Stefan George: Werk und Wirkung seit dem ‘Siebenten Ring’ ed. by Wolfgang Braungart, et al, and: ‘Verkannte brüder’? Stefan George und das deutsch-jüdische Bürgertum zwischen Jahrhundertwende und Emigration ed. by Gert Mattenklott, et al (review)

Abstract

MLRy 99.1,2004 253 compendium of information on, and evaluations of, the whole of twentieth-century German literature. University of Southampton Alan Bance Stefan George: Werkund Wirkungseit dem 'SiebentenRing'. Ed. by Wolfgang Braungart , Ute Oelmann, and Bernhard Boschenstein. Tubingen: Niemeyer. 2001. xi + 456pp. ?74. ISBN 3-484-10834-7 (hbk). 'Verkannte bruder"? Stefan George und das deutsch-jiidischeBurgertum zwischen Jahrhundertwende und Emigration. Ed. by Gert Mattenklott, Michael Philipp, andJuLiusH. Schoeps. (Haskala, 22) Hildesheim: Olms. 2001. 287pp. ?35.80. ISBN 3-487-11468-2 (hbk). These two volumes testifyimpressively to the interest in the George Circle that now centres on the George Archive directed by Ute Oelmann in Stuttgart. The firstis the proceedings of a conference on George held at Bingen in 1998, in which about half the contributions deal with George's later poetry,focusing especially on the 'Zeitgedichte' which open Der siebenteRing and the great prophetic poems of Das Neue Reich (1928); Der Stern des Bundes receives less attention. The remainder examine the reception of George's poetry and relations among various members of the Circle. I shall mention only some essays that seem outstanding. Bernhard Boschenstein provides an admirable introduction to the Kulturkritik George practises in Der siebente Ring. Ralf Simon explores the image of the 'Grund', the bottom of the well or pool, which in George's poetry represents the knowledge available only to the poet-seer and guarded by such mythic beings as the 'norn' and the 'Drud'. Ernst Osterkamp treats the motif of the kiss, with its sacral and sexual connotations, as the highest form of communication with divine beings such as Maximin. These essays greatly enhance one's appreciation of the poetry. As for George's politics, Achim Aurnhammer describes his critical attitude to Bismarck in a poem published here for the firsttime, while Jurgen Egyptien shows that he regarded the First World War much more soberly than most of his disciples. These disciples, united in homage to the Master, were divided by rivalries and disagreements . Michael Philipp shows how Friedrich Wolters, a dominant Circle member during the 1920s, abjectly worshipped George, just as Norbert von Hellingrath, as Bruno Pieger tells us, considered George a divine oracle. Yet while some, like Friedrich Gundolf, expected George to renew German culture, others such as Wolters saw in him the prototype of the artist as political leader, able to shape humanity as a sculptor shapes a block of marble (this contrast is drawn by Carola Groppe). Despite these excellent papers, though, this volume is not quite focused enough to work as a collection, and the question why the George cult attracted so many fine intellects receives no answer. One reason was George's relative hospitality towards Jews. The presence of Jews in the George Circle has been discussed in several articles, the best being Thomas Sparr's ' "Verkannte Bruder": Jiidische George-Rezeption', Merkur, 46 (1992), 9931000 , but a book-length study was overdue. Verkannte bruder? (the title comes from a poem about Germans and Jews in Der Stern des Bundes) is informative and dispiriting . Thorough studies, by Jurgen Egyptien and Michael Philipp, of recorded utterances about Jews by George and his disciples reveal that George readily accepted cliches about malign Judaized modernity and considered 'his' Jews exceptional, while some of his followers, notably Wolters, Kurt Hildebrandt, and Ludwig Thormaehlen, were openly anti-Semitic. But allegiances were complex: George's Jewish biographer, Edith Landmann, bitterly regretted in 1933 that the Ausstossung auch der wahrhaft 254 Reviews deutschen Juden' excluded her fromsharing in the greatness ofthe Third Reich. After these invaluable surveys comes a masterly essay by Rainer Kolk, concisely examining the Circle's diverse political associations, and indicating its place in modern German cultural life. Marita Keilson-Lauritz's essay on Jewish homosexual writers, however interesting, deals mainly with writers remote from the Circle. Seven essays then examine particular cases: Gundolf, Ernst Morwitz, Karl Wolfskehl (twice), the Landmann family, Erich von Kahler, and Ernst Kantorowicz. Richard Faber has some rather cheap fun with Wolfskehl's absurdities when linked to the Munich Kosmiker, but fortunately Daniel Hoffmann adds a more searching and reflectiveessay acknowledging Wolfskehl's poetic achievement. Also noteworthy is Ulrich Raulff's ingenious exploration of the...