The Writer's Task from Nietzsche to Brecht

Home , Bertolt Brecht

THE WRITER'S TASK FROM NIETZSCHE TO BRECHT By the same author FRANZ KAFKA, EINE BETRACHTUNG SEINES WERKES GOETHES ROMANE POLITISCHES DENKEN IN DER DEUTSCHEN ROMANTIK GOETHE'S NOVELS KANTS POLITISCHES DENKEN THE POLITICAL THOUGHT OF THE GERMAN ROMANTICS 1793-1815 (editor) EMANUEL GEIBEL: BRIEFE AN HENRIETTA NOLTING (editor with Herbert Wegener) KANT'S POLITICAL WRITINGS (editor) GOETHES DIE WAHLVERWANDTSCHAFTEN (editor with H. B. Nisbet) GOETHE UND DIE TRADITION (editor) THE WRITER'S TASK FROM NIETZSCHE TO BRECHT

Hans Reiss

M © Hans Reiss 1978 Softcover reprint of the hardcover tst edition 1978

First published 1978 by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD London and Basingstoke Associated companies in Delhi Dublin Hong Kong Johannesburg Lagos Melbourne New York Singapore Tokyo

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Reiss, Hans The writer's task from Nietzsche to Brecht 1. Criticism -Germany- History I. Title 8o1 PNgg.G42

ISBN 978-1-349-02187-1 ISBN 978-1-349-02185-7 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-02185-7

This book is sold subject to the standard conditions of the Net Book Agreement For Elizabeth M. Wilkinson

Greek proverb

Das Gedichtete behauptet sein Recht, wie das Geschehene. Goethe

Art is one of the powers that makes 'life' life. Saul Bellow Contents

Priface IX

Abbreviations xi

Acknowledgements XV

Introduction 1

2 Friedrich Nietzsche, 1844-1900 II

3 Stefan George, 1868-1933 28

4 Hugo von Hofmannsthal, 1874-1929 47

5 Rainer Maria Rilke, 1875-1926 68

6 Thomas Mann, 1875-1955 95

7 Franz Kafka, 1883-1924 126 8 Bertolt Brecht, 18g8-1956 140

9 Conclusion 161 Notes 178

Select Biography 208

Index 217 Preface

This book deals with only one aspect of German literature between I87o and I956, but, I trust, an important one. Inevitably, the space at my disposal allowed for an analysis of only a few writers. However, what these writers had to say about the writer's task is of great significance for any understanding of German literature and thought during that period. It is also intellectually challenging. I greatly regret that I had to exclude other authors, particularly Robert Musil, the Austrian novelist, a writer of remarkable intellectual vigour. I do however hope to return to him at a later stage. Fortunately, there is a good recent study by Marie-Louise Roth (Robert Musil: Ethik und .iisthetik. ,Zum theoretischen Werk des Dichters, Munich, I972) which deals with Musil's conception of the writer's task. Space has also made it necessary to restrict the bibliography to a few important works for further reading. To have produced a comprehensive bibliography of all the books, essays and articles which I have read would have required a volume of its own. To read all the secondary literature on any one, let alone all, of the seven authors discussed in this study, is virtually impossible; for instance, a recent bibliography on Thomas Mann (Harry Matter, Die Literatur iiber Thomas Mann I8g8-I!fi9, 2 vols, Berlin/ Weimar, I972) alone contains some I5,ooo items. The chapters on Nietzsche and Kafka are based on material found in three articles of mine ('Nietzsches Geburt der Tragodie. Eine kritische W iirdigung', ,Zeitschrift fiir Deutsche Philologie,xcvm, I 973, pp. 48 I -5 I I; 'Nietzsche's Birth ofTragedy. After a Century' ,Journal ofthe Faculty ofArts. Royal University ofMalta, VI, I975; 'Kafka on the Writer's Task', The Modern Language Review, LXVI, I 97 I, pp. II 3 -24). The translations of German quotations are my own unless there is a reference to another translator. References are cited in the text itself whenever the citation did not seem to interrupt the flow of the argument. My acknowledgements for advice and help are, inevitably, many. My thanks are due to the Staff Travel Fund of the University of Bristol, to the Deutsche Akademische Austauschdienst and the Deutsche Forsch• ungsgemeinschaft for grants which allowed me to visit libraries and archives in Germany and Switzerland. I should like to thank the staff of the following libraries: the University ofBristollibrary; the British Library; the London University Institute of Germanic Studies; the Universi• tatsbibliothek and the Germanistische Seminar of the University of Heidelberg, the Seminar fiir Deutsche Philologie, University of Munich; the Deutsche Literatur Archiv, Marbach, a.N .; the Freie Deutsche X THE WRITER'S TASK FROM NIETZSCHE TO BRECHT Hochstift, Frankfurt/Main; the Stefan George Archiv, Wiirttembergische Landesbibliothek, Stuttgart; Thomas Mann-Archiv, Zurich; and the Rare Book Room, Redpath Library, McGill University, Montreal. I have also to thank the University of Bristol for granting me a term's leave of absence in the autumn of 1973. Mrs Edith Laidlaw, Mrs Elizabeth Jays and Mrs Rosemary White performed a near miracle in turning a very untidy manuscript into a neat typescript. I owe much to the many friends and colleagues with whom I have talked about my work over the years. It would take far too much space to list them all. But I should like especially to thank T .J. Reed for helping me to track down some quotations, and J. Leighton, A. Wierzejewski and Hans Wysling who were good enough to read individual chapters. Above all, I want to thank john Hibberd, H. B. Nisbet and Michael Morgan for their careful scrutiny of my manuscript. Without their suggestions and advice this book would have been very much the poorer. For all errors and shortcomings that remain I am solely responsible:

