THE CREATIVITY of DISPLACEMENT: ERNESTO VOLKENING AS ESSAYIST and CULTURAL TRANSLATOR in COLOMBIA, 1934-1983 by KATHRIN SEIDL
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THE CREATIVITY OF DISPLACEMENT: ERNESTO VOLKENING AS ESSAYIST AND CULTURAL TRANSLATOR IN COLOMBIA, 1934-1983 By KATHRIN SEIDL-GOMEZ Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Vanderbilt University in partial fulfillments of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in German August, 2011 Nashville, Tennessee Approved: Professor Meike G. Werner Professor Vera M. Kutzinski Professor John A. McCarthy Professor Dieter H. Sevin Copyright © 2011 by Kathrin Seidl-Gómez All Rights Reserved For my Parents, For Pablo ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It is with great gratitude that I acknowledge the support of individuals and institutions that enabled me to complete this dissertation. Vanderbilt University and its College of Arts & Science, the Center for the Americas and my home department, the Department of Germanic & Slavic Languages, promoted the research and writing of my dissertation in many ways. My project benefitted significantly from the vibrant exchange of ideas at conferences in the United States and in Europe, and I am grateful for the travel grants I received from the Graduate School and the Department of Germanic & Slavic Languages to present my work there. Several other grants, awards, and fellowships enabled me to fund my research such as a Summer Research Award from the College of Arts & Science, a Summer Field Research Award from the Center for the Americas, a Dissertation Enhancement Grant from the Graduate School, and the Gisela Mosig Graduate Research Fellowship from the Department of Germanic & Slavic Languages. I could not have conducted my research in Colombia and Germany in the same manner without these resources. My dissertation further profited from the personal and institutional support I received at the Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia and the Biblioteca Luis Ángel Arango in Bogotá as well as the Ibero-American Institute in Berlin. I would also like to thank the Jean and Alexander Heard Library at Vanderbilt for access to the J. León Helguera Collection of Colombiana and for the service of Vanderbilt‘s Interlibrary Loan Office, which has been essential for my work. Finally, yet importantly, I am grateful for the assistance from the Department v of Germanic & Slavic Languages under the direction of both Barbara Hahn and Dieter H. Sevin and the administrative assistant, Rose Marie Dudney. I am deeply indebted to my academic advisor, other scholars and fellow graduate students as well as to my friends and family for having supported me on the path of conceptualizing and writing my dissertation. First and foremost, I wish to thank my advisor, Meike G. Werner, who provided me with in-depth feedback and advice at all stages of the writing process, read and edited various drafts of my work, and encouraged me to experiment and develop my ideas. Our discussions have decisively influenced my thinking and my approach to scholarship, and her intellectual ethos and generosity in sharing her time and insights are inspiring for me far beyond the scope of this dissertation. It has been a pleasure and honor to work under her supervision. I am also most grateful for the generous support of Vera M. Kutzinski. She has been invaluable in reading and providing comments on several drafts of my work. The quality of my dissertation greatly benefitted from her critical feedback and from bi-weekly workshops under her direction at the Center for the Americas in 2007/2008 as well as monthly meetings of a dissertation workgroup she led in 2009/2010, which became key for my professional development. Further, I would like to thank John A. McCarthy and Dieter H. Sevin for the time and effort they invested in reading my work and in providing me with insightful, constructive criticism. I owe much to faculty and fellow graduate students at Vanderbilt for stimulating conversations that helped me in developing specific ideas and proved encouraging and thought-provoking during the dissertation writing process in general. I am especially grateful to Peggy Setje-Eilers, Christoph Zeller, Robert Kelz, and Wesley Lim, as well as vi Amanda Hagood, Daniel Spoth, John Morrell, and Justin Haynes. Further, I would particularly like to thank Byrd and J. León Helguera who shared with me their vast knowledge about Bogotá and the lives of German emigrants in that city. My friends have contributed to the success of this entire project in various ways, not least by often unwittingly helping me to sharpen my conceptual focus. They made the journey enjoyable and kept me sane during the months I spent in the much-beloved but isolating company of books, coffee mugs, and computer screens. I would need to repeat the names of many whom I thanked above since people who influenced me intellectually became friends — and vice versa. Yet, I feel particularly indebted to Amy Buono, Courtney Campbell, Jodi Campbell, Sheila Gonzalez