Re-Enchantments of the World in Leaden Times: The Magic of Chuck Berry in German Life and Literature

Abstract

ABSTRACTWith songs like “Roll Over Beethoven,” “Rock and Roll Music,” “Sweet Little Sixteen,” “Johnny B. Goode” and the covered “Route 66” Chuck Berry stands for the longing for freedom, the freshness of a new beginning, a countercultural revolt: emotions, attitudes, values and symbols felt and appreciated even more intensely in the leaden times of gloomy petit-bourgeois postwar Germany. And in a society where there was a great gulf between adult classical music and youthful rock music, where Beethoven remained an icon of traditional culture, “Roll Over Beethoven” sounded even more provocative than elsewhere. The article centers on Berry’s reception in works by Rolf Dieter Brinkmann, Heinrich Detering, Stefan T. Gruner, Peter Handke, and Wim Wenders and shows that to a considerable extent Berry is a writers’ musician in Germany and helped poets in their search for a new poetic language.