Pro Contra. Arguments currently from Die Zeit

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Pro Contra. Arguments at the time from Die Zeit is a literary compendium by the German journalist and writer Rudolf Walter Leonhardt , which was first published in 1974. It was based on a weekly column specially illustrated by Paul Flora in the form of a discourse from the 1970s and 1980s in Die Zeit , which at the time “moved, convinced or outraged thousands of readers”. The column and the resulting book have been received several times in German literary studies , literary criticism and literature.

content

The book is based on more than 50 “Pros & Cons”, which the longtime deputy editor-in-chief and features head of the weekly newspaper Die Zeit published there over the years. These “arguments” arose when Leonhardt suggested to his colleagues in the features section that they “ write a regular column on the arguments for or against decisions on this or that controversial issue” within a manageable time frame of one year . Contrary to the original intention, the entire project of the column ran over ten years.

Leonhardt saw his idea as a contradiction to contemporary developments in the feature pages, since there mostly highly qualified specialists "strictly and competently on questions of art and literature , theater and film, music and architecture , education and science" would express. The column was very popular with colleagues and readers for over ten years and even the draftsman and caricaturist Paul Flora provided special illustrative drawings for a long time, until the weekly deadline pressure became too much for him in old age and the publisher agreed to use his stock Appropriate caricatures or drawings.

Leonhardt's real goal was to contribute to the repeatedly necessary attempt to deal sensibly. Such discussions seemed to him "the only humane way to deal with differences of opinion". He felt obliged to a philosophical liberalism in order to bring what one thinks and feels into conscious agreement.

Leonhardt took on controversial topics of contemporary history, such as As the dog tax , introduced its "Pro - Contra - &" -Abwägungen a related press quote or famous sayings of the people mouth ahead, and then weighed with a provocative question, the actual Pros & Cons in four to five points against each other. At the end - as in a classic debate or a discourse - the conclusion followed in as objective a form as possible.

In the following letters to the editor , he found the greatest recognition among educators and scientists who presented the “ arguments ” to their pupils and students as illustrative material for dealing with controversial questions.

For himself Leonhardt drew the following conclusion: “The educational influence on the writer himself was enormous. He, a rationalist tending to ironic distancing , had little reason to believe in the everlasting triumph of reason; but how little reason can be if it is not so very consciously, very carefully cultivated - he had not known that before ”.

In the work itself, the arguments are divided into six subdividing chapters: Everyday life for all of us , The individual in work and society , From schools and universities , sports, fun and games , politics and morals , language and literature . The volume ends with an autobiography in brief, following the arguments .

The arguments for or against foreign words may serve as a further example . But even for the Olympic Games , Leonhardt knew how to provide the right arguments. More controversial topics from the area of politics and morality were more likely to be killing on demand , while simpler topics such as arguments for and against cycling were not included in the compilation.

The publisher itself described the pros and cons. Arguments at the time from Die Zeit on the cover text as a “ handbook of rhetoric ” and as a “ discussion aid ”, since after the pros and cons, a conclusion always followed.

expenditure

  • Rudolf Walter Leonhardt: Pro & Contra . Piper, Munich 1974, ISBN 3-492-02060-7 , 244 pp.
  • Rudolf Walter Leonhardt: Pro & Contra. Arguments currently from Die Zeit . Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-453-03405-8 , 185 pp.

reception

In literary studies , Leonhardt's work was accepted as basic reading. For the discussion about the value of the classics , Leonhardt's column work was seen as an enrichment and “journalistic cabinet piece” that was quoted in full. Leonhardt's Pro & Contra for literary criticism also preceded the work Literature and Critique by Marcel Reich-Ranicki and Walter Jens . In the literary field, the former surgeon Michael Trede cited the Congress section in his autobiographical memoirs.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Theo Sommer : Thinking what you feel. Do what you think. Brilliant, stormy, provocative: on the death of the great columnist and admired colleague Rudolf Walter Leonhardt. In: Die Zeit, April 3, 2003 No. 15
  2. ^ Rudolf Walter Leonhardt: Pro & Contra. Arguments currently from Die Zeit . Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1989, p. 9.
  3. ↑ ibid.
  4. ^ Rudolf Walter Leonhardt: Pro & Contra. Arguments currently from Die Zeit. Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1989, p. 10.
  5. ↑ The city of Hamburg, (…), is doing this to abolish dogs by levying dog taxes that are prohibitive for normal wage earners . , 1989, p. 53.
  6. ↑ What speaks against dogs - and what for them? 1 989, p. 53.
  7. ↑ In the present case: “(...) dogs also want to live - and have a right to it. People tend to be very egotistical about the masters of the world and only tolerate animals for their own purposes, such as riding or eating. I could imagine that the world would be out of biological equilibrium if the extinction of animals continued like this. ”1989, p. 52. Note: The 1989 edition includes this misbinding before a capital space.
  8. ↑ From ZEIT employees . In: The time . No. 20/1974 ( online ).
  9. ^ Rudolf Walter Leonhardt: Pro & Contra. Arguments currently from Die Zeit . Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1989, p. 11.
  10. ^ Rudolf Walter Leonhardt: Pro & Contra. Arguments currently from Die Zeit . Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1989, p. 174 f.
  11. ^ Foreign words, DIE ZEIT, March 30, 1973 No. 14
  12. ↑ Arguments for and against the Olympic Games, in: DIE ZEIT, August 25, 1972 No. 34
  13. ↑ Arguments for and against killing on demand, in: DIE ZEIT, April 20, 1973 No. 17
  14. ↑ DIE ZEIT, March 16, 1973 No. 12
  15. ↑ Literary Lexicon . Authors and works in German (15 volumes). Gütersloh, Munich: Bertelsmann-Lexikon-Verl., 1988–1991, also lists the work.
  16. ^ Jürgen Adam: Antithetic categories as a methodological means in German literary studies , Frank & Timme 2009, ISBN 978-3865962294 , p. 146.
  17. ↑ Helmut Fuhrmann: The Fury of Disappearance: Literature Lessons and Literature Tradition . Königshausen & Neumann 1993, ISBN 978-3884797426 , pp. 181f.
  18. ↑ Marcel Reich-Ranicki and Walter Jens : Literature and Criticism . Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Munich 1980, ISBN 978-3421019509
  19. ↑ Michael Trede: The returnees. Sketchbook of a surgeon . 3rd edition Hüthig Jehle Rehm, ISBN 978-3609161723 , p. 382f.