Walter Muschg

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Walter Muschg-Zollikofer (1898–1965) literary historian, essayist, politician, Elli Muschg-Zollikofer (1906–1997) urn grave in the Hörnli cemetery, Riehen, Basel-Stadt
Urn grave in the cemetery at Hörnli , Riehen, Basel-Stadt

Walter Muschg (born May 21, 1898 in Witikon near Zurich ; † December 6, 1965 in Basel ) was a Swiss literary historian , essayist and politician .

Life

The teacher's son and half-brother of the writer Adolf Muschg first became known through his dissertation on Kleist's Penthesilea . From 1917 to 1921 he had studied German language and literature with Emil Ermatinger , psychology and Latin at the University of Zurich . In Berlin in the 1920s, where Muschg continued his studies, he met the exponents of literary expressionism living in Berlin at the time . In 1928 he completed his habilitation at the University of Zurich with a widely acclaimed thesis on psychoanalysis and literary studies . He also published two dramatic works.

For Walter Muschg, literature was world literature, it began in prehistoric times and reached its first climax in the prophets of the Old Testament and in Homer. In the great poetry he looked for and saw archetypes of human culture, for their research he tried, especially in the early years, to use Sigmund Freud's psychology. His main work, the tragic history of literature , appeared in 1948. According to Muschg, a word from Hamann could have served as the motto : "Genius is a crown of thorns, and taste is a purple cloak that covers a torn back." For him, poetry always grew out of suffering and pain, and whoever failed morally in these trials could not be a real poet. For the very big, he set the categories of "magician", "seer" and "singer", while the "juggler", "priest", "poet" were "weakening and mixing of the original forms". So he saw in Jeremias Gotthelf the greatest Swiss poet, who represented a “prophetic office” and despaired of it, but also became “the Homeric glorifier of peasantry”, “whose men and old men, women and girls he became ideal figures of a Christian life in creation God's transfigured ”.

From his own time, Walter Muschg valued the literature of German Expressionism. On the other hand, he thought little of George, Hofmannsthal, Thomas Mann, Rilke and some other well-known authors. After the Second World War he helped Ernst Barlach , Alfred Döblin and Hans Henny Jahnn to make them more accessible through editions of works. He had a long personal friendship with Jahnn. He also tried to get younger authors: Now they are singing again by Max Frisch appeared in 1946 in the Klosterberg collection near Schwabe in Basel, supervised by Muschg , in the following year Friedrich Dürrenmatt's first drama, It is written , and with the one since his polemical play He has maintained close contact with the deputy controversial Rolf Hochhuth .

From 1936 until his death in 1965, Walter Muschg worked as a professor for “Modern German Literature” at the German Department of the University of Basel . Urs Widmer , who studied with him, writes: "He was the first at a German university to devote a whole semester of lectures exclusively to Franz Kafka ". As a lecturer, Muschg was able to captivate the audience with his committed, sometimes polemical interpretation, guided by personal experience of the great works, and his description of the often difficult existence of their poets; he left a lasting mark on many of his students. On the other hand, there were hardly any open discussions in the seminar, and the students were aware that some things could be seen differently.

Muschg has repeatedly entered the public debate as a contentious and often provocative publicist. From 1939 to 1943 he sat for the National Ring of Independents in the National Council , where he advocated the independence of Switzerland and a generous asylum policy. Later he caused a stir, for example with his polemics against Ernst Balzli's popular dialect radio plays on the radio, in which he saw an unbearable trivialization and falsification of the novels of Jeremias Gotthelf. And the collection of essays that he published under the title The Destruction of German Literature in 1956 led to a broad debate . His understanding of literature did not gain acceptance in post-war German studies, but his analyzes are still valued as inspiring positions today.

