Gottfried Benn: Wechselspiele zwischen Biographie und Werk by Matías Martínez

Abstract

MLR, I03.4, 2008 i i6i teeing theopen-endedness of the system. Leverkiihn's views on marriage are seen as furtherevidence thathe holds individuality tobe sacrosanct. Lee's argument isoriginal, but not always convincing. She examines Doktor Faustus ingreat detail, looking for indications thatZeitblom ispredisposed towards Fascism. Her observations are often stimulating in so far as they require us to reflectupon Zeitblom and his functionwithin thenovel. However, hermethodological bias isevi dent, as she refers to 'Adrian' and 'Rudi' by their firstnames, 'Zeitblom' always by his surname. In her eagerness toconvict Zeitblom, she occasionally quotes him out of context. Thus, on pages I55and i68 she quotes Zeitblom's admission thathe lentcre dence to theopinions of the right-wingKridwiss circle in Munich, but fails to mention thathe qualifies himself in thevery next paragraph, and thathe has frequently empha sized his dislike of thegroup. Lee even goes as faras toclaim thatLeverkiihn accuses Zeitblom of being responsible forthedeath ofNepomuk Schneidewein, asserting that thewords 'Nimm ihn, Scheusal!' (GW, vi, 632) are directed at Zeitblom, but this is impossible, since in thenext sentence Leverkiihn turns towards Zeitblom and speaks confidentially tohim. Lee isgood at dismissing evidence thatdoes not suit her, such as the allusions toNietzsche. She insists that the leitmotifof the spotted butterfly 'Hetaera Esmeralda' denotes democratic transparency rather than sexuality, despite the fact that 'Esmeralda' isLeverkiihn's name for a prostitute. The butterflymay be transparent,but italso has 'einen dunklen Farbfleck in Violett und Rosa' (GW, VI, 23). Lee completely ignores Mann's argument in Deutschlandund dieDeutschen (I 945) that therewere not twoGermanies, a good and a bad, but one single Germany inwhich the good had turned bad. Her reading fails to take into account theways inwhich Mann's opinions changed over time,or the fact that Mann applied his searching irony tohis own love ofmusic and Innerlichkeit. Indeed, Mann is far more complex and am bivalent thanLee's one-sided model allows. The Betrachtungenmay denounce Latin culture, but they also describe theCatholic poet Eichendorff's Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts as an example of everything that isgood about German Romanticism. KING'S COLLEGE LONDON ERNEST SCHONFIELD Gottfried Benn: Wechselspiele zwischenBiographie undWerk. Ed. byMATiAS MARTi NEZ. Gottingen: Wallstein. 2007. 300 pp. E34. ISBN 978-3-89244-964-5. Despite reservations recorded inDoppelleben, the editor links Benn and his works to introduce twelve research contributions fora conference inBremen in May 2004. Regine Anacker traces change and unpredictability inBenn's works on poetics, and applies scientific insightsmainly frommedical research in the I920s. Her attempt to show how these broadened Benn's semantics lacks the clearer,more detailed back ground used byMarcus Hahn to explain Benn's interests in neurology and his use in earlyworks of theories by Friedrich Goltz and Theodor Meynert, including the poem 'Untergrundbahn' with its references toGoltz's 'arme[r]Hirnhund' that lived foreighteen months after removal of its cerebrum. Michael Ansel distinguishes five phases inBenn's publications from I933 to 1936 and his strategic involvementwith a total as opposed to a totalitarian state,where he hoped art and literaturecould develop an autonomous and critical voice. JoachimDyck, gleaning material fromhis book Der Zeitzeuge: GottfriedBenn I929-I949 (Gottingen: Wallstein, 2006), shows how Benn became more aware of the nature of theNazi regime through Borries Freiherr von Miinchhausen's attempts to denounce him as a 'reinrassige[r] Jude'. Dyck repeats the evidence of conflicting views in 1933 by leading Nazis on Expressionism todeny Reinhard Alter's claim (in 'GottfriedBenn und Borries vonMiinchhausen',Jahrbuch der deutschenSchillergesellschaft, 25 (I98I), I39-70 (p. I56)) thatBenn's defence of ii62 Reviews itwas an act of bravery.Moritz Bassler uses Benn's poem 'Meer- undWandersagen' and Carl Einstein's 'Die Uhr', dedicated by each poet to the other, toprove that they misunderstood each otherwhile furthering theiraesthetic aims. Bassler implies that a much closer friendshipmay have existed, citing Rainer Rumold's Gottfried Benn und derExpressionismus (Konigstein/Ts.: Scriptor, I982), but not the reserved judgements on Benn and Einstein inBrussels fromThea Sternheim's diaries, and articles byRhys Williams ('Primitivism in the Works ofCarl Einstein, Carl Sternheim and Gottfried Benn', Journal of European Studies, i3 (I983), 247-67) and Brian Keith-Smith in GottfriedBenn (Galway: Galway University Press, I990), pp. I4I-54. Dieter Burdorf...