Heinrich Heine, German Ideology, and German Ideologists

Abstract

delivering papers with slogans such as and... or as... which would have inevitably led to individual, specialized presentations from the viewpoint of the music critic, the journalist, or this or that ideology. The papers were devoted to--and this was intelligent-individual works. Therefore, one could learn something new and relevant about the great poem dealing with the partisan bear Atta Troll or the poetic schemes in Heine's late lyrics written from his deathbed. On the other hand, there was one thing which was not explained, not that anyone there was even expecting an explanation. This concerns the question of what one thinks of this author today: Can one seriously maintain that Heinrich Heine's concept of poetry and poetic self-portrayal still has a significance for modern poets? Whenever an attempt has been made to carry on his tradition (in particular, the political ballad, and here Wolf Biermann has been most successful with this form), it can be seen upon closer examination that there has been less of a poetic affinity between the modern author and Heine, than a specific concern in the modern technique of quotation and collage that does not hark back to Heine at all. Heine's poetic fragments are at best built into a modern poetic text which does not want to concede that it has been composed by a poet. It is here that the gap between modern literature and Heine becomes most anparent-namely, in the modern writer's questioning of his professional and ideological identity. In contrast, Heinrich Heine always saw himself expressly as poet, singer, and prophet. Along with his own genuine brilliance, we find active in him the concept of genius that stemmed from the Sturm und Drang and romanticism. In fact, this concept was still very much alive in the twentieth century, and Rilke and George were not the only ones to keep it alive. For instance, the communist writer Johannes R. Becher continued to cling to this concept of the poet who leads an exceptional existence, and he always associated this theme of the genius with Heine and with himself. Yet, when Becher once addressed an audience with the following line: I as a poet tell you..., one could not help but