Factual romance

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Objective romance is a poem by Erich Kästner , which is attributed to the New Objectivity . The romance appeared for the first time in the Vossische Zeitung on April 20, 1928. It describes a couple who suddenly discover that they have lost their love for one another. The tone of the poem is contrary to the emotional theme of the fragility of love and emphasizes factual and distant.

content

The poem introduces a man and a woman whose love for one another "suddenly disappeared" after eight years. The only indicated reason for the separation of the two protagonists is that they have gotten used to each other too much over time (“and one can say: they knew each other well”), other circumstances such as the names of the protagonists or a historical one remain or local classification of the event largely unclear. They are sad, but pretend there is nothing, they cannot deal with their feelings and can no longer approach each other ("Then she finally cried. And he stood by."). At the man's suggestion, the two go “to the smallest café in town”, where they stay until the evening. You can't find a solution ("You were sitting alone and you didn't say a word and just couldn't believe it."). So the poem and the relationship between the two ends in speechlessness, and although the two are still sitting together, each is already alone.

construction

The poem has four stanzas. The first three stanzas each have four four-part verses. The meter is the dactyl , i.e. the alternation of a long, stressed and two short, unstressed syllables. The rhyme scheme forms the cross rhyme . The fourth stanza comprises five verses of the rhyme scheme[abaab]The verses marked with “a” each have four accents and those marked with “b” each have three accents .

Stylistic peculiarities

In keeping with the oxymoric title, the poem treats an emotional theme (the end of a love) in an emphatically distant tone. The situation is briefly outlined in mostly short and sober sentences ("Then she was finally crying. And he was standing there."). The sketchy nature of the poem is emphasized, for example, by the verse “From the window you could wave ships”, which is not visibly related to the rest, but with the ships suggests a longing for distant places.

Another striking is the parenthetical parenthetically , "and we can say they knew each other well" in the first stanza, the unusual comparison , the love came "suddenly lost" "like other people a stick or hat", also in the first stanza, as well as the indirect speech in the third stanza, which is unusual for poems : “He said it was already a quarter past four | and time to have a coffee somewhere. "

Autobiographical reference

In 1926 Erich Kästner separated from his childhood sweetheart Ilse Julius, with whom he had been in a relationship since the summer of 1919. On November 14th there was a six-hour discussion which, because of Ilse's imminent departure, “had to be broken off the fence quickly”, and from which Kästner, in the tone of the later poem, reported to his mother: “So the main thing: between Ilse and Erich's over. She made my life difficult again until 8 o'clock by claiming: she loved me in spite of everything. "Thereupon Kästner explained to her," For about 6 years you have known that you do not love me and have never loved me. " I liked him "only because I am decent, reliable, honest and clever [...] Therefore, despite all the tears, you are glad that it is over."

Kästner's biographer Sven Hanuschek described that the failed relationship shaped Kästner's relationship with women, and that he alluded to this "grande liaison" for years. Nevertheless, he assessed that although there are clear echoes of Factual romance give to Kastner's own relationship with Ilse Julius, the poem but "a fictionalization, shaping - unfriendly: United shaping - their own history" was. While in reality only one partner has lost love, in the poem a synchronous process is overlaid by both of them together, whereby "the usual gender roles " are faithfully retained.

Dubbing

The poem was set to music by a number of chanson composers by Herman van Veen , Udo Lindenberg , Stefan Gwildis and Jürgen von der Lippe .

Web links

literature

  • Helmut Tornsdorf: Erich Kästner - factual romance: text and interpretation . School Scout, 2005
  • Ingo Leiß, Hermann Stadler: Erich Kästner: Objective romance . In: Weimarer Republik, orig. Edition, Munich 2003, pp. 376–378

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bernhardt, Rüdiger: King's Explanations Kästner Das lyrische Schaffen, Hollfeld, 2010, p. 113
  2. ↑ Erich Kästner: My dear, good mother, you! Your old boy. Letters and postcards from 30 years . Knaus, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-8135-5112-1 , p. 34.
  3. ^ Sven Hanuschek: Erich Kästner . Rowohlt, Reinbek 2004, ISBN 3-499-50640-8 , p. 29.
  4. ↑ Sven Hanuschek: “Nobody looks behind your face”. The life of Erich Kästner . Dtv, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-423-30871-0 , p. 115.