Rudolf Paulsen (writer)

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Rudolf Paul Friedrich Paulsen (born March 18, 1883 in Steglitz , † March 30, 1966 in Berlin ) was a German writer. He was the son of the philosopher Friedrich Paulsen . Paulsen was one of the co-founders of the Charon magazine , which appeared from 1904 to 1914 and is regarded as the early mouthpiece of the Expressionists . In 1931 he joined the NSDAP .

Life

After graduating from high school in Berlin-Steglitz in 1901 and one year of voluntary military service , Paulsen studied classical philology , art history and philosophy in Erlangen, Berlin and Kiel for a few semesters . During his studies he became a member of the Bubenreuther fraternity in Erlangen in 1901 .

From 1911 he lived as a freelance writer in Berlin. The meeting with the poet Otto zur Linde , whose Charon circle he belonged to as a member of the Inner Charon since 1904, together with Karl Röttger and Rudolf Pannwitz , was decisive for Paulsen's life and work . In the context of the Charon circle and in close reference to zur Linde's own lyrical production, the collections from 1910 to 1915 included Töne of Silent Memory (1910), Conversations of Life (1911), Songs from Light and Love (1912), Im Snow of Time (1915) published poems. Like the poetry of the Charontists as a whole, Paulsen's is characterized by the attempt to integrate poetry, philosophy and religion.

Referring to Friedrich Nietzsche , Paulsen stood up after the First World War , in which he took part as well as his mentor zur Linde, for the individual's connection to the “ national community ”. The soul of the individual should expand into a "universal soul", which is at the same time "the soul of his people" and thus also the "German soul" ( Die Sendung , 1923). In parallel to such anchoring of the individual in his people, the "mass" should also be formed into a "people" on the way to a renewed Christianity. Thus artist individuality and "people" largely coincided, or rather the "people" had to be (re) won through poetry and art.

Such figures of thought and a cosmic cult of light and life ( Die kosmische Fibel , 1924), which had been increasing since the mid-1920s , enabled Paulsen to join National Socialism without the need for theoretical re-formulations ( people, religion and art , 1937). In 1931 he joined the NSDAP and the SA and since then has written regularly for the National Socialist press, which in turn celebrated him as the “poet of the nation”.

After the Second World War, Paulsen tried unsuccessfully to revive the “Charon community” through a series of hectographed Charon letters . In terms of writing, too, he barely emerged.

Because of the hermetic , religious and mythical tone of his poems, Paulsen never met with broader resonance. With the exception of ethnic representatives such as Adolf Bartels and Hellmuth Langenbucher , only his commitment to Otto zur Linde found recognition in literary criticism.

Works

  • Sounds of silent memory and passion for what is to come (1910), poems
  • Conversations of Life (1911), poems
  • Songs from Light and Love (1912), poems
  • In the Snow of Time (1922), poems
  • And again I go restlessly (1923), poems
  • The Cosmic Primer (1924), poems
  • The high sacred metamorphosis (1925), poems
  • Man on the scales (1926), prose
  • Before the Sea (1927), poems
  • Call to the Angel (1927), prose
  • On Drunken Existence (1933), poems
  • The festive word (1935), poems
  • My Life (1936)
  • Return of Beauty (1937)
  • Musik des Alls und Lied der Erde (1954), selected poems

Honors

literature

  • Erich Bockemühl in: Handbuch der Deutschen Gegenwartsliteratur, ed. v. Hermann Kunisch u. Hans Hennecke , Munich, Nymphenburger Verlagshandlung, 2nd edition 1969.
  • Karl Borinski : History of German Literature, Volume 2, Union Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft, 1921, pp. 633–634.
  • Guido K. Brand : Becoming and changing. Berlin 1933, p. 318f.
  • Helge Dvorak: Biographical Lexicon of the German Burschenschaft. Volume II: Artists. Winter, Heidelberg 2018, ISBN 978-3-8253-6813-5 , pp. 537-538.
  • B. Geyer: Paulsen and Pannwitz, dissertation, Vienna, 1943.
  • Hans Henning , Erich Schulze: The German literature. History and major works in the basics, Ziemsen Verlag, Wittenberg, 3rd edition, 1923, pp. 403–404.
  • Anselm Salzer : Illustrated history of German literature from the oldest times to the present. Volume 5. Regensburg 1932, pp. 2218f.
  • Anselm Salzer and Eduard von Tunk: Illustrated history of German literature from the oldest times to the present. Revised by C. Heinrich and J. Münster-Holzlar. Volume 5. Cologne 1999, p. 161f.
  • Rolf Parr:  Paulsen, Rudolf. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 20, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-428-00201-6 , p. 129 f. ( Digitized version ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Willy Nolte (Ed.): Burschenschafter Stammrolle. List of the members of the German Burschenschaft according to the status of the summer semester 1934. Berlin 1934. p. 366.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Paulsen, Rudolf
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Paulsen, Rudolf Paul Friedrich (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German writer
DATE OF BIRTH March 18, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Steglitz
DATE OF DEATH March 30, 1966
Place of death Berlin