Advertising (Ingeborg Bachmann)

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Advertisement is one of the most famous poems by the Austrian poet Ingeborg Bachmann . It was published in her second volume of poetry, Invocation of the Great Bear , in 1956 . Since then, advertising has been published in numerous anthologies of German-language post - war literature and has found its way into school reading . Marcel Reich-Ranicki included the poem in his canon of German literature in 2005 .

Influenced by a stay in America, Ingeborg Bachmann thematized in advertising the contrast between the existential questions of a person about orientation and transience and the sham answers that advertising gives him with its comforting phrases.

Structure and style

The poem has no stanza structure and no rhyme scheme . The total of 20 verses are of different lengths and are not divided by punctuation marks. They are more reminiscent of the lines of a prose text than of lyrical verse. The correspondence in every line from recte to italic and from upper case to lower case already indicates that there are two different speakers that are linked to one another using assembly technology . Soothing phrases follow worried questions:

But where do we go
without worry , do
n't worry,
when it's dark and when it gets cold,
don't worry

The change of the verb form from the first person in the plural - the lyric we  - to the second person in the singular creates the impression of a question-and-answer game, the last question highlighted by the inserted blank line is not answered:

but what happens
best
when there is dead silence

.

The rhythm of the two speakers is similar. But while the recte set lines, alternating between iambi and anapastes, give the impression of unrest, the anapastes of the cursive text provide “upswing” and remind of music, which is explicitly emphasized in the text itself: “with music”.

The poem can be assigned to the thought poetry .

interpretation

Divided into two speakers, two different forms of advertising are presented: advertising as advertising that promises "problem solving through problem suppression" and promises material substitute satisfaction for the lack of answers. On the other hand, there is the worrying questioner who is complaining and lamenting , looking for answers that are not given to him. His four questions lead from the “need for security” to “orientation in the spiritual and existential uncertainty” before realizing one's own finitude to the search for “a last resort”.

He is answered by whispering advertising language, the false answers of which promise consolation, but are in truth only attempts to appease and anesthetize the questioner. They take the form of a litany . "The singsong of the advertising language appeals to carelessness and promises cheerfulness - music is a drug." The "Advertising is enticement, distraction of people from the search for an existential goal." The advertising voice is reminiscent of a loudspeaker announcement that is repeated over and over again Seem to confuse the end. Her suggestion and persuasion, her constant repetition of the same set of phrases suggest that the advertising voice not only wants to calm the addressee, but also his own growing uncertainty.

The focus of the advertising message is the neologism of the “ dream laundry ”. It is reminiscent of "dream factory" and "brainwashing" and evokes associations with the title of a story by Ingeborg Bachmann: A business with dreams . A business also takes place in the dream laundry of advertising. By influencing the mass media, dreams as possible social counter-concepts are directed towards substitute satisfaction through consumption. The “ dream laundry ” is a metaphor for the suppression of human fears and longings through the promises of advertising. Advertising loses its power only in the face of death. The loudspeaker breaks off after the word “dead silence”. In the end, only the voice of the questioner remains without receiving an answer.

"The poem shows not only how people are surrounded by seductive voices and are showered with promises of advertising that penetrate the subconscious, but also when and where the suggestive power of advertising fails: in the face of death."

Andreas Hapkemeyer sums up: “Ingeborg Bachmann poetically depicts what the philosopher and sociologist Herbert Marcuse , who lived in America for a long time, describes as the magical, authoritarian, ritual elements of the media and advertising that tend towards it, the contemplation of To prevent people from answering their very own questions and to overlay them with dummy questions and answers. "

Connection to other works by Bachmann

Reklame has strong connections to other works by Ingeborg Bachmann, in particular her two radio plays The Cicadas and The Good God of Manhattan and her late novel Malina . In Malina , too , Bachmann put large parts of the text in italics, and as in advertising , in the end the normal type outlasts the silent counter- text in italics . In Die Zikaden , Antonio's voice is reminiscent of the flattering advertising voice from advertising and, like this, is associated with music. In The Good God of Manhattan , a text set in capitals takes on a promotional role similar to that of the cursive verses from advertisements . Both this radio play and advertising were created shortly after Ingeborg Bachmann's stay in America in July 1955 in New York City , which had a strong impact on the writer due to the omnipresent advertising machinery.

Ingeborg Bachmann has also written a radio play and a story under the title “ A business with dreams ”.

“Dreams can give rise to counter images of the world of social constraints or illustrate such compulsions as nightmares; The businesses of the consumer industry are questionable when they use the means of influencing the masses to suppress all human fears, longings and hopes that can counteract the sales strategies in order to offer substitute satisfaction. "-" 'Dream laundry' is a metaphor for precisely this repression. "

Text output

  • First published in: Jahresring 56/57. A cross-section through contemporary German literature and art. [Volume 3] Stuttgart 1956, p. 229.
  • Ingeborg Bachmann: Invocation of the Great Bear. 10th edition. Piper, 1983, ISBN 3-492-20307-8 .
  • Ingeborg Bachmann: Works I. Munich 1978.

Secondary literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. The full text of the poem can be found under web links.
  2. Robert Hippe: Interpretations of 50 modern poems . Bange, Hollfeld 1980, ISBN 3-8044-0597-5 , p. 66.
  3. Ingeborg Bachmann: Advertisement , verses 1–4. In: Ingeborg Bachmann: Invocation of the great bear. Poems. 2nd Edition. Piper, Munich 1967, p. 177.
  4. Karl Solibakke: Molded time. Music as discourse and structure with Bachmann and Bernhard . Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2005, ISBN 3-8260-2890-2 , p. 99.
  5. Ingeborg Bachmann: Reklame , verses 16-20. In: Ingeborg Bachmann: Invocation of the great bear. Poems. 2nd Edition. Piper, Munich 1967, p. 177.
  6. a b c Dieter Schrey: "Reklame" - short interpretation .
  7. ^ Karen Achberger: Understanding Ingeborg Bachmann . University of South Carolina Press, Columbia 1995, ISBN 0-87249-994-4 , p. 19.
  8. a b c Walter Hinck: Station of German lyric poetry . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2000, ISBN 3-525-20810-3 , p. 45.
  9. Walter Hinck: Traumwäscherei, p. 238 f.
  10. Quoted from Sara Lennox: On the representation of femininity in Ingeborg Bachmann's "The Good God of Manhattan" . In: Monika Albrecht, Dirk Göttsche (Eds.): Writing about time 2 . Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2000, ISBN 3-8260-1837-0 , p. 24.
  11. See section: Karen Achberger: Understanding Ingeborg Bachmann . University of South Carolina Press, Columbia 1995, ISBN 0-87249-994-4 , pp. 18-19.
  12. Ingeborg Bachmann: The radio plays: A business with dreams / The cicadas / The good God of Manhattan. 12th edition. Piper 1996, ISBN 3-492-20139-3 .
  13. Walter Hinck: Dream laundry . P. 238.