A thousand grams

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Thousand grams is a short story anthology in which the works of important authors of clear-cut literature are collected. The book was published by Wolfgang Weyrauch in Rowohlt-Verlag in 1949 .

Content and meaning

Thousand grams is considered to be one of the most important works of the short flow, which is called clear-cut literature. In addition to the actual works of the authors working at the time, five model stories from German literature of the 18th and 19th centuries are included. Based on these model stories , similarities and differences between the literary tradition and the thirty new German stories can be shown.

In terms of content, the topics typical of the literature of the immediate post-war period are dealt with. Traumatic experiences at the front , in the concentration camps and at home during the Second World War are discussed. Life in the destroyed cities during and after the war is mostly characterized from the perspective of the common people. The stories are often caught between nihilism and cautious optimism . From a linguistic point of view, the approach to history is usually simple and straightforward.

Wolfgang Weyrauch's afterword

Just as important as the individual literary contributions is Weyrauch's afterword to the anthology, in which he outlines the basic concept of the Kahlschlag literature. The following important points are worth mentioning:

  • There must be two literatures. One is literature for everyone with a claim to perfection. The other is an experimental one that introduces the literature of the future. Poetry that is only there for itself cannot be poetry.
  • The dialogue about it is important for the continued existence of literature. Weyrauch wants to stimulate discussion with a thousand grams .
  • Like reality, literature is in a tangled and dark thicket. The authors have to fight back this thicket through their work and filter the evil out of people. However, this literature can only be created by people who renounce the lust for pleasure, the Hermitage and the contempt for human beings.
  • The literature of the Kahlschlag starts from the beginning in language, substance and conception. She sees herself as the opposite of the continuation of literary calligraphy . “Poets write truths” (after Elisabeth Langgässer ). But this truth comes at the expense of poetry. Beauty without truth is impossible, but truth without beauty is necessary. The stylistic device of repetition is important in this pursuit of truth, because whoever does not repeat is wrong.
  • The angle of view of the clear-cut literature is not descriptive , but analytical . Literature should X-ray the truth in order to be able to grasp it precisely.
  • International authors have already built "signposts" in the thicket of post-war chaos. However, the new German literature must emancipate itself from these signposts in order to be recognized. Literature is autochthonous, but at the same time obliged.

Works included

Five model stories

Thirty new German stories

Literature and Sources

  • Wolfgang Weyrauch Ed .: Thousand grams. A German Confession in Thirty Stories from 1949. Revised. u. exp. New edition Rowohlt, Reinbek 1989. ISBN 3-499-12611-7 . From this in particular: Weyrauch, epilogue, pp. 175-183