of the Traveler, De profundis, Katafalke, Roma . Lazarus-Verlag, Berlin 1899.
Travel book
  • Trips into the blue. A Mediterranean book . Müller, Munich 1925.
Novels
When we women wake up ... (Bourgeois Bohème), original edition, Georg Müller , Munich and Leipzig 1913
  • Bourgeois bohemian. a German moral novel from the pre-war period . Müller, Munich 1925 (former title: "When we women wake up ..." A moral novel from the new Germany ).
  • Lothar. The downfall of a childhood . Juncker, Stuttgart 1913.
  • The displaced. A development novel . Müller, Munich 1917.
  • Melusine. A statesman's novel . Müller, Munich 1928.
  • Wasp nests . Musarion-Verlag, Munich 1928/29 (3 parts).
Diaries
  1. The bohemian wild life. Diaries 1896–1906 . ISBN 978-3-351-03097-1 .
  2. A dandy on the move. Diaries 1907–1912 . ISBN 978-3-351-03098-8 .
  3. Through the land of demons. Diaries 1912–1918 . ISBN 978-3-351-03099-5 .
Plays
  • The Lord of Life. Two elevators . Juncker, Stuttgart 1905.
  • Don Juanito. Comedy in four acts . Wedekind publishing house, Berlin 1908.
  • The hysterical man. Comedy in three acts (Theater der Gegenwart; Vol. 4). Müller, Munich 1914.
  • Don Juan and the courtesan. Five one-act plays . Müller, Munich 1914.
  • A German Don Juan. Comedy in three acts . Müller, Munich 1917.

As translator

literature

Web links

Commons : Oscar AH Schmitz  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Oscar Adolf Hermann Schmitz  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ André Baurbault: From psychoanalysis to astrology. The bridge between soul and cosmos (“De la Psychoanalysis à l'Astrologie”, 1961). Hugendubel, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-88034-506-6 .
  2. ^ Schmitz, Oskar: Geist der Astrologie, Munich, 1922, p. 185
  3. ↑ Contents: Hashish , The Hashish Club , The Devil's Beloved , A Night of the 18th Century , Carnival , The Sin Against the Holy Spirit , The Message and The Smugglers' Walkway .
  4. ↑ with illustrations by Alfred Kubin and a foreword by Carl Gustav Jung .
  5. ↑ contains 24 essays.
  6. ↑ contains 31 essays.
  7. ↑ also includes: The Avenger. Three scenes .
  8. ↑ Contents: Don Juan and the Courtesan , The Marquis's Horn , Art and Love , The White Elephant and How Pannychis the Hetaera Came to Heaven .
personal data
SURNAME Schmitz, Oscar AH
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schmitz, Oscar Adolf Hermann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German writer
DATE OF BIRTH April 16, 1873
PLACE OF BIRTH Homburg , Hesse
DATE OF DEATH December 17, 1931
Place of death Frankfurt am Main