Wolfdietrich Rasch

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Wolfdietrich Rasch (born April 20, 1903 in Breslau ; † September 7, 1986 in Meran ) was a German German scholar , literary historian and translator .

Life

After attending the Schiller-Realgymnasium in Berlin-Charlottenburg, Rasch studied German, philosophy, art history and English in Munich, Heidelberg, Berlin and Breslau. In 1929 the state examination for higher education took place. Before that, he received his doctorate on the subject of friendship with Jean Paul with Rudolf Unger . The habilitation in 1933 was again devoted to friendship in literature, this time from the end of the Baroque to Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock .

In the years of the Third Reich there was a steady professional advancement as a Germanist, even if he was denied a proper chair. From 1933 to 1941 Rasch was a private lecturer for modern German language and literature at the University of Halle , from 1939 to 1941 he then represented the extraordinary chair for modern German literary history at the University of Würzburg , which Johannes Alt had to vacate due to § 175 StGB. He then held this position from 1941 to 1945. In addition, in the winter semester of 1943/44 he represented the chair for modern German literary history at the University of Erlangen .

After the end of the war, Rasch was dismissed by resolution of the government of Mainfranken, since he was active as an SA man in the Sturmabteilung from 1933 and later joined the NSDAP , the NS Lecturer Association and the NS People's Welfare , albeit there held no offices. In 1947 he was fined by the Spruchkammer Würzburg City I and classified as a nominal follower.

After a year as a private lecturer, he was an adjunct professor for modern German literary history at the University of Würzburg from 1949 to 1955, and then an associate professor between 1955 and 1958. After a substitute professor, Rasch was full professor for German Philology at the University of Münster from 1958 until his retirement in 1971 .

In addition to studying the history of literature from the 18th to the 20th century, Rasch conducted research in particular on Goethe's time, literature around 1900 and Robert Musil .

From the obituaries

"He was a specialist in these fin-de-siècle things, knew their motives and shades, the range of nuances from dreamy melancholy to the enjoyment of violence."

- Albert von Schirnding : Süddeutsche Zeitung

“Rasch was a versatile lover of literature and life alike. And he was a friend of the readers. That benefited his work. Last but not least, they have the great advantage of being generally understandable without any loss of scientific level and of being enthusiastic about what they are talking about. The editions of the works and writings of Herder , Goethe , Eichendorff or Friedrich Schlegel edited by him have appeared in several editions or even as paperbacks. "

- Thomas Anz : Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

Monographs

  • The friendship with Jean Paul , Breslau and Oppeln 1929. (Diss. Phil.)
  • Friendship cult and friendship poetry in German literature of the 18th century from the end of the Baroque to Klopstock , Halle / Saale 1936. (Habil.
  • Herder. An outline of his life and work , Halle / Saale 1938
  • Goethe's “ Torquato Tasso ”. The poet's tragedy , Stuttgart 1954
  • About Robert Musil's novel “ The Man Without Qualities ” , Göttingen 1967
  • On German literature since the turn of the century. Collected essays , Stuttgart 1967
  • Goethe's " Iphigenie auf Tauris " as a drama of autonomy , Munich 1979
  • The literary decadence around 1900 , Munich 1986
  • as translator : Albert Camus , The Myth of Sisyphus . An attempt on the absurd , Bad Salzig and Düsseldorf 1950.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Albert von Schirnding: Grand Seigneur of German Studies. On the death of Wolfdietrich Rasch . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . September 11, 1986.
  2. ↑ Thomas Anz: Literature and Life. On the death of the literary historian Wolfdietrich Rasch . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . September 12, 1986.
personal data
SURNAME Quickly, Wolfdietrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German literary historian and Germanist
DATE OF BIRTH April 20, 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH Wroclaw
DATE OF DEATH September 7, 1986
Place of death Meran