February 1977 H. s. REISS Bristol Abbreviations

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE

N Werke, 3 vols, ed. Karl Schlechta, 2nd ed., Munich, I96o N.Gr. Werke (Grof3oktavausgabe), 20 vols, 2nd ed., Leipzig, I90I-26. N.Br. Historisch-Kritische Gesamtausgabe der Werke und Briife. Abteilung Brieje, 4 vols to date, Munich, I933- N. Ges. Br. Gessammelte Briife, 2nd ed., 4 vols, Leipzig, I903- Grunder Grunder, Karlfried (ed.), Der Streit um Niet;::sches Geburt der TragOdie, Hildesheim, I969.

HUGO VON HOFMANNSTHAL

H-G Gedichte und lyrische Dramen, 2nd ed., Frankfurt/Main, I952· H-Pr. Prosa, 4 vols, Frankfurt/Main, I950-5. H-A Aujzeichnungen, Frankfurt/Main, I959·

STEFAN GEORGE

G Werke (ed. Robert Bohringer), 2 vols, Munich/ Dusseldorf, I 958. Bl. Blatter fiir die Kunst, founded by Stefan George and ed. Carl August Klein, I-xn, Berlin, I892-I9I9. Br. SG-H Briejwechsel zwischen Stefan George und Hojmannsthal, (ed. Robert Bohringer), 2nd ed., Munich/Dusseldorf, I953· Br. SG-FG Briejwechsel Stefan George- Friedrich Gundolf (ed. Robert Bohringer and G. P. Landmann), Munich/ Dusseldorf, I 962. Xll THE WRITER'S TASK FROM NIETZSCHE TO BRECHT

H-Br. Brieje, 2 vols: I, I890-190I (Berlin, 1935); II, 1900-1909 (Vienna, 1937). Br. H-CJB Hugo von Hofmannsthal- Carl ]. Burckhardt Brief• wechsel, (ed. Carl J. Burckhardt), Frankfurt/Main, I958. Br. H -EKG Hugo von Hofmannsthal- Edgar K arg von Bebenburg Briefwechsel (ed. Mary Gilbert), Frankfurt/Main, 1966. Br. H- EB Hugo von Hofmannsthal- Eberhard von Bodenhausen. Briefe der Freundschaft (ed. Dora von Bodenhausen), Dusseldorf, 1953.

RAINER MARIA RILKE

R Samtliche Werke, 6 vols (ed. Ernst Zion), Wiesbaden, 1955-66. R-Br. I899-1902 Briefe und Tagebiicher aus den Jahren 18!)9-1!)02 (ed. Ruth Sieber-Rilke and Carl Sieber), Leipzig, I93I. R-Br. I902-o6 Briefe aus den Jahren 1!)02-o6 (ed. Ruth Sieber-Rilke and Carl Sieber), Leipzig, I930. R-Br. I907-I4 Briefe aus den Jahren 1907-I4 (ed. Ruth Sieber-Rilke and Carl Sieber), Leipzig, I933· R-Br. I9I4-2I Briefe aus den Jahren 1914-21 (ed. Ruth Sieber-Rilke and Carl Sieber), Leipzig, I938.

R-Br. I921-26 Briefe aus Muzot 1921-26 (ed. Ruth Sieber-Rilke and Carl Sieber), Leipzig, 1937· R-Tb. Tagebiicher aus der Friihzeit (ed. Ruth Sieber-Rilke and Carl Sieber), 2nd ed., Frankfurt/Main, I973·

R-Br. Gesammelte Briefe 18fj7-1926, 2 vols: 1, I897-1914; II, I9I4-26 ed. Karl Altheirn (Wiesbaden, I950). R-BrJ.D. Briefe an einenjungen Dichter [F. X. Kappus], Leipzig, n. d. [1929]. Br. R-LAS Rilke-Lou Andreas-Saloml Briejwechsel (ed. Erich Pfeif• fer), Zurich, 1952. Br. R-Gr.S. Brieft an die Gri!fin Sizzo, Wiesbaden, 1950. Br. R-TT Briefwechsel Rainer Maria Rilke- Maria von Thurn und Taxis-Hohenlohe (ed. Ernst Zion), 2 vols, Wiesbaden, 1958. LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Xlll Br. R-B Briefwechsel mit Benuenuta [Magda von Graedener• Hattingberg], (ed. Kurt Leonhard), Esslingen, I954·