Fonts

  • Kleist's Penthesilea . Seldwyla Publishing House, Zurich 1923
  • Kleist . Zurich 1923
  • Babylon, a tragedy. Amalthea publishing house, Zurich / Leipzig / Vienna 1926
  • Psychoanalysis and literary studies . Junker and Dünnhaupt, Berlin 1931
  • Gotthelf. The narrator's secrets . CH Beck, Munich 1931
  • Mysticism in Switzerland, 1200–1500. Huber, Frauenfeld / Leipzig 1935
  • Tragic literary history . Francke, Bern 1948; 3rd, revised edition 1957
  • Jeremias Gotthelf. An introduction to his works . Francke, Bern 1954
  • Types of poets . Helbing and Lichtenhahn, Basel 1954
  • The destruction of German literature . Francke, Bern 1956; New edition: Diogenes, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-257-06645-6
  • Goethe's belief in the demonic . Separate print from: German quarterly journal for literary studies and intellectual history , Vol. 32, H. 3. Metzler, Stuttgart 1958
  • Schiller. The tragedy of freedom . Francke, Bern / Munich 1959
  • From Trakl to Brecht. Expressionist poet . Piper, Munich 1961
  • Studies in the tragic history of literature . Francke, Bern 1965
  • Conversations with Hanns Henny Jahnn. European Publishing House, Frankfurt 1967; New edition: Rimbaud, Aachen 1994
  • Figures and figures. Edited by Elli Muschg-Zollikofer. Francke, Bern / Munich 1968
  • Pamphlet and Confession. Essays and speeches. Edited by Peter André Bloch. Walter, Olten / Freiburg i.Br. 1968
  • The poetic imagination. Edited by Elli Muschg-Zollikofer. With bibliography. Francke, Bern / Munich 1969

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Walter Muschg: Babylon. A tragedy . Amalthea, Zurich / Leipzig / Vienna 1926. Walter Muschg: The life of the birds . Oratorio . Huber, Frauenfeld / Leipzig 1934.
  2. ^ Walter Muschg: Tragic literary history . 3rd, modified edition, Franke, Bern 1957, p. 15 (from the foreword to the 2nd edition).
  3. ^ Walter Muschg: Tragic literary history . 3rd, modified edition, Franke, Bern 1957, p. 6.
  4. ^ Walter Muschg: Tragic literary history . 3rd, modified edition, Franke, Bern 1957, pp. 145f.
  5. ↑ Walter Muschg: Afterword . In: Ernst Barlach: The poetic work in three volumes . Volume 3. R. Piper, Munich 1959, pp. 673-689.
  6. ^ Alfred Döblin: Selected works in individual volumes . Founded by Walter Muschg, in connection with the sons of the poet ed. by Anthony W. Riley and Christina Althen. Walter, Olten et al. 1960–2007.
  7. ↑ Hans Henny Jahnn: River without a bank , third part: epilogue . Edited and with an afterword by Walter Muschg. European Publishing House, Frankfurt a. M. 1961.
  8. ^ Rolf Hochhuth: Epilogue . In: Karl Pestalozzi / Martin Stingelin (eds.): Walter Muschg (1898-1965). Commemorative speeches for the 100th birthday held at the celebration in the Alte Aula on May 20, 1998 (= Basel University Speeches 96). Schwabe, Basel 1999, ISBN 978-3-7965-1367-1 , p. 56f.
  9. ↑ Urs Widmer: Journey to the edge of the universe . Diogenes, Zurich 2013, p. 232.
  10. ↑ Peter André Bloch: Walter Muschg as an academic teacher (from the perspective of the student). In: Karl Pestalozzi / Martin Stingelin (eds.): Walter Muschg (1898-1965). Commemorative speeches for the 100th birthday held at the celebration in the Alte Aula on May 20, 1998 (= Basel University Speeches 96). Schwabe, Basel 1999, ISBN 978-3-7965-1367-1 , pp. 31-44.
  11. ^ Peter Niederhauser: "Fassen". The radio dispute over Jeremias Gotthelf in 1954 . In: Swiss monthly books , 77th year, issue 10, p. 35f. ( Link )
  12. ^ Hans-Peter Kunisch: Polemicist with a character head. Walter Muschg's spirited essays have been reissued , In: Die Zeit , May 20, 2010 No. 21 ( Link ).

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Muschg, Walter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss literary historian and essayist
DATE OF BIRTH May 21, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Witikon
DATE OF DEATH December 6, 1965
Place of death Basel