Estrecha, Vicki Hardy, Steve Harrison, Tara and David LaFevor, Timothy Maddux, Margaret Morrison, Marco Musillo, Jamie Smith, Juan Carlos Sola-Corbacho, Erin and Rick Stone, Ty West, and David Wheat. I wish to thank my amazing siblings, Anna-Lena and Stefan, for their encouragement and for being close to me despite the geographic distance, and my loving parents, Barbara and Albert Seidl, who have always believed in me and been compassionate and supportive when I struggled. This dissertation would not have been possible without them. Further, I am most grateful to my extended family in Germany and Colombia; in particular, I owe thanks to Lina Seidl, Renate and Walter Seidl, Gertraud and Manfred Seidl, and Margarita Zuluaga Tobón. Special thanks also goes to my ―sister‖ Sara E. Gñmez who shared her apartment and wonderful company with me during my research stay in Bogotá. vii My husband, Pablo, gave me ceaseless support, confidence, and emotional strength throughout the years I worked on this project. As a fellow scholar, he became my first and toughest critic and provided invaluable intellectual feedback and guidance. For having Pablo on my side, I am grateful beyond words. viii TABLE OF ILLUSTRATIONS Frontispiece: Ernesto Volkening at his desk. Photograph in Juan Guillermo Gómez García, ―Los pasos perdidos de Ernesto Volkening,‖ Boletín Cultural y Bibliográfico 32:40 (1995): 51-73, here: 53. Fig. 1: ―Rue Stanley, No. 12 (in 2008),‖ photograph of Ernesto Volkening‘s birthplace in Rue Stanley, No. 12, Berchem, Antwerp. Taken by author on July 23, 2008. Fig. 2: ―Burning Rashi Synagogue on November 10, 1938.‖ Photograph in Gerold Bönnen, ―Von der Blüte in den Abgrund: Worms vom Ersten bis zum Zweiten Weltkrieg (1914-1945),‖ in Geschichte der Stadt Worms, ed. Gerold Bönnen (Stuttgart: Theiss, 2005): 545-606, here: 600. Fig. 3: ―View of the destroyed city of Worms and its Cathedral of St. Peter (July 6, 1945).‖ Photograph in Gerold Bönnen,―Von der Blüte in den Abgrund: Worms vom Ersten bis zum Zweiten Weltkrieg (1914-1945),‖ in Geschichte der Stadt Worms, ed. Gerold Bönnen (Stuttgart: Theiss, 2005): 545-606, here: 606. Fig. 4: ―Ernesto Volkening‘s student identity card, University of Frankfurt (1928).‖ Scan received from the archive of the University of Frankfurt. Fig. 5: ―Ernesto Volkening‘s matriculation form, Frankfurt University (1928).‖ Scan received from the archive of the University of Frankfurt. Fig. 6: ―Poster of the Hamburg-Amerika-Linie.‖ Maritime Timetable Images, ed. Björn Larsson. Available at http://www.timetableimages.com/maritime/images/hapag30a.jpg (accessed May 15, 2011). Fig. 7: ―Ernesto Volkening‘s entry into the Passenger List of the Hamburg- Amerika-Linie Abtheilung Personenverkehr (July 25, 1934)‖ Staatsarchiv Hamburg, Register zu den Auswanderer-Listen, VIII A2, vol. 179. Available at ancestry.com (accessed Oct.10, 2010). Fig. 8: ―Map of Colombia.‖ In Oxford Atlas of the World, 13th edition (New York: George Philip & Son / Oxford UP, 2006), 328. Fig. 9: ―Sabana Train Station in Bogotá.‖ Photograph in Juan Mosca, Bogotá: Ayer, Hoy y Mañana (Bogotá: Villegas, 1987), 20-21. Fig. 10: ―Bogotá, panorama of the Plaza Bolivar (1940-1950).‖ Photograph by Sady González on Imágenes de Bogotá, 1940-2000, CD by Museo de Desarrollo Urbano (Bogotá, 2008). Available at ix www.bogota.gov.co/portel/libreria/php/01.2001.html (accessed May 12, 2011). Fig. 11: ―Announcement of the ―lista negra‖ in El Liberal (July 18, 1941).‖ Illustration in Enrique Biermann Stolle, ―Los alemanes en Colombia en el período 1939-1945,‖ in Presencia alemana en Colombia, ed. Claudia Tapias Ospina (Bogotá: Mayr & Cabal / Editorial Nomos, 1993), 163-175, here: 168. Fig. 12: ―Librería Buchholz, Avenida Jiménez de Quesada 8-40 in Bogotá (1970s).‖ Photograph in Godula Buchholz, Karl Buchholz. Buch- und Kunsthändler im 20. Jahrhundert (Köln: DuMont, 2005), 189. Fig. 13: ―Title page of Eco: Revista de la Cultura de Occidente (Bogotá) 53:264 (Oct., 1983).‖ Fig. 14: ―Ernesto Volkening‘s obituaries in El Tiempo (July 23, 1983).‖ N.a., ―Obituarios,‖ El Tiempo (Bogotá, Jul. 23, 1983): Ultima D. Fig. 15: ―Antwerp city map (printed in 1910).‖ Printed by Wagner & Debes, Leipzig, 1910. Map in possession of the author. Fig. 16: ―Henri de Braekeleer, ‗De man en de stoel,‘‖ Vlaamse Kunst Collectie, Kunsthistorische Musea Antwerpen Brugge Gent; Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerp. Available at http://www.vlaamsekunstcollectie.be/basepage.aspx?p=e75ce981-385b- 4e74-b63a-d01377d12140 (accessed Aug. 11, 2009). Fig. 17: ―Ernesto Volkening‘s first publication in Spanish: ‗Retrato de Hermann Hesse‘ (Vida, 1947).‖ Ernesto Volkening, ―Retrato de Hermann Hesse,‖ Vida 9 (Jun., 1947): 2-4, here: 2-3. Fig. 18: ―Ernesto Volkening, ‗El cine y sus problemas‘ (Boletín de Programas, 1958).‖ Ernesto Volkening, ―El cine y sus problemas,‖ Boletín de Programas 17:163 (Feb., 1958): 22-24, 49, 72, here: 22-23. Fig. 19: ―Title page of Eco: Revista de la Cultura de Occidente. In Memoriam Friedrich Hölderlin. Poemas — Prosa — Ensayos (Bogotá) 21:123- 124 (Jul.-Aug., 1970).‖ Fig.