Walther Harich

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Walther Harich (born January 30, 1888 in Mohrungen , † December 14, 1931 in Wuthenow ) was a German writer and literary historian , who was best known for the publication of the collected works of ETA Hoffmann .

Life

Harich was born as the son of the printer's owner Ernst Harich (1858–1940) in East Prussia . After graduating from high school (1907) and completing his military service, he studied German literature and philosophy from 1909 to 1914, including in Munich, Leipzig, Königsberg and Berlin . At the Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg , he was in 1914 with a thesis on ETA Hoffmann to Dr. phil. PhD. He experienced the First World War as an artillery officer in the Baltic States and Lithuania, most recently as a press officer on the Western Front. There are also early written documents from the time of the World War; some of Harich's letters were published by Philipp Witkop .

In 1915 Harich married Margarethe Schneider , who became known as a harpsichordist and Japanologist under the name Eta Harich-Schneider after the divorce from Harich in 1922 . The daughters Lili ( soprano ; 1916–1960) and Susanne (writer; married Kerckhoff; 1918–1950) come from this marriage .

From 1920 Harich lived in Munich, where he met Thomas Mann and was in contact with expressionist writers (including Klabund ).

In 1923 he married Anne-Lise Wyneken , the daughter of the publisher of the Königsberger Allgemeine Zeitung, Alexander Wyneken . From this marriage the daughter Gisela and the son Wolfgang emerged, who later became known as a Marxist philosopher and dissident of the GDR . Anne-Lise Harich has been counted among the Righteous Among the Nations since 2002 .

Walther Harich died in Wuthenow in 1931 at the age of 43. He was buried in Cemetery III of the Jerusalem and New Church in Berlin-Kreuzberg . His wife Anne-Lise Harich nee, among others, rest in the family grave. Wyneken (1898–1975) and his son Wolfgang Harich (1923–1995).

Act

From today's point of view, Harich's biographies of ETA Hoffmann and Jean Paul as well as his 15-volume edition of the works of ETA Hoffmann (published in 1924 by Lichtenstein in Weimar) are significant in terms of literary history. The bibliophile edition of Hoffmann's Die Elixiere des Teufels with hand-painted pictures and ornaments by Hugo Wilkens (published in 1922 by Rösl & Cie. In Munich) is also worth mentioning.

In addition to his literary work, Harich wrote eleven novels that attracted contemporary attention, but are now almost forgotten. Not quite right, because even if the texts do not seem elaborate, they give a strong impression of the uncertainty and threat of the time, as Harich himself did in his essay The Continuation Novel (published October / November 1929 in the monthly Die Literatur ) had demanded programmatically: “Today, when reading a contemporary book, almost no one has the feeling: this is me, this is my fate! But that's where we have to get to. ”An example is Angst (1927). Two of his crime novels were filmed: Die Drei um Edith (1929; director: Erich Waschneck ) and Ursula floats past ( posthumously in 1939 under the film title Suspicion of Ursula ; director: Karlheinz Martin ).

Harich also published in magazines , including the Protestant cultural magazine Eckart and his father-in-law's newspaper (letters from Berlin) .

Fonts (selection)

  • The rise: novel from the old province. Wachholtz, Neumünster 1972, ISBN 3-529-03109-7 . Posthumously based on the manuscript created around 1925.
  • Ursula floats by. Detective novel. German publishing house, Berlin 1939. Posthumous.
  • Witowd and Jagiello. Gräfe & Unzer, Königsberg 1932. Posthumous from the estate.
  • The prince's court. Ullstein, Berlin 1932.
  • Dorette smiles ... Ullstein, Berlin 1931.
  • Primaner. Ullstein, Berlin 1931.
  • The art forger or the escape from time. Merlin, Baden-Baden 1930.
  • The three around Edith: the story of an enigmatic case. Ullstein, Berlin 1929.
  • Jean Paul in Heidelberg. Martin, Itzehoe 1929. With drawings and cover picture by Alfred Kubin .
  • The two Czybulleks. Merlin, Baden-Baden 1929.
  • The shadow of Susette. Knaur, Berlin 1928.
  • Last holidays. Martin, Berlin 1928.
  • Fear. Knaur, Berlin 1927.
  • Demon art: The life of ETA Hoffmann. From letters, diaries and the autobiographical passages of his writings. German Book Community, Berlin 1926.
  • Jean Paul. H. Haessel , Leipzig 1925.
  • The Eastern Problem: Its History and Significance. Beck, Munich 1922.
  • The plague in Tulemont - history of a catastrophe. Reiss, Berlin 1920.
  • The Tower of Babel. Reiss, Berlin 1920. With stone prints by Alfred Mahlau .
  • ETA Hoffmann: The life of an artist. 2 volumes. Reiss, Berlin 1920.

literature

  • Jabs warrior, Marianne: Walther Harich. A contribution to the literary history of the twenties. Bonn 1971

Web links

Wikisource: Walther Harich  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Philipp Witkop (ed.): War letters from German students. Gotha 1916
  2. ^ Hans-Jürgen Mende : Lexicon of Berlin burial places . Pharus-Plan, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-86514-206-1 , p. 242. Prof. Ludwig Hess, born on: March 23rd, 1877, died on: February 5th, 1944 . Photo and description of the Harich-Hess family grave on the website “Historical personalities in Berlin cemeteries” (accessed on March 29, 2019).
personal data
SURNAME Harich, Walther
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Harich, Walter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German writer and literary historian
DATE OF BIRTH January 30, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH Moors
DATE OF DEATH December 14, 1931
Place of death Wuthenow