THOMAS MANN

TM Gesammelte Werke, 2nd ed., I 3 vols, Frankfurt/Main, I974· TM-Br Briefe, 3 vols: I, I889-I936; n, I937-47; m, I948-55 und Nachlese (ed. Erika Mann), Frankfurt/Main, 196I - 5. TM-HM Br. Thomas Mann- Heinrich Mann Briifwechseli!)OO-I949, (ed. Hans Wysling), Frankfurt/Main, I968. TM-KK Thomas Mann- Karl Kerenyi. Gespriich in Briifen, Zurich, I96o.

FRANZ KAFKA

K-Tb. Tagebiicher 1900-23 (ed. Max Brod), Frankfurt/Main, I95I. K-Br. M. Briefe an Milena (ed. W. Haas), New York and Frankfurt/Main, I95I. K-Erz. Erziihlungen (ed. Max Brod), New York and Frankfurt/Main, I952. K-H. Hochzeitsuorbereitungen aufdem Lande und andere Prosa aus dem Nachlass (ed. Max Brod) New York and Frankfurt/Main, 1953· K-Beschr. Beschreibung eines Kampfes. Nouellen. Skizzen. Aphorismen aus dem Nachlass (ed. Max Brod), New York and Frankfurt/Main, I954· K-Br. Briife I!)02-1924 (ed. Max Brod), New York and Frankfurt/Main, 1958. K-Br.F. Briefe an Felice (ed. Erich Heller andj. Born), New York and Frankfurt/Main, 1967. J Janouch, Gustav, Gi!spriiche mit Kafka, Frankfurt/ Main, I951.

BERTOLT BRECHT

B Werke (Werkausgabe), 20 vols Frankfurt/Main, 1967. B.A. Arbeitsjournal 1938-55, 3 vols (ed. Werner Hecht), Frankfurt/Main, 1973· XIV THE WRITER'S TASK FROM NIETZSCHE TO BRECHT

OTHERS

Dt.Vjs. Deutsche Vierteljahrsschrift fiir Literaturwissenschajt und Geistesgeschichte. GLL German Life and Letters, New Series. JDSG ]ahrbuch der Deutschen Schiller-Gesellschaft. MLR Modern Language Review. PEGS Publications of the English Goethe Society, New Series. W.A. Goethe, Werke (Sophien- oder Weimarer Ausgabe), 134 vols (in 144), Weimar, I887-1919. Acknowledgements

The author and publishers wish to thank the following who have kindly given permission for the use of copyright material:

Eyre Methuen Ltd for the poem 'Beim Lesen des Horaz' from Bertolt Brecht: Poems 1913-1956 edited by John Willett and Ralph Marheim, from the German 'Buckower Elegien' Copyright by Stefan S. Brecht, 1964.

S. Fischer Verlag for the extracts from Gesammelte Werke In Ein;:.elausgaben by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Prosa II. Copyright 1951 by S. Fischer Verlag GmbH, Frankfurt am Main: 'Ein Brief', 'Der Dichter und diese Zeit'; Prosa III. Copyright 1952 by S. Fischer Verlag GmbH, Frankfurt am Main: 'Augenblicke in Griechenland'; Prosa IV. Copyright I955 by S. Fischer Verlag GmbH, Frankfurt am Main: 'Das Schrifttum als geistiger Raum der Nation'; Gedichte und Lyrische Dramen. Copyright I946 by Bermann-Fischer Verlag AB, Stockholm: 'Gedanken• spuk'. lnsel Verlag Frankfurt am Main for the extracts from the German edition of Der Tod des Ti;:.ian by Hugo von Hofmannsthal.

The Hogarth Press Ltd for an extract from 'Book of Hours' in Rainer Maria Rilke's Selected Works I I, translated by J. B. Leishman; and the poems 'Magic' from Rainer Maria Rilke's Poems Igo(i-1926 'Blue Hydrangea' and 'Archaic Torso of Apollo' from Rainer Maria Rilke's New Poems, translated by J. B. Leishman;

The University of North Carolina Press for extracts from The Works of Stefan George, translated by Olga Marz and Ernst Morwitz, 2nd revised and enlarged edn., UNC Studies in the Germanic Languages and Literatures, No. 78, I974• and Georg Peter Landmann, Chairman of the Stefan George Trust, for the poems 'Die Spange', 'Vogelschau' and 'Komm in den Totgesagten Park und Schau'.

We have made every effort to trace all the copyright-holders but if any have inadvertently been overlooked, we will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity.