Stefan George
Stefan George | |
---|---|
Born | Stefan Anton George 12 July 1868 Büdesheim, Grand Duchy of Hesse, German Empire |
Died | 4 December 1933 Minusio, Ticino, Switzerland | (aged 65)
Occupation | Poet |
Language | German |
Notable awards | Goethe Prize (1927) |
Stefan Anton George (German:
Biography
Early life
George was born in 1868 in Büdesheim in Bingen (now part of Bingen) in the Grand Duchy of Hesse. His father, also named Stefan George, was an innkeeper and wine merchant, and his mother Eva (née Schmitt) was a homemaker. When Stefan was five years old, the family moved to Bingen am Rhein.[1]
According to Michael and Erika Metzger, both sides of the George family had lived in the area for generations and had risen from peasants, to millers, and finally to small town merchants.[1]
At the time, the
After attending primary school in Bingen, Stefan was sent, at the age of thirteen, to one of the best secondary schools in the Grand Duchy of Hesse, the Ludwig-Georgs-Gymnasium in the Grand-Duke Louis IV's capital city of Darmstadt. There, from 1882 to 1888, Stefan, "received a vigorous humanistic education in which Greek, Latin, and French were stressed."[3]
Stefan "excelled in French" and gained "a thorough knowledge of modern European literature, as well as of the Greek and Roman authors."[4]
Although later described as a loner, Stefan assembled his first circle of friends in Darmstadt, where he had access to libraries and to the theater, which fascinated him. He also taught himself to read Norwegian in order to read the works of Henrik Ibsen in the original language.[4]
The making of a poet
At the age of nineteen, George and a few other students of the Gymnasium started a
When his schooling was concluded in 1888, it was clear to George and to his family that it would not work for him to follow the usual course into university, business, or the German civil service. Instead he began to travel.[5]
He later told a friend, "Germany was intolerable then; just think of Nietzsche! I would have thrown a bomb if they had kept me here; or I would have perished like Nietzsche. My father was glad to get rid of me, for he sensed the danger."[6]
Hoping to improve his grasp of English, George lived in London between May and October 1888. Queen Victoria was on the throne and London was still the capital of the global British Empire. George later recalled that in England he saw, "an expansive sense of life, borne by great political tasks and goals, an ancient cultural unity which carefully preserved traditions, a firmly moded way of life for all classes of the populace, a decorous politeness among all the people, phenomena which were no longer found in the Germany of those years, or which were just beginning to emerge."[6]
It is also believed to have been during his time in London that George first encountered the English poetry of the, "honored masters", Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Algernon Charles Swinburne, and Ernest Dowson, whose works George would later translate into German and publish in his homeland.[6]
While briefly returning to Germany and his parental home in Bingen, George expressed a desire to convene a "Congress" of like-minded poets and to publish a collection of their works.[7]
This was an idea deeply rooted in both the
During his subsequent tours of
Suffering from severe loneliness, George arrived in
Saint-Paul also persuaded the poet
Many years later, the members of Mallarmé's circle were to recall that they immediately identified Stefan George as, "a poet of unusual promise." Despite his confidence, George seemed extremely shy and rarely participated in the circle's discussions, preferring instead to listen and learn. Meanwhile, George also filled 365 pages with poems by French and other European authors, many of which he was later to translate into German.[11]
According to the Metzgers, "For the Symbolists, the pursuit of 'art for art's sake', was a highly serious – nearly a sacred – function, since beauty, in and of itself, stood for a higher meaning beyond itself. In their ultimate higher striving, the French Symbolists are not far from the Platonic ideals of the Good, the True, and the Beautiful, and this idealistic aspect was undoubtedly what appealed to George far more than the Estheticism, the Bohemianism, and the apparent Nihilism so often superficially associated with this group."[12]
Paul Verlaine and Stéphane Mallarmé were the only living poets whom George considered his superiors and whose apprentice he ever wished to be. Particularly Mallarmé, whose circle of disciples called him Le Maître ("The Master"), was to be a lifelong model for George's art, philosophy, and way of life.[13]
The French Symbolists were every bit as enthusiastic for George, as is revealed by the evidence of their surviving letters and subsequent memoirs of his visit to Paris, which were published in a 1928 theme issue of the Revue d'Allemagne. George wrote in 1896, "Paris, the only place where I found and possess true friends."[8]
At this time, George felt a very intense hostility to what he saw as the
Blätter für die Kunst
After returning to Germany, George first began to study
At the time, George had serious doubts about the ability of the
George also seriously considered emigrating to Mexico at the urging of a wealthy Mexican family he had met and befriended in Paris. When George saw the family off on a ship back to Mexico, he gave them a copy of the first collection of his poems in German; Hymnen ("Odes"), which had just been privately printed in a limited edition of 100 copies.[17]
Also while living in Berlin, George joined forces with fellow student Carl August Klein to found the annual
While George was not the first German poet to draw inspiration from the French Symbolists, he has been termed, "the most gifted, eloquent, and productive exponent of the poetic aspects of the movement in his homeland". George also, "did not slavishly follow any masters", but set his own stamp upon those aspects of Symbolism that he found appropriate for his purpose of revitalizing
George was the main person of the literary and academic group known as the
During 1914, at the start of the World War, George foretold a sad end for Germany. In 1916, in a deliberate revolt against the
The outcome of the war was the realization of his worst fears. In the 1920s, George despised the culture of Germany, particularly its bourgeois mentality and archaic church rites. He wished to create a new, noble German culture, and offered "form", regarded as a mental discipline and a guide to relationships with others, as an ideal while Germany was in a period of social, political, spiritual and artistic decadence.[21]
National Revolution
George's poetry was discovered by the small but ascendant Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (
According to Peter Hoffmann, however, Stefan George, "had a low opinion of Hitler, in whom he saw none of the greatness of a Caesar or a Napoleon". Shortly before Hitler became Chancellor on 30 January 1933, "the poet said that if the National Socialists came to power, everyone in Germany would have to wear a noose around his neck, and those who refused would be hanged immediately."[23]
In February 1933, the Nazis began dismissing all of their political opponents as well as Jews from the
By April 1933, George was referring to the National Socialists as, "hangmen." He also assigned the youngest of his followers, Karl Josef Partsch to talk Frank Mehnert out of joining any Nazi-affiliated organizations.[23]
On 5 May 1933 the Prussian Minister for Sciences, Arts, and Public Education, Bernhard Rust, informed George that the new government wished to appoint him to an honorary position within the Academy. Rust further explained that he intended to publicly describe George as the forefather of the Nazi Party's "national revolution", and also offered him a large sum of money to do with as he wished. If George was agreeable to the proposal, President Paul von Hindenburg or Chancellor Adolf Hitler would personally write the official letter.[24]
On 10 May 1933 George replied by letter. He declined both the money and the honorary position, "in the so-called academy", but said that he approved of its "national" orientation. George explained, however, that he had administered German literature for five decades without any need for an academy. On the other hand, George did not deny his, "ancestorship of the new national movement and did not preclude his intellectual cooperation".[24]
There were those within the Nazi Party, however, who were enraged by George's negative response to the offer, who suspected the sincerity of his claims of sympathy for the national revolution, and who even denounced Stefan George by calling him a Jew.[23]
In order to renew his passport, George returned to his native
Personal life
Ida Coblenz
Many years later, Stefan George told his friends that there had been a woman who was "my world". George met
George saw Ida often, particularly in the fall of 1894 and the summer of 1896. Ida's brief and unhappy
After meeting Dehmel before Coblenz's house in Bingen, George wrote to her, "Our [friendship] arises from the fact that each of us is able to communicate what he thinks great and noble to the other – it rises and falls with this ability – and disappears entirely when something appears great and noble to one which is brutal and debased to the other."[27]
George had been planning to dedicate his 1897 poetry collection Das Jahr der Seele to Ida Coblenz. Instead, the name of George's sister was printed where that of Ida Coblenz was intended to have stood.[27]
Death in exile
On 25 July 1933 George travelled to Wasserburg on Lake Constance, where he remained for four weeks. He was joined there at various times by Frank Mehnert, Berthold von Stauffenberg, Claus von Stauffenberg, and other younger members of the George-Kreis.[23]
On 24 August 1933 George took a ferry across the Lake to Heiden, Switzerland. Although the Master had chosen to make the journey to escape the humid lakeside air and had spent the previous two winters at Minusio, George later said, in an example of the Master's, "mild political humor", that in the middle of the Lake he began to breathe far more easily.[28]
Shortly after the attending the Roman Catholic wedding at Bamberg of his brother Claus to Baroness Nina von Lerchenfeld, Berthold von Stauffenberg arrived at Minusio on 27 September 1933 and found the Master feeling very weak and devoid of appetite.[29]
That same month, however, George declared that both his way of life and his friendships were sufficient proof of his tolerance and indifference to all religions.[24]
In November 1933, Frank Mehnert spread the news that the Master's medical condition was very grave. Robert Boehringer, Frank Mehnert, Walter Kempner, and Clotilde Schlayer took turns keeping vigil at his hospital bedside. When Partsch, Albrecht von Blumenthal, Walter Anton, Ludwig Thormaehlen, and the three Stauffenberg brothers also arrived, they were allowed a brief glimpse of the Master in his darkened room; but the poet was not aware of their presence.[30]
Stefan George died at Minusio on 4 December 1933. Although Berthold von Stauffenberg, Thormaehlen, Anton, Blumenthal, and others wished to return the Master's body to Germany for burial, Boehringer, as the poet's heir, overruled them by quoting the Master's own words,[31] "A man should be buried where he dies."[32]
In response, the George-Kreis decided to inter the Master locally.
On 5 December the German Consulate at Lugano contacted the city officials of Minusio and asked for the date and time of the funeral. The George-Kreis replied that the funeral would be at 3pm on 6 December but added that mourners from outside the Circle were not wanted. Just in case, the funeral was then secretly rescheduled for 8:15 on the morning of 6 December. Boehringer, however, disapproved of the deception and quietly informed Baron Ernst von Weizsäcker, the German Minister at Bern, that he could deliver a wreath to the grave on the day after the funeral.[31]
Twenty-five members of the George-Kreis, including Jewish members Ernst Morwitz and Karl Wolfskehl, attended the funeral. The laurel wreath later delivered by the German Foreign Office bore a swastika printed on a white ribbon. This subsequently caused a running battle within the Circle between those, like Clotilde Schlayer, who repeatedly chose to remove it and other members who kept replacing it with new swastika ribbons. As the mourners left the railroad station at Locarno following the ceremony, some of the younger members of the George-Kreis were seen to give the Nazi salute.[33]
Legacy
According to the Metzgers, "When Stefan George died in 1933, there was a grim dissonance between the eulogies from inside and outside Germany, the former claiming George as the prophet of the
Literary achievements
From the inception of the Circle, George and his followers represented a literary and cultural revolt against the literary realism trend in German literature during the last decades of the German Empire.
George was also a highly important intermediary between
George's poetry is characterized by an
Believing that the purpose of poetry was to create an alternative to reality — he was a strong advocate of art for art's sake — George's beliefs about poetry were drawn from the French Symbolist poets and he considered himself to be both the student and the successor of Stéphane Mallarmé and Paul Verlaine.
Stefan George's "evident homosexuality"[35] is represented by works such as Algabal and the love poetry he devoted to a gifted adolescent of his acquaintance named Maximilian Kronberger,[36] whom he called "Maximin", and whom he believed to be a manifestation of the divine. The relevance of George's sexuality to his poetic work has been discussed by contemporary critics, such as Thomas Karlauf and Marita Keilson-Lauritz.[37]
Algabal is one of George's best remembered collections of poetry, if also one of his strangest; the title is a reference to the effete Roman emperor Elagabalus. George was also an important translator; he translated Dante, Shakespeare and Baudelaire into German.
George was awarded the Goethe Prize in 1927.[38]
Das neue Reich
George's last complete book of poems, Das neue Reich ("The New Realm"), was published in 1928. It was banned in
Influence
In a view inspired by the German Romantic poets and the French Symbolist, George and his followers saw him as the monarch of a separate government of Germany, composed of his intellectual and artistic disciples, bonded by their faithfulness to "The Master" and to a common vision. In his memoirs, Albert Speer claims to have met George during the early 1920s and that his elder brother, Hermann, was an acquaintance of his: George "radiated dignity and pride and a kind of priestliness ... there was something magnetic about him."[41]
George's poetry emphasized self-sacrifice, heroism, and power, which won him the approval of the National Socialists. Though many Nazis claimed George as an influence, George remained aloof from such associations. Soon after the Nazi seizure of power, George left Germany for Switzerland where he died the same year.[39]
Some of the members of the 20 July plot against Hitler were drawn from among his devotees, notably the Stauffenberg brothers who were introduced to George by the poet and classical scholar Albrecht von Blumenthal.[39] Although some members of the George circle were avowedly anti-semitic (for example, Klages), the Circle also included Jewish authors such as Gundolf, the historian Ernst Kantorowicz, the Zionist Karl Wolfskehl, and Erich Berger. George was fond of his Jewish disciples, but he expressed reservations about their ever becoming a majority in the group.
George's influence on Ernst Kantorowicz was decisive in the latter's controversial biography of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, which was published in 1927. The book's account of Frederick II and his "dynamic personality and ability to shape the Empire according to a higher vision seemed to sum up the aspirations of the George Circle." George is even reported to have "carefully corrected" the manuscript and saw that it was published.[42]
One of George's most well known collaborators was
Poetry of George in music
Stefan George's poetry was a major influence upon the 20th-century classical music composed by the Second Viennese School, particularly during their Expressionist period.
- Radically innovative String Quartet No. 2, Op. 10 (1908), and in The Book of the Hanging Gardens, Op. 15 (1909).
- Arnold Schoenberg's student Anton Webern also set George's poetry to music in his early choral work Entflieht auf leichten Kähnen, Op. 2. Webern did the same in two other sets of songs, Op. 3 and 4 of 1909, and in several posthumously published vocal compositions from the same period.
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 1976 comedy film Satan's Brew pokes fun at both Stefan George and the George-Kreis.
Bibliography
- 1890: Hymnen ("Hymns"), 18 poems written reflecting Symbolism; dedicated to Carl August Klein; limited, private edition[45]
- 1891: Pilgerfahrten ("Pilgrimages") limited, private edition.[45]
- 1892: Algabal (1892); illustrated by Melchior Lechter; limited, private edition.[45]
- 1897: Das Jahr der Seele ("The Year of the Soul").[45]
- 1899: Teppich des Lebens ("The Tapestry of Life").[45]
- 1900: Hymnen, Pilgerfahrten, and Algabal, a one-volume edition published in Berlin by Georg Bondi which first made George's work available to the public at large.[45]
- 1901: Die Fibel ("Primer"), poems written from 1886–1889.[45]
- 1903: Tage und Taten ("Days and Works"; cf. Hesiod's Works and Days).[45]
- 1907: Der siebente Ring ("The Seventh Ring").[45]
- 1913: Der Stern des Bundes ("The Star of the Covenant")[45]
- 1917: Der Krieg ("The War").[45]
- 1928: Das neue Reich ("The Kingdom Come").[45]
References
- ^ a b Michael and Erika Metzger (1972), Stefan George, Twayne's World Authors Series. Page 13.
- ^ Michael and Erika Metzger (1972), Stefan George, Twayne's World Authors Series. Page 14.
- ^ Michael and Erika Metzger (1972), Stefan George, Twayne's World Authors Series. Pages 14-15.
- ^ a b c Michael and Erika Metzger (1972), Stefan George, Twayne's World Authors Series. Page 15.
- ^ Michael and Erika Metzger (1972), Stefan George, Twayne's World Authors Series. Pages 17–18.
- ^ a b c Michael and Erika Metzger (1972), Stefan George, Twayne's World Authors Series. Page 18.
- ^ Michael and Erika Metzger (1972), Stefan George, Twayne's World Authors Series. Pages 18-19.
- ^ a b Michael and Erika Metzger (1972), Stefan George, Twayne's World Authors Series. Page 22.
- ^ a b Michael and Erika Metzger (1972), Stefan George, Twayne's World Authors Series. Page 19.
- ^ Michael and Erika Metzger (1972), Stefan George, Twayne's World Authors Series. Pages 19-20.
- ^ Michael and Erika Metzger (1972), Stefan George, Twayne's World Authors Series. Page 20.
- ^ Michael and Erika Metzger (1972), Stefan George, Twayne's World Authors Series. Page 21.
- ^ Michael and Erika Metzger (1972), Stefan George, Twayne's World Authors Series. Page 21-22.
- ^ Michael and Erika Metzger (1972), Stefan George, Twayne's World Authors Series. Pages 22-23.
- ^ Michael and Erika Metzger (1972), Stefan George, Twayne's World Authors Series. Page 39.
- ^ a b Michael and Erika Metzger (1972), Stefan George, Twayne's World Authors Series. Page 23.
- ^ Michael and Erika Metzger (1972), Stefan George, Twayne's World Authors Series. Pages 23-24.
- ^ a b Michael and Erika Metzger (1972), Stefan George, Twayne's World Authors Series. Page 24.
- ^ Boehringer, Robert. Mein Bild von Stefan George. München, Düsseldorf: Helmut Küpper vormals Georg Bondi Verlag, 1967. pp. 126–127
- ISBN 978-3-89667-151-6
- ^ Kramarz, Joachim (1967). Stauffenberg: The Architect of the Famous July 20th Conspiracy to Assassinate Hitler. Macmillan. p. 29.
- ^ Jeffers, Bill. "Claus von Stauffenberg: Hero or Traitor?" (PDF).
- ^ a b c d e Peter Hoffmann (2008), Stauffenberg: A Family History, 1905-1944, page 67.
- ^ a b c d Peter Hoffmann (2008), Stauffenberg: A Family History, 1905-1944, page 66.
- ^ Michael and Erika Metzger (1972), Stefan George, Twayne's World Authors Series. Page 30.
- ^ Michael and Erika Metzger (1972), Stefan George, Twayne's World Authors Series. Pages 30-31.
- ^ a b Michael and Erika Metzger (1972), Stefan George, Twayne's World Authors Series. Page 31.
- ^ Peter Hoffmann (2008), Stauffenberg: A Family History, 1905-1944, page 67-68.
- ^ Peter Hoffmann (2008), Stauffenberg: A Family History, 1905-1944, pages 71-72.
- ^ Peter Hoffmann (2008), Stauffenberg: A Family History, 1905-1944, page 72-73.
- ^ a b c Peter Hoffmann (2008), Stauffenberg: A Family History, 1905-1944, page 73.
- ^ a b Michael and Erika Metzger (1972), Stefan George, Twayne's World Authors Series. Page 41.
- ^ Peter Hoffmann (2008), Stauffenberg: A Family History, 1905-1944, page 73-74.
- ^ a b Hoffmann on Norton, 'Secret Germany: Stefan George and His Circle' by Peter Hoffmann.
- ^ Robert E. Norton, Secret Germany: Stefan George and his Circle (Cornell University Press, 2002) page 354
- ^ Palmer, Craig B. (2002), "George, Stefan", glbtq.com, archived from the original on 2011-08-05, retrieved 2007-11-23.
- ^ See for example, Marita Keilson-Lauritz, "Ubergeschlechtliche Liebe: Stefan George's Concept of Love" (Rieckmann, ed A Companion to the Works of Stefan George (Camden House, 2005)
- ^ "Stefan George, 65, German poet, dies". New York Times. 5 December 1933. p. 23.
- ^ a b c "The secret society that inspired a Nazi officer's attempt to kill Hitler". Haaretz. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
- ^ Herbert Ammon: Vom Geist Georges zur Tat Stauffenbergs - Manfred Riedels Rettung des Reiches, in: Iablis 2007 at www.iablis.de
- OCLC 935680842.
- ISSN 0075-8744.
- ^ George, Stefan. "The Anti-Christ". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04.
- Metropolitan Books, 1994. Page 216.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Stefan George, Poems, Trans. & Ed. Carol North Valhope and Ernst Morwitz. (New York: Pantheon, 1946).
Further reading
- Breuer, Stefan (1996). Ästhetischer Fundamentalismus: Stefan George und der deutsche Antimodernismus. Darmstadt: Primus.
- Capetanakis, D., 'Stefan George', in Demetrios Capetanakis A Greek Poet In England (1947), p. 72–89
- Frank, Lore & Sabine Ribbeck (2000). Stefan-George-Bibliographie 1976–1997. Mit Nachträgen bis 1976. Auf der Grundlage der Bestände des Stefan-George-Archivs in der Württembergischen Landesbibliothek. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
- Goldsmith, Ulrich (1951). Stefan George and the Theatre. New York: The Modern Language Association (PLMA Publications LXVI:2).
- Goldsmith, Ulrich (1959). Stefan George: A Study of his Early Work. Boulder: University of Colorado Press (University of Colorado Studies Series in Language and Literature 7).
- Goldsmith, Ulrich (1970). Stefan George. New York: Columbia University Press (Essays on Modern Writers).
- Goldsmith, Ulrich (1974). Shakespeare and Stefan George: The Sonnets. Berne: Franke.
- Kluncker, Karlhans (1985). "Das geheime Deutschland": Über Stefan George und seinen Kreis. Bonn: Bouvier (Abhandlungen zur Kunst-, Musik- und Literaturwissenschaft 355).
- Norton, Robert E. (2002). Secret Germany: Stefan George and his Circle. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
- Norton, Robert E. (2010). "Wozu Stefan George?" WestEnd. Neue Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung, 7. Jg., Heft 2, : 133–141.
- Schmitz, Victor (1978). Stefan George und Rainer Maria Rilke: Gestaltung und Verinnerlichung. Berne: Wild.
- Rieckmann, Jens (ed.) (2005). A Companion to the Works of Stefan George. Camden House.
- Lacchin, Giancarlo (2006). Stefan George e l'antichità. Lineamenti di una filosofia dell'arte. Lugano: University Words.
- Schefold, Bertram. (2011). Politische Ökonomie als Geisteswissenschaft. Edgar Salin und andere Ökonomen um Stefan George, in Studien zur Entwicklung der ökonomischen Theorie, XXVI. Edited by Harald Hagemann, Duncker & Humblot
- Lerner, Robert E. (2017). Ernst Kantorowicz: A Life, for George's relationship with his pupil Kantorowicz.
- Reuter, Gabriele (21 January 1934). "The German Poet Stefan George". The New York Times.
External links
- Concise overview
- The Writings of Stefan George Online (In German)
- Stefan George letters to Ernst Morwitz, 1905–1956. Manuscripts and Archives, New York Public Library.
- Works by or about Stefan George at Internet Archive
- Works by Stefan George at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- Some poems in both German and English
- Newspaper clippings about Stefan George in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW
- Stefan George at Find a Grave